We’re all used to being able to go down to the local store to buy food, clothes and anything else we might like. In Tribeworld this isn’t the case.
If you are wanting clothes, you’re going to have to scavenge for them. Maybe an old house, recycled clothing bins or an old clothes shop. There are a few places to find these things but the resources are limited. Eventually these sources are going to run dry and another solution will be needed. They will need to sew their own clothes and it will probably be by hand seeing as sewing machines need electricity to run.
Without adults, the production and availability of food has dropped drastically. There are no large-scale farms any more which has drastically reduced fruit, vegetables and wheat crops. Livestock farms have been abandoned and the animals have broken free of the farmlands and roam the countryside and sometimes even the city.
Factories have been abandoned and no longer make any prepackaged or tinned food and what is left is not going to last orever as well as most of it being pretty basic such as Baked Beans, Spaghetti and Canned Fruit. The Supermarkets were raided along with all the other shops early after the virus struck so what little you have is probably all you’re ever going to have.
Some of the kids know how to grow certain foods and have a sustainable source of food by growing their own. Potatoes, lettuces and carrots are all fairly easy to grow if you have a rich piece of land. And if you’re able to grow wheat you can have flour and make bread. And anyone lucky enough to have a few goats, sheep or cattle and know how to care for them will be at the top of the food chain. Being able to grow your own food has other advantages. Food is the one thing everyone needs and has little of so it’s great for trading.
In Tribeworld there is no formal money system. Things are traded as they were hundreds of years ago. This is a tough system because it is hard to measure what something is worth. It will often come down to how much someone wants what you have. There is a market in the city where food, clothes and knick knacks are traded. People come from all over to trade what they have for the things they don’t
Later on in Series III, Luke and Ebony discussed a monetary system and had some coins made which they called Em’s. As with any new idea people weren’t ready to go back to the old system of money and the money had no use outside of the city. For now they will need to stick to trading.