this is not the sort of thing that i prepare for but around the camp fire on a canoe trip the subject came up and i ventured things like thread,canned meat,lard,salt,when a buddy chimed in the best answer,alcohol-booze-vodka to be exact.his idea was to buy a bottle of cheap vodka,the stuff made in New Jersey that comes in plastic quarts,every time you went to the store for a case of beer or a bottle of wine.in time you would have cases of it.he said that if things in the USA ever got so bad that people had to barter like they did in Europe during WW2 then what people would really want was something to blot out the bad world they fell into,like the people in Russia did/do.