Food Bartering

[Amish Heart]

I am going to assume that preppers have a good food stock already stored. In my opinion, I think a year is minimum. After that years worth of food runs out, it will need to be replenished. I believe that years storage should be continually replenished and not wait until you are in dire straights. To do that, you would have to produce a whole lot of different foods to replenish your stock, or possibly produce one or two items and live in a community where barter is safe and acceptable.
I believe that preppers should start now, and not wait till things are really really bad. Why? Because you have the ability now to try out production of something that can be bartered. And you get to know people in your community in good times that will be safe to barter with. So, how would you start something like this if you didn't barter before? Try giving something away....a loaf of baked bread, extra chicken or rabbit meat, chicken eggs, a loan of equipment that your neighbor needs....
Right now I have an excess of roosters, chicken meat, and chicken eggs. I trade those. I have received raw milk, fresh ground hamburger, ground sausage....This spring I will be incubating chicken eggs, and I will barter the chicks. Our turkey order of live chicks will be coming in in a few weeks, and when they're big enough, I'll be bartering butchered or unbutchered tom turkeys that I'll have in excess. My seed starts will be started in March in the greenhouse. I can barter tomato plants, squash plants, etc... I also make jerkey and many dehydrated products and mixes.
Is anyone else doing this or thinking about doing this?

 

[Schattentarn]

You are such a real prepper, Amish Heart. I wish I had 10% of this.

 

[Amish Heart]

Thanks, but come on, I want to encourage you guys. How about seasoned farmer's cheese? You can make a cup of it very easy in your kitchen (milk vinegar and maybe some garlic seasoning) and bring some to your neighbor. You can even make it out of powdered milk.
Anyone can raise some meat rabbits in your apartment. And believe it or not, people will buy the poop for fertilizer. Our son sold a grocery bag full of rabbit poop for $20.
I have a red wiggler worm farm in a tub. The worm casings can be mixed with water in a gallon jug for fertilizer tea.
Maybe I asked the wrong question. What can you produce that can be of value to you or your neighbor to trade?

 

[Arcticdude]

I trade beef, chicken and pork for things that I need. I've got a solar guy lined up to come out and check out my system this summer and add a propane generator to my well pump. I'm trading a beef and hunting rights on my property for elk this fall. No money out of my pocket. Every year we give each kid a half a beef, half pig and chickens.

 

[Illini Warrior]

I am going to assume that preppers have a good food stock already stored. In my opinion, I think a year is minimum. After that years worth of food runs out, it will need to be replenished. I believe that years storage should be continually replenished and not wait until you are in dire straights. To do that, you would have to produce a whole lot of different foods to replenish your stock, or possibly produce one or two items and live in a community where barter is safe and acceptable.
I believe that preppers should start now, and not wait till things are really really bad. Why? Because you have the ability now to try out production of something that can be bartered. And you get to know people in your community in good times that will be safe to barter with. So, how would you start something like this if you didn't barter before? Try giving something away....a loaf of baked bread, extra chicken or rabbit meat, chicken eggs, a loan of equipment that your neighbor needs....
Right now I have an excess of roosters, chicken meat, and chicken eggs. I trade those. I have received raw milk, fresh ground hamburger, ground sausage....This spring I will be incubating chicken eggs, and I will barter the chicks. Our turkey order of live chicks will be coming in in a few weeks, and when they're big enough, I'll be bartering butchered or unbutchered tom turkeys that I'll have in excess. My seed starts will be started in March in the greenhouse. I can barter tomato plants, squash plants, etc... I also make jerkey and many dehydrated products and mixes.
Is anyone else doing this or thinking about doing this?

a prepper's food stockpile is only a hedge until their self sufficiency plan kicks - and fills in any deficits thereafter >>> the plan kicks in the very second a pending SHTF so much as even looks serious ....

anybody that kicks back and runs their stockpile down without compensating has a totally wrong concept of prepping - YOU NEVER STOP PREPPING ....

a prepper never accepts the official or guess-ta-mation of the SHTF longevity - having a stockpile 2-3X that estimate can't ever be accepted >>> look at the damn current Virus SHTF - the REAL end is still not predictable ....

 

[Amish Heart]

Self sufficiency plans should continually be worked on. It's really difficult to do it all, but necessary if you live lone wolf. If you are living in a community, it is good to be able to fill a need, for instance, chicken and eggs. I know we have at least five times as many eggs as we need in a day, so that's an easy one for me. Our next door farm neighbors just came over for a visit. They have a freezer stored in one of our outbuildings and their inlaws freezer is in there, too. Our outbuilding is sturdy and has electricity. Our neighbors and their in laws are amish and don't have electricity. They just brought over 10 lbs of ground beef, some strawberry jam, home canned beets, 2 qts of peaches, a lb of jalepeno cheddar sausage, a loaf of home made honey wheat bread, and a pkg of hard candy. We supplied the electricity for their freezers, so it was a trade. We have some fence boards down on the property, and our neighbor offered to work with our grandson to get all the fencing repaired as soon as the weather warms up. From my cousin's place down the road, I came home with 2 gallons of raw milk, and I left 4 dozen eggs. I hear my cousin's daughter will be making mozzarella and fresh yogurt next week, and she'll make extra for us. She'll probably want to go to the bigger town shopping next week, and since it's far for horse and buggie, I'll drive her in my Challenger.
And absolutely, never stop prepping.

 

[Danil54grl]

I dont do a whole lot of bartering per say. I do some exchanging with a neighbor friend from time to time. I helped him with his college papers and will can up his tomatoes when he gets them from his garden every year. Give him some jellies and pickles. Let him borrow my tiller when needed. He does fabricating or fixes things when hunny is too busy. He made me my first cheese press, painted my tractor. . . we just kind of swipe back and forth. When I was milking Betsey. a friend would bring me eith feed or treats for her in exchange for the milk. We pick up pecans at a sons house in exchange for a pie. I know I could do a lot more bartering if I needed to, but right now it's just relatives and close friends.

 

[user 5884]

I dont do a whole lot of bartering per say. I do some exchanging with a neighbor friend from time to time. I helped him with his college papers...

I'm in a similar boat, exchanging services for food or other things. You can make a lot of friends with a baler or a brush hog, especially as large farms are subdivided into smaller parcels. They don't have the tools or skill set to manage what they've bought, but they may know their way around the tax code.

 

[Oddcaliber]

Looks like you're in a better position to barter than some of us. I'm stuck in the burbs living in an apartment with little space and no place to grow a garden. But somehow I will manage to muddle through.

 

[user 5884]

Thanks, though really I'm just lucky granddad had a place his kids didn't want to take on.

 

[Amish Heart]

Sounds like you're bartering good enough Danil! It's not exactly even, or not even expected, it just works. It's being a good neighbor or relative, but it can save your life when times get hard.

 

[Schattentarn]

I bartered some oak firewood for some trout with a neighbor once.

 

[Amish Heart]

That's a good barter. Having firewood to barter is always good. So far we've had to pay for our hedgewood, but it's from an old guy who needs the money. He brings it over and I always have our grandkids unload and stack it. We're old, too, but he's older.

 

[Mountain Dragon]

A direct edibles swap or trade is not directly feasible for me. Although I live in the country, I do not have land. And if I tear up the forecourt then I either have to drive my vehicle over the carrots or my landlord has already noticed and throws me out.
The problems just when you can not live on a property where your own garden is available but only live for rent (which is common in my country).
What I do have is enough food to be able to exchange some of it in the neighborhood or among friends if necessary. I have no specific barter items stored, but only stuff that I also use myself. The space is just limited.
Since I come professionally from the craft I hope with my skills to be able to offer something more to the exchange.

 

[Illini Warrior]

Self sufficiency plans should continually be worked on. It's really difficult to do it all, but necessary if you live lone wolf. If you are living in a community, it is good to be able to fill a need, for instance, chicken and eggs. I know we have at least five times as many eggs as we need in a day, so that's an easy one for me. Our next door farm neighbors just came over for a visit. They have a freezer stored in one of our outbuildings and their inlaws freezer is in there, too. Our outbuilding is sturdy and has electricity. Our neighbors and their in laws are amish and don't have electricity. They just brought over 10 lbs of ground beef, some strawberry jam, home canned beets, 2 qts of peaches, a lb of jalepeno cheddar sausage, a loaf of home made honey wheat bread, and a pkg of hard candy. We supplied the electricity for their freezers, so it was a trade. We have some fence boards down on the property, and our neighbor offered to work with our grandson to get all the fencing repaired as soon as the weather warms up. From my cousin's place down the road, I came home with 2 gallons of raw milk, and I left 4 dozen eggs. I hear my cousin's daughter will be making mozzarella and fresh yogurt next week, and she'll make extra for us. She'll probably want to go to the bigger town shopping next week, and since it's far for horse and buggie, I'll drive her in my Challenger.
And absolutely, never stop prepping.

self sufficiency plans are just that - you don't have to have chicken 1 to have a flock & eggs figured into your planning - same with a garden - a waste disposal system - alternative heating/cooking method - water catchment - ect ect

just because a prepper doesn't live it doesn't mean they can't have it when necessary - takes planning !!!!!

 

[Amish Heart]

I think it's a good idea to live some of it now. Even with all the planning in the world, a lifestyle change would be difficult to do in an instant. Another idea is trade some labor with a farmer or tradesman near you. You can trade your labor right now, so you know what you can do on your own later. Reading about growing vegetables, buying seeds, and then leaving it at that will not do. You will not be a gardener unless you practice. And if you become a gardener, maybe you'll be able to provide some food for yourself, and some to trade for other things that you need.
I've never understood the thinking to buy things you don't normally use to barter with. If you don't normally use it, why would anyone else? I get that buying cigarettes and alcohol for barter, that you would not use is promoted in prepper speak, but why not have extra food on hand above your preps that you can barter with. It doesn't have to always be the "luxury items". I was living outside a large city last March when the shutdowns in that state started. We had always raised lots of fowl and grown a big garden on the acre we had there. Our stores were out of eggs, milk, meat, and bread, and there were very long lines just to get in the store. I had neighbors and friends needing the eggs we could supply, and people were wanting chicks...the feed stores sold out in a week and couldn't get anymore. Even though I knew we were moving to our farm four months from then, I kept our incubator going to supply chicks...I did four hatching groups, and they would go in one day to people that needed them. Newbies, that never had chickens before, but were tired of the shortages. Start with something you can do now.

 

[bigpaul]

I dont barter food, I tried back along but got no takers so I wont waste my time again.
people here only get their food from the supermarket, if it dosent come in plastic packaging they wont eat it.
wife once gave someone an apple straight off the tree and the persons jaw dropped, they didnt know apples grow on trees!!

 

[Amish Heart]

Wow, that's crazy, bigpaul. Well, if you have extra apples again, can them or dehydrate them. I live in a community where people use cash and barter. I'd say some would think we're behind in the times, but actually we are ahead because of what is coming.

 

[Amish Heart]

Oh, well, I tried.
Bye guys.

 

[bigpaul]

Wow, that's crazy, bigpaul. Well, if you have extra apples again, can them or dehydrate them. I live in a community where people use cash and barter. I'd say some would think we're behind in the times, but actually we are ahead because of what is coming.

we have access to foraging being out in the British countryside, when we first came here we use to see some people including kids picking stuff but I havent seen anyone doing it for years, I guess we have it all to ourselves now.