9 Places to Find Food After a Collapse of Society

originally posted by: yuppa

originally posted by: musicismagic
The nuclear plants are the main concern.

Who will maintain them?

Most will just go cold,a few might melt down,but not explode like a nuke,just release alot of steam.

By the way, dumbest thing I've heard in years. Sorry, that came off as very rude. But the number of reactors and the long half-life of plutonium is life alternating in a disasterous time. We're talking extreme swaths of unusable land.

I'm gonna listen to this guy:



He knew about the pandemic back in 2014 so...maybe he's got it all sorted out!

source

With my luck, I would raid an aquarium and there would be one sea turtle in there. I would find it to be the most delicious thing that I ever ate, and I would never get to eat one again.

Hunt
Fish
Trotline
Trap
Gather
Garden
With that , who needs dog food from a kennel .
Give me 30 minutes in the woods and I will prepare some of the best stew one ever had .

originally posted by: sine.nomine

originally posted by: yuppa

originally posted by: musicismagic
The nuclear plants are the main concern.

Who will maintain them?

Most will just go cold,a few might melt down,but not explode like a nuke,just release alot of steam.

By the way, dumbest thing I've heard in years. Sorry, that came off as very rude. But the number of reactors and the long half-life of plutonium is life alternating in a disasterous time. We're talking extreme swaths of unusable land.

No you would be wrong. I posted links before on ATS they did studies on and most would go offline. the rods would cool within a week of automatic shut downs in most of them. Not RAD WISE,but heat wise.

The following is a website reply,ill drop the link again after.

No, probably.
Here's why:

Nuclear power plants will be unlikely to go into a meltdown scenario in the event of operators' absence. After several days, most will shut themselves down if they have not received maintenance. However it is plausible that a lack of operators combined with some hitherto undiagnosed problem with the cooling cycle or systems could begin a series of events that lead to a meltdown.

Nuclear power plants are already some of the most failure-redundant systems we have. Such events as mass strikes, earthquakes, power surges are all planned for as a matter of course. A properly-designed nuclear plant would be much less likely to explode without human contact than some other things in cities such as

Gas works
Coal/Gas power plants
Sewage treatment centers
Oil refineries
Even if there is a runaway heating without humans present, there are several redundant cooling systems that can replace each other. Computers can dump the control rods if a large meltdown starts to occur, and even if the core burns though the container, it will be caught in a 'core-catcher'—a structure designed to stop radiation from escaping in the event of an accident.

However, in the unlikely case that damage does occur, what can we expect? Well. A nuclear reactor will not go off like an atomic bomb, because the fuel is not in a pressure container. The most likely scenario is that a runaway reaction would cause the fuel to melt through the bottom of its container like a thermite charge, and drop onto the floor slowly sizzling away down into the concrete below. large fires would be set in the immediate vicinity by the intense heat, and localised explosions would throw radioactive debris around, which could be moved several hundred kilometers by the winds to affect a long but thin area with radioactivity. However, this would mostly be unnoticeable apart from in the nearest few km.

Source(s)Book: The world without us ISBN-10: 0753513579
en.wikipedia.org...

The site i go tthis from is: worldbuilding.stackexchange.com...

Now soem from a real expert in the field.
World nuclear association

So once again you are wrong on the widespread devastation.

a reply to: Mizzazz22

I notice all of your sources are in cities. So my advice to you is, if it gets that bad, don't bother. You're already dead.

Now, if you want some advice, the best advice I can give is get out of the city. Period. However it takes. Just get out, quickly, as quietly as possible, and stay out. I'm not talking suburbs, either... that's just what people want to be "out of the city" in their own mind, but without actually getting out of the city. Keep going until you see no more than 3 settlements, each one with fewer than 5 houses each, in a day's journey on foot.

Then you're outside the city.

Your next problem is, you probably can't survive that far out, at least not on your own. So you'll have to make a friend somehow. Best way to do that is to walk right up to the nearest front door, knock gently on that door, and ask, politely and humbly, if you can have some food. If they say no, turn your happy rear around and walk away; you can try again at the next settlement. Do not beg; that'll alert everyone for miles around that you are out here, desperate, and probably trouble waiting to happen.

Once you do get someone who shows you a little compassion, be thankful toward them. Offer to do something for them... I don't care if it's cleaning out a manure stall. If they refuse and tell you to leave, walk away; you have another day or three to look for help. If they refuse but offer to let you stay, be gracious and polite; you're the intruder, and you need these folks' goodwill to survive. If they accept, do whatever they need as much as you possibly can as well as you possibly can, and do it how they want it done. If you're lucky, they'll take you in for a while. Just don't get demanding; you are the guest, so act like one.

Never, under any circumstances, try to steal anything... not even a tomato out of the garden. That will end your little adventure right there. These folks are not dumb, and they already know you are running away from trouble. If you will steal a tomato, you will steal whatever else they might have, including things they need to survive. They're liable to fill you full of lead before you can take the first bite. If you're very, very lucky, they'll just order you off their property and alert everyone around them... in which case you've got at least a week or two to go before you can even try again.

Of course, that assumes that anyone from the city can act that way... it's been my experience they cannot. In which case, they'll never make it more than a couple of days.

Now, for me... I got 16 acres of virgin forest with all kinds of meat in it, and it's self-restoring as long as no one overhunts it. I have places I can get to easily with fishing available and nothing but woods for 10 miles in any direction. As long as the tobacco holds out, this redneck will be just fine. I'm more worried about what happens if society doesn't break down; the most dangerous, unpredictable, and vicious creature I know of walks on two legs. They don't need a reason to kill, and often delight in the pain they can cause others.

I'd rather stomp through a nest of pre-angered rattlesnakes.

TheRedneck

A few of food sources others may ignore are :
Earthworms.They are everywhere there is dirt,and although they can take a bit of digging that can be done quietly and away from cities/bandits.

Carcasses PAST the eating stage-older roadkill/hunted leftovers,even dead humans.
You dont want to eat them as they are of course-you use them to harvest the thousands of fly larvae/maggots which grow on in them.
Also after the larvae have been harvested a few times you can still eat the bone marrow which takes a lot longer to spoil.

I know,these are pretty disgusting meals,but in a real apocalyptic collapse they are protien rich food sources which many people would either ignore or not be aware of-meaning far less competition-or more abundance for those in the know.

Most importantly,eating the above would let you avoid situations where you have to fight to get food-thus giving you a much higher chance at surviving longer term.

Here's hoping it never gets to that stage for any of us

The OP has a very cartoon-like view of societal collapse.

Most importantly, zer should realize that humans value protein, and it isn’t going to just be abandoned, unless people are raptured or something. If a human was employed at the pet store or aquarium, then THEY are going to “look after” the animals themselves.

In fact you, if you work, will probably clear out your place of employment, of any provisions there. If a grocery is looted, you can bet the stock boys will end up with most of it.

So if you are going to try to live off of “salvaged” food, you’re going to have to go where there was a concentration with minimal human supervision. Warehouses are no good, because the forklift operators and their kith will have turned the building into a fortress. About the one target I can see paying off is railroad freight cars abandoned in a rail yard. There’s hundreds of cars per employee, they are not near the workers’ homes, and the owners are probably on the other side of the planet

Oops double post.

The OP also doesn’t understand self sufficiency.

I don’t have all that much food stockpiled. My home is a series of systems, the overgrown pasture is where I graze my livestock, mostly the chickens, so I don’t have to buy much feed. Same with the goats. The garden provides veggies and herbs, but so does the patch of wild dill above the driveway, an the thornbushes at the edge of the property (raspberries). But those are actually cover/bait where I hunt rabbits as well.

If someone raided the farm and took all the food from the house, they’d get 5% of what’s there....

An aside for you. From a survey people were asked if they would eat their pet dog. 98% said no. But 95% said they would eat their neighbours dog. Another little bit, if you do eat dog , do not eat the liver or kidneys. As the early Arctic explorers would eat their dogs in an emergency and they found out the hard way that the liver and kidneys concentrate the dangerous toxins for humans. just thought you should know.

a reply to: crayzeed

It is high levels of vitamin A that makes it dangerous to eat the livers of huskies, polar bears, walruses and bearded seals. Inuit people knew this, some arctic explorers did not know it.

a reply to: Mizzazz22

Dogs and cats can hunt and bring you small game. I'd rather fill my belly with a never-ending supply of small birds, squirrels, gophers and rats than eat a few dogs or cats.

Companionship is an oft-overlooked aspect of survival as well.

originally posted by: rounda
a reply to: Mizzazz22

Dogs and cats can hunt and bring you small game. I'd rather fill my belly with a never-ending supply of small birds, squirrels, gophers and rats than eat a few dogs or cats.

Companionship is an oft-overlooked aspect of survival as well.

yes, ever see the movie, "a boy and his dog?" a young don Johnson is in it, i believe.

en.wikipedia.org...(1975_film)

good flick.

city folk would be hit hard if tshtf. but a country boy can survive.

i just need a shot gun, rifle and a 4 wheel drive and a trout line.

a reply to: yuppa

Yep!

I've fantasized about my idea of a perfect world where only I and my cats have the planet to ourselves. Like I Am Legend but with cats instead of a dog.

And preferably without those zombie things, too, but I'd manage with them as well. At least killing them would help prevent boredom.

a reply to: sarahvital

What? No Beechnut? You know, to spit in someone's eye?

a reply to: TheRedneck

Of course, that assumes that anyone from the city can act that way... it's been my experience they cannot. In which case, they'll never make it more than a couple of days.

We have problems with this already.

During the Pandemic these city mice decided to travel to the country for our fresh air.
#1 Rule, Respect private property.
For whatever reason most city folks (at least the ones coming out here) have absolutely zero respect for private property.
What they see are fields of produce, and think oh’ one little cob of corn won’t hurt. They don’t care that is how the farmer makes his living. These fools walk right through farmers fields as if they are national parks. There are plenty of signs/fences etc. They don’t care.

If things get crazy, there won’t be nice warnings, the people out here will shoot.

a reply to: JAGStorm

That's it.

If someone takes that "one little ear of corn," they're correct in that it doesn't, by itself, hurt anyone. But they're incorrect in thinking that it's OK to take it. To the owner, it's not that "one little ear of corn" that is the problem... it's that anyone who will steal "one little ear of corn" will steal whatever they see and want. Better to nip that habit in the bud, and if that takes perforating the offender, so be it.

We have a saying out here: "Thieves are like a pack of wild dogs; shoot one and the rest will leave." So it's better to not be that one.

Now, gleaning is a different story. If you see a freshly harvested field, ask the farmer if it's OK to glean (pick up what's been left]... there's a good chance he will say it's OK; most farmers allow that. But you ask first, and you don't leave a mess for the farmer to deal with (litter, holes in the field, etc.). That's called "respect."

TheRedneck

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

About telling the good acorns from the bad ones: put them in bowls or baskets in the Autumn soon after they fall from the trees, after gathering them. Within weeks, little worms will make holes in the bad ones, and crawl out. These wormy acorns are not as good, and tend to spoil quicker because the worms start them rotting from the inside, but YOU CAN EAT THE WORMS with little effort.

I have actually done this to test the idea, with acorn worms, and also hickory nut worms locally. The worms are really beetle larva, nothing dangerous, and nut worms are chocked full of fat and protein, and cook up to taste pretty good -- even 'nutty' if I might say. Hickory nut worms in particular are delicious. Collecting the little worms from the bottoms of your baskets / bowls of nuts is a lot easier than cracking the acorns or nuts, and then you can throw away all the acorns or nuts that have little boreholes in them, to also avoid the work of splitting open bad nuts, since the worms will tell you which ones are good and bad themselves. It is the lazy way to sort acorns / nuts, and the bonus is little edible worms. I am serious about this: they really are not bad, once you get past the idea of it

Edited to add: they are more specifically weevil larva for the most part / grubs, and here is a link to kind of show you exactly what I am talking about:

wormy acorns and hickory nuts link

The remaining good acorns and nuts you are left with can then be processed later, at your leisure.

I always heard the corn planted closest to the road was the sweetest, (a sweeter kind planted on purpose to keep the migrants out of the fields). There are some farmers that think the exact opposite of You and actually go as far as to leave their keys in all the trucks as a decoy so nobody comes up to the house in that kind of situation. Keeping Yourself and Your family safe is paramount for these folks. They don't want armed strangers coming up to their door asking for ANYTHING.
Most of these wandering folks WILL be armed..You really want to die over an ear of corn? I don't. Take all you can carry, just keep moving.
The idea of making friends and washing dishes for a tank of gas is noble I guess. But we are talking about a societal collapse..If Im killing over some corn, then I might as well whack every 'refugee' I see.

The whole respect thing gets tossed.
Your power disappears, and its time to stay alive.
If I were in a third world/criminal type situation and alone then I would think somewhere along Your lines..At that point Im willing to kill or die over a penny if it's mine. Who wants to live like that? Not me.

A societal collapse would be pretty awful..EVERYONE would turn into Bandits of one sort or the other, especially with no functioning government.
Every good HoBo knows how to shine a farmer.

a reply to: TheRedneck

a reply to: didntasktobeborned

There are some farmers that think the exact opposite of You and actually go as far as to leave their keys in all the trucks as a decoy so nobody comes up to the house in that kind of situation. Keeping Yourself and Your family safe is paramount for these folks. They don't want armed strangers coming up to their door asking for ANYTHING.

Well, I obviously cannot speak for every farmer in existence, but I do know the farmers around here. One of the largest farmers is a cousin; I grew up with him. I know how they think.

I don't know anyone who would simply leave keys in their truck in hopes of avoiding conflict. In the first place, those keys are a temptation... I would go so far as to consider that entrapment. In the second place, anyone who would leave their keys in their truck probably doesn't lock their house or barn either... more temptation. I can't think of a better way to invite ruffians and thieves into one's home.

I'd say those who would do so are fools, to be honest. They're just asking for trouble.

The idea of making friends and washing dishes for a tank of gas is noble I guess. But we are talking about a societal collapse..If Im killing over some corn, then I might as well whack every 'refugee' I see.

The romantic notion is sort of far-fetched, and I wasn't intending to give that impression. I'd wager most of those "refugees" wouldn't be able to handle the chores that needed done, and just walking up and asking for work is far form a guarantee one will find said work. I'd wager the average slicker would drop from exhaustion by 10:00 AM trying to keep up with the average farmer. Handling livestock can be hard, hard labor if one doesn't know how to do so; chopping firewood is exhausting. The Amish have a well-deserved reputation for being quite noticeably stronger and having much more stamina than the typical non-Amish, and there's a reason for that: they do more work in a day than most people do in a month. A farmer isn't at that level, usually, but they do work hard, every day, sunup to sunset, and I don't know a single one who could be considered "weak."

So one should not expect to actually make a huge difference in a farmer's life. That's not the point. The point is that by asking for work, one is showing respect. That is the only way anyone will survive outside the city. One show of disrespect and all bets are off.

It's still charity.

As for just shooting everyone who walks up, that's not how most people roll. There are abou t 12 billion rounds of ammunition produced every year in the USA; there were just under 40,000 deaths in the USA from firearms in 2019. That's over 300,000 bullets for every death... not exactly the most efficient means of killing, but certainly the most utilized. 75% of all homicides in the USA are from homicides (and homicides make up only 37% of all firearm deaths). That makes firearms the least efficient method of killing overall I know of, and it still accounts for 3/4 of the homicides!

I would expect a lot more deaths from firearms if country folk (who have the most need for firearms and therefore are the most proficient and have the most firearms available) were looking to "whack refugees."

Country folk around here are not quick to pull that trigger, but they will do so if they feel threatened. The point is to not threaten them so you can see another sunrise.

I will also say that I have took several people in who might be considered as "refugees." My medical condition makes it hard for me to keep up with the labor requirements of even this small place, so I welcome help and will gladly give what I can spare to get it. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm not suspicious... I watch every move everyone makes on this place, especially newcomers, and I can still shoot straight if need be. Thieves be warned.

TheRedneck