Find Edible Plants

Fruit such as strawberries, apples and raspberries don't have to come from a supermarket. You can find it in your street, a park or a forest near you. You can reap this food relatively often. And except fruit there are also chestnuts, dandelions, wild herbs and a lot more.

This activity of finding food is often called Urban Foraging. It is advisable to know what you can and can't eat, and where to find good food. For many areas there are websites. For example for Amsterdam there's a map where you can find usable food. It is encouraged to add new spots. In Dutch there's also a entire wiki, a website with a whole lot of information about eating wild food.

Manual

There's a good manual in English.

Here are four guidelines to stick to for smooth operations:

  • Be friendly: ask permission if it's unclear who the owner is of a specific tree.
  • Be generous: how much do you really need? Only take what you want to eat, leave the rest for others.
  • Be alert: watch out for chemical crap on trees or plants.
  • Be careful: don't pick rare or protected species.

We have more tips about free food here on this website.

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Bartering

Bartering is a simple and cheap exchange of goods and services between people. Bartering is also recommended if you want to live without money or if you want to save money. Bartering is also a fantastic way to get new stuff and it can be a good alternative to the monetary economy.

Raphael Fellmer

Some people have consciously chosen for a life without money. Raphael Fellmer and his family have been living without money or income since 2010, "to increase consciousness about responsibility, that we all carry for hunger, injustice and environmental damage." Raphael is living in Berlin with wife and children. He has been on TV several times.

Pregnant and no money

Pregnant and no money. What now? My wife and me were sitting at the midwife for our first appointment. We were talking about finances and we were asked how we thought to raise the money, without money. We were slightly confused by this question. And possibly naively we posed ourselves the question: "Money? Do we really need it for a baby?"

Go hitchhike

A car costs a lot of money. A whole lotta money. Insurance, maintenance. Initial buying costs are very high and gas prices are mainly rising. And many cases you don't really need a car. Forget about it and go hitchhike!