Rabbits : Source of Food

Perhaps it is the Hawaiian in me, but how about cans of SPAM.

Guinea pigs are a prime source of protein in the Peruvian diet. Heifer International has bred a guinea pig that is twice the size one finds in the wild. I believe they are available somewhere in the USA. The Peruvians used to raise the guinea pigs under their beds.

I think guinea pig and rabbit and squirrel meats all do better if they are stewed...

reply to post by Pellevoisin


Ah, SPAM. It has a special place in my heart, especially Hawaii's Spam Musubi. I got 6 people at work addicted to Spam Musubi. Those people used to gag at the thought of eating spam.

Spam is great because they last almost a lifetime. They can probably survive a nuclear blast and still be good. But you would have stock pile before SHTF scenario. Rabbits, rodents, llamas, chickens, etc. are renewable.

But you shouldn't throw away SPAM. Its great because you can stuff them in your BOB. They are easily stored. And they used to be cheaper before the economy went down the tubes.

At my house, we've been stock piling a lot: rice, beans, dried food, salt, sugar, honey, flour, wheat, oatmeal, spam, tuna, etc. Its good to keep a variety in your foodstores.

Originally posted by chr1z
I'm sure you could... People all over eat different meat from the standard beef chicken and fish most westerners are use to.....

I think it's called bushmeat

Thats true, but i have always called it game, when i was in Australia you can easily buy rabbit from the local butcher, and now im in Belgium Rabbit seems to be on every supermarket shelf i have came across, its such a nice meat. I got lucky i just found some kangaroo for sale so i grabbed that straight away, horse is also very common here too. Now i know the OP was thinking more of a survival situation but if anybody wants to try these meats so they have an idea further down the track they are readily available at least in Australia and Europe, i would imagine it would be similar in the US too.

I've eat rabbit just today. I like eat rabbit my uncle have a farm with a lot of rabbit breed only for food.
They are very good. There are a lot of very wonderful receipt in italian cuisine. Some examples:

italianfood.about.com...

Try it, believe me

[edit on 1-5-2009 by ImShrike]

This is something that I also thought about doing. They don't take up alot of square footage and if you keep the hutches clean they don't smell either! (big plus!)

Also, if you're growing a garden, it wouldn't take much effort to also grow some alfalfa or some other sort of food for them to eat. I would hesitate to feed them commercial pellets simply because you can't be sure what's really in them. Another thing I'd given a bit of thought about is fencing off small areas around the hutch to allow the rabbits to have some "outside" time to nibble on grasses, etc. but not sure if that would work or not.

I've had fried squiril (sp?) before (from the West Virginia Mountains) and it was soooo good. I definately wouldn't eat the squirils in the cities because you have no clue what they've been living on or what types of diseases they may be carrying.

During my research I located this PDF for beginners when it comes to raising rabbits. Raising Rabbits

Hope you find it helpful!

Nice pdf, now only thing we need is cookbook for rabit foods

Well, now that you mention it. I just did a search on Scribd and came up with this document.

141 Game Recipes

Contains recipes for all types of "game" including rabbit! There are also a few others there, just do a search for "rabbit recipes" and it'll bring up a slew of different cookbook recipes.

I guess we're all set then. Bring on the Sit-X

Rabbit , squirl and snake are good, i love fried rattler.
dont forget the other critters, its hard to beat fried frog legs. I love them butt its hard to find this far north. Ive had turtle soup, was a little greasy but was good. Dont forget your featherd friends for a good meal. Grouse is my favorite bird. butt dove and others are great. i would probably avoid pigion unless i was just totaly starving, they eat to much trash, and carry diesase. But in a Tight spot, about anything in the animal kingdom is fair game for a meal. I'd prefer to be where i could get big game, depending on how many i have with me, or if i know some one to give part to. (dont want huge amounts of meat lying around, not only for a health issue, but also for a attracting critters issue.
Just remember if getting poisinous snake, cut the head off at 2x the head leingth, just ot be safe, and cut it off as soon as you kill it. Although the best way to get them (rattler included) is a decent stick with a "y" on the end, pin the head down, use your knife and cut the head off.. keeps any chance of the poision to go back into the body. You could if you wanted even use the venim for weapon. Milk the head and lace a arrow with it.. not sure how long it would be effective, but you would not have to be a good shot to do some damage.

The key to wild game is be open. A Lot of it will suprise you.

reply to post by cnichols


Info, cnichols. The best part is they don't smell. Whenever I drove by a chicken farm, the smell was so revolting. But when my parents raised rabbits, there was no smell.

Thanks all for the recipes and the PDF. Check out the other link I sent which shows you how to raise and prepare rabbits. There's even an anatomy pix of a rabbit.

Yes, I do agree any critter you can catch can be made into dinner. When I first created this post, I wanted others to know about rabbits as a source for food. But I'm happy the subject expanded to other critters -- squirrel, snake, birds, etc.

My grandfather used to catch pigeons in our backyard and fry them. I had to admit they were tasty. Today, I wouldn't eat them because who knows what the pigeon was eating. But when Sit-X comes around we won't care.

Here are some excerpts from "Backyard Livestock", in the chapter about rabbits. I have found this book very informative!

"One 10-pound doe can produce in her litters up to 120 pounds of meat per year - a production of over 1,000 percent of her body weight!...

...They do not require a great deal of care, and they are efficient converters of feed to meat. The litters are butchered before weaning, so there is no need to go the additional time and expense of building more hutches...

....The meat is similar, though...superior to chicken. It is all white and has more delicate flavor. It exceeds the protein content of beef, pork, lamb, and chicken, but has lower percentage of fat, cholesterol, and ounce for ounce, lower calories."

Now, I've personally entertained the idea of rabbit as a source of food, but I'm leaning more toward growing Tilapia in a few, inexpensive, above ground pools. Fish, ultimately, are superior to animal meat, in that they contain omega's. They grow quickly, reproduce by the hundreds, are perfect "portions", and can be kept in conjunction with hydroponic type growing methods in which the plants will LOVE the rich waters that the fish are producing. Just an idea!

On the other hand, if you were to be super efficient with your rabbit keeping, I would get a multi-purpose breed....Angora, or some other Giant breed with beautiful, luxurious fur. Sheer the adults you plan to keep, and in the colors you want, and learn the art of spinning your own natural fibers. It's a lost art to most of American culture, but is quickly making a comeback for obvious reasons, and gaining immense popularity...even among the male population, believe it or not! More than gold, people will always need clothing and food. Why not provide these yourself? In addition, rabbit poop makes good fertilizer, and when you butcher them, recycle the skins and learn how to tan your own rabbit hides. Yet another level of effciency.

Personally, I think a small variation of animals is best. I own chickens, and if they are taken care of properly, they don't stink. All poop stinks, and yes, chicken poop is not pleasant....it's what you do with it that matters. If the animals are allowed to wallow in in, then yes, you're gonna have a smelly mess on your hands. BUT....chicken poop is the BEST manure for plant crops, and can be used directly on them without composting, unlike other manure. Chickens should not be discounted simply due to smell! They are supreme bug hunters, and will aerate your yard if you let them roam freely. I cannot stress how good they are at gathering bugs! I watch mine fight each other as they chase grasshoppers. Quite funny animals, they are!

Chickens are fairly cheap to purchase to begin with, not hard to care for, and can provide many levels of usage....eggs, meat, chicks, manure, and down feathers if you should want to get gung-ho about it. Have you looked at the price of down comforters lately, or feather pillows? They're NOT cheap! Again, why not do it yourself? If you pick a nice multi-purpose breed, you can let your hens lay and hatch their own eggs without any added hassle on your end, sell off what you don't want, keep what you do, and keep the process going. Keep two roosters - one for breeding, the other in case of an accident, and put the rest in the freezer. Ask around where you live, and you'll most likely find a local butcher that will process your chickens for you at about $1-$2 per bird...this is pretty good if you don't want to do it yourself.

I can't finish this post without mentioning goats. Personally, I want two different breeds....one for milk and the other for fiber, and maybe even develop my own breed, who knows? Goats come in Angora breeds as well. Nubians, however, are known for their high butter fat content, (but also low in volume, unfortunately), and therefore make excellent producers of milk for milk products. They are, hands down, the most efficient feeders, in that no other farm animal can convert low-protein feed into high-protein products the way goats can. Their milk is indistinguishable from cow's milk, and is easier to digest. More people in the world drink goat's milk than cow's milk. Their meat (called chevon), is also a common dish in other countries, and tastes like lamb. If you keep two goats and breed them at different times of the year, one will always be producing milk for you.

In addition, goats make great manure, and if you're inclined to use them for meat as well, their hides also provide another level of usage. I can hear the animal right's activists now, but we're talking about what the Indians use to do....everything, and I mean EVERYTHING was used, and put to use. Not for luxury, but out of necessity.

So, to close, I would humbly recommend 8-12 chickens, two giant angora rabbits (or another giant breed with luxury fur), two goats (does) of good milking quality, and would also recommend looking into small scale fish farming....it's not as hard as you think! With all this, and a small garden, you can provide your family with almost everything you need! Goat milk makes wonderful soaps, and the fibers from the rabbits and goats can be used separately or combined to make a beautiful fiber. Butter is extraordinarily easy to make, and there are plenty of books out there to teach you how to make common cheeses....mozzerella, cream cheese, yogurt, etc. Don't buy into the naysayers who swear that goat's milk is inferior or that it makes inferior cheese....this is nothing but ignorance at best. You won't be able to tell the difference, unless you screwed up the recipe somehow!

Good luck!

reply to post by emeraldzeus


Awesome post.

Yes, I've also been looking into (for years honestly) aquaponics. The reason I haven't done it yet is that I drive a truck and tend to be out on the road for weeks at a time. Not necessarily a good way of keeping fish. Here's a great site for information on Aquaponics. I've been a member of their forums for well over a year and they're very helpful and informative.

I've also looked into goats. As you mentioned they're a great source for milk and milk based products. My SO has a somewhat low tollerance to "homogonized milk" that we buy in the store and I am pretty sure that goats milk would be the answer to that.

I just recently discussed this topic with him, as a matter of fact, and had to ... justify ... my reasoning behind wanting to raise rabbits. One of the things I mentioned was this. "If TSHTF and we need to lay low, how easy is that gonna be with chickens running around the yard clucking and raising a ruckus? Rabbits are comparitively quiet."

So I'm of the belief that if I raise fish (via aquaponics) I'll not only have a very healthy source of food I will also have a great garden. Add rabbits into the mix and I have a varied source of meat. Then add a couple of goats into the mix and you have not only meat but milk and milk products as well. Not to mention skins from the various animals for textile production.

Of course, in order for me to really "do" any of this I'd have to give up my career of driving a truck. But if TSHTF I don't really think there will be alot of freight to haul anyway. In the meantime we'll just continue preparing as best we can with non-living food supplies and hope and pray that we have the time left to get the living food supplies started.

If it wasnt mentioned earlier,keep in mind that any ground dwelling critter can become infected with Ground Worms...

reply to post by emeraldzeus


Awesome contribution, eZeus. I thank you for the useful information.

My parents used to own a fish store when I was a baby. My dad still dabbles collecting tropical fish. Perhaps I will ask him for help in getting supplies and information.

Our friend bought a baby goat to raise it for food. He told his family never to name her. Of course, the kids and wife immediately named the goat, Babe. 4 years later they haven't eaten the damn goat because the family has grown attached with it. My other friend and I are salivating over the goat. We want our BBQ!

You are right about keeping a good mix of animals. The more options you have the better. But if you live in the city and you don't have that big of a yard or the permit to raise most livestock, then rabbits or fish might be the way to go.