The neighborhood where I grew up in Pittsburgh was full of recent Italian immigrants in the 1930’s. The stories of how they were able to live were truly amazing. On tiny city lots they were able to grow grapes, make wine, grow tomatoes and a whole array of vegetables, make home made pasta sauces, and many other things which they bartered with local merchants for the other things they needed. My grandfather was a pharmacist and he would routinely be paid for medicine with a chicken or a basket of fresh tomatoes. As tough as life was here in the 30’s it was obviously far preferable to what they had gone through in the old country. Also, since almost no one drove, the community hung together much more tightly on a geographic basis, and everyone looked out for their neighbors.
I put in a bunch of fruit trees - I figure it’ll give me something to trade if things get really bad. That is if those who aren’t prepared to do anything beyond steal from those who planned don’t steal everything.