I bought DayZ for her PS4 a few days ago because I was already a fan of the series several years ago.
We have already had 15 hours of play and find nothing but garnix, we even bought our own server and played it privately, also hardly any loot, no matter where in the south or north whether at military or airfield, hardly anything.
We can't survive on a public server, hunger thirst or other players. I watched tutorials and guides but it seems to be a real problem.
My guess maybe you need the Livinoa DLC to find more loot than a marketing move.
Hope for help, otherwise 30 euro were free.
For me it is exactly the same I had after many attempts to spawn the luck at a fountain and to find a shovel with paprika seeds I do not know why there's so little loot but you should always look in greenhouses for seeds and then plant them directly because they grow relatively quickly anyway
I have been playing DayZ since day one, with almost 2000 hours of playing time (PC… But it is the same as on the console), but I have never had any major problems finding food. There were moments in the early access phase when it was really hard, but today it is very easy.
There are a few things to consider. In big cities on the coast and in general on the coast, the loot is scarcer than inland (This is because people shouldn't always rip off with the newcomers on the coast). Then you should also take a look at all items that have an inventory, because they contain loot (often also eat) from time to time.
If you are new spawning on the coast, look for the small boats on the beach, there's a can of food / drink or backpacks.
If you then browse through a town, ignore the apple trees and the like, because the spawn takes a moment for them (to save the servers). So loot houses and then take a look under the apple / pear / peach trees, then you shouldn't really have such blatant food problems.
In the past I have seen the new players overlook a lot, take your time and take a closer look. Sometimes there's something under a rather high bed, or in an open box in the corner.
You should also avoid running around when you hardly have any more food, because that pulls enormously…
Otherwise keep nerve! ^^
