What To Eat If There's No Food?

In North Korea, according to some news articles I've seen, some of the people eat grass to survive. Though eating grass could get you some nutrients odds are after eating grass you'll probably have an upset stomach and end up getting dehydrated if eating the grass is followed by vomiting or a bout of diarrhea.


If you can find the grass then eat their seeds because grass seeds unlike the grass itself are digestible.

 

I don't think they meant grass as in the grass that grows in park lawn, more like wild weeds like dandelions that grow amidst the lawn grass. Dandelions and similar weeds are very edible, but require you to boil them first and season them with lemon or vinegar and salt at the very least.
With dandelions it's best to pick out young plants as older plants tends to leave a bitter aftertaste, and if it seems to bud the characteristic flower don't pick it at all, it will be too bitter to eat. They make good filling for fillo pastries when combined with something salty like cheese, or can simply be eaten as a boiled salad.
Other weeds that are edible, at least in the Mediterranean cuisine, are nettle and portulaca and hop clovers. Allthough with nettle one needs to be careful how they pick them, as some propably know, nettle leaves are covered with irritant substances that create a rash on the skin at contact. So to pick the leaves you either put on latex gloves (anything that you can dispose later), or if you're short on gloves you pick them from the underside where there's no irritant. Nettle's irritant substances are neutralised if you boil the plant, so afterwards it's completely edible.

 

If we find ourselves lost in a Bioma with nothing to eat but unknown vegetation, some experts recommend edibility test to ensure that a plant is edible. I've never tried or know anyone who did this test but it seems that could work in theory. Have to warn you though, the abundance of vegetation must justify the risk. We should never skip any part of the process nor speed it up.

• First of all check that whether it does meet the above characteristics.
• Then we crush and rub the crushed plant or juice against our arm. Should prove irritating or produce any discomfort, discard right away.
• After we test the plant, carefully and slowly, waiting for a time interval between each part of this proces, We put a bit on the lips and wait a while. If there is no reaction place it in a corner of the mouth, then the tip of the tongue and then under tongue and wait a few seconds. If any discomfort occurs, immediately discard the plant. The next step is to chew a piece.
• If you have not produced any reaction swallow a small amount and wait 5 hours without eating or drinking anything.
• If there were no stomachaches or abdomen, nausea, etc. the plant can be eaten. However, It is better not to eat too much together, but give time to our stomach to get used to eating small amounts at first and gradually increase your intake .

Any thoughts?

 

I have to agree on this because in our biology class, our teacher said that cows have a different intestine and they knew the art of mastication - that is chewing the food for a long time until it is semi-digested. Besides, the acid in the tummy of the cow is very strong as to easily digest the fibrous grass.

But in fairness to this thread, there are soft grasses, those small that look edible. I haven't tried eating grass yet but maybe if I am on a survival mode and I had captured a small bird then I can cook it (assuming there are tools and utensils) into a soup dish together with some soft grass in lieu of the vegetables.

 

Wheat is a grass!

 

Maybe try to find some berries? Should be filling and a good source of nutrients. You should always make sure you know your berries however. Don't want to start eating poisonous ones!

 

Rather than the grass itself just use the seed heads!

Collect crush and dry ANTS, GRASSHOPPERS! add some curry to make a paste, use as toppings for dry biscuits etc!
Dry biscuits can be made from sawdust!

Shown by an abbo once the big grubs in trees, they eat the wood and poop out what looks like sawdust!
They eat the grubs and make the sawdust/grub poop into paste then bake in fire to make hard biscuits!
With grasshopper paste on top!

Tastes like crap because it is! but it wont kill you!

 

I live in Shropshire in England so I'm lucky that there are never ending trees and plants with berries and nuts for miles around. We also have a huge amount of apple trees (cider is a favourite here) so I don't think I would have too much of a problem finding food.

 

That's a good point, although I still think that based on the size of the population in the town I live compared with the vast areas of crop fields, fruit trees and berry bushes etc there would probably be enough to keep us going for a while at least. The town I live in is one of the greenest places I've ever seen, there are berry bushes in every garden and as children we used to eat the nuts that fell on the playground at school, you literally can't move for food!

 

I prep so that I won't be in the situation where I am grubbing around the grass to scavenge a few berries. I never want to be in that position! I have at enough food stored to see me through a good six months, if I eat sensibly, which I would if there was a crisis of any kind. I also grow some of my own vegetables in my garden, which would supplement my food stocks. Surely this is a major reason for being a prepper - you are prepping now so that you actually CAN feed yourself.

 

Getting into fasting will help you go through a period of food scarcity. Intermittent fasting is the process of leaving long breaks between meals. For example having a dinner and then not eating again until lunchtime the next day. Doing this regularly makes your body process food very efficiently and it makes it easier for you to still be full of energy despite only eating once or twice a day.

 

Well if there's no other option, then we gotta what we have to do to survive. It might seem cringe-worthy now just thinking about it but if we find ourselves in that position well, our eating manners will be thrown out the window. Anyways i hope it doesn't come to that, i'll just have to be prepared at all times.

 

"What to Eat if There's no Food".... I think that's why we prepare in the first place, so we don't have to deal with such a tragic situation! At last resort, I have a gun and will eat someone else's food. There are plenty of bleeding hearts in my neighborhood (which is a bad neighborhood, I might add) that feel that guns are totally wrong. Well, regardless of how I think, I have one. I don't want to use it to muscle food from someone, which is why I have an abundance of supplies stored away, but I will use it if and when I have to without a doubt. I am not attempting to eat grass, which is probably only going to make me sick anyway.

 

That's right, prepping is not only for the conspiracy theorists, as they like to call them. The concept of food storage has been around for centuries. In the event of a nuclear attack, I would be sorry for anyone who taunted the conspiracy theorists and ended up by not prepping. God forbid that we would come to that situation, but if we did, a lot of people are now aware of the political lies and agendas and are taking matters into their own hands and doing something about it. Stock up on water, dry foods, there are a lot of companies that sell survival food that lasts over 10 years. If there's no food, it is quite obvious what will happen, chaos, anarchy, riots, deaths and the list goes on, you will not have time to figure out what to eat.

 

It really is nice here, apparently Tolkien based ''The Shire'' (ShropSHIRE) on this area and you can see why, it's all trees and grass and fields and happily drunk people! The town I live in is situated in the loop of a river too so fishing is popular here. I'm very lucky.

 

It's in my nature to look after people, I suppose that's why I do my job. There is a large population of elderly people here that wouldn't be able to fend for themselves so that would be a concern for me.

 

I am intrigued by the idea of getting into fasting mode which is something close to my heart on religious grounds. A person can also survive on white ants which are very nutritious and contain omega 3 fatty acids as well as wild mushrooms. Drinking alot of water before eating the little food available works wonders. I believe that a packet of glucose should never be far away to replenish a person's energy reserves.

 

The thing is stocking up on food will only keep you alive for so long. I think at some point you have to start growing your own food or hunt. I'm a vegetarian so I wouldn't eat meat unless it was absolutely necessary. Even when it comes to living off the grid you have to
get a steady source of food in order to maintain proper nutrition. The most practical thing to do is look into farming and become skilled at it even in the wilderness.