SURVIVALIST #27: Finding Food in an Urban Environment
Finding food in an urban environment requires a different skill set than in rural areas. Of course methods will be different during various disasters. If society’s infrastructure still exists then soup kitchens and food pantries may exist as well.
Probably every city in the US has both soup kitchens and food pantries serving the poor. Many of these are operated by religious charitable organizations including Catholic Charities, the Salvation Army, and other religious groups.
In one Midwestern city with a population of 250,000 I know of the Catholic mission, a Baptist soup kitchen, the Salvation Army, and a food pantry operated by a cooperative of several groups including the local Jewish congregation, the Unitarian Universalist Church, and several Protestant denominations. These facilities are usually open to anyone in need, though they sometimes have rules. For instance, some groups will require listening to a short sermon before or during the meal, and some specialize in families, or single women with children, while others primarily serve single men.
If soup kitchens and food pantries are up and running during an emergency they provide the best bet for a meal. These are usually sit down and eat situations, though many of them also provide food to go for those in need. Often these organizations provide free groceries for the low income on a monthly basis, using a combination of government provided commodities like cheese and produce, and donations from area grocery stores and bakeries. Often they have a “take all the bread that you can use” policy with excess bread products provided by the local bakery.
Dumpster Diving for Dinner
If the soup kitchens are closed or not available, check out the nearest dumpster, especially if it is a dumpster near a grocery store or a restaurant. The buffet may be open. Those who do not eat meat are called vegans. Those who eat for free in dumpsters are called freegans.
A check of dumpsters in your area will show you which establishments have trashed food that is still safe to eat, often still in the plastic, or paper wrapping, it was being sold in. A fast food hamburger place for instance will throw out old burgers that have sat too long under a heat lamp, still in the paper wrapping. They might be a bit dry, but they are free. French fries might be in a pile, but those on the top of the pile have never touched whatever lies beneath and offer a safe source of carbs.
Condiments will often be in their wrappers and ready for opening and using, and at many restaurants offering all you can eat buffets, freegans have found chicken, roast beef, Polish sausages, potatoes, green beans, meatloaf, and everything else on the buffet table. Be sure to check out grocery stores as well. The produce section has a limited life span for sale, but if you tear away the brown edges the rest of the old lettuce or cabbage is fine to eat. And, those dark skinned bananas are still tasty, though a bit soft.
When dumpster diving use your senses and your common sense. Cheese may mold, but the moldy part can be cut away. Old vegetables can become soft, but if they pass the smell test they can be cooked and still be quite edible. The only real risk is with meat. In that case pay close attention to look and to smell. Many times as soon as they pass the “sell by” date stores chuck out the ground chuck, but as long as it stays fairly cool to avoid growth of harmful bacterial, and you cook it thoroughly, it may still be fine table faire. Eggs also are usually safe as long as they don’t smell of sulfur.
Dumpster diving is a way of life for many people now, even without economic necessity. According to a report by the National Resources Defense Council, 40% of the food we produce in America is thrown away. Many times grocery stores do this due to poor appearance of the food, but again use the smell test before deciding. Also, follow dumpster diving etiquette and leave the place as nice as, or better than you found it. Especially if diving during normal non SHTF times, respect the property owner’s rights. Don’t tear open trash bags and scatter a mess. Tie the bags up when done and take your bounty home, or wherever you are staying. Wash it as well as you can, cut away the bad parts and enjoy.
The Salad Garden in the Park or Playground
Foraging for food in green areas, parks and yards requires a bit of knowledge and is not the first thing to pop into the minds of most people. With a little research ahead of time though, the average city park can resemble a garden if you only know what to look for.
Wood sorrel, wild fennel, pepper grass, Polk, lambs quarter, and wild strawberries may abound in your area. A nutritious salad might be under your nose, and the other hungry people in your area have probably not thought of this wild urban resource. Even the common weed we call the dandelion is edible and full of nutrition, and that’s the whole plant. The flower, the juice, and the stem. Who hasn’t heard of dandelion wine? But without time to let it ferment, know that the juice of the dandelion will provide calories and vitamins to keep you going.
Pick up a book on wild edibles in your region and keep that knowledge, and what the flowers look like packed away in your mind. Do the same thing with wild mushrooms, but pay careful attention to which mushrooms are edible and which ones are poisonous.
Thousands of people hunt wild mushrooms every year, but the smart ones know what they are doing, and you should as well. When foraging for food realize that you are also foraging for medicines. The book Nature Has the Cure by Marie Lasater, available on Amazon.com shows how to recognize many edibles that are also usable as medicine.
Original article by Michael Don Slack, published in Survivalist Magazine
The author is a writer, property rights activist, US Army veteran and organizer of self-reliance events who can be reached at: http://www.preppersandpatriots.net
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