I have a friend that lives off grid. He is solared up, he and his wife grow and preserve thier foods. They hunt together, preserve the meats and use the other animal parts for what he calls "trinkets and such" that they sell at local craft fairs.
I was pretty facinated when we first met and after a year of asking questions I am thinking these are two of the wisest people I know. When I asked him if they did this while the kids were young he said NO, but wish we had.
I asked if he was prepared for the senario we always hear about when the SHTF. He just laughed and said nope, that is not likely to happen in my lifetime. Here is his interesting take on prepping for life

People have been preparing for the SHTF senario since the 50's when they started building personal bomb shelters everywhere. No one benefitted from that except the folks selling the materials. But do you know what has happened in the following 60 years? 10 recessions in the United States alone.
We didn't get bombed, we didn't lose our power grid. We just lost our own power. The power to choose a sustainable life. Everyone wanted, bigger and better. Heck in the 80/90's it was almost unheard of to be buying anything used. Now even our kids want the latest and greatest.

Me, I am not totally set up for off the grid but I have a wood stove and I have an old well that is capped off, on the property, I know it is still viable because it still leaks at the overflow sometimes after a good hard rain. I grow a small garden and am looking at learning to can because I dont have a lot of freezer space but plenty of room to build a small root cellar.
So I am thinking I am set up ok.

At that point my buddy laughed and said Yup, your sitting pretty as long as Donnie is there with you. HUH??? Even with my disabilities, I have learned to chop wood and I can plant food. Heck, I could even shoot and clean a turkey or a goose right here on our land! I have learned a lot about natural medicines and what plants I would need to find or cultivate for it.
Again he is just grinning at me like I have two heads. He asks just one question, what do you have to barter?

The dollar becomes worthless, it is a time just like the great depression. The world doesnt fall apart so you can still have whatever you want...IF you can pay for it!
So you could grow wheat...can you mill it?
What happens if the wood stove needs fixed? Can you repair it?
Can you fix plumbing if you need to?
What do you have to offer if you need these things done?

Now I am laughing, my marketable skills are insurance adjuster, massage therapist, banker and web site owner. Not right up there with things needed for someone else to sustain thier lives. I could barter my food, my water and then where does that leave me? For a short time I could even barter away my knives. I have a forge, anvils and about any form of tool you might be looking for but my friend is right, Donnie has the skills for those not me.

So here is my question
What do you have to barter??????