Eating Bugs For Survival and fun. We have all heard about eating them in an emergency situation. Could you? I know I can. I’ve eaten insects on several occasions. Mostly sober. Barbecue flavored meal worms. Battered and deep fried grasshopper. A moth with mustard once. Ants.  I think I ate a scorpion once. So not just for  survival. I don’t have any hang-ups on it. I’m even thinking about incorporating them on my homestead. I love the permaculture saying “The Problem is the solution”. Are insects eating your crops? Eat them.  Today let’s look at a few options out there.

Eating Bugs For Survival

Before you start eating bugs there are a few things to consider. Firstly if you suffer from a shellfish allergy you should avoid insects with an exoskeleton. There are no sure rules for which insects are edible but there are some guidelines. Avoid brightly colored insects. This is a universal warning sign in nature. Next, avoid any pungent smelling insects. Bad odors can be an indicator of  a chemical defense.  Make sure to stay away from insects known to carry diseases. Mosquitos, Fleas and Ticks for example. I found a resource for known edible insects. It’s on the Girl Eats Bug Blog. She has a growing A-Z list of insects.

Finding and eating bugs in the wild is easy. I’ve not hunted or trapped yet. I have gathered insects. Catching them is easy. In a survival situation, you want to expend the least amount of energy getting food.  Swinging a long stick will allow gathering grasshoppers easily. Walk around the woods and find a rotten tree. Dig through it and you will find a ton of grub worms. You can stick a stick down an ant nest to gather them. Most insects are easy to just pick up. Many can be eaten raw but improve with cooking. It also will kill any bacteria or parasites.

Farming Insects

From  doing some research the easiest insects to farm will be meal worms and crickets. I might go with crickets. Mealworms have a gritty texture I don’t care much for. Flavor-wise they are not bad, though. Crickets also have an excellent nutritional profile. 100 grams of cricket contains 121 calories, 12.9 grams of protein, 5.5 g. of fat, 5.1 g. of carbohydrates¹. I would prefer more fat but by cooking in a fat it will bump it up. There are so many recipes for crickets you will never get board. I found some stats on raising them I want to share from Modern Farmer

“One female cricket lays about 100 eggs in her 4-month lifespan. Roughly half of these eggs will hatch female crickets, so you will have 50 more layers, each laying 100 eggs, or 5000 more crickets within the next few months,” says Martin. “So, a minimal initial investment in a cricket colony could absolutely feed a family of four. “

 

And unlike chickens, I won’t feel bad if a batch dies. I won’t feel guilty on harvest day. As an addition to my other meat sources, I like raising crickets.

Buying Them

You can, of course, buy them too. Your local pet store will have a variety to choose from. Although not aimed at human consumption they are fine. There are many online places to order from. I found Flukers Farm which has a huge selection at good prices. I’ve had the Larvets brand snack flavored mealworms before. One thing I’m excited to give a try is the Exo Energy bars made from Cricket Flour.

In America, there is a fear of eating bugs. We have become too good for insects. We evolved eating insects. I think there is a primal connection in eating insects. Grok would not turn up his nose to a grub worm. If times become tough neither will you. Best to develop a taste now for eating bugs.