Cold Snap Prep: Barter Smarts And Basics

A deep freeze is rolling across the East Coast and we’re using the cold snap as a stress test for practical preparedness. From closing foundation vents and trickling faucets to moving the flock into the garage, we break down the simple moves that keep a small problem from becoming a costly mess. That real-world lens leads straight into value: when silver rockets past your budget, what actually trades when the grid is down and nerves are up?

We walk through a no-nonsense barter list built on human needs and speed: coffee for comfort and caffeine, lighters and waterproof matches for instant fire, batteries for light and comms, and mini liquor bottles that double as morale and basic antiseptic. We add feminine hygiene, heirloom seeds that compound into future harvests, contractor bags and paracord for shelter and sanitation, honey packets for wound care and calories, glow sticks for signaling and kid management, journals and pens for records and calm, condoms for prevention and waterproofing, and compact multi-tools that keep small failures from becoming big ones. Along the way, we address the legal risk landscape around prescription medications, why over-the-counter meds belong in every kit, and how to package and store items so they are trade-ready and durable.

Then we get to the heart of it: skills beat stuff. If you can revive a generator, patch a roof, tune a small engine, or mend clothing, you don’t just barter—you set terms. But leverage without ethics backfires. Fair dealing builds community memory in your favor; gouging gets you iced out when you need help most. If you’re staring at a weather map and a rising silver price, consider this your cue to stock small, useful items, sharpen a practical skill, and invest in a reputation that pays dividends when it matters. If this helped your plan, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a quick review—what’s your number one barter pick right now?

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Weather Warning
• 0:49 Protecting Home And Chickens
• 1:57 Silver Spikes And Barter Reality
• 3:03 Fifteen Practical Barter Items
• 8:44 Legal Risks Of Prescription Meds
• 9:57 Fair Dealing And Community Ethics
• 9:58 Closing And Cold-Weather Reminders

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:17

To the Common Sense Practical Prepper Podcast, where priming doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. Coming to you from a well-defended off-grid compound high in the mountains. Coming to you from his Florida room in Richmond, Virginia. Neither off-grid nor well-defended, unless you count as chickens and cats, here is your host, Keith.

SPEAKER_01: 0:41

Hey all, this is Keith, and welcome back to the Common Sense Practical Prepper Podcast, December 13th, 2025. Sunday night and Monday night here in Central Virginia, and most of the eastern seaboard is going to get hit with some very cold weather. We're looking at 10 to 12 degrees for a low Sunday and Monday. So I've got a few things I need to do around the house. The chickens have been inside at night in the garage. Usually when it gets down to about 20 or so, I'll bring them in. Especially Blossom, one of my blue Azores, she decided to molt about a month ago, and she hardly has any feathers, the poor thing. So her and the golden comets are in like a little dog pen in the garage, and they're loving life because it gets down to about 40, 45 degrees in the garage. Really worried about these temps getting down into the 10s and the 15s. Make sure I've got some water running. Make sure I check the crawl space and the foundation vents to make sure they're all closed up. My heat pump, usually when it gets below 20 degrees, the heat pump will not catch up. So that's gonna just gonna be a waste of energy. But that's what hoodies and pajamas and thick socks are for. All right, let's talk a little bit about bartering in the sense of I've spoken about silver several times as far as a bartering item. Well, Friday, silver hit$65.02 per ounce briefly, and then retreated a little bit. I believe it ended up stopping about$61 and some change. Again, still priced itself out of my price range, out of my budget. So silver is not something that I am gonna be bartering with anytime soon. So I'm looking at some other options, very basic options, nothing too crazy. And again, when we talk about bartering, it's what you have that somebody wants, or vice versa. I cannot say that a gallon of gas is worth five freeze-dried backpacking meals. Again, it's entirely up to what you have and what they want, and vice versa. So there's no clear price, in a sense, of what things might cost. Different people in different situations. Okay, let's go through 15. Number one, coffee, whole bean coffee or instant coffee. They have freeze-dried instant coffee. Isn't that like Folgers or Taster's choice? But you can do that. You can take your coffee and freeze-dry it just to get what little moisture out of it there might be, if any, and then go ahead and put it in Mylar bags and vacuum seal it into little blocks. I think when push comes to shove, you might be able to get a pretty good price barter-wise for a pound of coffee. Number two, tobacco, rolling pouches, cigarillos. Again, I don't smoke, don't know a whole lot about that, but something to consider. Number three, lighters. The bic lighter, the things you light your grill with or light candles with, I call them clickers. Uh whatever the big bendy thing where you can light things up. I call them clickers. I found those at Costco, like a six-pack of clickers for like eight dollars. Stock up on those. They don't go bad, but again, people aren't prepared. 90% of the folks out there are not prepared for a 72-hour grid-down situation or a 72-hour SHTF situation. So you really might be surprised when somebody comes up to you and says, Do you have a lighter? It may seem very basic to you, but there's your opportunity to see if they have something to trade as well. Batteries, double A, triple A, even some C's, some D's, some 12 volts. You can get those on Amazon, Amazon Basics, Costco, Sam's Club, Walmart. Look for sales. They're dirt cheap, especially when they're on sale. Number five, medication. So we have over-the-counter, ibuprofen 800s, imodium, benadryl, electrolytes, all sorts of things. So let's talk about prescription medication. Now, the law, federal law, is crystal clear. The FDA bans unapproved imports of prescription medication. Doxycycline, zithromycin, ivermectin, anything that you would need a prescription for in the United States that you can order online from overseas without a prescription, basically you're breaking the law. I'm not telling anybody to break the law. Customs and border control don't go through every single package or every single envelope that comes from overseas looking for prescription medication. There are not a lot of arrests by DOJ for these types of offenses. They have bigger fish to fry. Many times you'll get a warning letter, a slap on the wrist saying don't do that again, and they toss their meds. Again, I'm not telling anybody to break the law, but there are sites like Reliable RX, they have been around forever. They've never been busted in that sense. Their medication, CIPLA, ethromycin, all of their generics that they make. And a lot of these companies in India make a large percentage of generics that are shipped all over the world legally, except we have to buy them with a prescription at the pharmacy for 10 times the price that it costs if you purchase directly from them. So, in full disclosure, buying any prescription medication without a prescription overseas is a violation of federal code. Weigh your risks, but don't pretend the world is waiting for your permission. That's the best way I can put it. Number six, airline bottles of liquor. The little booze minis, 55 milliliter vodka, fireball. Vodka cleans wounds, raises morale. Seven, often overlooked, feminine hygiene, tampons, pads. Number eight, heirloom seeds. Mylar packs of heirloom seeds, beans, or tomatoes, one envelope can technically feed a family forever. Nine, condoms. Waterproof. The rest goes without saying. Guess when the power goes out, people get bored. Number ten, kind of a combo. Trash bags, in addition to trash bags, the heavy black contractor bags, paracord, black contractor bags, and paracord can make a makeshift shelter, and paracord has many, many uses. 11. Little packs of honey that you can get at fast food restaurants. It's very good as a wound salve, and it's a great little boost to your oatmeal, other types of food. Gives it a little bit more flavor. 12. Journals and pens, especially for little kids. It keeps them busy and keeps them out of trouble. 13. Glow sticks, chemical night sticks. They do provide a little bit of light. They can be used for signaling, and you can give them to the kids. 14. Waterproof matches. Strike anywhere, put them in a waterproof tin, a little mint tin, and you're good to go. 15. A multi-tool on a keychain. I had no idea they'd make these, but they make multi-tools that are very, very small that you can actually put on a keychain. A lot of people have those little neck knives. It's a chain or a piece of paracord with a very tiny knife on it. You can kind of pull it out. I guess they do the same with keychain size multi-tools. Tiny pliers, tiny knife, a little bit driver, fixes bikes, does all sorts of things. Alright, folks, thanks for stopping by. I really do appreciate it. Again, I was thinking about silver and I'm thinking about other options that we have for bartering. Now these are physical swaps. So this is medication for a gallon of gas. This is a ferro rod and a couple clickers for some freeze-dried meals. I've spoken about skills before. Skills are priceless. If you know how to sew, your handyman, small engine repair, you can work on a generator, work on a mower, patch a roof, carpentry, anything like that goes well above and beyond what you can barter physical items with. If someone has a hole in the roof or somebody's generator will not start, and you know how to fix the generator, again, you could probably just name your price, but be respectful. Don't be greedy because you never know when the tables are turned. You have to go to that person and there's something that you need that they have. Don't be a jackass about it, because if you have to go back to them, they're gonna remember that you were a douchebag and they're either not going to barter with you or the price is gonna go absolutely through the roof. All right, folks, I appreciate everybody stopping by. Thank you so much. If you're here on the East Coast, don't forget your flannel jammies because it's going to get cold. All right, folks, as always, be careful out there, take care of one another, and until next time.

SPEAKER_00: 10:10

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