When gathering materials in readiness for pulling through a catastrophe, have you ever tried being proficient with wild edibles? For instance, do you know about nutritious nuts that can substitute an entire meal?

Know well that potential food sources could save you from a tragic demise in dire situations. So, you should learn about wild foods that are essential for survival and practice eating them before a calamity strikes. You can also practice growing some of them in your vegetable garden!

15 Wild Foods

Cattail

An extremely versatile edible, cattail is the staple food of many Indigenous Americans. Cattail is a pond plant generally found near freshwater marshlands. You can comfortably eat the roots, the root sprouts, shoots, and even pollen of this wild grass, either raw or boiled. Besides providing sufficient energy, cattail also contains Vitamin K,which significantly helps wound healing. Good enough to pull through an adverse situation.

Chickweed

A rich source of vitamins and minerals, chickweed thrives in temperate as well as frigid regions. This delicious plant is best eaten raw.

You can eat its stalk, leaves, flowers, and seedcases. Use the leaves as salad greens to get your regular dose of nutrients.

Eat this weedy wonder in sandwiches and wraps or as sprouts. You can also steam or saute it for your meals.

Beech-Nut

This fall goldmine of nutrients produced by beech trees is an excellent treat! Beechnut has a mildly sweet taste and provides several vitamins and minerals. 

Eat beech nuts cooked, instead, roasted, which enhances their flavor. You can use roasted beech nut seeds in place of coffee beans to survive in those difficult times. Use the seed oil to dress salads and to cook meals.

Wild Rice

This aquatic grass growing naturally throughout the U.S. Wild rice has a thick hull, long, black-colored grains, and a nutty flavor. Besides being a rich source of proteins, it also provides Vitamin B6, magnesium, and zinc.

This wild grass, with its nice, chewy texture, makes a good base for stuffing. How about snacking on the popped grain, just like you’d eat popcorn?

The grain will last for years if you store it raw in a sealed container.  The cooked grain keeps for as long as six months when stored in the freezer.

Chicory

Chicory is a perennial herb ideal for human use in survival situations. You can eat the plant’s roots as well as leaves.

The roots are a rich source of fat and protein and help with digestion. Baked or ground chicory roots make an effective coffee substitute. Chicory leaves are full of Vitamins A, C, and K and make an excellent addition to salads.

Pine Nuts

Whether eaten raw or toasted, pine nuts taste superb and provide essential survival nutrients like iron and protein. They’re also rich in Vitamin C and manganese which makes them one of the healthiest wild foods.

Munching on pine nuts can prove extremely helpful if you’re ever hopelessly lost, say, in the heart of a forest. Moreover, if you happen to get lost in a huge pine forest itself, you needn’t starve at all for days together!

Garlic Mustard

A highly nutritious leafy green, garlic mustard is chock-full of fiber. This plant makes an excellent food garnish, owing to its mild garlic-mustard taste.  A perfect salad material!

Mince the plant’s roots finely to pickle them or use them in soups.

Mushrooms

Magic mushrooms are also known as shrooms, mushies, blue meanies, golden tops, liberty caps, philosopher’s stones, shroomology,liberties, amani, and agaric. Magic mushrooms can be eaten, mixed with food, or brewed like tea for drinking. They can also be mixed with cannabis, green hulu kratom or tobacco and smoked.

Liquid psilocybin is also available, which is the naturally occurring psychedelic drug found in liberty caps. The liquid is clear brown and comes in a small vial.

Dandelion

Just one cup of this flowering plant’s leaves provides you with your daily doses of vitamins. The other parts of the plant are equally useful. 

Simply boil dandelion roots to make a strong-tasting, healthy tea. Use the flowers if you desire a sweeter version of the beverage.

Animal Meat

You can get high-quality protein from a single large animal like a wild boar or an elk. Some smaller mammals such as squirrels and rabbits are also an easy food supply in dire situations.

For survival in extreme conditions, you can also consider eating fried snails and earthworms. These certainly make a meaty meal.

Green Seaweed

What if you’re shipwrecked on an uninhabited isle? Green seaweed is the food you should look for. Pull this nutritious weed from the shallow waters and let it dry. If freshwater is handy, make sure to rinse the weed before drying.

As a prepper, you can practice eating seaweed raw or including it in soups.

Clovers

Clovers are conspicuous through their unique trefoil leaflets and are found mostly in grassy areas. You can eat the plant raw or boiled to benefit from its several nutrients.

Steep its flowers into tea or grind them for making protein-rich flour.

Black Walnut

This Eastern American wild food resembles green tennis balls in appearance. Nevertheless, it’s known as “black walnut” because your hands get a black stain on handling it.

Full of vitamins and healthy fats, a black walnut certainly aids survival. Eat the nut meat from hulled and thoroughly washed black walnuts.

Harebell

This lovely perennial with small, lavender flowers abounds in many of the world’s northern regions. Harebell is rich in Vitamin C, and you can eat its leaves.

Try using the leaves in salads. You can also add them to smoothies and homemade dips. 

Paw Paw Fruit

This is a delicious, belly-filling tropical fruit. The pawpaw fruit tastes best when it’s still mushy with sweet flavors slightly close to bananas and mangoes.

This fantastic survival recourse is full of vitamins, healthy fat, and proteins. Growing pawpaw trees is easy as they’re less vulnerable to pests. How about planting a few of these wild foods in your backyard garden?

Final Thoughts on Wild Foods

Now you know some of the most nutritious wild foods to gather ahead of a disaster. Try out different preparations with these edibles, and cherish your relationship with nature.

Do you have any other suggestions for wild foods that others may try at their homes? Please add your suggestions for those wild foods to the comment box below.