Start collecting information and buying books on what to forage in your local area and start practicing this summer. There is no guarantee, but you might need it next year even is just a dietary supplement to what you can pick up in the grocery store. Plus even if you don't need it, it's a cool skill to have and there's tons of stuff that you can make that is very useful regardless of whether or not anything bad happens.
There are plenty of weeds that are super nutritious and that are kind of ridiculous to call weeds considering the amount of nutrition that's available in them.
For example, wild chamomile grows through the cracks in sidewalks. I wouldn't eat or make tea from chamomile that was growing anywhere near where vehicles are running or were people might have polluted, but I bring it up to prove a point.
Book recommendations:
- the Boreal herbal
- food plants of the interior first Peoples
- edible and medicinal plants of Canada
- wild berries of Ontario
- wild edible mushrooms of Ontario
Please share more.
Also might be a good time to stock up on long shelf life items. $100 will get you about 100,000 calories of 25 year shelf life beans and rice.
What are you doing in 25 years when you run out and even then what kind of life do you want to live; eating stale food? And before you say you can do things that will keep it from going stale remember what they say about the best laid plans.
The best nutrition is the freshest nutrition, doesn't hurt anything to learn what you can eat in your local environment.
IKR, top kek.
Rice and beans is Plan D for me. Also, I'm going to use it between the "good stuff" so the good stuff lasts a little further.
Notice I said “also” not “or”…
The point of 25 year beans is that if you bought some 10 years ago you don't have to throw them out because "The Event" hasn't happened yet. Duh.
I agree, I'd be lost without some type of fresh plant to eat. have always been that way, so wouldn't want to 'subsist' on just rice either. been trying to think of ways to preserve vegetables so they don't lose their crunch. the Mexican restaurants pickle the carrots, so I might try that, keep a few jars around.
I will eat the rich...............
Dandelion...
Came to say this. Dandelion leaves are extremely nutrient. Just collect them from abandoned yards and areas that haven’t been sprayed with herbicides.
Also the roots and flower. The entire plant
Purslane. Once you have it you will never get rid of it but why would you want too. This stuff is so good for you and like dandelions ,another supposed weed would survive a nuclear holocaust. Gosh the worst gardener in the world could not destroy these two. PS Join a local gardening blog. They are awesome people. I know you will find cross pollination if you get my drift.
I love purslane! Full of Omega 3 oil and they are tasty! Just eat the leaves.
All the time spent fucking about with that is better served learning how to shoot and fish. Imagine spending 60 hours learning which dandelion you can eat rather than learning how to maintain a firearm and optics instead. The person who does this will be the one killing you or making you their house slave cooking your dandelions for them lmao.
Purslane Portulaca oleracea was a surprise to me. Tastes very mild but supposedly packed with nutrients.
I've personally tried it (wild caught at job sites) several times with no ill effects.
You mean dandelion. And yes it’s quite nutritious. I have dandelion every day!
Dandelion a good liver tonic as well. Smaller leaves are more tender. Flowers are edible too.
I didn’t know you could eat the flower. I assume the stalk is off bounds.
No the whole thing is edible. Even the root.
Wow! That’s amazing!
Okay but what can you add to an open wound to stop it bleeding?
How do you get aspirin when there's no more left in the store?
What do you use as an antiseptic when there's no more antiseptic available?
It's not just about food.
Who said plants alone? I didn't, you did.
I said to start learning what you can gather and what you can make of it because it's an important survival skill.
What diatribe are you talking about. Who are you arguing with?
It sounds like you've already started learning. So I'll ask a better question.
If you were going chopping firewood with your grandson in 30 years and you got a deep cut that was bleeding badly, what would you use to stop the bleeding and how would you dress the would to prevent infection?
I don't know if it's the best answer, but with what's available in my area, I'd put yarrow powder on the wound to stop the bleeding then I'd use plantain to help keep it sterile and help dress it.
What would you do? What would you pass on to your grandson, skills wise, to help him survive in a world where he literally cannot prep like you did? What would you do and what would you teach your family if the collapse is permanent?
Do you have any book recommendations?
Yes:
Thank you Kekistani prince! I'm far from the boreal region though. I will search for some regional sources.
Mark Vorderbruggen Foraging: Explore Nature's Bounty and Turn Your Foraged Finds Into Flavorful Feasts (Outdoor Adventure Guide) This is his newest, his others have been highly valuable to our family. Available on Amazon.
Good for medicine too. Eastern white pine and Mullein Leaf is awesome for respirator woes
I am trying to grow herbs but zero luck.
have you tried a hydroponic system? they have some you can set on the counter for herbs. I plan on getting one of the larger versions, would miss lettuce and tomatoes if the stores were out.
I have not. I want some tomatoes, beans and cucumbers along with my herbs. I just can't seem to grow it but maybe I am not doing something right or my lighting is bad. I don't know. I will loon into it.
When I was growing up, there was a "hippy" couple that lived up the road and would live off the land. For an activity during the annual block party, they would take everyone on a hike through the woods and educate us on what plants were edible, medicinal properties of plants, and what plants to avoid. I wish I would have taken notes because they had a ton of information and they pretty much lived off the land and only spent $25/month at the grocery store. I remember the husband was a really good fisherman and hunter as well.
The root of Queen Anne’s lace is similar to potato
Clovers are decent tasting
Make sure you can tell the difference between poison hemlock and queen anne's lace.
Yup. This, and any plant you’re unsure of
Wild Edible Plants of Texas by Charles W Kane is a good reference for those in Texas.