What to Do For Food in a Survival Situation
When you find yourself in a do-or-die situation, knowing what to do for food for your survival is essential. Not only do you want to gather enough food for you to eat throughout the coming days, weeks, and possibly even months, but you also want to ensure that your loved ones living with you are also covered.
When you know how to get food, your chances of survival dramatically increase. It becomes easier for you to get through devastating situations and come out alive. Let’s talk about what to do for food in a survival situation.
If there was ever a time in our Country when food was expensive for families, it’s now. It’s not going to get better in the short run, although the Federal Reserve is reporting that inflationary trends seem to be tapering off. I’m reading that farmers must sell their land because they can’t afford to feed their livestock or fertilize their crops.
What constitutes a “survival situation” may be different for each family. If you’ve planned ahead and set aside food storage and water for a disaster, you’re certainly in better circumstances than families who haven’t. Few of us picture ourselves with a bow and arrow, traps, snares, or fish bait and hooks as the only means to acquire survival food. It could come to that, but the best plans are to start now, gather foods we’ll eat, and rotate them so we don’t exceed expiration dates.
What to Do For Food in a Survival Situation
1. Contact Family and Friends
Mark and I have always been taught to use family as our first source of support when struggling to feed our family. There are so many reasons families can find themselves faced with the challenge of providing enough food for themselves. The events of 2020 and 2021 due to the virus have shown us what is possible.
Businesses suspended operations, people have been furloughed or laid off, and families have lost the key breadwinner for some time or permanently. Even in normal conditions, people get sick, have accidents, lose their physical ability to work, companies have layoffs, and more.
If you haven’t stored enough food to support your family correctly, the first source you should reach out to is your extended family. Sure, they may not have the resources needed, but you need to ask. You may be surprised who is willing and able to step up with at least some help, either financially or with foodstuffs.
We call certain people in our circle “friends” because we not only enjoy their association and company, but they are a source who can hopefully “have your back” by providing some financial help or the food itself. It’s not easy to ask, I get it, but true friends will understand your circumstances and try to do what they can to step up and help. Remember, if the situation were reversed, you would do the same for them.
2. Reach Out to Governmental Agencies
We are all familiar with family, neighbors, fellow church members, and others who have had to rely on food stamps, EBT cards, and other programs to help them properly feed their families. Most of us haven’t had to deal with a situation like that, but we shouldn’t shy away from taking advantage of those programs if needed.
If the current circumstances are primarily due to the loss of work, check into unemployment compensation as a source of funds to buy food. It may prompt you to swallow your pride, but remember, you’ve been paying your fair share of taxes over the years, and now it is your turn to benefit from various government programs.
3. Visit Local Churches and Food Pantries
You can next stop by local churches and food pantries to see what it takes to qualify for their support. Even if they determine you don’t qualify, they may be able to recommend other non-profits or support organizations that could help. Don’t be afraid to ask at every turn what people you contact may suggest.
Many churches collect canned foods and other non-perishable items they give to needy families yearly. They may still stock those items for you to grab and carry home.
4. Pick Crops From Family and Community Gardens
Take some time to look into any community gardens operating in your area. You will probably need to spend some time working in the garden before you can take home any of the grown products. The required time may be reduced if you have other family members who can donate time and muscle.
Although your tummy may be unable to wait for the produce when the survival situation presents itself, consider getting involved with these groups now. When something does come up, you’re already in the trenches, working to support your family and others in need.
Also, consider approaching neighbors you may know about those who have family gardens to see if they would be willing to share some fruits and veggies. If you explain your situation to them, they are more than likely willing to provide some help. Offer to help pull weeds, cultivate the soil, or whatever in exchange for produce.
Although these crops won’t last long unless you can preserve them, you can still put them to good use by eating them and giving them to loved ones to stay full until your next meal. Access to fruits and vegetables is beneficial when you don’t know when you’ll have your next full meal.
5. Know Which Foods Are Safe to Eat in the Wild
Many of us don’t live close to rural areas where native plants are growing in the wild so we don’t know which plants are edible wild plants. Before dealing with an actual survival situation, taking your family on an exploratory venture in the mountains or other open areas reasonably close to home may be a good idea. Take some time to ensure you know what is and isn’t safe to eat out in the wild and how to recognize them. During desperate times, you’ll need to search for different things you can consume, such as berries growing on bushes and trees, flowers that aren’t toxic to ingest, forage, and even some insects.
While it probably doesn’t sound ideal, there may come a time when you’ll need to consume grasshoppers and crickets to survive. Collect what you can and begin storing them in any containers you might have available. It doesn’t matter if you’re using a plastic container or a glass one, as long as you have what you need to survive.
Consider taking up fishing if you’re near a body of water. You’ll learn what fish are available, the license and daily limits, and you can have fun with your family. You never know when what you learn now will be helpful in a survival situation. Some people pressure (can) jars or freeze the fish so it’s available for future consumption. Give it a try!
6. Ration: What You Can Find to Make It Last Longer
Once you’ve collected certain foods, you must ration what you can to make it last longer. Eating a lot is tempting when you haven’t had a good meal in a long time. However, if you overeat one day, you might not have enough for the next several days or weeks.
Ration everything you have between yourself and your loved ones to ensure everyone gets something to hold them over for the day. Not only will you need to ration your food, but you’ll also need to do it with water.
If you haven’t found a spot to collect clean water to drink, you need to do what you can to make what you have last as long as possible. For that reason, it’s such a good idea to have a water filter straw that you can use to drink from many bodies of water you can find. Life Straw I like the products from Big Berkey and Portawell when it comes to having a water filtering system available.
Which Items to Store for Survival
So, which items are best to bring home in the food pantry or church storehouse? You may not be given a choice, but I’d try to find these essential items if at all available:
- Peanut Butter. It’s a great source of protein, contains plenty of calories, and can keep you full. It also lasts longer than many other items!
- Canned Meats. Look for canned meats, such as chicken, ham, tuna, and sausages. The protein in these meats can leave you feeling more energized and full.
- Protein Bars. They’re easy to carry around with you, don’t go rancid quickly, and can keep you full for extended periods.
- Canned Vegetables. Try to get the vitamins and nutrients from different canned vegetables, such as green beans, beets, peas, and carrots.
- Rice and Pasta. They have a long shelf life and can be used with so many meals. They are also fairly inexpensive.
- Grains. Mark and I have numerous buckets of wheat so we can grind it for bread, if the need arises. Also, consider oats for oatmeal. You can also combine some nuts for granola.
- Instant Milk. My shelves have plenty of small “pantry” cans of instant milk from Thrive Life, the company I buy my freeze dried items from. If you have instant milk and some drinkable water, meal planning in a pinch in much easier and provides many of the nutrients we need.
In case you missed this post, Canned Foods I Highly Recommend You Store
Final Word
When you need food for survival due to an emergency, these are some things you can do. While eating items found outside doesn’t always sound appetizing, it can save your life during some of the most challenging times. How would you handle a survival situation if one comes your way? May God Bless this world, Linda.
Copyright Images: Food Donation Box AdobeStock_302131975 by happy_lark, Food Distribution Center AdobeStock_538041256 By TSViPhoto
Another great post, Linda. We have fed our children and grandchildren from our pantry stock in hard times. It is so satisfying to be able to do this. I like being able to pass on what my mother did for me as a single parent of three, making minimum wage and no help from their other parent.
Hi Deborah, I know people need help, Mark and I fill bags for the kid’s weekend meals at different locations in our city. My kids have never had to starve, but people need to know where to go if things get bad for families today. We helped our kids through college with food deliveries from our pantry. We gave all 4 daughters a bread machine so they could make bread while going to school. They were cheaper than a Bosch and if you take the bread out and bake it like normal it’s good. The bad thing is most kids today do not know how to cook from scratch. You and I were lucky. Linda
I believe your way to positive lol. I’ve seen in the Balkans how fast things slid.
Hunt and I mean hunt not sport hunting but survival hunting. Rice is better with robin.
Garden your yard, flower beds etc. it’s not like your going to mow every week and meet HOA guidelines during a real emergency. Just avoid the portion you turn into a latrine and pay attention to where your neighbors are doing to doo too because y’all are stacked on each other like cordwood in most neighborhoods. Your native plants will take over in a year or two. Why not let that back corner go native anyway?
You’ll need hand tools because there won’t be a lot of roto tilling and again that grass is gonna grow. Cut it for hay or insulation but watch for fire danger in letting it grow too high. Some of y’all won’t need to worry cause you built in the desert and after you stop watering it’ll die. Water will become your priority not the yard.
You’ve got some good ideas for the start but how many are in walking distance? What if IT involves fuel shortages.
Hi Matt, I’m surprised how many people are on food stamps since the G is sending out monthly checks to some people. You are so right an HOA will be the least of our worries when things get bad. Water is a HUGE concern for sure. You are right if fuel becomes too expensive people will not be able to drive to get a box of food. This is why we must be self-reliant. I had hoped this last year was a wake up call for people, some get it, some never will. great comment as always, Linda
This post is a good reminder as to why folks need to stock up now! It will be stressful for people trying to run around finding food for their families when it becomes scarce.
Stock up now friends! Even if it’s just a few cans of veggies or an extra big bag of rice during each shopping trip. The stockpile will add up quickly!
I found a Mother Earth News article, from a book by Demara about eating grasshoppers and crickets. I do not know how to share it here, but it said to cook them before eating as they can have parasites and worms. Hope we do not have to, but good to know! Thanks, Linda!
Hi Jan, oh my gosh, this is the best comment ever! I hope it doesn’t come to this, eating crickets and grasshoppers! Oh, the parasites and worms, I’m gagging. I know that’s why God sent me all 4 daughters. I did not have brothers either, I never had to deal with bugs!!!! Linda
Hi, Jan: Thanks for the reminder about parasites. That is a BIG problem, especially is you eat things like possum, rats, etc. They all eat AWFUL “foods” and carry lots of diseases! I have also read that grasshoppers and crickets have very tough exoskeletons, to the point they do not digest well and can damage your intestines. Me, myself, and I would rather eat some of the wild herbs growing in my neglected section of our garden, like Lambsquarters, which is somewhat like spinach (and full of nutrition)! Plantain makes good “chips”, I am told. :-). Not to worry everyone, God will provide for you, if you love him and seek His help!! The scriptures say in Luke, Chapter 12 “Don’t you know that He has counted every hair upon your head?” That means, he knows you extremely well, knows what you need and will watch over you, if you only believe for real.
Best to all! JESS
Hi Jess, I have to agree I will not eat possum or rats. I will become a vegetarian. You are so right about we must learn to forage the wild herbs. I have plenty. of food to eat instead. Linda
Linda: We also have lots of stored food to eat, but it is also extremely important to have as much wild “greens” as you can get into your diet. Worst case scenario, you might be able to get by with Moringa tablets or powder or Chlorella or SPIRULINA , but FRESH is always a big plus! AND, I also forgot to mention how valuable purslane weed is for wild foods. Grows like a “weed” over here! HAHAHAHAHAH!! Purslane also (even) contains Omegas and Vit. C in it, if I remember correctly. And then there’s always reseeded Amaranth greens, which are great and once you let them go to seed, you will always have loads more the next year. :=). I am mixing some into my escarole “beans and greens” tonight with dinner.
Best,
JES
Hi Jess, I fixed the word SPIRULINA, all is well. Sounds like a great dinner! Linda
Hi Amy, you are so right, rice can go a long way!! Some extra cans of veggies will make a HUGE difference. This is why we stockpile what we eat. Linda
O.K. So, like usual my comment about. SPIRULINA got switched to something retarded by spell check! Sorry!
HI Jess, I fixed it. Linda
Great list of options!
#5 is well worth exploring. There are so many wild plants–weeds!–that are readily available, and quite nutritious (often more so than cultivated crops). A book or two in foraging in your area is a good idea–preferably one that also details how to prepare what you forage.
One of Tom Brown’s survival books–I think it’s the one on teaching kids survival skills–points out that assuming you have water and shelter, you can keep going for quite a while on just three easily identifiable plants: cattails, pine trees, and grass (acorns too, but they normally need more processing to remove the tannins–will give you a bellyache if eaten “as is” besides tasting extremely bitter). Some part of cattails will be edible year-round. Pine trees provide nutritious inner bark, as well as needles for vitamin-C-rich tea. Ordinary grass is too fibrous to eat whole, but you can chew it and swallow the juices, spitting out the pulp.
One caution, though–depending on where you forage, be careful of anything that may have been sprayed with any pesticide/herbicide, or that’s too close to a road so that it’s coated with exhaust residue.
Hi Rhonda, I agree there are many books on edible weeds. I know they have a phone app to instantly identify weeds but that will be useless in a major grid down. We really do need hard books or at least paperback books and not depend on cell phones. Stay safe, Linda
Linda, probably half the food I have stored for long term is canned, but I have freeze dried, dehydrated, MRE’s etc., as well. Right now my garden is supplying an abundance of tomatoes and Zucchini so some of the zukes are getting peeled, grated and frozen.
A follow up note on French Climbing beans. They grow exceptionally well but are NOT heavy producers. I’ll go back to Provider bush beans as they are excellent producers. Seems like it’s just too dry and windy here for pole beans.
Hi Ray, oh I love hearing your garden is producing an abundance of tomatoes and zucchini. I’m dehydrating more zucchini today, I have several bags of frozen zucchini. I did not peel them. They work great in zucchini muffins or zucchini cakes! I love vegetable soup with zucchini so I will use my dehydrated ones for soup. I just planted more bush green beans because I had the seeds. There is nothing better than fresh vegetables! Linda
Linda, I save the zucchini (grated and peeled) in 2 cup bags for making fruit breads like blueberry zucchini bread or banana zucchini bread. I also just dug the last ten pounds of potatoes from my garden. They were all small (too small for bakers) so I guess my plant deep in fall experiment didn’t work very well. Maybe I didn’t water them enough over the winter. Live and learn. I’m planting more Provider bush beans as well as more Contender bush beans tomorrow morning while it’s cool outside. I’m STILL harvesting Jericho lettuce, though I’m down to two plants now. Still harvesting carrots and have begun cutting stalks of celery from my garden as well. You’re right. Nothing beats fresh veggies. I’m going to use some of the zuke and tomatoes with ditalini, pinto beans and mild Italian sausage to make pasta fagiole.
Jane is making Maryland Crab Cakes tonight. I’m making baked salt, pepper and Romano zucchini strips to go with it.
Hi Linda, I like to put 2 cups of grated zucchini as well in bags. It’s the right amount for most recipes. Oh my gosh, I need to try celery, you always inspire me!!! Wow, dinner sounds awesome!! The jars with lids and rings seem to be everywhere (Ball) but no lids by themselves. That’s a bummer about the potatoes, I can only grow Yellow Yukon here for some reason. Great comment, Linda
Linda, doesn’t seem to matter what potato variety I grow they come out small. I love Yukon Gold potatoes but have given up on growing them here. Dinner was delicious. Jane got the recipe, called Maryland Crabcakes II, from AllRecipes.com.
Today I’m giving excess tomatoes and zucchini to some neighbors.
Oddly enough, I can find rings and lids, just no wide mouth canning jars. I have some re-useable Tattler lids but haven’t tried them yet.
I confess I bought celery plants from a local nursery then transplanted them into my garden. Celery seed is very hard to germinate, or so I’ve found as I only was successful at it once.
Hi Ray, LOL! I just planted celery seeds today!! Now, I have the giggles, I may never see them germinate!! I will buy plants next year!! Thanks for the heads up! Linda
I have always believed that one must be prepared for just about everything!! When my daughter and son-in-law were first married, I told them they needed to be prepared but they were young and not very wise!! I told them they needed to be prepared for the 3 Ds – disability, death and divorce. Of course, they said that divorce was not happening and I agreed that it shouldn’t happen but it does in many circumstances. My son-in-law is an electrician so there are things in his work that could cause the other 2 Ds! Case in point: one job he was doing (a remodel), he was working in one area of the house when he came in contact with live wires. He had turned off and locked the breakers but apparently there was another breaker box that he and his crew had not been shown/told about. He was thrown off his ladder. That alone could have caused one of the 2 D’s!! It scared him badly enough that it changed how they looked at being prepared.
After that incident, I was able to talk to them about life insurance. At that point, they had 2 children and caring for wife and children was of great importance. I explained the need for coverage to insure that my daughter and the children would be able to continue to live as he wanted them to live should something happen to him. I also explained that should something happen to my daughter, she also needed life insurance so that he would be able to continue to work but not have to worry about the care and schooling of his children. (note – I have no idea how much life insurance they carry but it isn’t my business!!)
It took a few years before I actually convinced them of the need to carry other insurance! I had a really hard time convincing them to be prepared to feed the family in the event of an emergency that would prevent them from purchasing anything at the grocery store. Finally!!! Now they own land that they can grow huge gardens on, have enough chickens to produce eggs and meat, hunt, and survive! They are currently working on other infrastructure to cover them in the event of said emergencies! They have expanded their poultry from just chickens to chickens, turkeys, and quail! They also have meat rabbits. On the horizon they want to get pigs and perhaps a dairy cow and a meat cow.
In just a few short years, they went from “We can do it all without preparing ahead of time” to “We need to get things stocked up and learn how to do EVERYTHING”!!!
Hi Leanne, oh you are so right about the D’s! I love that phrase. When my daughters first got married I purchased life insurance policies for both the husband and wife. I was in a position at that time to be able to do that. After a few years they took over the policies. One daughter has MS Multiple Sclerosis. She is uninsurable. I’m glad I kept her policy. It’s because when they are young the policies are affordable, but the older they get the more expensive they are. But to expect a Go Fund Me to help families is really hard for most people. I get the biggest smile when you tell me how your daughters farm is expanding. What a blessing for you and their family. Life is good, my sweet friend! Linda
Leanne: I am blown away by the success you’ve had with teaching your adult children with the news that they need to stock up and learn a LOT to become more self-sufficient! HOW GREAT IS THAT? I am SO PROUD OF YOU!!
ONE of our 2 adult “kids” lives at home due to a disability, though I must say he is doing VERY well with family around him to give him the emotional support he needs from time to time. He is a great guy, too, so we are happy to have him around and for good company at times.
The other lives outside a city in an apartment complex, and will probably never have the opportunity to grow much of anything. Though, I must say that she was talking about missing our huge blackberry harvest a couple of weeks ago and wanting to come home to the country for a vacation. That does not mean that she never entered into any gardening chores when she was younger. Maybe those memories might help her one of these days?
We are just overloaded with yummy Zephyr summer squash right now, so I have been sending some to our son’s work to give out. Turns out the head of HR is in love with our Zephyrs, so that is nice. 🙂
Thanks for reminding me with what to do with zucchinis, because I barely ever use them unless they are clubs that we scoop out (the seeds) and then stuff with baked meatloaf. I did try baking some zuke “rounds” with the leg of lamb we ate the other night (and all the Greek herbs/spices) and that was pretty decent, though. I never try to make zucchini bread or muffins due to the many allergies in our family, but you’ve inspired me to try to substitute and see how that will come out. My husband will eat almost ANYTHING that comes in the form of a muffin, so you can imagine that my gluten-free, egg-free(for him) blueberry muffins do not last long around here!! Even our friends who eat conventional beg for those!! They are THAT GOOD!
All I do is follow the “Joy of Cooking” recipe for muffins and use Pamela’s G/F Baking mix instead of plain flour, reducing the baking powder by maybe 1/3, because Pamela’s already contains some baking powder. Then replace the eggs with N-RG egg replacer and wha-lah! Sometimes I do replace some of the straight sugar with stevia, too.
H Jess, I know you don’t eat a lot of sweets but I made June K’s zucchini cake and everyone makes it now! I’m sure you could substitute what you need to. https://www.foodstoragemoms.com/zucchini-cake-recipe/ I think Ray raves about the Zephyr zucchini. I hope to grow a garden next year, I have lettuce growing inside in my AeroGardens. I found a Farmers market and picked up some really good tomatoes that taste like tomatoes! LOL! Now I want to go get some zucchini! Life is good! Linda
Yeah, I think I’m the one that told Ray about Zephyrs. At least I think so. JESS
Hi Jess, it sounds like a great zucchini! Linda