Finding Food in the City

There is an advantage of finding food in an urban environment compared to the wild. In the wild, you have to hunt and trap food. And after you do that you have to clean, gut and cook it. But in an urban environment you really just have to find it. Most people might think grocery stores are a good idea, but most likely the produce and meats are going to be spoiled and very unhealthy to consume. Water and most beverages will most likely have been taken due to riots and scavengers before you. But you might be able to find some sealed dry goods or cans of vegetables and meats but always trusts your senses of sight, smell and taste before consuming.

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If you are on the move, there're lots of motels and convenience stores around, and it is possible that vending machines still might have food in them. Just take a rock to be safe and smash the glass if the city has already been raided. In houses that are abandoned, you could also scavenge through the Hubbard's and pantries for dry goods but never take anything that looks spoiled. If you are desperate for food, and you looked at all of these places, you could start looking in workplaces for stashed snacks in desks, but it would probably be better just to move forward.

 

Many people used to breed rabbits for food in an urban environment. Rabbits are good in that they eat grass and leaves, but they are not large like a cow or a goat. If you had an airgun or slingshot you could shoot squirrels.

 

This is an anecdote of our housemaid's brother in Leyte when it was hit by a tsunami in 2013. Remember typhoon Yolanda? There were thousands of dead people almost everywhere. And after 2 days, those who survived were facing the prospect of going hungry. Everyone was searching for food and those with stores couldn't do anything when the people ransacked their storage for food items. Aside from the dead due to the rampaging sea waters, there were also a lot who died from hunger.

Our housemaid's brother joined a group who went to the capital to raid the big mall. There were no guards and the Robinsons mall was closed but people have their way so they were able to enter. It was really funny when the brother came home with the loot... a videoke microphone plus some musical CDs. And since there was no electricity, that videoke microphone has no use. With food? The mall was empty, said the brother.

 

In the city, in my experience, when disaster strikes and your homestead is safe to still inhabit, stay there. There will be looters, thugs, criminals, and those that have not taken the time to prepare like us preppers have. If you still have electricity or are still using candles, I would suggest using them at a minimum because people often think that if people are somewhere and are staying there, that there are likely things like food that they will try to get by begging, stealing, or force.

 

In my town, I don't think there would be too much rioting. However, there is nothing to say outsiders would not come in and riot. During the Great Depression, I heard of city dwellers going through trash cans looking for half eaten food. Hopefully, I would be with my brother and his family where we would pool our resources. Then together we would decide what to do after our food is gone. I trust these people and we would find a way to keep each other fed.

 

finding food in the city will likely be possible by armed gangs after a couple days, and they wont be finding it, they will be stealing it.
Unless there is a FEMA Camp in your city.
when i woke up to the new world order i was panicked, i felt like i was very late to the party, and as i dont have money for a bunker-endless food and weapons stockpiles, i focused on alternative ways to prepare for everything.
a blessing in disguise!
i focused on learning things that i could make work for me, on scavenged stuff- one of those things was aquaponics, unfortunately i had to move suddenly, so its all been broken down and is in storage.
but it can be done in the city, even in an apartment-although you would likely need a bit more space.
I got a 1000lts IBC container for $50 (actually several), and a grow medium (dirt-without the dirt).
add water, seeds, fish, worm, solar pump, fish in the IBC, for my area a hybrid tilapia are best, grow fast, with each 1000lts producing 250kg (550lbs) a year, the water from the fish is pumped into the grow medium, where worms also live, they eat the large pieces of waste, turning it into liquid fertilizer the plants can eat, the plants purify the water for the fish-and ecosystem.
you can even grow the food for the fish in a kiddie pool-plus they will eat scarps of anything.
i supplemented my tanks with solar bug zappers, with the bottoms removed-so they fall into fish, crawdads, shrimp, even muscles, they even have Australian blue claw crayfish, that rival the size of lobsters.
catfish are also easy-but again get something that is easy in your area.
the tilapia are the most consumed fish in the USA, they will breed in the tanks very fast (all male tanks are preferred-female fish make the males start to fight and act stupid-imagine that!
worms also will adjust themselves to the correct #s.
once you get it going, it runs itself.
ive actually met someone here in mexico who has an underwear tank at their house, the top is off though, the water is black, they have never fed the fish, and they constantly pull out huge ones to eat.
in lakes or ponds you can get higher yields.

 

also pigeons.
many in cities consider them flying rats, that means more for you!
actually people ate pigeons for 100s of years, my guess is thats why they are everywhere.
there are many ways to catch them, here is how to catch birds with a rubber band and coke can.
bon appetit!

 

good point, a bird raised on ciggarette butts might not be the best option, but if its the only one...........

 

personally i am vegetarian, actually pescetarian, but dont wanna explain that everytime, but i agree dont eat their dropping!

but this is a serious issue considering recent news.
"Zoos are forced to slaughter animals to feed others in Venezuela, where bone-thin pumas have become the face of the crisis

• Emaciated animals at Venezuela's zoos reflect the country's economic collapse
• Rising numbers of desperate people are eating dogs, with prisoners eating rats
• Venezuela's economy has collapsed in recent months causing poverty to spiral
• Food shortages are growing amid a mass migration from the country
• The government of President Maduro meanwhile faces further U.S. sanctions
  
  And

"Heartbreaking images reveal the human face of hunger in Yemen: SIX MILLION people are on the brink of starvation as war ravages the desperate country"

but yes i guess they really are flying rats.

also all the dangers about pidgeon are with "ferral" populations.
you can safely raise those to-even let them fly around, as long as they know home is where fresh water and bird seed is, so toxic water and ciggarette butts are not in their diet.
but you can buy them from breeders (they are called squabs), and maybe you can use them for communication too?

here is a guide on raising substainable squab raising from the Australian Gov.
It even includes some recipes.
https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/213221/Squab-raising.pdf

Martha Stewart even has a thing about Pigeons that says
"..pigeons (and their dove cousins) are intelligent, gentle birds that make great pets. Keeping these birds happy and healthy is simple!"
https://www.marthastewart.com/334394/pigeons-101

In the 90s cuba was facing a major food shortage after the collapse of the USSR, and the people to started saving seeds, planting gardens anywhere and everywhere they could, many say by the time they started producing fruits and vegetables, it was just enough to keep people on the brink of starvation alive. the gov took notice and instituted programs , and now cubas gardens are world renowed, even a tourist attraction.


also most of the world eats bugs, ive had crickets, just crunchy, and grasshoppers, chocolatey (choclate covered grasshoppers)

also this question is very variable, depending on climate etc, maybe the big lesson from this post, is it will get very serious very quick if your not prepared.

 

The fact is that in urban areas cats rats and dogs along with a few squirrel birds and pigeons about covers the available wildlife that you can eat. I would worry about trying to grow a traditional garden. Hungry people are not going to let it alone and defending it may cost you more than it is worth.

After the very first rush the obvious places that have large food supplies will most likely be taken and occupied by well armed people that are NOT going to be big on sharing. Warehouses connected to the military and reserve or national guard will also not be good places to go for the same reason.

Actually food isn't going to be your big problem. Even 400 calories a day will keep you alive and going for longer than most big cities are going to survive as occupied places. No clean water, no sewer, no cops, no firemen, gangs, fires and then the diseases that will come from people throwing their waste out in the street along with the bodies of the dead will make cities a deadly trap in less time than lack of food making starvation an issue for the masses.

 

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ETA: Part of this post was re-posted from one of my posts in another thread a couple of weeks ago. My apologies if you have seen it before. I re-posted the info for new members that may be seeing this thread, and because some popular prepper beliefs need to be explored in the light of historical accounts. Truth is, the account described below is nowhere near as severe as we may be facing in the near future...

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Many will be surprised at how scarce rats will be for food during a prolonged SHTF situation. History proved this fact during the American Civil War days (and during other perilous times). At that time the general population knew more about gardening and hunting than most folks do today, yet rats fetched a high price in the market.

Historical accounts have a way of exposing--and exploding--many popular prepper beliefs and myths. This one, in particular, is impressive since it is relatively recent and on home soil.

Here is an eye-opening excerpt from the book, Ersatz in the Confederacy by Mary Elizabeth Massey, to chew on:

"With meat practically nonexistent, fishing tackle scarce, and ammunition for hunting purposes hard to obtain, other substitutes had to be found. By the fall of 1864 things had come to such a pass that one (newspaper) editor suggested his readers resort to eating rats, frogs, fried snails, young crow, snakes, locusts, earthworms, cats and dogs... By this time many Confederates had already been eating these things. Rats had become an item in the diet of many. President Davis was quoted as saying that he saw no reason for not eating them, for he thought they would be "as good as squirrels." They were eaten in quantity by the besieged citizens of Vicksburg. On the eve of the capitulation of that city, a lady noted that rats were "hanging dressed in the market for sale...there is nothing else." They sometimes brought as much as $2.50 each. In Richmond, too, they found their way to the tables, while recipes for cooking them were circulated among the women."

Imagine that! Even rats were in scarce supply, along with everything else that could be hunted...so much, that rats became an expensive market item. $2.50 was a LOT of money for that time period. ONE RAT = ALMOST $40 in today's dollars!!!!

http://www.in2013dollars.com/1865-do...18?amount=2.50

 

There have been a lot of times and places that regular people had to go to "alternative" sources for their meat. In the Depression in the 20s people were dirt poor and just had no money to send in meat markets. where you lived you ate what was easy to get there. the "Hoover Hog, Poverty Pigs and Poor man's pig" were all euphemisms for all sorts of various animals like jack rabbits or in Texas armadillos.

I was raised in swamp country around and with Cajuns. Let me tell you, Cajuns will will cook and eat anything and make it ALL good. Tree Rats (Squirrels), swamp rats( Nutria) , Gators, Armadillos, Raccoons Possums, Alligator Gar, Logger Head Alligator snapping turtles, Snakes, Frogs, Crawfish... you name it and they eat it. there are no cows, sheep or goats in a swamp don't you know. I was raised eating Cajun. that is one reason that I am always saying that I'll never be hungry. If it walks, crawls, swims, flies or slithers I'll make gumbo out of it!

Too many people have the idea that only the food and animals that they eat are eatable. They are going to starve to death hunting a McDonald's after things go down. Food is food and people can, do and enjoy eating nearly anything that you can imagine and some things that you would prefer not to imagine somewhere. If your family is truly hungry don't forget the pet food isle in the stores. The animals in America eat better and safer food in the US than most of the poor people in the world!

Another place that you will want to hit for food is the farm and ranch feed stores. Sweet Feed for horses is whole grains and molasses. It tastes pretty good as is but you can boil it and it is really good. Deer corn is just dried whole kernel corn; eat it as is cooked several ways or grind it into various grades of corn meal. Feed wheat, soy beans... it is all eatable.

You seriously need to have some real metal rat traps set aside in your survival supplies. They are serious tools and will catch all sorts of small critters and will put meat in the pots more dependably at first than small snares. I've snared rats and trapping is easier and doesn't take as much practice. Four of these traps in under 20 dollars and will last a long time. Eight of them will feed a family once you find the places to put them. Just make sure that you tie them in place with wire so a wounded critter bigger than a rat doesn't get their nose caught and run off with your trap.


https://www.amazon.com/made2catch-C...ateway&sprefix=steel+rat+traps,aps,281&sr=8-6