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1982 and older pennies are worth ~3 cents and all nickels are ~7 cents.
http://coinapps.com/base-metal/coin/calculator/

Unfortunately I can't buy anything without the change being what it is

Pull those out and separate them, if the banks collapse they will be worth more as metal than face value.
Right now it is illegal to melt them down.

Nickel has copper

Yes, and it's metal value is over 7 cents.

I agree by now