Papa Romeo Echo Papa, is a survival blog and podcast. We focus on survival through and after disasters. We believe that disaster preparation should be broad and cover multiple scenarios. We also believe that your preps should be practical even if a disaster never happens.
Most of us cringe at the idea of eating insects and other types of bugs. Something in our mind just says, "oh, hell no!" Yet, insects are in fact extremely rich in protein and fat and many cultures eat bugs on a daily basis. Bugs are very easy to find in all seasons other than winter. In a survival situation bugs must be considered as a daily staple in you protein supply. I have never eaten bugs so I can't tell you what they taste like from personal experience. I have heard that most of them taste the same when cooked and that they have a nutty taste when toasted. In my opinion, cooked bugs are the only edible bugs. Some bugs must be cooked in order to get rid of toxins. Unless you know exactly what toxins each species carries you need to cook insects before eating them.
The easiest way to cook bugs in a survival situation is toasting them in a camp fire. You can place the insects on a flat rock and place it in the edge of your fire, by doing this you have made a cooking stone. It also may be helpful to place another rock behind your cooking stone which helps to reflect the heat. The cooking stone will heat up and begin to toast the bugs without burning them like a direct flame would. Burning bugs will breakdown much of the proteins and fats which is the opposite of what you want.
wild polk salad
A survival stew may be an easier way to wrap your head around eating bugs. I will write a more extensive post on survival stew another day but a crash course will do for now. A survival stew is simply a stew made from what ever edibles you can find. For example, during August here in east Tennessee, polk salad is abundant and tasty but it is toxic when it matures and the root can be deadly. A parboiled young plant is perfectly edible. I could prepare my polk salad and add some crickets, grasshoppers, and other bugs to it. If I boiled all of that to together for a few minutes and then brought it to a simmer (remember that cooking stone) for a little while longer I would have myself a nutritious survival stew. I could also add some black berries to make it sweet.
Back to bugs, avoid bugs with bright colors and hairy bodies. These are usually signs of danger. Worms are very edible but avoid grubs unless you know exactly what type it is because some grubs are toxic. Also avoid bugs from dead animals an manure. And like I said earlier, cook all bugs. This adds a safety point to eating insects. Anyone with a survival mindset needs to learn their local species of plants, bugs, animals, and fungi. It would be beneficial to know everything that you can and cannot eat from the wild in a survival situation.
Be sure to connect with Zombie Splatter on Facebook and Twitter with the buttons at the top right of this page.
