PREP Salt-#1 best all time prep & barter item, PMR!

[BadMedicine]

I have said it before and I will say it again. I am here once again to expound on the virtues of salt as the #1 prep & barter item!

As a natural resource, hard to extract in most environments unless you have a natural salt bed. It is very labor intensive to extract from salt water.

Aside from being a necessary nutrient, it is a great food preservative and desicant. It can be barterd readily, but it's unlikely to be stolen or to have your stash pilfered as it will likely be several 100 or 1000 pounds. Water softener salt, completely food grade salt is available for about 5 bucks of 40 pounder. This would pickle a lot of vegetables, and preserve a lot of jerk meat and fish as well. Would be worth a lot exponentially more as a barter item for people who don't have it.This would pickle a lot of vegetables, and preserve a lot of jerk meat and fish as well. Would be worth a lot exponentially more as a barter item for people who don't have it. Anyone can invest in a bag or 2 of salt, or start buying a bag once a week. And no time you will have a nice pile, will also make nice sandbags in front of your favorite shooting window.

If it absorbs moisture it simply clumps up and can still be busted up and it used.It does not go bad, has a forever shelf life, and is very easy to store, no pests will break into it Lay their eggs in it, or cause it to spoil.

Many people know, and many people don't know, that the word salary comes from the Roman word for wages which meant salt wages. Soldiers were paid insult which the Romans had a monopoly on the mines, and they would take this to their far off Expeditions and barter in places where it was much more valuable than where they were paid in it. Salt was always a valuable commodity When it could be attained.

 

[1eagle]

95% of the population wouldn't know how to use salt beyond sprinkling it on their food.

 

[Walrus Whisperer]

I've got a couple buckets in my back room.

 

[hiwall]

I went on a salt buying spree when I first moved here. I wanted it to kill weeds. Everyone knows it kills plants. I spread about 1500 lbs on the rock area between the house and garage (maybe 2-3000 sq ft). Okay, the elk came and ate a little of it but the rest went into the soil.
I can't say it made the weeds grow better but is sure didn't hurt them any.
Now I store salt for other uses.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

I've been into history for a while. Generationally it wasn't all that long ago that in parts of central and western PA salt was trucked in on wagons in the summer after what roads available became passable. This was before canal and rail transport was available. The canals could only be used while not frozen and had limited reach. There was a salt brine spring that was tapped until transportation improved. That salt works has been lost to history.

Salt and sugar are valuable for food preservation, readily available, if handled properly both store well long term and at the moment relatively cheap. Granulated sugar will solidify over time.

 

[Seeker22]

Salt is a mineral. Geologists call it Halite. Precious stuff in hard times. I use it in tanning hides. And canning, of course.

 

[Illini Warrior]

there's salt caverns all around the country - one of the larger salt mining ops is under Detroit of all places ....

it wasn't just Hollyweird hokum that Kansas town of Jericho had a salt mine - there are and were many salt mines bordering the greater Mississippi River - the finished out mines are now rented out as deep cool dry storage facilities ....

 

[West]

Right on!

Stack it, rack it, and sit on it. Shelf life is good. Love my salt!

And suger! If I was a millionaire, I would stack tons of both in shipping containers, 40 footers. At least 6 -40 foot container for each!

Just musing..

 

[night driver]

Cleveland has more than 3 or 4 MAJOR salt company operations, AKZO and others. East of us along the lake and under the lake AT Cleveland there are salt mines. SOME of which have been converted to storage.

Best salt museum and such I know of (yeah I AM a bit provencal) is up in Solvay, NY near Syracuse. GREAT museum for how salt works worked.

 

[greysage]

I went on a salt buying spree when I first moved here. I wanted it to kill weeds. Everyone knows it kills plants. I spread about 1500 lbs on the rock area between the house and garage (maybe 2-3000 sq ft). Okay, the elk came and ate a little of it but the rest went into the soil.
I can't say it made the weeds grow better but is sure didn't hurt them any.
Now I store salt for other uses.

The state government and environmentalists have basically outlawed or discontinued road salt in favor of salt brine. Both of which destroy cars, but the brine is much worse, it works its way in everywhere. They claim it was bad for the environment.
Living decades in an area that salted the crap out of roads up until not too long ago, I can say the grass and weeds grow right up to the side of the road and even encroach on the road during the summer if not trimmed or mowed. The same goes for the wetlands and drainage areas near the roads. All lush and green in the summer time.

 

[Kewpie]

Yes, yes, YES!! My husband thinks I’m ridiculous (iodized, pink, black, Celtic, flake, coarse, fine) he thinks I go overboard and I’ll ‘never use it all’. Jokes on him, I go through it fairly frequently, and I’m about to experiment with salt curing meat and egg yolk. Watch how much I use THEN!!

 

[hiwall]

Our last house here in AZ was about 30 miles from an open-pit salt mine. You could walk there and see chunks of salt on the ground.

 

[AlaskaSue]

Good post. I've always bought by the 25# bag. A few of the stored bags of salt were lost in that spring fire; I need to get it replaced while I can

When I was part of a locavore group here, two of the members extracted salt from sea-water so I have that info now too. I do need to try doing that again.

 

[hiwall]

Don't forget those 50# salt blocks. I always keep a couple extras on hand. Plus I always keep one out in the field for the elk.
For end times what would be handier than having your meat source (elk, deer, etc) standing still in the location of your choice.

 

[West]

Don't forget those 50# salt blocks. I always keep a couple extras on hand. Plus I always keep one out in the field for the elk.
For end times what would be handier than having your meat source (elk, deer, etc) standing still in the location of your choice.

Right on!

 

[Ractivist]

Is it ok to use softner salt on meat? I do believe that's what the original post stated. I wonder how important which type is to be the best, with iron issues, etc....