Searching and obtaining food in extreme conditions. How to get food in the rainforest? How to find food in the forest

We all believe that nothing can happen to us. That our train will never go off the rails, the car will never stop in the middle of the road with a broken tire, and the trip for mushrooms will end successfully and the path will lead straight to the house. Usually, in 99.9% of cases, this is exactly what happens.

However, every thousandth person is still unlucky. If you think about this constantly, it’s easier to sit at home and not stick your nose out the door, saying goodbye to hiking and traveling. Although in order to safely get out of such a jam, in fact, you need very little: take with you a map of the area, a spare tire and a repair kit when you go on the road, matches and a knife when you go mushroom hunting. The rules on how not to get lost are very simple. Surviving when lost is also not difficult - so much so that even girls from high school, falling behind the group, are able to spend several days in the forest and wait safely until rescuers find them.

We wrote below about how to build a hut and acquire simple utensils. But what is much more important is what all pilots and cosmonauts are taught and what all tourists should know, no matter whether they prefer excursion or individual hiking trips - this is the answer to the question of how to find food in the forest.

Our ancestors looked with surprise at people who did not know how to survive in the forest - a place that from time immemorial fed people. But today the vast majority of tourists who find themselves in extreme conditions, is capable of dying of hunger, passing by a richly laid table of forest delicacies. In fact, the most nutritious and simple protein food is right under any traveler's feet. And you don’t need a gun or a knife to catch her. A shovel or, at worst, a digging stick is enough. Because this protein-rich food is earthworms.

In order to survive, you will have to eat them. It is enough to dig up the worms and place them in running water for several hours so that the digested earth comes out of them. It’s almost impossible to look at such food, but it’s quite possible to eat it. They even have a taste - far from exquisite, but still. It’s even better to boil the rinsed and soaked worms - eating them in this form is much more pleasant.

The following forest-meat dish is a frequent guest in restaurants, especially French ones. Of course, our frogs are not nearly as large as those served in France, but you can eat them too, because they taste almost like chicken, and they are quite common in the forest. And it's not difficult to catch them.

The main thing is to remove the skin and place the legs on sticks to fry. You can eat it raw, but people are more accustomed to hot and cooked food.

Mice are more difficult to get, but still possible. Observations of polar wolves and subsequent experiments on humans, described by Farley Mowat, showed that a person who eats field mice whole, along with their entrails, receives a complete set of substances necessary for life and may not even suffer from vitamin deficiency.

We've sorted out the meat menu. The second dish necessary for a person is bread. Of course, a tourist may come across an abandoned but sown field or pick up a crust thrown by a magpie, but in fact, it is much easier to get bread in the forest. Especially if you come across a river or lake.

Large white lotus-like flowers, rounded leaves - this is what a water lily or white lily looks like. Now there are not so many of them left in Russian reservoirs, but when it comes to human life, there is no choice. The water lily rhizome consists of 49% starch, 8% protein and about 20% sugar. Of course, before gnawing it, you will have to dry it, grind it into flour and soak it in running water, to delete tannins. But then, after drying, this flour can be used for baking bread or dough strips wound on sticks over a fire, or simply whiten a soup with it for satiety.

By the way, similar flour can be made from acorns and even dandelion roots, an eternal weed and a thunderstorm of summer cottages. True, they will also have to be dried first, then soaked twice, and only then, having dried again, ground into flour or cereal to create porridge, but when you are hungry, you don’t have to be particularly picky.

The rhizome of the cattail is also good for flour - the same one from which the children make spears, calling it reed. Moreover, you don’t have to soak its root, just cut it into pieces, dry it, grind it and bake it and cook it as much as you want.

And if you fry pieces of roots, you can also make a coffee drink from them. Not Arabica, of course, but it invigorates you on a hike, and what more could you want from reeds? You can also collect young shoots, boil them and serve them with frog legs - the taste of the shoots is reminiscent of asparagus. From a distance, of course. But the menu for the forest “French” restaurant is almost ready.

Icelandic lichen, which is found in central Russia in pine forests, is also edible. And not just for deer. It contains 44% soluble lechenin starch and about 3% sugar. In order for a person to eat it, it is necessary to deprive the lichen of bitter substances. Therefore, Icelandic moss is soaked with soda or potash for 24 hours. For those who are not used to carrying soda with them on an industrial scale, we can advise pouring ash infusion on Icelandic moss. Approximately 2 tablespoons of ash per liter of water, add another two liters of water and you can soak a hundred grams Icelandic moss. After a day, the moss needs to be washed and soaked in plain water for another day. And then either dry, grind and add to other flour, or boil into jelly and pour jellied meat or jelly from forest berries. In addition, the cunning Swedes are driving out Icelandic lichen alcohol. So the forest is not only ready to feed and shelter any lost tourist, but also to give the skilled one the opportunity to have fun and warm up from the inside.

Another green edible plant that is usually forgotten is burdock. Its roots are best collected in early spring or late autumn, but even in summer they are quite capable of feeding a tourist. They can be eaten raw, boiled, and even better, baked. Completely replaces potatoes, carrots or celery. And if you boil peeled and chopped burdock roots with sorrel or sorrel, you can get excellent sweet and sour jam.

The common and seemingly useless plant chickweed can also be eaten - in salads, soups or even purees. Do the same with sorrel, snytka and “rabbit cabbage”. And youth will completely replace Brussels sprouts in forest green soups or baked as a side dish.

The forest table is not as familiar as our everyday one, but it is much richer than ordinary tourists imagine. When you have canned food and cereals with you, you can neglect them, but you still need to know about them. And only then, in an extreme situation, decide whether it is worth dying of hunger next to such delicious dishes.

one more article. . . .

Survival in the forest

There are many cases where people, having gone into the forest and not having sufficient experience and knowledge of local conditions, easily lost their way and, having lost their orientation, found themselves in distress.

How should a person who gets lost in the forest behave?

Having lost his orientation, he must immediately stop moving and try to restore it using a compass or using various natural signs. If this is difficult, then you should organize a temporary parking lot in a dry place, which is not easy to do, especially in mossy forests, where the ground is covered with a continuous carpet of sphagnum, which greedily absorbs water (500 parts of water to one part of dry matter). Temporary shelter can be a canopy, hut, or dugout.

In warm weather, you can limit yourself to building a simple canopy. Two 1.5-meter stakes as thick as a hand with forks at the end are driven into the ground at a distance of 2-2.5 m from each other.

A thick pole is placed on the forks - a supporting beam. Four to five poles are leaned against it at an angle of 45-60° and secured with rope or flexible branches. Three or four poles - rafters - are tied to them (parallel to the ground), on which, starting from the bottom, tiled-like (so that each subsequent layer covers the underlying one to about half) spruce branches, branches with dense foliage or bark are laid.

Bedding is made from spruce branches or dry moss. The canopy is dug in with a shallow ditch to prevent water from flowing under it in case of rain.

A gable hut is more convenient for living. It is built according to the same principle, but the poles are laid on both sides of the supporting beam. The front part of the hut serves as the entrance, and the back part is covered with one or two poles and braided with spruce branches. Before starting construction, it is necessary to prepare materials - branches, beams, spruce branches, bark.

To obtain pieces of bark of the required size, deep vertical cuts are made on the larch trunk (to the wood) at a distance of 0.5-0.6 m from each other. Then these strips are cut from above and below with large teeth 10-12 cm in diameter and the bark is carefully torn off with an ax or knife. In winter, you can build a snow trench for shelter. It is discovered in the snow at the foot of a large tree. The bottom of the trench is lined with several layers of spruce branches, and the top is covered with poles, tarpaulin, and parachute fabric.

How to navigate in the forest?

Being in the taiga, it is difficult to move among rubble and windbreaks, through dense forest overgrown with bushes. The apparent similarity of the situation (trees, folds of terrain, etc.) can completely disorient a person, and he will move in a circle, unaware of his mistake. But, knowing various signs, you can navigate by the cardinal directions even without a compass.

Thus, the bark of birch and pine on the northern side is darker than on the southern side, and tree trunks, stones, and rock ledges are more densely covered with moss and lichens. Resin drops on the trunks of coniferous trees are released less abundantly on the northern side than on the southern side. All these signs are clearly expressed in individual standing tree in a clearing or forest edge.

To maintain the intended direction, they usually choose a clearly visible landmark every 100-150 m of the route. This is especially important if the path is blocked by rubble or dense bushes, which force you to deviate from the straight direction. Trying to go ahead is always fraught with injury.

Movement in the forest

It is extremely difficult to cross the taiga in winter, when the snow cover is very deep and it is almost impossible to overcome snow-covered areas without skis and snowshoes. Such skis, with a certain skill, are made in the form of a frame of two branches 2-2.5 cm thick and 140-150 cm long. The front end of the ski, after steaming in water, is bent upward, and the frame (the width in the center should not be less than 30 cm) braided with thin flexible branches. In the front part of the ski, four transverse and two longitudinal slats are used to create support for the foot according to the size of the shoe.

In winter, you can move along frozen river beds while taking the necessary precautions. So, we must remember that the current usually disturbs the ice from below, and it becomes especially thin under snowdrifts near steep banks. In river beds with sandy banks, sagging often forms, which, when frozen, turn into a kind of dam.

Most often they are hidden under deep snow and are difficult to detect. Therefore, it is better to avoid all obstacles on river ice, and in places where rivers bend, you need to stay away from the steep bank, where the current is faster and the ice is thinner. Often, after a river freezes, the water level decreases so quickly that thin ice“pockets” are formed that pose a great danger. On ice, which seems not strong enough, and there is no other way, they move by crawling. In spring, the ice is thinnest in areas overgrown with sedge and near flooded bushes.

Small taiga rivers are quite passable for light inflatable boats and rafts. In the center of the raft you can build a small shelter (hut) from rain and wind and prepare a place for a fire by pouring layers of sand or pebbles. To control the raft, two or three long poles are cut down. A heavy stone with a strong rope can serve as an anchor.

Swamps and bogs

The most treacherous obstacles in the taiga are swamps and bogs. Characteristic feature The main disadvantage of a swampy area is its poor habitability, the lack of roads, the presence of difficult and sometimes completely impassable areas. Swamps are rarely equally passable throughout their entire length and at different times of the year. Their surface is very deceptive. The most difficult to pass are marshy swamps, the distinctive feature of which is the whitishness of the surface layer.

It is easy to get around small wetlands by stepping on hummocks or rhizomes of bushes, or wade, after feeling the bottom with a pole. Once you are convinced that it is impossible to pass or bypass dangerous areas, you can throw a few branches, lay several poles crosswise or tie a mat of reeds, grass, straw and cross this prepared “bridge” to solid ground.

Lakes overgrown with peat and vegetation pose a great danger to humans. They often have deep shady ponds, covered with floating plants and grass on top, and these “windows” are almost indistinguishable from the outside. You can fall into them suddenly if you neglect precautions. Therefore, when passing through an unfamiliar swamp, you should step slowly, carefully, without making sudden movements, always have a pole with you and test the soil ahead.

Having fallen into a swamp, there is no need to panic or make sudden movements. It is necessary to carefully, leaning on a pole lying across, take a horizontal position, then try to reach the reeds, grass with your hands and, pulling yourself up, crawl away from dangerous place. If several people are moving through the swamp, you need to stay close to each other in order to be able to help a friend at any moment.

You can check the thickness of the peat layer, its density and the hardness of the soil using a metal pin with a diameter of 20 mm with notches every 10 cm. To overcome vast swampy spaces, you can make swamp shoes and other devices from improvised means.

Cooking and lighting a fire

Fire is necessary for heating, drying clothes, signaling, cooking, and purifying water by boiling it. Survival time will increase or decrease depending on your ability to start a fire.

If you have matches, you can start a fire in any conditions and in any weather. If operations are expected in remote areas, stock up on a sufficient number of matches, which should always be kept with you in a waterproof bag. It is necessary to learn how to maintain the flame of a match for as long as possible in strong winds.

Fuel, tinder and determining the location of the fire

A small fire is easier to start and control than a large one. Several small fires around you in cold weather will provide more warmth than a large fire.

Identify and clearly limit the location of the fire to avoid a large forest fire. The first step when you need to start a fire on wet ground or snow is to build a platform of logs or stones. Protect the fire from the wind with a shield (windbreaker) or reflector that will direct the heat in the desired direction.

Use dried trees and branches as fuel. In wet weather, you will find dry fuel under the trunks of fallen trees. In areas with sparse vegetation, dry grasses, animal fats, and sometimes even coal, shale tar or peat, which may be located on the soil surface, can be used as fuel.

If there is wreckage nearby from an airplane involved in an accident, use a mixture of gasoline and oil (petroleum) as fuel. Some plants can also be used, but in no case are they poisonous.

To start a fire, use something that ignites quickly, for example, small blocks of dry wood, fir cones, tree bark, twigs, palm leaves, dried spruce needles, grasses, lichens, ferns, spongy threads of a giant puffball (mushroom), which is also edible. Before attempting to light a fire, prepare dry wood shavings. One of the most convenient and best materials for starting a fire is the rot of dried trees or logs.

Rot can be found even in wet weather by clearing the wet top layer of such a tree with a knife, a sharp stick, or even with your hands. Paper and gasoline are useful as tinder. Even in the rain there is resin fir cones or dry stumps will quickly catch fire. Dry birch bark also contains resinous substances that quickly catch fire. Arrange these materials in the form of a wigwam (hut) or stack of logs.

Maintain the fire properly. Use freshly cut logs or the end of a thick, rotten log to keep the fire burning slowly. Protect the red lights from the wind. Cover them with ash and a layer of soil on top. This way it will be easier for you to maintain the fire than to start it again.

IN northern ice or in areas where other fuels are not available, animal fat should be used.

Starting a fire without matches

Before you try to light a fire without matches, have some dry, flammable materials ready. Then shelter them from wind and moisture. Good substances can be rot, scraps of clothing, rope or twine, dry palm leaves, wood shavings and sawdust, bird feathers, woolly plant fibers and others. To stock up on them for the future, put some in a waterproof bag.

"The Sun and the Lens". A camera lens, a convex lens from binoculars or a telescope, and finally a mirror can be used for focusing sun rays to flammable substances.

Flint and steel (steel plate). If there are no matches, this The best way quickly light dry tinder. The flint can be the corresponding side of a waterproof matchbox or a solid piece of stone. Hold the flint as close to the tinder as possible and strike it against a steel knife blade or some small piece of steel.

Strike so that the sparks hit the center of the tinder. When it starts to smoke, blow lightly on the flame. You can add some fuel to the tinder or transfer the tinder to the fuel. If you fail to strike a spark with the first stone, try with another.

Friction of wood on wood. Considering that making fire using the friction method is quite difficult, use it as a last resort.

Bow and drill. Make an elastic bow by stretching it with lace, rope or belt. Use it to spin a dry, soft shaft through a small hole made in a dry, hard block of wood. As a result, you will get powdery black dust, in which a spark will appear with further friction. Lift the block and pour this powder onto a flammable substance (tinder).

Starting a fire using a belt. To do this, use a thick strip of dry rattan (palm wood) approximately 1 to 4 inches thick and 2 steps long, and dry wood. Place it on the ground, cut it at one end and insert another shaft so that the first one is held in the cut form. Insert a small lump of tinder into the crack and grab it with a belt, which you begin to rub back and forth, while supporting the shaft with your feet.

Making fire using a saw. It consists of two pieces of dry wood, which are carefully rubbed against each other. This method is mainly used in the jungle. For friction, use a cut piece of bamboo or other dry wood and the shell of a coconut flower as a wooden base. Good tinder is the brown fuzz that covers the bee palm and the dry material you find at the base of coconut leaves.

Ammunition and gunpowder. Prepare a pile of dry wood and other flammable material. Place gunpowder poured from several cartridges at its base. Sprinkle some gunpowder on the two stones you have chosen. Hit them together close to the base of the tinder. The sparks will ignite gunpowder and tinder.

Fire for cooking

A small fire and something like a stove is all that is required for cooking. Arrange the fire logs in a crisscross pattern to create an even layer of embers. Build a simple contraption using two logs, stones, or a narrow ditch on which to place cooking utensils over the fire. A large can of canned food can serve as a mobile stove, especially in northern conditions.

An even layer of coals will provide the best temperature for cooking. For baking, the fire should be lit in a hole.

Making a fire underground, often practiced by the Indians, requires drilling one or more vents on the windward side. Vents play the same role as the exhaust pipe in a stove. This method of cooking has great safety benefits in survival situations because it greatly reduces the possibility of detecting smoke and fire. In addition, it neutralizes negative effect strong wind.

Water supply

It is known that human body almost 65% consists of water. Water is part of the tissues; without it, normal functioning of the body, the metabolic process, maintaining heat balance, removing metabolic products, etc. are impossible. Dehydration of the body by just a few percent leads to disruption of its vital functions. At a temperature environment air +30°C, even 20-25% dehydration is easier to tolerate than 10-15% dehydration, but with more high temperature air.

It is allowed to set a norm of about 2.5 liters of water per day. In hot weather and during heavy physical activity, the need for water increases significantly and reaches 4 liters per day. But not all areas of the world have natural sources of water (rivers, lakes, ponds) and not all of these sources can be used. You need to know how and where to find groundwater.

In conditions of autonomous existence, especially in areas with a hot climate, with limited or no water supplies, water supply becomes a problem of paramount importance. It is necessary to find a water source, purify the water from organic and inorganic impurities if necessary, or desalinate it if it contains a large number of salts, ensure its storage.

Natural sources can be divided into several groups: open bodies of water (rivers, lakes, streams); groundwater bodies (springs, springs, accumulations of water in underground reservoirs); biological water sources (water-carrying plants); atmospheric water (rain, snow, dew, desalinated ice).

In areas with temperate and cold climates, finding water sources is not difficult. The abundance of open water bodies and snow cover make it possible to timely meet the body’s water needs and create the necessary reserves of water for drinking and cooking.

Only in some cases it is necessary to use natural signs to reach a water source (paths made by animals, usually leading to water, wet lowland soil). It is much more difficult to provide yourself with water in the desert, where water sources are often hidden from view and it is impossible to detect them without knowledge of special signs and features of the relief. They can be indicated by the nature of vegetation, indicator plants, artificial signs (“obo”), etc.

With limited water supplies, especially in hot climates where the body loses a lot of fluid through sweat and becomes dehydrated, it is very important to reduce sweating. This can be achieved by protecting yourself from direct solar radiation using a simple sunshade, limiting physical activity in the hottest part of the day, moisturizing clothes, etc.

If, by the will of fate, you are brought into the wilderness of the forest, and there is no food or there is absolutely not enough food left, you can try to catch the animal using simple traps. The advantage of traps over ordinary hunting is that you actually don’t spend any effort or time (except on manufacturing and installation).

A small game trap can be made from a parachute line, tendon fibers, or fishing line. To catch an animal the size of a deer, the trap must be made of a fairly strong material, for example, rawhide or parachute line.

Ground trap

The trap must be placed above the ground, tying one end to a tree, a hammered peg or a large log that the animal can drag only a short distance until the noose is tightened. Snares can be made from rope, fishing line or wire.

Hanging trap

This trap has a trigger mechanism that, when triggered, lifts the game into the air due to tension. Not bad for catching bunnies and larger animals, but you need to take into account the strength of the trap material.

Crushing Tension Trap

The trap uses logs or heavy stones to pin down or crush prey, usually attracted by bait. Can also be installed along trails.

One of the easier traps to create, but you need bait to use it. Usually used to catch small herbivores.

Piercing Traps

Impacts from stretched iron or bone darts may prove fatal to fairly large animals. This type of trap must be used very carefully and only in cases of last resort in places where it is impossible for oneself, other people or pets to become trapped.

Piercing Pull Trap

Effective for catching wild boars, deer or other fairly large animals. The trap must be positioned so that the horizontal blow with the tip hits the body of the prey.
This is a very scary trap. It must be used very carefully.

Bird traps

Birds are even easier to catch than mammals, so you can start catching them first.

Chippewa Indian Trap

(a trap can only be made if you happened to take a drill with you :)), in terms of survival, a trap is poorly implementable)

The trap must be installed on open area, which birds usually consider as a landing site.

Step 1. Sharpen both ends of a 2 meter log and drill a small hole near the 1st end. The log needs to be strengthened vertically by burying the other end.

Step 2. You need to insert a 20-centimeter pole into the drilled hole. Tie a stone to a narrow rope, thread the rope through the hole in the log, and make a tightening loop at the end that will lie on the pole.

Step 3. Tie a knot in the rope and place it over the pole so that the tension holds it in a horizontal position. When the bird lands on the perch, it will dislodge the perch, the knot will slip into the hole, and under the influence of the weight of the stone, the noose will tighten.

Fish trap

The fish swims to the shore at night and often rises from the depths to shallow water in search of food, where it can simply be led into a trap from which it will be difficult to climb out.

"Funnel"

The walls of the trap are made from a pile of pebbles or a palisade of poles stuck into the bottom of the reservoir.

To extract prey, you need to close the entrance to the trap, shake the water to lift the fish, and either try to pierce it with a sharpened stick, or catch it with a homemade net (in general, getting the fish into the trap is only half the battle).

When I was little, adults took me into the forest to pick berries. After an hour of gathering, I became bored, and I rushed through the forest with a stick at the ready, hooting, and pretending to be an Indian with these actions.

One day I got so carried away that I lost sight of my people and realized that I was lost. I walked through the forest for about an hour until I heard my parents screaming. Then he hit me on the ass. By the way, my fear of the forest remains to this day, so when I go to barbecue I almost never leave the car. But, in case I suddenly get lost in the forest, I learned how to get food in the forest and not die of hunger.

Foraging for plant food in the forest

It would seem that everything is simple pick a berry, cut mushroom and chew. It's not easy at all, because it is necessary consider following factors:

• mushrooms are hard on the stomach;
• Very many poisonous types of mushrooms, so the death will not be from hunger, but from poisoning;
• black rowan can be easily confused with wolfberry, after tasting which you will immediately become a potential client of the pathologist.

Gather need those berries, in which sure: raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, rose hips, hawthorn and rowan.

Also, don’t be disdainful roots. For example, if dry and grind the reed root, then from the resulting substance it is possible prepare a drink, Looks like coffee. Next on the list nuts. That's where storehouse of vitamins.

Just don’t try to rob the squirrel, otherwise it may take revenge later by coming to you after another stormy banquet. :)

How to get food of animal origin in the forest

It's a little more complicated, but very real. If nothing to light a fire with, then look for something like this, what can you eat raw. For example, bird eggs, it’s not beautiful, but it’s “good” to live. Insect larvae- disgusting, but in them a bunch of protein, but it tastes like chicken without salt. We close our eyes and cram this muck into ourselves.

They can also be eaten worms, grasshoppers, ants and caterpillars. If you have matches, or you have mastered the ancient art of making fire by friction, then You can get and cook such animal food:

• Jerzy. Easy to catch. After gutted and baked in clay.
• frogs- why are we worse than the French?
• Birds- can be knocked down with a stick or stone.
• Fish- can be caught in a stream or small lake.

Making fire and making a fire. In conditions of autonomous existence, the chances of survival increase depending on whether a person has a fire, which is extremely necessary for heating, drying clothes, cooking, signaling, and disinfecting water by boiling.

If you have matches, you can start a fire in any conditions and in any weather, you just need to be able to keep the flame of a match for as long as possible in a strong wind and skillfully use quickly igniting kindling. In conditions of autonomous existence, matches should be stored in a waterproof bag; it is useful to first dip each match in melted wax or paraffin.

Lighting a fire begins with preparing kindling, which is made from birch bark, dry pine twigs, moss, shavings, wool from clothing, etc. Kindling is placed on the selected and prepared place, on top of which dry material is laid in a hut (the smallest is closer to the kindling) .

If there are no usual sources of fire, then with certain skills and patience you can make fire using one of unconventional ways. A widely known method is the friction of wood against wood, or between wood and stone. Fire can be produced by striking sparks by hitting stone on stone or stone on metal, and in sunny weather by focusing the beam using a magnifying glass, glasses, or the lens of a photo camera.

For various purposes there are different ways making a fire (Fig. 86).

Rice. 86. Types of fires

Bonfire "star". Can burn up to 8-10 hours without special care. Used for heating at night.

"Hunting" fire. Can burn up to 6-8 hours without special care.

Bonfire "pyramid". Gives a large flame, quickly heats and dries clothes. It soon burns out and requires camouflage.

Bonfire "grid". Gives a strong, wide flame. It warms from all sides. It burns for a long time.

Bonfire "well"(logs are stacked in a log house). Gives a low and wide flame. It burns for a long time.

“Taiga” fire. It burns with an even flame for several hours, then smolders and gives off intense heat.

Bonfire "fence". Masks fire. Heats well, directing heat in one direction.

Bonfire in the swamp. Before lighting a fire, make a double flooring to protect it from moisture. A fire is made on the upper deck. After the top flooring burns out, the fire burns on the bottom floor.

Dead wood and dried branches are used as fuel for the fire. Mostly birch, alder, pine and spruce firewood is used in the fire. Aspen, larch, rowan, and bird cherry give little heat. In areas where there is no forest, dry grass, dried animal droppings lying on the surface, oil shale or peat are used.

Water extraction. The most important condition for human survival is to ensure drinking water, which under optimal conditions requires at least 2-2.5 liters daily. Absolutely without water, depending on conditions and individual physical capabilities, a person can live only 3-5 days.

Finding water in the conditions of Belarus and in general in the middle zone is not particularly difficult, since springs, rivers, lakes, swamps, and puddles are common. But not all water will be drinkable. Water from springs and springs, mountain rivers and streams can be drunk raw, but before quenching your thirst with water from stagnant or low-flowing reservoirs, from rivers downstream of populated areas, it must be cleaned of impurities and disinfected.

For water purification It’s easy to make simple filters from cotton wool, several layers of fabric, or from an empty tin can by punching 3-4 small holes in the bottom and then filling the can with sand. The water will become cleaner if you let it sit for 20-40 minutes or add table salt to it. Water is purified very well after passing through Activated carbon, which is available in a gas mask box or may be in a first aid kit.

Disinfect water you can use crystals of potassium permanganate (until a very faint pink color, 1 hour of settling); chlorination or adding iodine (8-10 drops per 1 liter, 30 minutes of settling); by infusing oak bark, chamomile flowers or elderberry. However, the most reliable way to disinfect water is boiling for 10-15 minutes.

Foraging for food. A person who suddenly finds himself in conditions of autonomous existence may find himself without food supplies. His body reacts to fasting by reducing energy consumption and reducing metabolic rate. The first 3-5 days of fasting are the most painful; during this period the body adapts to feeding on its own tissue reserves. Then your health improves. But the body’s capabilities are not unlimited; they can only be enough for 15-20 days of passive fasting. Therefore, measures should be taken to provide yourself with food by collecting wild edible plants, fishing, and hunting.

Plant food not as tasty, high-calorie and filling as animal food, but it is more accessible. Different parts of plants are eaten as food: fruits, roots, young shoots, leaves, buds, flowers. Plants that birds and animals eat are generally safe to eat.

In Belarus, mushrooms are traditionally used as food. They contain fat, sugar, and protein. Next to pines, saffron milk caps and boletus usually grow, with aspen - boletuses, with birch - boletuses, and in young spruce and oak groves - milk mushrooms. Porcini mushrooms grow under pine, spruce, and birch trees. Outside the forest, in open areas, champignons and morels grow. Russula, chanterelles, moss mushrooms, stitches, honey mushrooms and many other mushrooms are also tasty and nutritious. However, you should beware of inedible mushrooms, among which there are also similar appearance with edible ones! If you are not sure that the mushroom is edible, then it must be thoroughly soaked for 6–8 hours in running water before cooking. After eating a small amount, wait 2–3 hours, observing the body’s reaction. In case of poisoning, rinse the stomach with plenty of water, inducing vomiting.

In addition to mushrooms, berries are traditionally used as food, which are a source rich in vitamins. It is necessary to take only berries that are known to be edible: blueberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, lingonberries, blackberries, rowan berries, rose hips.

Hazelnuts are a delicacy that just needs to be peeled. In order to consume the grains of spruce and pine cones, the cones are thrown into the fire. The cleaned grains are then soaked in water and then fried or boiled. Acorns are edible and very nutritious when properly prepared.

Water lilies (white lilies) grow in ponds. Their roots, like the roots of reeds, reeds, and arrowheads, are edible. To prevent the flour obtained from them from becoming bitter, they should first be soaked and washed in water.

If it is impossible to find other food, then brown (gray) lichen is also suitable. If you dry it and crush it, you can cook porridge, although it will turn out sticky. In spring, the buds of birch, linden, and aspen are edible; they can be eaten raw or cooked in limited quantities. The buds of spruce and pine are also edible, but they must be soaked and boiled.

In the fall, rhizomes can serve as food, and in the spring, young shoots of coastal cattail, which are edible boiled and baked. In the autumn, from not yet old plants and in the spring, when new leaves appear, boiled and stewed, you can eat felt burdock root. The roots of the field bell are also edible. Dandelion leaves, which have a bitter taste, are edible raw.

A fairly affordable way to provide yourself with food in an autonomous existence is fishing. Fish has more energy value than plant foods, and fishing is less labor intensive than hunting. Fishing tackle can be made from scrap materials. Hooks - from pins, earrings, pins from badges. Spoons are made from metal buttons, coins, and fishing line is made from unbraided rope, thread pulled from clothing, etc.

Fish meat can be eaten raw, but it is better to cut it into narrow strips and dry it in the sun, so it will become tastier and last longer. It should be remembered that fish can be poisoned, and therefore it is better not to eat fish that is unfamiliar and of questionable quality. You should also not eat fish caviar, milt, or liver, as they are often poisonous.

Along the banks of rivers and lakes, and in burrows under water, crayfish are found. In case of unsuccessful fishing, you can cook frog meat. The muscles of the back and thighs are mainly used. At the same time, so that the food does not repel with its outwardly unattractive appearance, the meat is cooked in bulk with the addition of herbs.

You can also get food using primitive hunting methods. In winter, hunting is the main way to provide yourself with food.

Small animals and birds are relatively easy to catch. To do this, you can use traps, snares, loops and other devices.

The harvested meat of an animal or bird is roasted on a primitive spit. Small animals and birds are roasted on a spit without removing the skin or plucking. After cooking, the charred skin is removed and the carcass is cleaned of its entrails. After gutting and cleaning, it is advisable to roast the meat of larger game over high heat and then finish grilling it over coals.

Portable emergency reserve (NAZ). When going on a mission, scouts, in addition to weapons, equipment and food, take with them a portable emergency supply. It is very small in volume and weight, but can be very useful in conditions of autonomous existence. NAZ may include the following items: folding knife; mini first aid kit; 15 matches sealed in a plastic bag with a piece of matchbox grater; two halves of a safety razor blade wrapped in polished paper; 3 pins; 3 meters of thread; a shoe needle with a piece of coarse thread; 3 fishing hooks (No. 1, 2, 3); about 6 m of fishing line; 3 weights; 1 condom (when placed in a sock, it becomes a container for one liter of water).

Such a set of things is useful not only for scouts, but also for hunters, fishermen, mushroom pickers, berry pickers, travelers and tourists. A micro survival kit can be made from an old fountain pen. To do this, you need to remove the filling from the body and fill the empty cavity with the necessary items. This can be 1-2 sewing needles (preferably magnetized) with a thread threaded through the eye, a pair of small safety pins, 3-5 meters of thin fishing line, two halves of a safety razor blade, several matches folded in half, a small part of a matchbox grater. A piece of cotton wool twisted and lightly burned over a fire will serve as tinder, which is stored in the cap.

1. Get a fire if there are no usual sources (matches, lighters).
2. Light a fire. What type of fire is the fire you built? Describe him.
3. You have cloudy water. Clean and disinfect it using methods known to you.
4. What food can be found in the forest?
5. Make NAZ.

Finding yourself in nature, separated from your usual everyday amenities, there is a risk of finding yourself completely helpless. Inability to light a fire, pitch a tent and distinguish poisonous mushroom from russula - these are the qualities that characterize the modern tourist. It is especially difficult for unadapted city dwellers at the moment when hunger overtakes them. This is where many people remember that the first season of the show “Survive at Any Cost” remained unwatched.

In this material we will talk about several methods of cooking in the field. We decided not to dwell on detailed recipes, since usually, in conditions of tourism shortages, everything that is at hand is used. Let’s focus on the technique and features of the cooking process.

WHAT TO BRING WITH YOU

Army bowler hat, utensils, S-hook, foil, wire, shovel, axe, knife

BONFIRE

A fire for cooking, like any other, is best lit at the bottom of a ravine or on the leeward side of a forest. The river bank is also suitable, plus - you don’t have to run far for water. It is best to dig a small hole in the ground 20–30 centimeters deep in advance, so that the wind will not easily interfere with the cooking process and it will be easier to bake in ash and coals.

In general, there are many types of fires, depending on the design, fuel and purposes it serves. We'll look at four that are ideal for cooking.

Fires in the shape of a star and a well take a long time to burn out (in the case of a star fire, you just need to periodically move the burnt wood towards the center) and produce very good and hot coals. On such a fire it is ideal to cook camp soups, roast pieces of meat and carcasses of killed birds on a spit.

To cook soup, an army pot is usually hung on a crossbar or a makeshift tripod over a fire. Here it would be a good idea to have a hook with you for hanging the pot - you can buy one at any tourist store or make it yourself from stiff wire. You can also place the cookware on a large, flat stone next to the fire so that the flame touches it.

For your information

Mushrooms found in the forest, simple camp cakes, and small pieces of meat can also be fried on a sapper shovel, greased with lard or a small amount of fat. This technique is unlikely to reveal additional flavor properties of food, but it will not leave you without hot food if the frying utensils accidentally fell over the side of the boat or were left at home due to an oversight.

TAIGA CANDLE

Another incredibly convenient and effective way to prepare hot food in nature is a wooden primus stove or, as it is also called, a taiga candle. To make it, you need to take a thick, dry log and cut it into a short (20–40 centimeters) cylinder. It is better not to choose resinous tree species for these purposes - they will produce too many sparks and “shoot” molten resin.

The log must be carefully split with an ax along the middle and the core must be cut out to form a small channel with a diameter of 5–7 centimeters. The output should be something like a thick wooden pipe. Now both halves need to be tightly fastened to each other, wrapped with wire or nailed, otherwise the candle will quickly burn out through the cracks. We fill the kerosene stove with paper or birch bark and install it in such a way that air enters it from the lower end. We set it on fire and get a full-fledged burner made of natural material.

This type of fireplace has several advantages over a fire. Firstly, you don’t need any additional devices to attach a frying pan or pot to it - the surface of the kerosene stove is already flat. Secondly, it does not take up much space and does not require constant fire support. At the same time, it is capable of burning and giving impressive heat for quite a long time. Thirdly, you can easily hold it in your hand and, if desired, cook food on the go, although this is unlikely to occur to anyone. Finally, having extinguished the candle as unnecessary, it can be reused over time.

GROUND OVEN

First of all, you need to dig a shallow hole in the ground about half a meter deep. Then the bottom of the pit is covered in layers with small stones, a layer of kindling and branches. Having filled the hole to the top with fuel, a dense layer of thicker and longer branches is laid on top, on which stones are again laid. On top of this pile another layer of stones and firewood is placed. The firewood that serves as a support will burn out and fall down along with the heated stones, from which the food will receive the main heat. When the coals completely burn out and give up all their heat to the stones, you can put food wrapped in several layers of foil into the pit - a bird carcass, fish, pieces of meat.

Now the food needs to be provided with the most comfortable conditions for baking - we lay long poles on top of the pit and cover them with cloth or wide leaves. We sprinkle the sarcophagus with earth and note the time. Cooking times, of course, depend on the type of food. An hour will be enough for vegetables, fish cut into small pieces and chicken - one and a half hours, and large game carcasses - three to four hours.

For your information

Wild migratory birds have no need to accumulate large amounts of fat in their bodies, and their meat, unlike domestic geese and chickens, is not as soft and juicy. Therefore, in the field, it would be best to cook a stew or some other soup from game. If you decide to bake the bird, its gutted carcass should be stuffed with something, for example wild apples, chopped pieces of lard, onions or wild berries.

COOKING IN CLAY

One of the most useful camp cooking skills is the ability to bake game in clay. This method is especially useful if you don’t even have basic cooking utensils. To be sure of the final result, first of all, you need to get suitable clay that can withstand the heat of a fire. The simplest test is to throw small balls rolled from it into the fire - if they do not crumble under the influence of temperature, then this clay can be trusted with a bird.

Before cooking, the bird must be gutted, removed from the wings and head, but not plucked, and thoroughly coated with clay with a layer of two centimeters under the feather. After which the clay “crypt” is sent to a pile of coals, sprinkled with ash on top. The readiness of the dish should be signaled by cracks appearing on the surface of the clay. Now the crust is broken and removed along with the feathers stuck to it, releasing the finished meat core.

Of course, the process of preparing this dish is not the easiest and requires some skill and experience - for the first time there is big risk turn the fruits of the hunt into a burnt lump. But it’s still worth mastering this method - if only for the rest of your life to brag to your friends that you tried wild pigeon in clay.

WATER

The water supplies you take with you are usually not enough for a long stay in nature, and hardly anyone associates five-liter buckets or coolers with water with a free tourist life. Sooner or later you will have to get water to make soup from the river. Its dull gray color alone will tell you that it would be a good idea to clean and disinfect such water. A mandatory cleaning step is filtering through cheesecloth and boiling for 15–20 minutes. Experienced tourists take with them, among other things, Pantocid and Aquatabs tablets - one tablet is enough to purify one liter of water. Iodine (two to five drops per liter) and potassium permanganate (one to two grams per liter) clean water quite well.