Why Ants Are An Excellent Survival Food
You must be open to all options if you want to survive the wilderness. This includes that if you have run out of rations, that you are willing to eat insects. Some of the many insects that you can, under most circumstances*, eat safely are grubs, ants, crickets, grasshoppers, and ants.
AVOID THE FOLLOWING INSECTS
● Insects that have the following physical characteristics: fine hair, eight legs or more, and bright colors.
● Disease Carrying Insects-Ticks, mosquitos are flies a prime example.
● Poisonous-Do not eat any insect who is poisonous. For example, avoid spiders, centipedes, and spiders
Click Here, For More Info
Safety Tip-If in doubt, no matter how hungry you are, if you have doubts about whether a certain insect is safe to eat, don’t eat it.
*The only real dangers that you can face eating any of the above insects is they were poisoned or somehow contaminated. However, in an outdoor wilderness survival situation, this will likely not be the case.
Insects provide multiple health benefits, which makes them an excellent source of food. For example, most insects are nutritious and packed full of protein. (In certain parts of the world, insects like ants and grasshoppers are considered to be a delicacy) There have even been studies where scientists have discovered that eating ants could help even prevent cancer. (The antioxidants from ants could help you prevent cancer.)
The only downside is that it takes a heck of a lot of insects for even a snack. As a result, if you have a choice you should choose the type of insect that is easier to collect.
Ants as Food
Ant’s are also, quite common and plentiful as there are over 10,000 types of ants worldwide and over 1,000 different species of ants in the United States. A good rule of thumb is the warmer it is the more ant species an area will have. However, Ants can live in almost any type of environment.
IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS WITH THIS FACT:Antarctica is the only continent where there are not any ants. 🙂
Are Ants Bad For Your Health?
The only way that you can be hurt by eating ants or other bugs is if the ants were somehow contaminated or poisoned. This would most likely happen if an ant were poisoned by a pesticide or other type of poison. Ants being affected by poison is highly unlikely in the outdoors. So, I would worry about that happening. Additionally, if you have a shellfish allergy, you may get harmful reactions from consuming ants.
If you are still not convinced that ants are okay to eat take a look at these chocolate-covered ants that are listed on Amazon.
Why Are Ants An Excellent Source For Food
Ants are considered a perfectly acceptable source of food as many countries eat ants and other food as a snack or their meal.
Ants are not only survival food; they also can be an important part of your diet and are quite healthy for you. First of all ants, like most insects, are highly nutritious as they provided essential nutrients and also fat. When eating ants you can expect every 3.5 ounces of red ants will provide around 14 grams of protein. Black ants are also highly nutritious and you can even purchase black ant powder online, which can be used as a diet supplement.
yUnless you have a caterpillar infestation or tons of crickets nearby it will take a very long time for you to collect enough grasshoppers, caterpillars, etc., to feed you and your family. Ants though, under most circumstances, be harvested more easily. All you have to is do the following to collect ants.
- Poke-Place a stick in an anthill and wait for the ants to crawl up the stick. (Based on instincts, and protecting their home ants will climb up the stick)
- Shake Them Off-Shake the ants off the stick and put them into either a sanitary container or straight into where you are planning to cook them.
Ants can be eating raw or cooked. Ants do contain formic acid, which the ants use to neutralize their predators and other enemies, which is non-toxic to humans. However, the acid is also known for having a sour taste. As a result, to avoid the sour taste, they should be served boiled. But, if you don’t mind the sour taste or don’t have a pot to cook them in, you’ll be fine eating them raw.
TIP-To prevents their bite you need to kill ants or any other insect before you eat them.
The following is an excellent video that details how to collect and prepare ants for your meal.
The Kiss principal (”KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID”) is a rule that you should follow when you are in an outdoor survival situation. This means that you need to get food the most simple way that you are able to first. Ants and other bugs, under most circumstances, will be easier to gather than to either hunt or trap, or even fishing. Bugs are a great source of protein and vitamins. So, first, get a meal anyway you can by eating ants or anything else that is edible, and then once that is done and you have some type of nourishment you should then try for something tastier like fish or wild game.