Meat and Water
Survivors in the wasteland sustain themselves on small diets of meat and water extracted from the unforgiving land. Meat and water are self-explanatory – without either, people start dropping like flies. So when planning a trip of marauding and destruction out in the wasteland, make sure your raiders are adequately supplied first.
Of course, there are farms and settlements that you can raid for food. You could also build a well in your hideout. Or if you’re fortunate, you can find the odd oasis which will supply you with fresh water – just watch out for any ornery hippos bathing there as they can kill a man with one bite.
Beer
Barley is also grown in select farms, but this is never consumed directly – no, these sacred grains are used to brew beer instead.
Raiders like beer. They’re day-drinking piss-tanks in fact. With a daily ration of beer, their morale remains stable – and being drunk, they’ll fight more fearlessly in battles. So keeping your raiders supplied with booze is important.
Short-term solutions include raiding or extorting caravans and settlements in the area for their beer.
However, a more long-term solution would be to capture a barley farm, kidnap a brewer, and construct a still in your hideout. Congratulations, you have embraced vertical integration and are now a beer manufacturer.
Cannibalism
There are times you will run out of food.
During those times, you might opt to butcher some of your camels or cows for meat. But if you don’t have any captured livestock, humans might be the next viable item on the menu.
Perhaps you’ve captured some workers from the nearby quarry or farm and are leading them back to your hideout to put them to work – but your raiders are starving. No one will notice if you butcher one or two prisoners, right?
Or if you have higher value hostages, perhaps you can throw them in the pot.
The last resort would be butchering one of your own raiders.
Pity the poor sap that draws the short-straw…