5 ways to learn how to forage

One of the most important survival skills is knowing how to effectively and safely forage food. Hunting animals or fishing can provide a good amount to eat, but neither should be relied on as equipment can get damaged and animals can migrate or hide, leaving plant life as the only reliable food source when out in the wild.

The skill of foraging may seem straightforward, and in a way it is, but the problem with finding your own food is making sure it won’t kill you when you eat it. Normally, things like poisonous berries and mushrooms put people off gathering their own food, but in reality, there are so many tasty treats out there that are extremely hard to mix up with something dangerous. If you’re thinking of getting out into the wild and want to know where to begin, then the short guide below is a great place to get started.

1) Start with the basics

You would struggle to find someone living in the UK who couldn’t identify a stinging nettle, blackberry, or dandelion. Plants that people often see as nothing more than a nuisance can be turned into a healthy addition to any meal, like nettles for example, that have nutritional properties similar to spinach. The young leaves can be quite soft and make an excellent addition to any liquid dish, or any meal you would otherwise use spinach for. You don’t need to be a bushcraft expert to go and gather something you already know is safe, just as long as you stick to gathering things you actually “know” are safe.

2) Learn what you’re doing

One of the best ways to learn how to forage is to go on a course and let the experts show you in person. This isn’t always an option for people on a budget and so other sources of information must be found. One of the best places to learn about what’s safe to eat, in the UK anyway, is wildfooduk who have excellent sections on mushroom and hedgerow foraging. There is an enormous amount of free information out there that tells you all about the many types of edible foods available, but again, make sure you know what something is before eating it.

3) Use the “feed to family” rule when trying to determine if you’ve identified something correctly.

This may sound odd, but the idea is that if you’ve found something in the wild that you “think” you’ve identified correctly, don’t eat it yourself unless you’re sure enough to feed it to your loved ones. There have been many times when I’ve been in the countryside myself and come across a berry or mushroom that I’m pretty sure I know what it is, and would actually risk eating it myself, but aren’t so completely certain that I would happily let my mother eat it. If you aren’t sure enough about something to risk giving it to a loved one, then don’t eat it yourself.

( A selection of edible wild mushrooms, most of which have “false” versions that can be poisonous)

4) Get creative with what you gather

Eating blackberries off the bush is pleasant enough, but making them into a pie with some gathered cherries is much more satisfying, and will give you more motivation to go out and forage again. Ingredients from the wild can seem boring and bland on their own, but when you imagine what it’s possible to do with those ingredients, there suddenly become many more things that seem worth gathering. One of the things I like doing is gathering parasol mushrooms because of their giant size, but on their own, they aren’t anything special. If you happen to gather one, or any large edible mushroom, then snap off the stalk, turn it bowl side up, and smear garlic butter all over the gills before putting it in the oven for 15 minutes. Take it out and smear more garlic butter all over, then sprinkle bacon bits and cover with grated cheese before putting it back in the oven until the cheese is golden brown on top. I promise it’s worth it.

5) Find new foraging grounds

Woodland, canal paths, meadows, and even waste ground can be home to the tastiest wild foods, all waiting for someone to come and gather them. Traveling the same routes or going to the same woodland all the time can make it seem like there’s only a small selection out there, but the next field over could be home to a huge patch of mushrooms or a nearby stream could be packed with watercress. All you need to do in order to find somewhere new to forage is simply to travel to an area of countryside you’ve never been to before.