How to NOT starve to death when traveling through the wilderness
During a survival situation, the best thing to do to increase your chances of being found is to stay close to your vehicle, but if you don’t have one or no one knows where you are, you may be forced to make your own way to safety. There are always time limits in survival situations, even if you feel fine and have ample food there’s always the chance that a small slip could cause a sprained ankle that doubles as a death sentence, making it important to get out of there as quickly as possible.
When traveling you won’t have time to go hunting after game or gather and process a load of acorns, so it’s important to know how to keep your energy up while staying on the move. Here are a few things to keep in mind to avoid starvation when trying to move long distances in a survival situation.
1) Get your graze on
The average grass-covered landscape will most likely contain much more than just grass, with small edible plants like yarrow, dandelion, chickweed, and pineapple weed making up part of the sea of green that most people wouldn’t think of when looking for food. Many of the leaves and flowers of plants that grow within grass are edible and though they normally don’t contain many calories, they can stop you from feeling hungry and are often found in large amounts.
2) Eat constantly
Whenever you pass something edible, no matter what it is, grab as much as you can and eat while you walk, even if you aren’t hungry. If you’re in an area where there’s lots of food then chances are it won’t be like that for the entire journey, so it’s important to eat while you can and store as many calories as possible. It’s much better to carry food in your stomach than it is in your hands.
(Mushrooms grow almost anywhere, but you have to know exactly what you are doing if you intend to eat any)
3) Feast when you have the chance
If you pass a loaded berry bush or come across a patch of some sort of edible leaves or flowers then stuff yourself silly and grab as much as you can for the road. Even if you’re not hungry it’ll help in the long run to store a few extra calories that’ll come in handy down the road. It’s important to know exactly what you are eating though as large amounts of certain plants can make you sick, like Mountain ash or Elderberries.
4) Gather cook-able foods for when you make camp
Lighting a fire every time you find some Burdock or cat-tail roots will slow you down more than it would be worth. Since you have to stop in the evenings anyway to sleep, this would be a great time to get a fire going and cook all of those roots you gathered that day. Eating a large amount before bed is a good idea in a survival situation as you won’t be burning off many calories while you sleep and it gives your body a chance to store a little bit of fat.
5) Don’t be afraid to get gross with your food
Raw mountain ash berries will make you feel sick if you eat more than a bunch as they contain toxins the body can’t deal with, but heating the berries up neutralizes the toxins and makes them safe to eat in large amounts. Squashing up a load of mountain ash berries and cooking them on a rock in the middle of a fire will produce a nasty-looking and tasting burnt berry mush that may be hard to eat, but contains some much-needed sugars and nutrients that’ll help you on your travels.
Bugs are another item on the list of gross foods but many insects have higher levels of protein than beef does, and protein is hard to come by when in the wild. If you have to resort to eating bugs then stick to things like grasshoppers and beetles as snails, slugs, spiders and flies can be edible but also have a much higher risk of carrying parasites or harmful bacteria. It’s also a good idea to cook your insects before eating them and though they may look horrible, it’s better than starving.
Eating things that may not be very appealing is even more important at the beginning of your situation as these types of food may not be around later on in your journey, so it’s important to get those much-needed nutrients when you have the chance.
