That much is pretty obvious to anyone that has spent any length of time with me (including e-time). Being born in 1980, well after any stability had been ripped out from under our currency, I don’t think I have ever trusted the dollar. Even growing up I never could maintain a piggy-bank or a savings account, I just never could understand how a measly 1-percent per year (or even the 5-percent it once was) could ever amount to anything on the pocket change the average person is able to put away monthly. That commercial where the dollar is a bored and brainless slinky-wielding goofball summed up my feelings on the matter pretty well – what good is a dollar unspent? I’d find myself buying things I knew I would need down the road and storing them instead of money.

I don’t trust “precious” either.

With the economy and currency markets going wacko like they have been the last couple years (dare I say decade?), it isn’t surprising that so many people have invested in gold and silver. While such investments may protect against the decline of a currency (or the collapse of an IRA), they do not offer any sanctuary against a world gone mad. What happens when food or water are simply unavailable due to disaster, famine, war or simply poor management? If you have to evacuate, how do you move all that heavy metal? If the governments start a mandatory and discounted “buy back” of the precious metals (hey, it has happened before), then what? What is it that makes these so-called “precious” metals precious anyhow? They aren’t useful in any practical manner, what do you do when no one cares about shiny yellow bars?

In a pinch, you can always eat food.

So aside from continuing the (good) habit of buying things you know you’re going to need and storing them until you do need them, what else can be done as an alternative to a traditional savings/investment that is stable, has longevity, and will still be useful when disaster strikes and you are left with nothing but your “investment”, some water and a fire?

About a year ago I stocked up on some #10 cans of Mountain House freeze-dried food. Dani and I have become partial to the stuff as our main hiking and camping food because of it’s light weight, small size and great taste. Since I placed that order a year ago, the price of the cans has nearly doubled and they are continuing to become less and less available. If I needed money right now I could sell them on eBay for about 70% profit, and they are advertised to last for 15 years unopened (though they have been proven to last upwards of 30 years). If things get really bad I can just eat them and won’t have to worry about turning gold into money to buy groceries, or whether or not the store would actually have any food left.

If you’ve paid any attention to non-mainstream news lately you’ve no doubt noticed many other items like this with long life spans, good returns, and practical emergency purposes. Things like firearms and ammunition likely come to mind (they have only become more scarce, gone up in value, and can be used to acquire food or provide defense). Even with things somewhat calm there are previously common calibers that you cannot get anywhere at any price.

If you’re alive, it isn’t too late.

Many folks I converse with on a regular basis feel it is too late to save, stockpile or do anything to prepare for hard times. I just can’t subscribe to that train of thought. If you are still able to draw breath, it is never to late to get started. None of these things are prohibitively expensive either. For example, when you break down the per-meal cost of Mountain House (in a #10 can, not pouches) it comes down to an average of $2.00 per person, per meal. You can knock that down even further if you buy the basics like rice, wheat, oats, legumes and spices and are willing to do a little cooking. Such foods can even be purchased pre-packaged in long-term storage buckets, and I dare say they taste a hell of a lot better in a home cooked meal.