Finding Food in a survival situation.
There are endless survival scenarios and situations, but the basic need for Shelter, Food, and Water remains. While water and shelter will be your first priority, eventually a source of nourishment will need to be secured. Obviously, depending on your environment, some areas will have more abundant sources of survival foods. Others will be challenging to find anything at all.
Survival Foods in the Wilderness:
If you have any food with you, it should be kept in reserve until you have exhausted it. Try all measures to locate something edible in your surrounding environment.
Grass seeds are one of the more abundant survival foods you will find. All grass seeds are edible and don’t require a lot of energy for the body to digest. You can also eat the roots of most grasses.
. Some wild berries, such as blackberries, are edible, but berries are best avoided if possible, particularly red and white berries. The consequences of eating the wrong berry range from stomach ache to a severe case of you being dead.
If you are near the ocean, possible sources for your survival foods are mussels, clams, limpets or oysters in rocky areas. Snakes, lizards, snails, birds, and frogs are also edible when cleaned and cooked, and are a lot easier to hunt than other small animals such as rabbits, raccoons, and squirrels. If you don’t have a can or pot to cook them, you can place them directly on the coals of your fire after the flames die down. Look for trails made by animals, these are good places to set traps, or to follow in your search of water.
You would not normally look at bugs and think about eating them. Insects are pound for pound better sources of protein than most meats. It might take a day or so before you can talk yourself into it, but eventually, you’ll be ready to chow down on some termite and grasshopper finger food. Caterpillars and flies can be eaten, as well as ants, and moths.
You should take the time to research the sources of wild & naturally abundant foods that are available in your area of the country. Make a “survival food list” and keep in in your emergency survival kit, or go-bag. Take the time to go for a walk through some woods or countryside in your area. See how many things on your survival food list you can find. Its good practice, good exercise, and just good of fun.
Survival Foods at home or in an urban environment:
If you are “sheltering in place”, in your home, and you have planned ahead, you should have non-perishable food in place to sustain you and your family. Otherwise, if the power is on, turn the refrigerator to its lowest setting, and try to keep the door closed. This will help preserve the perishable food inside as long as possible.
Eat perishable food first, before it spoils. Empty the fridge, then the freezer then moves on to the pantry. Hopefully, there will be food enough to sustain you. If you run out of food, you may have to resort to looking for insects. So, in short, it pays to keep an emergency food supply on hand.
If you are in a commercial building of some type, and cannot leave for an extended period, your choices will likely be limited. Make sure you have secured water first. With any luck, you might find a snack machine, don’t worry about correct change, just chuck a fire extinguisher through the glass. Make sure you cover your eyes when you break it, and use care around the broken glass when removing your free snickers bar. Search desk drawers and file cabinets for snacks, they are usually a good bet.