There's all kinds of other stuff, such as a trades education, maybe some diesel motors, a set of good tools, anything productive really. Chemistry textbooks could prove most useful down the road. Metals and guns is just the beginning. In terms of serious investing, look to stuff that retains trading value in the face of hyper inflation. Stuff that makes real physical stuff, like food. Food always has a trading value. Plumbers and electricians, and doctors, etc, are always in demand no matter what happens to the economy. I call that investing in real goods and services. It's the virtual stuff, paper assets, that are at the greatest risk of going to zero. Land is another thing that always has some trading value. It may go up or down, but almost never goes to zero barring some ecological catastrophe or something.