Where To Get Food When There Is None In The Stores By J.G. Martinez for The Organic Prepper
GNN Note – This is being published in the Health category as hunger becomes a health issue after 3 weeks. We will be facing this dilemma in the very near future. / END
My family was lucky enough to leave Venezuela for Ecuador and Peru before things got to the peak of craziness, and people struggled with the question of where to find food. We didn’t experience many of the terrible things as other Venezuelans who stayed as a result.
We suffered mostly because we kept using our national currency rather than the US dollar, but there wasn’t much we could do to rectify the situation. Our useless fiat currency was everywhere. The USD was not. Hyperinflation blew everything, and people did not have the means to adjust. For a while. We’re now better, but far from going back on track.
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As a result of this hyperinflation, those living in the larger cities had a VERY rough ride back in 2017-2019. This was to be expected. In the smaller towns, where vegetables, meat, poultry, beef, pork, grain, and fruits were raised, things were not as hard.
What are some basics of where to find food during a starving time?
Given the fair weather and our own culture appreciating freshly cooked meals, getting processed food is not that important. We can live without, say, bacon or commercially made ham.
With hyperinflation, raw ingredients will likely still be available. Brand products are going to disappear. Shareholders will close a plant long before any loss can affect their patrimony.
Therefore, the urban prepper should be already prepared to deal with this. Stocking up? Unless you have an extra warehouse to fill up to the roof and be stocked up for the next 5-6 years, I would say that you need to review your plan if this is your main option. Oh, and just for the record: gardening, raising livestock, and growing stuff is incredibly hard for those urbanite fellas.
My suggestion would be to give serious thought to decide what is better for you: investing in some patch of land far away where you can produce (which is NOT easy at all no matter what the permaculture people say!) at least some basic staples, or using that money to stockpile long-term supplies.
(For more information on how to stay fed during a disaster, check out our free QUICKSTART Guide on building a 3-layer food storage system.)
Here are my thoughts on where to find food in collapsed Venezuela…
Let’s take a look at each food product in turn:
Spices
Most houses here have an herb garden. If your plot is small, you could use raised beds to save on fertilizer, using scraps for compost, but you will have to learn a lot before you can produce anything else more than a salad per week for two people.
Those with patios here grow cilantro, basil, and common herbs as well. However, in my experience, even in our tropical weather, spice plants will be quickly depleted without external supply if you live in a place with limited space. So, getting a whole bunch in bulk in the harvesting season, drying, and storing for the whole year is the way to go.
Beef
It’s very important to have the needed connections to get fresh beef. Our experience with cattle thieves was bad, as you know already. This was because farmers didn’t have the means to defend their property. Calling the guards for help here in Venezuela means to be tied for life to pay them for “protection” in a Mafia-style racket. Some of our farmers don’t care because they pass this cost off to the customer.
