An abundant food source.

As humans we spread our civilization everywhere it seems.
With us come Rats.
Rats are an edible as food by humans and there are billions of them.

Yes it might not be the food of choice for many but in a survival situation they are a good food source.

Check youtube, there are many vids on there on how to prepare and cook them.

Originally posted by colec156
As humans we spread our civilization everywhere it seems.
With us come Rats.
Rats are an edible as food by humans and there are billions of them.

Yes it might not be the food of choice for many but in a survival situation they are a good food source.

Check youtube, there are many vids on there on how to prepare and cook them.

Also, field mice, birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and any other small creatures you could happen to snare in the woods.

Pigeons if you live in the city.

There's an infinite amount of food on this planet, its "who gets it first", that will survive.

Dog eat dog.

reply to post by havok


Yes very true with field mice and squirrels etc
Like you pointed out, with pigeons, rats are in mass numbers.

I think for alot of people it will be putting the taboo behind them about eating these animals.

Originally posted by havok

Originally posted by colec156


There's an infinite amount of food on this planet, its "who gets it first", that will survive.

Dog eat dog.

Were you being cryptic metaphorical or literal?

Human eating humans or eating Rover?

Actually, I think it'd be a lot better healthwise to trap the rats, and feed them something besides what they do eat for about 2-3 days, to flush out whatever diseases, toxins, ect. Granted, city rats are HUGE, but have ya ever smelled a dead one? I had one crawl into my engine once, and it got killed by the fanbelt. I thought it had fallen out, until the car had warmed up a good deal, and I got halfway home. I popped the hood, and threw up from the smell underneath: It smelled HORRIBLE. So bad, that when the cop stopped (thinking I was drunk, the way I was wretching), HE almost tossed up HIS dinner. It was bad enough to put me off meat for a month, even tho the smell finally went away after a few days.

Who wants to eat something that smells worse dead and cooked than alive? I wouldn't. I consider it a sign of a sick, tainted piece of meat. So.... I'd say to think about farming rats instead of just catching them and cooking them outright. Go with birds or other rodents (rabbits) if you can.

Insects may be another, they are easily obtained by just using a jar to catch and hold, even collected by attracting them into a white sheet or cloth over a source of light.
grasshoppers, moths, ants, termites, catapillars, spiders, lavae are just a few, collection of which requires very little effort and can be found pretty much everywhere one goes.

reply to post by wylekat


The reason the rat smelled like that is because you were cooking it in it's skin, with all that fur. Ever smelled burnt hair? It's horrible believe me.

Rat is a great meal. Here in the UK i used to spend nights shooting them in a barn of a friendly farmer. It was my payment for him allowing me to shoot on his land that once a month i'd go on a serious rat hunt. I left most of them for foxes but i got curious and decided to eat a few. They were tasty! A little tough but tasty.

My only conern with them is that during skinning/gutting you have to be really careful. A single nick from a blade when preparing them can lead to some really horrible diseases. You shouldn't even skin them when you have any small scabs, nicks, damaged skin etc on your hands. I actually used latex gloves when i did it.

Still rat stew is really nice.

reply to post by wylekat


The rats in our city, you can throw a saddle on and ride them around. I plan on hooking a bunch up to a wagon so they can pull me around for transportation.

Ugh . . . maybe here in the country, if I got desperate . . . but definitely not city rats. I can't imagine the nasty stuff they get into & eat.

Doubt I would ever have a chance to eat any around here anyway. My cat & dog get too many of them!

reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984


ImagineReality are you serious??? LOL

I have a strong stomach and can pretty much eat anything... but rats??? Urgh!

It’s the thought of them living in sewers for months eating... well... who knows what they eat down there!!

That is funny and disgusting at the same time

I am not sure if this is true, but i read somewhere that rats are the one thing that Special Forces are told NOT to eat because of disease... Can anyone confirm if this is true?

Also... I’m guessing that there is a difference between urban rats and country rats!!! Bit like wood pigeon and city pigeon?

Originally posted by endisnighe

Originally posted by havok

Originally posted by colec156


There's an infinite amount of food on this planet, its "who gets it first", that will survive.

Dog eat dog.

Were you being cryptic metaphorical or literal?

Human eating humans or eating Rover?

Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Its a "Dog eat dog" kind of world. Survival of the fittest? If you have to eat dog, you gotta do what you gotta do.

As far as dis-ease goes, if you boil any animal for 50-60 minutes or more, regardless of taste, toughness, and smell, you will kill most of the viruses, bacteria and other illness causing pathogens. Also, fire and heat kills most all pathogens, too. So, cooked properly, any meat will be life-sustaining.
The hard thing will be the ability to understand when the food is properly cooked. I doubt that people will have food thermometers in bad times.

Just a heads up.

reply to post by havok


I am packing 2 food thermometers in my SHTF gear,already bought them.
After reading this,I'm glad I did!

I found this article...

www.telegraph.co.uk...

Which contains the quote...

they are the only animal that the SAS are banned from eating

I thought i had read it somewhere... i think it may have been in one of Andy McNabs or Chris Ryans books.

[edit on 14-12-2009 by Muckster]

Originally posted by Muckster
I found this article...

www.telegraph.co.uk...

Which contains the quote...

they are the only animal that the SAS are banned from eating

Good find!

I am fairly certain, I won't be eating rats first. That seems to pertain to those who live in cities with high populations of rats.

I am a country dweller, so deer, rabbits, and other bigger animals first!

TPS: There is a dis-ease found on the livers of rabbits that is pretty bad. I don't have the source just yet. But I would refrain from eating rabbits with white spots on their livers. Well, any animal with white spots for that matter.

Edit to check spelling.

[edit on 14-12-2009 by havok]

I breed african soft furred rats and dumbo rats to feed my snakes.
The Dumbo rats would make a nice stew because of their size. About 500 grams for an adult and it would fill you up. Thats over 1 pound.

reply to post by havok


I think you are talking about Tularemia...

Tularemia is a bacterial disease of rabbits that is transmittible to man, usually through openings in the skin. Hunters who notice small white or yellow spots on the surface of the rabbit's liver when they are field dressing it should discard the entire rabbit immediately

From...

www.ngpc.state.ne.us...


Another one to be careful of is Myxomatosis!

Originally posted by Muckster
I have a strong stomach and can pretty much eat anything... but rats??? Urgh!

In the end it's just meat and honestly in a stew or something you would never guess it's rat. I had 6 of them, i was hungry and well i just got curious lol. Anyway lots of people eat pigeon and my father always described them as rats with wings Mind you he describes squirrels as rats with bushy tails so erm yeah lol.

Originally posted by Muckster
I am not sure if this is true, but i read somewhere that rats are the one thing that Special Forces are told NOT to eat because of disease... Can anyone confirm if this is true?

I have not had special forces training so i can't comment on whether they do or not but as i stated i took good precautions when i skinned the rats. The smallest nick, scratch or even graze on your skin can lead to infection from some really horrible diseases. If you ever get bitten by a rat then wait about 5 hours and then get straight to hospital and demand an ELISA blood test. The reason i say to wait is the doctor once told me it can take that long for the test to pick anything up.

Once gutted and cleaned, toss the meat in a pan and seal it, once half cooked, or completely cooked if you want to be really safe, then throw it in a stew. Stewing it stopped it being as tough.

Originally posted by Muckster
Also... I’m guessing that there is a difference between urban rats and country rats!!! Bit like wood pigeon and city pigeon?

Urban pigeons often fly onto nearby farm land. The only real difference isthey tend to have less meat than wood pigeons and the urban pigeons seem to have more parasites in my experience. As for city rats well i haven't really shot any of them, i only shot rats on farms and i would guess those rats don't travel 20 miles to reach the city when there is grain and other food lying around all over the place

Originally posted by Muckster
Another one to be careful of is Myxomatosis!

As far as i am aware there is no recorded case of a human contracting myxomatosis from handling or eating rabbits. Whilst some diseases can jump species, myxy isn't one of them atm.

[edit on 14-12-2009 by ImaginaryReality1984]

reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984

In the end it's just meat and honestly in a stew or something you would never guess it's rat. I had 6 of them, i was hungry and well i just got curious lol. Anyway lots of people eat pigeon and my father always described them as rats with wings Mind you he describes squirrels as rats with bushy tails so erm yeah lol.

LOL true - my father said the same about squirrels and pigeons

As far as i am aware there is no recorded case of a human contracting myxomatosis from handling or eating rabbits. Whilst some diseases can jump species, myxy isn't one of them atm

Oh ok... i didnt realise that... stupid me, should have looked it up... thanks ImaginaryReality1984

Britons should not eat rats under any circumstances, 98%+ are infected with Weil's disease they should eat tasty grey squirrels instead.

reply to post by Incendia vox


Oh yeah... forgot about that one...

There is a lake near me that i sometimes fish... apparently, a few years ago, one of the regulars there had to have part of his stomach removed due to Weil's disease.

Not sure if its true or not... but that’s what I heard