[Food] Production - Entomophagy.

Mack12345 · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 02, 2008 Posts: 78

Hi guys !!!

My first post here in the preperation forums that I feel might be usefull to some outhers here in our community .
Along with my basic preps that some of you may be aware of from outher threds "Getting into better shape physicaly , getting a more efficent car, Storeing food and some water" . I recently started thinking/researching how I might in my circumstance start some form of actual food production .
First i considered hunting , but the more I looked into it and talked with friends that hunt I started to learn it really is a skill and takes time to hone . I still want to learn more about it but I feel for me making it an actual food production method isnt realistic at this time .
Second the thought of raising some animals to later butcher and eat, breifly crossed my mind .. untill i realized that i rent a small home with not a huge yard and rules against more than two pets Razz

.. So I quickly Axed that idea .
Then i considered gardening .. Due to restrictions on my lease an in ground garden isnt possible though and the idea of trying to produce a usefull amount of food from potted plants seemed like something that wouldnt be realistic for me . I am not giving up 100% on gardening .. I still intend to learn about it and try a few potted food produceing plants .. but i just dont think its something i can see myself feeding myself off of realisticly .

After a long period of thought and research , I have found a food production method that i think may work for me !

Entomophagy, the use of insects as a food scource .

Raiseing insects requires very little front end investment .
It can be done with very limited space .
There are no costly injuries / vet bills that come with outher larger animals .
You net a very large amount of food produced vs the feed required to feed the insects .
The food you produce by consumption of insects is infact very healthy and full of great nutrition . Works very well as a supplement to a pure calorie food like rice .

I am starting this thred even though i am a novice to Entomophagy . I in fact will be starting my very first effort in this process this weekend . I intend at that time to start a small Mealworm colony in a small aquarium here in my home .
So I have very little first hand understanding currently with raising insects for food production . But I am researching everyday and will very soon be tending a small colony of meal worms , that I intend to personaly consume as food .

Here is a site that has givin me a lot of help on the subject of Entomophagy . Infact the mealworm colony suggestions on this site are the basis for the plan that I will be useing this weekend to begin my endevor to raise insects as a food source .

http://www.eatbug.com/

I hope that outhers in this community find this information as usefull and exciteing as I have . I look forward to the thoughts and ideas of those of you whom douptlessly have more knoledge of this subject that i do .
It is my heartfelt opinion that this could infact prove to be a sustainable form of food production for people whom cannot make a huge inital investment and do not have ready acess to land/property on which to farm/raise cattle .

Here is a sumary of the method I will be useing to start my Mealworm colony this weekend ..

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Raising mealworms (Tenebrio Molitor) is quite easy and recommended for the beginner. Simply take a flat plastic tub with a lid, fill it with an inch or so of oats or other grain, put in a slice of potato, carrot or other hard vegetable as a source of water, and then deposit your mealworms! Make sure to replace the slice of potato fairly frequently, otherwise you will be growing mold instead of mealworms.

The mealworms you get at the store are in their larval stage, and it may be a few months before they mature into beetles, so be patient. 100 mealworm larvae is a good colony start if you are not going to be eating them very often. If you wish to make insect protein a regular part of your diet, you can obtain mealworms in bulk from reptile food supply companies and start a large colony (5000 or more is the way to start in this case).

If you have an ant problem in your area, you should float the mealworm tub in a dish of soapy water to prevent ants from infesting your grain. However, unlike crickets, mealworms are unlikely to escape unless you are hideously careless

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Here are a few more links that i have found usefull on this subject

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophagy
http://www.food-insects.com/

Thank you guys for reading and I look forward to your opinions as well as to shareing my personal experiences on this topic in comeing weeks .

Thanks also to Skyemoor for giving me the nod to start this thred .

Regards,
Mack .

Cashmere · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Mar 27, 2008 Posts: 1971

No comments yet? Somebody has got to have a pretty strong opinion about this.

Mine is that I'll probably choose death before bugs.

But who knows, I may change my mind if I get hungry enough.

Every movie I've ever seen with a guy in a POW camp or a torture prison for a long enough period of time includes a scene with the prisoner eating bugs.

Papillon!
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NeoPeasant

There are populations around the world who are healthier than us and eat bugs every day. In poor countries where they eat minimally processed grain as a staple, the nutritional value of their meals are actually enhanced by being contaminated with insects.

Our aversion to bugs is psychological and probably pretty recent in human history. I am willing, if necessary to eat anything I can find that will nourish me and not make me sick. I also have considered raising mealworms for food if chickens and rabbits don't work out so well.
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mos6507

I think I'd opt to die off before I resort to eating bugs. That's not my idea of a life worth living.
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Mack12345 · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 02, 2008 Posts: 78

Actualy , my first and so far only experience consumeing insects as food was my dinner this past saturday . Please note i did not raise these mealworms myself . I had actualy purchased them "foodgrade" as a novilty from an asian grocery store a few towns vaway from mine .
The fact that i found my meal surpriseingly tasty was the final straw that has inspired me to take up raiseing insects as food .

My dinner saturday was

Fried Rice and Mealworms .

Ingredients:
1 cup of yellow rice
1 cup of roasted mealworms
tsp. fresh crushed garlic
1 tsp. fresh chopped ginger
5 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. peanut oil
1 egg
Salt

Think what you want ... and i understand theres a huge socal stigma to this issue . But the above meal was really quite good .
Not to mention overall quite nutritious .

Regards,
Mack .

Aimrehtopyh

Excellent idea, and for many reasons. Thanks for getting this started. I've actually been thinking about mealworms and such for a while now, but I never took any steps.

One advantage that you didn't mention is that strangers will have to be really hungry before they consider raiding or stealing your creepy crawly livestock. A chicken coop or a rabbit hutch might even attract trouble.
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green_achers

I've been thinking about culturing some insects as animal food. Actually, we have so many native insects around here, my first thought was to just build traps I could scale up after I settle on a design. I know they would be a good protein supplement for the chickens (when I get them).

So thanks for the mealworm tip. I'll have to crunch the numbers a little to see how it stacks up as far as the cost for the protein.
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Mack12345 · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 02, 2008 Posts: 78

Anouther thing i was thinking about ..
In a TSHTF situation .. there will prob be a lot of folks trying to hunt animals .. so compitition for them will be feirce . There will also be a lot of folks trying to harvest "forage" vegitation , ect .

But i bet few folks will be harvesting the local insects .. Knowing how to harvest/prepare Ant/Ant larve , Crickets , Termites .. could be very handy .. if for no outher reason than the fact that so many will literaly starve before they try them .

Its like a very tasty, helthy and avalible food source .. right in most everyones back yard ... and the Zombies would prob starve to death or resort to canabilizam before considering it ...

In short .. the masses dont want it = More for me !

Pretorian

where is that dude with strawberry/worms shake recepy?

Mack12345 · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 02, 2008 Posts: 78

Just an update ,
I started my experiment with a small mealworm colony on friday . So far, so good I think .. the little buggers seem to be eating and doing fine .
I have three small aquariums set up as recomended in the above links but no need at this early stage to transfer any worms .
Just wanted to let everyone know that I did indeed follow thru with my initial "experiment" .

Regards,
Mack .

mos6507

This thread is a good example of why the influx of newbies from MSM press coverage doesn't last.

_________________
As long as I am around, there are no worries we have reached "Peak Words"

--ReverseEngineer

NeoPeasant

Mack12345 · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 02, 2008 Posts: 78

meh,
they honestly arent that bad ...

last comment im going to make on the "taste" though ... either try it for yourself or dont .
I will continue to update progress with my colony though , so far its great ! but its still way to early to know if i can do well at this or not :D

mos6507