I think a lot of people like to think they'd know what to do if the world went to hell tomorrow. But, be honest with yourself- do you really know what it would take to live, at least slightly comfortably, without the convenient comforts that we take for granted today? Think about it- what would you do without a grocery store, fast food, or pizza delivery for that matter? If you had no one preparing your food for you, how would you do it, and do you know how to find the food you need? We rely so much on a food supply that is quite easy to disrupt, and then we would probably starve.
When you are stuck in the city or a suburb and there is no water, food, or electricity, what is the difference between that urban situation and a wilderness situation? The answer is they are actually very similar. Perhaps you have a short stock of food that remains. You will also have to deal with predators, but of a different kind-- mobs, criminals, and murderers. It may be harder to live off the land. How will you be safe from scavengers, intruders and protect your loved ones? The answer is the training that you can do today. It's just like when the military does mock war games- the reason is to be ready at a moment's notice, and not to be asleep on the watchtower. However, you don't have to have military training to live through Urban and Emergency Survival Food situations. You just need a book or a guide, and some practice. For instance, Damian Campbell has many tips that you can put into practice and implement right away. You should also do mock runs of these techniques, in order to truly master the methods that may save you later.
If you think about it, grocery stores and fast food chains are actually a fairly recent convenience. Before these things, people would rely on their own know-how when it came to procuring food. In fact, in some small, very poor, independent backwoods communities (think Appalachians) people still forage for wild food, hunt and process their own game, and completely rely on the land they live on to sustain them. However, these are a dying breed of people, and their ways are almost all but forgotten. In order to really understand the work that goes into preparing food from absolute scratch (or even finding it!) you could live with them for a while, or you could start practicing now. Damian Campbell would recommend you put into practice his teachings as well.
Emergency Survival food is meant to last for only a short time, and depending on what you have packed away, it may last for a couple days to a couple weeks or even longer. Survivalists recommend at least a two week supply of food and drink. In an emergency, you will need to learn to live off the land and collect water. One method to collect safe potable water is to use a tarp to collect condensation from the air. It will collect condensation in the air as you stretch a piece of plastic over a hole in the ground, and the setup is exposed to sunlight. Water from the ground and air will condense on it, and if you put something to catch the water underneath, you will have some safe water to drink. Another easier way is if you have a water filter in your supply kit. You can use it to filter water, but make sure to boil first because many filters aren't rated for biological contaminants. For more information on collecting water, Damian Campbell, a survival expert, also has other methods for collecting potable water in his survival manuals. His tips are not only about surviving disasters, but you can also apply some of his techniques for emergencies, such as during camping trips, hiking etc.
There are several basic foraging tips you should know. For wild crops, there are several high yield, easy to identify, and highly nutritious wild foods that you should use as your basis of foraging in the event of an emergency. One of these foods is cattails. American Indians relied on cattails for a good portion of their diets, and it's unfortunate that American settlers didn't adopt this food source and cultivate it when they came to America. Every part of the cat tail is edible and very tasty. The best edible parts of the cattail are in the stalk itself. To harvest, simply either cut an entire stalk at the ground and remove the outer leaves revealing a lighter colored fleshy heart, or you can also pull away the outer leaves of the stalk while it's still attached to the ground, and pull up and hard on the heart flesh, popping it out of the ground without cutting it. Cattails also have fleshy rhizomes that are edible and can be stored for a long time. You can pull these up out of the ground by grabbing one in the muck and pulling up hard. You can extract the starch in the rhizome by mashing it in a liquid, then allowing the starch to settle down, pouring off the water, and squeezing out the water of the white starch. This is a labor intensive process however, but the result is a mash of high-energy food that's easy to eat. Another very common food that's easy to find through a good portion of the country are American persimmons. Persimmons are a very sweet, large, fleshy orange fruit that fully ripens in the fall, and is usually ready to be harvested after the leaves of the persimmon tree have fallen off and the fruit just begins to look past its peak. If you eat them any sooner, you'll be punished with an astringent feeling in your mouth that's not unlike dentist's cotton (not pleasant). You will need to learn from local experts what grows in your region and temperate zone.
You're going to need to know what wild foods around you are edible and worthwhile to seek out and harvest. If you're going to be foraging for emergency survival food, it's best to spend the least amount of energy finding the most food, in an ideal situation. For now, it may be worthwhile to look up more information on foraging, because every environment is different. Or consider contacting a local foraging expert and asking them how to forage properly. But, for convenience's sake, there are some basic foraging crops and skills you should know.
Along with the limitless amounts of food you can find in the wild, you're going to need to know how to store your found emergency survival food, especially for survivalists that live in northern climates when winter time makes for difficult foraging. One way to preserve plant foods is to can them. Canning is the process of sealing foods in a glass jar with high amounts of heat in a boiling water bath, that in essence stops the food you seal from decaying (in a sterile environment). This is a great way to save harvests over a season. Canning needs to be done in a very clean area, because you can get very, very sick from bacteria that populate in canned foods. Depending on the kind of jars and foods you're canning, it's a good idea to learn the specifics before you try canning them. A good way to start is to try making your own pickles. There are plenty of recipes on the internet you can try, and canning supplies are easily found in most grocery stores these days, especially in the fall season. You can try just about anything, especially fleshy vegetables and fruits. Berries are easy to find, and you can turn what may be a very sour and not very palatable berry into a delicious jam with enough sugar, canning it for later use. Crabapples are excellent fruit that are great as preserves or as a jam. Currants, gooseberries, mulberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, cranberries- almost any kind can taste wonderful canned with enough sugar.
Damien Campbell approaches your emergency food supply list from the perspective of storing. He teaches you what to have on hand to endure through shorter term and longer term emergencies. As a bonus to survivalists, he does have a series of tutorials on generating water, and other special tutorials on electrical energy collection. Once you have an idea, you can start stocking up on what to have on hand and serve better your family, neighbors and friends.
When you are stuck in the city or a suburb and there is no water, food, or electricity, what is the difference between that urban situation and a wilderness situation? The answer is they are actually very similar. Perhaps you have a short stock of food that remains. You will also have to deal with predators, but of a different kind-- mobs, criminals, and murderers. It may be harder to live off the land. How will you be safe from scavengers, intruders and protect your loved ones? The answer is the training that you can do today. It's just like when the military does mock war games- the reason is to be ready at a moment's notice, and not to be asleep on the watchtower. However, you don't have to have military training to live through Urban and Emergency Survival Food situations. You just need a book or a guide, and some practice. For instance, Damian Campbell has many tips that you can put into practice and implement right away. You should also do mock runs of these techniques, in order to truly master the methods that may save you later.
If you think about it, grocery stores and fast food chains are actually a fairly recent convenience. Before these things, people would rely on their own know-how when it came to procuring food. In fact, in some small, very poor, independent backwoods communities (think Appalachians) people still forage for wild food, hunt and process their own game, and completely rely on the land they live on to sustain them. However, these are a dying breed of people, and their ways are almost all but forgotten. In order to really understand the work that goes into preparing food from absolute scratch (or even finding it!) you could live with them for a while, or you could start practicing now. Damian Campbell would recommend you put into practice his teachings as well.
Emergency Survival food is meant to last for only a short time, and depending on what you have packed away, it may last for a couple days to a couple weeks or even longer. Survivalists recommend at least a two week supply of food and drink. In an emergency, you will need to learn to live off the land and collect water. One method to collect safe potable water is to use a tarp to collect condensation from the air. It will collect condensation in the air as you stretch a piece of plastic over a hole in the ground, and the setup is exposed to sunlight. Water from the ground and air will condense on it, and if you put something to catch the water underneath, you will have some safe water to drink. Another easier way is if you have a water filter in your supply kit. You can use it to filter water, but make sure to boil first because many filters aren't rated for biological contaminants. For more information on collecting water, Damian Campbell, a survival expert, also has other methods for collecting potable water in his survival manuals. His tips are not only about surviving disasters, but you can also apply some of his techniques for emergencies, such as during camping trips, hiking etc.
There are several basic foraging tips you should know. For wild crops, there are several high yield, easy to identify, and highly nutritious wild foods that you should use as your basis of foraging in the event of an emergency. One of these foods is cattails. American Indians relied on cattails for a good portion of their diets, and it's unfortunate that American settlers didn't adopt this food source and cultivate it when they came to America. Every part of the cat tail is edible and very tasty. The best edible parts of the cattail are in the stalk itself. To harvest, simply either cut an entire stalk at the ground and remove the outer leaves revealing a lighter colored fleshy heart, or you can also pull away the outer leaves of the stalk while it's still attached to the ground, and pull up and hard on the heart flesh, popping it out of the ground without cutting it. Cattails also have fleshy rhizomes that are edible and can be stored for a long time. You can pull these up out of the ground by grabbing one in the muck and pulling up hard. You can extract the starch in the rhizome by mashing it in a liquid, then allowing the starch to settle down, pouring off the water, and squeezing out the water of the white starch. This is a labor intensive process however, but the result is a mash of high-energy food that's easy to eat. Another very common food that's easy to find through a good portion of the country are American persimmons. Persimmons are a very sweet, large, fleshy orange fruit that fully ripens in the fall, and is usually ready to be harvested after the leaves of the persimmon tree have fallen off and the fruit just begins to look past its peak. If you eat them any sooner, you'll be punished with an astringent feeling in your mouth that's not unlike dentist's cotton (not pleasant). You will need to learn from local experts what grows in your region and temperate zone.
You're going to need to know what wild foods around you are edible and worthwhile to seek out and harvest. If you're going to be foraging for emergency survival food, it's best to spend the least amount of energy finding the most food, in an ideal situation. For now, it may be worthwhile to look up more information on foraging, because every environment is different. Or consider contacting a local foraging expert and asking them how to forage properly. But, for convenience's sake, there are some basic foraging crops and skills you should know.
Along with the limitless amounts of food you can find in the wild, you're going to need to know how to store your found emergency survival food, especially for survivalists that live in northern climates when winter time makes for difficult foraging. One way to preserve plant foods is to can them. Canning is the process of sealing foods in a glass jar with high amounts of heat in a boiling water bath, that in essence stops the food you seal from decaying (in a sterile environment). This is a great way to save harvests over a season. Canning needs to be done in a very clean area, because you can get very, very sick from bacteria that populate in canned foods. Depending on the kind of jars and foods you're canning, it's a good idea to learn the specifics before you try canning them. A good way to start is to try making your own pickles. There are plenty of recipes on the internet you can try, and canning supplies are easily found in most grocery stores these days, especially in the fall season. You can try just about anything, especially fleshy vegetables and fruits. Berries are easy to find, and you can turn what may be a very sour and not very palatable berry into a delicious jam with enough sugar, canning it for later use. Crabapples are excellent fruit that are great as preserves or as a jam. Currants, gooseberries, mulberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, cranberries- almost any kind can taste wonderful canned with enough sugar.
Damien Campbell approaches your emergency food supply list from the perspective of storing. He teaches you what to have on hand to endure through shorter term and longer term emergencies. As a bonus to survivalists, he does have a series of tutorials on generating water, and other special tutorials on electrical energy collection. Once you have an idea, you can start stocking up on what to have on hand and serve better your family, neighbors and friends.
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Read more about Sold Out After Crisis, and also watch out on solution to the global food crisis for your needs.
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