I think your timeline might be a little off. First off, in a situation like you're describing--a disaster that causes complete economic collapse--it's going to take more than a few months to get regular crops going again. There will be areas where food is plentiful. Your gold and silver economy works fine there. But there'll also be areas where, for whatever reason, the local farmers mostly died off. Or their farming equipment doesn't work anymore, and no one knows how to repair it because the manufacturer kept their hardware and software proprietary. Or their crops were dependent on shipments of specialized fertilizer because they were genetically engineered. Situations like that are going to be widespread, and if you're stuck in an area where that's the case, your gold and silver will be worth exactly what it is--rocks--because no one will be willing to part with their food stores.
Even in the case of a truly sci-fi disaster like the nitrogen-eating blight in "Interstellar" there's still going to be trade and economics happening after the initial shock.
It makes absolutely zero sense to barter bulk commodities when there's a pretty universally agreed on "valuable metal" that can serve as a fairly secure proxy.
Even just from an energy standpoint gold makes sense. Why bring 4 cases of ammo for 2 pallets for food, at your fuel cost to move it, when you can bring a jeans pocket worth of gold.
You have to survive the 2-3 years of devastating famine to get to the point where barter is even an option. Like I said, you're not exactly wrong, but your timetable is way too optimistic.
At a certain level of disaster I don't even really think in terms of any of this mattering, and what you're describing is like "we got hit by an asteroid and it was dinosaur killer tier". It's so far out of anything even plannable I don't even consider it. If you or yours survive it you might be a dominant gene line in the future - but you're probably not gonna survive it.
So like "prep to live in a hole for 2-3 years until the zombies/ash/salted bomb fallout subsides" is to me kinda laughable, it's the stretchiest of stretch goals.
On the other hand, a month of supplies to ride thru a weather disaster, trucker strike, civil unrest, etc is just smart thinking.
No, I just outlined what's going to cause the food shortages: crops dying due to being genetically engineered and farm equipment being impossible to repair by design. All it would take is an EMP, and there'd be 2-3 months where people hunker down, and then it'll be all out war for resources.
We've gone entire generations without a real famine. In the past, our ancestors regularly dealt with them. This isn't an 'if' it's a 'when.' It's been engineered to happen. Unless you have at least a year's worth of food stocked up, or the rare knowledge on how to properly hunt and forage for it, someone in the future is going to find your desiccated husk of a corpse clutching at your gold.
I think your timeline might be a little off. First off, in a situation like you're describing--a disaster that causes complete economic collapse--it's going to take more than a few months to get regular crops going again. There will be areas where food is plentiful. Your gold and silver economy works fine there. But there'll also be areas where, for whatever reason, the local farmers mostly died off. Or their farming equipment doesn't work anymore, and no one knows how to repair it because the manufacturer kept their hardware and software proprietary. Or their crops were dependent on shipments of specialized fertilizer because they were genetically engineered. Situations like that are going to be widespread, and if you're stuck in an area where that's the case, your gold and silver will be worth exactly what it is--rocks--because no one will be willing to part with their food stores.
Even in the case of a truly sci-fi disaster like the nitrogen-eating blight in "Interstellar" there's still going to be trade and economics happening after the initial shock.
It makes absolutely zero sense to barter bulk commodities when there's a pretty universally agreed on "valuable metal" that can serve as a fairly secure proxy.
Even just from an energy standpoint gold makes sense. Why bring 4 cases of ammo for 2 pallets for food, at your fuel cost to move it, when you can bring a jeans pocket worth of gold.
You have to survive the 2-3 years of devastating famine to get to the point where barter is even an option. Like I said, you're not exactly wrong, but your timetable is way too optimistic.
At a certain level of disaster I don't even really think in terms of any of this mattering, and what you're describing is like "we got hit by an asteroid and it was dinosaur killer tier". It's so far out of anything even plannable I don't even consider it. If you or yours survive it you might be a dominant gene line in the future - but you're probably not gonna survive it.
So like "prep to live in a hole for 2-3 years until the zombies/ash/salted bomb fallout subsides" is to me kinda laughable, it's the stretchiest of stretch goals.
On the other hand, a month of supplies to ride thru a weather disaster, trucker strike, civil unrest, etc is just smart thinking.
No, I just outlined what's going to cause the food shortages: crops dying due to being genetically engineered and farm equipment being impossible to repair by design. All it would take is an EMP, and there'd be 2-3 months where people hunker down, and then it'll be all out war for resources.
We've gone entire generations without a real famine. In the past, our ancestors regularly dealt with them. This isn't an 'if' it's a 'when.' It's been engineered to happen. Unless you have at least a year's worth of food stocked up, or the rare knowledge on how to properly hunt and forage for it, someone in the future is going to find your desiccated husk of a corpse clutching at your gold.