Overlooked Preps: Salt is Wealth
billj 03.10.16
You use it for cooking, and you’re getting way too much of it if you eat any amount of processed food. Throughout most of history it has been so rare that it was used for currency in regions as diverse as China and Ethiopia. I’m talking, of course, about salt.
The Romans paid their soldiers in salt. The English “salary” comes from the Latin “salarium,” which is literally “salt money.” So if the SHTF tomorrow, how quickly would you run out of this substance that’s vital to the proper functioning of your body?
Most preppers totally overlook salt as an item to stockpile, probably because, as I mentioned above, most of what we eat is too high in sodium. We take salt for granted more than we take clean water and clean air for granted.
But without salt, you couldn’t replenish the salt that leaves your body via sweat and urine, and you’d eventually die. You typically need to consume about a pound and a half a year. And this is to say nothing of curing meat or even just making those beans you stockpiled edible.
So any serious prepper should be stockpiling large quantities of salt. In a SHTF scenario, you’ll be rich if you’ve got a hoard of salt. My guess is that salt could well be worth more than ammo in a barter scenario.
Bulk salt is so crazy cheap that there’s no reason not to stock a ton of it. You can get a 40-pound bag for a few bucks, depending on the type. So then the question is, what type?
Most preppers recommend stockpiling iodized salt, since it has iodine in it that helps your thyroid. Others like kosher salt because kosher is usually what you cure meats with.
Then there’s the issue of solar salt, which is incredibly pure salt that’s created through evaporation and is used for treating well water. Solar salt isn’t food grade, but depending on who you read the only reason it isn’t is that it hasn’t gone through whatever FDA approval process. If it’s over 99% pure salt, as advertised, there shouldn’t be anything wrong with ingesting it. Indeed Cargill gives the following answer in their FAQ the question of whether it’s safe to eat their water softener salt:
Although water softener pellets may be made from food grade salt, the pellet press process, itself, does not meet the criteria required to call the finished pellets “food grade.” Therefore, direct application of pellets in food processing is not recommended. Other water softening salt products like solar salt, rock salt, and brine blocks are not recommended for food application for the same reason.
So basically, there’s nothing wrong with using solar salt or water softener salt in your food, which means you can stock a few lifetimes worth of salt for you and your family for just a few bucks. Now head to the store and load up, because if TSHTF, it could be worth more than just about anything else you’ve prepped.
