Early on you live on what you scavenge — canned food, fruit, and drinks. Longer term you feed yourself by hunting, fishing and farming and cooking what you catch. The golden rule: cook meat before you eat it, and never eat rotten food.
Safe, risky and dangerous food
- Safe — canned food (open it with a can opener or knife to keep all the value), fruit picked off trees, and cooked meat or vegetables.
- Risky — raw meat and fish can give food poisoning; some fruit and mushrooms can too. Cook meat first.
- Dangerous — rotten food, human steak, and eating with bloody/dirty hands (a route to cholera). Wash your hands at a well before eating with your hands.
Make a fire and cook
- Get a fire source (matches, a hand drill kit from sticks, or a road flare) and tinder (rags, paper, bark or wood).
- Place a fireplace, or use a stone oven/fire barrel for a safer, weather-proof fire.
- Add firewood to keep it going; a fire in the open can be seen for a long way at night.
- Cook meat on a stick, tripod or stove until it reads cooked (not baked/burned, which loses value). Lard/fat from animals is great for cooking and calories.
Hunting, fishing and farming
Animals (deer, boar, cows, chickens) give a lot of meat and fat; shoot or trap, then skin with a knife. Fishing needs a rod (improvised from a stick, rope and hook) and bait. Farming lets you plant seeds in soil or a garden plot and harvest vegetables — slow, but a steady food supply for a base.
