I gotta disagree with your theory on pocket change. I've been thinking about it for a couple of days now - and the majority of it is still FIAT money. Sure, there's some metal value in it - nickel. But, by and large, the rest of it is not made of anything very valuable - not even copper.
So, unless your "pocket change" actually has 40% or 90% silver, as indicated by the right year & mint marks - it's going to be worth it's value in weight, and not much more. What does 1 ton of tin go for on the metals markets? IDK, I don't care - I don't want a ton of tin.
Food rations will be far more valuable that old, useless, FIAT coins - unless they are silver, or MAYBE nickel.
I have my fair share of silver, but the Pocket Change I refer to isn't about the melt value or the value of the metal, just like paper debt notes aren't about the paper having Silver threads... It's more about having a Medium of Exchange that most people have "some" of... When the Paper and Digital Fiat crashes, we'll surely need something most people have in a jar at home...@pocketechange