Bartering is literally as old as human-kind; there are records of bartering going back to the earliest known forms of recorded history.

Here are some items that would be very useful in a bartering situation that you should include as part of your survival supplies stockpile.

Salt intake is essential for our bodies to function. In long-term disaster situations, salt will preserve meat, you can gargle it for a sore throat, use it to brush your teeth, as a pain reliever for insect bites and more. With 14,000 known uses for salt, it is potentially your best barter item.

Toilet paper – If you’ve got some to spare, you’ll be everybody’s best friend. Just be mindful, toilet paper consumes a lot of real estate. If you don’t have adequate storage, toilet tissue may not be the best barter item for you to stockpile.

Water Purification Supplies are high value barter items. Pure drinking water will be at a premium. Water filters, iodine tablets and bleach will help purify water.

Along the same lines, adequate containers to hold water will be difficult to find. Think heavy duty jugs and/or canteens.

Services may be your best barter asset during troubled times. If you can garden, bake, build things, fix broken things, hunt, fish, cut hair, sew, etc. you’ll attract a steady stream of people willing to barter.

After a major survival incident, stuff we take for granted will slowly deplete if the situation extends long enough.

When that happens, common stuff will become “priceless.”

That is where bartering comes in and why you need to consider stockpiling these items now, before everyone needs them.

To learn more about bartering, check out Practical Survival.