FOOD

ScumLord

I think one of the major overlooked factors of living in a zombie Apocalypse is the food factor. Many of us have the idea that we’ll have a bug out bag with some rations to get us through the first week and we’ll find all the food we need after that by scavenging.

While this is a farming island many of us are far removed from food production and at the end of the supply chain because we’re all used to shopping in supermarkets. If you shop in a butchers you may well know where he gets his meat and it may well be some guy down the road.

There’s also the zombie myth that we’ll wake up surrounded by the walking dead. This is also highly unlikely. Zombie will infiltrate and overrun cities rather quickly but even so it would more than likely grow in severity over the course of days if not weeks. This means before the total collapse of society happens at all the shops will be completely bare and the supply chain non existent.

It will take a lot longer for the disease to spread through sparsely occupied parishes making these ural folk the most likely to starve despite their proximity to the food.

That’s not to say there won’t be food there, Ireland can produce enough milk to feed 44 million people and we have enough life stock to keep the country feed too. The government could begin to ration out these food supplies for as long as they're around but they're just as likely to inadvertently spread the zombie disease around the country with them.

If farmers are too afraid to leave their homes their live stock will die and their crops will fail and all that land will go wild fairly quickly.

It’s not as easy to say, “I’ll just grow me own” as where exactly will you grow it and what will you eat while it’s growing? And how do you protect that land from the desperate starving people who where once your friends but have now become your competition in basic survival.


While zombies will be a huge threat starvation will be just as big a threat to your survival. We have mostly lost our ability to scavenge and hunt natural food and even if we could take full advantage of our local environment we’re still going to be at a real disadvantage when it comes to finding fruit.

Starvation is a long and painful death, your body can last surprisingly long without food as long as it's hydrated. But as your go further into starvation your more likely to pick up infections and illnesses, making you to weak to fight zombies. I think it's an important topic to cover, as securing a food source early could mean everything.

There are some tips in the following link with this one being my favourite.

Two important predictions concerning starvation are obese individuals will survive longer than lean individuals when deprived of food, and during starvation, obese individuals oxidize less protein than lean individuals.

http://www.elitefts.com/documents/starvation.htm


So contrary to what Zombieland would have us believe it may be the fatties might have the last laugh. :pac:

Tallon

Thanks to the magic of Minecraft, I have been preparing myself for this by farming and hunting!

It's easier than you think to have a small potato, cabbage, carrot etc farm and easy to maintain

If you find a decent location and protect it well, you can survive no bother

I think a lot of people will have to dramatically get used to changing from there precious convenient food and will have to eat the things they don't like...

Zomg Okay

The only food source you can rely on for Z-Day is the stuff in your house and possibly the food in the houses of extended family or close friends. The rest is down to luck and can't be reliable planned for.

For example:

You could go to the local supermarket and not find so much as a packet of stale cereal or you could go to the local supermarket and find it's a gold mine because local police kept the looters out before zombies overran the area.

And this is all assuming you can even get into the supermarket - it might be the most overrun building in the entire town or it might be devoid of... err... death? :pac:

Or your neighbours might have died before they ran off with all the food, giving you a goldmine next door, or they might be on the other side of the world with every last crumb that was in their kitchen. There's no way to know for certain.

You can make plans on what you'll eat, where you'll get it, where'll you hide, how you'll arm yourself and so on but unless it's all in your house on Z-Day, it isn't a reliable plan.

Doc Ruby

ScumLord wrote: »

So contrary to what Zombieland would have us believe it may be the fatties might have the last laugh. :pac:

I'm guessing a fatty wrote that piece, going from a plentiful food supply to zero overnight can cause toxic shock, sluggishness, you lose muscle at about the same rate as you lose fat or even quite a bit faster, and you aren't going to be in your right mind.

I may as well be the first to get it out there, zombie steaks anyone?

What, ye were all thinking it.

Zomg Okay

Doc Ruby wrote: »

I may as well be the first to get it out there, zombie steaks anyone?

I'd be more inclined towards starving, personally. :P

In all seriousness, you wouldn't know enough about the disease to risk chowing down on Zeds.

degrassinoel

Chickens can lay 1-2 eggs a day, Also the noisey feckers would attract zombies but what veg/fruit grows the quickest in our rainy climate? I'm guessing spuds?

Oranage2

I like to think of the zombie apocalypse as a romantic notion.

Basically just stopping my dodge at the side of a field and picking strawberries with my on/off girlfriend though full time lover Emma stone.

At night id just hunt some dear and make hot passionate love to Emma stone.

Breakfast would involve more hot passionate love making and if i was peckish then perhaps some venison sausages quail eggs scrambled.

ScumLord

Zomg Okay wrote: »

You could go to the local supermarket and not find so much as a packet of stale cereal or you could go to the local supermarket and find it's a gold mine because local police kept the looters out before zombies overran the area.

I think it's very unlikely you'll have any gold mine supermarkets. First of all the guards won't have the time or inclination to do this, they'll be on the front line up until they realise they're all becoming infected because of their front line duties, they'll either hide out or give up and run leaving no police force to speak of. Once one person breaks into a shop it will be a free for all as we've seen with the London riots. Shops will be bare inside a week (a week or two's worth of stock is all they carry anyway isn't it?) I'm certain of that and with no way to resupply them they'll stay bare.

Or your neighbours might have died before they ran off with all the food, giving you a goldmine next door, or they might be on the other side of the world with every last crumb that was in their kitchen.

True but you still won't find a gold mine, maybe enough to keep you feed for a few more days.

degrassinoel

I reckon factories and industrial estates would be fair game for food stores. For tinned foods, as meat and other fresh foods would spoil after a short time but tins o' beans and steak&kidney pies last forever! Well maybe not that long, but certainly long enough to keep you fed and rationed well enough to get something to grow/farm.

The only drawback is that before long, everyone would have the same idea.

Could be something to think about at the initial outbreak though.. or if you're a real pro zombie survivalist. You'll already have a large stock of non-perishables in your zombie-proof bunker

Zomg Okay

ScumLord wrote: »

True but you still won't find a gold mine, maybe enough to keep you feed for a few more days.

I know it would be almost impossible to find a goldmine of food but that is my point. You just won't know where the food is going to come from until Z Day. You can have several plans for a food source, sure. But if you try and rely on them too heavily you'll be on the menu yourself before long. Your best bet will be to have a fair bit stashed in your house and just survive entirely on a day-to-day basis once it's gone.

HavingCrack

I reckon your best chance is too find an extremely remote and rural location to grow a few potatoes, carrots, peas etc. and guard it with force. Possibly an island off the west coast. Unfortunately the most remote land is also the least productive agriculturally and you will also have to deal with any local inhabitants who will be trying to kill you.

Maybe find some way of getting hold of a few hens, they lay eggs every day so that's your protein sorted. The chances of getting any meat are quite slim, at least in the early days. Fishing may be a better option which would complement a costal location.

The only fruit which you will be able to access are whatever apples and pears are available in abandoned orchards.

degrassinoel

wild berries too though ye really do have know which ones are poisonous or not, same with shrooms!

Zomg Okay

degrassinoel wrote: »

same with shrooms!

I can just see two guys, high as kites, lying on their backs at the edge of a forest, paying no attention to the Zeds eating their legs because they're mesmerised by the multi-coloured clouds. :pac:

degrassinoel

those'd definetly be the non edible sort then

Raditub

what an awesome thread hahaha! Best ever!

ScumLord

Zomg Okay wrote: »

Your best bet will be to have a fair bit stashed in your house and just survive entirely on a day-to-day basis once it's gone.

But what then, I think holding off on being able to source natural food sources until you run out of processed food will put you at the end of the cue. It may be best to try and switch to a natural food supply immediately and hold onto your food rations as much as possible.

Doc Ruby wrote: »

I'm guessing a fatty wrote that piece, going from a plentiful food supply to zero overnight can cause toxic shock,

That won't happen that quickly though, toxic shock would be rare. The human is actually a long haul, super efficient with energy animal, we in the west have just had it easy so don't realise it. When tested though and we have to revert back to basic animal survival it's amazing how good we can be at it.

you lose muscle at about the same rate as you lose fat or even quite a bit faster,

Of course you do, muscle is expensive. If you look at fighters they're all lean, if they put on to much muscle they have no endurance. Fat reserve is just that, a reserve and nothing but a reserve for enduring hard times which was extremely common where and when the human animal evolved.

HavingCrack wrote: »

I reckon your best chance is too find an extremely remote and rural location to grow a few potatoes, carrots, peas etc. and guard it with force. Possibly an island off the west coast.

I'd be with you up till you say go to an island, while they have the obvious advantage of isolation your in an enclosed ecosystem that can't support much more than grass and flowers, you've also got no easy access to fresh water.

Maybe find some way of getting hold of a few hens, they lay eggs every day so that's your protein sorted. The chances of getting any meat are quite slim, at least in the early days. Fishing may be a better option which would complement a costal location.

The only fruit which you will be able to access are whatever apples and pears are available in abandoned orchards.

I don't know why Ireland isn't more into fish, we have tons of it all over the place and we turn we're nose up at it, maybe due to a Catholic tradition but fish is an obvious solution. The rivers may be fished bare in the beginning as millions turn to them. It could be disastrous for our lakes and rivers biodiversity which would hurt the long term population that survives. The ocean being overfished as it is will probably go nuts as the top fish claw their way back.

Maybe the first thing people should make sure to do with their fresh fruit is to plant the seeds in locations secure to you as a nest egg for the future.

We could post a list of fruit that will grow in Ireland and we could all do our bit to plant these fruits in wild locations.

One odd fruit I heard will grow in Ireland is Kiwi fruit, it's actually from a part of China that has whether very similar to Ireland.

southcentralts

sorry guys but when you get out to the countryside you wont be growing potatoes as it is not as common as it once was. I live on a cattle farm and in the modern world of agriculture the farm is streamlined to provide a specific food type such as dairy, beef, grain or yes potato farms, and it was painful backbreaking labor to dig potatoes so it too was streamlined as soon as machinery technology was advanced enough to pick out the spuds without damaging them. Even if you could find some seed potato ( best bet creamery or co-op) you will still be waiting for months for spuds. We get our potatoes at the store too. No longer enough time in the day to think about growing several crops.

I have not given it much thought but your best bet is to arm yourself with a bow and arrows, WARNING: do not try to construct a bow and arrows, as you will look foolish and remain hungry. if you can find a structure great but I believe the optimal location would be close to a river or lake beside a large forest but still close to a town. With the bow and arrow you will not be catching anything on the first day but with practice you will be able to catch small animals or perhaps fish in a small stream. Fishing is very undervalued as you can survive if all you can do is fish and will even sustain you if eaten raw. Having the open forest to duck into is always a great tactical advantage. Know the forest well and if you are being followed by a single zombie or small group, know where to lead them trap them and finish them off.

The quicker you can let go of everything (not people) the better off you will be. Do not get caught by a zombie while going back to the house for the Nokia charger cause you grabbed the Samsung one by mistake.

But do go get changed into your "It's Z-DAY, and all I got from my wife was a hickey, do you have a bandage?" T-shirt

amazing thread Zombie survival: 10+10, I give it a full ten fingers and ten toes left rating.

Doc Ruby

southcentralts wrote: »

sorry guys but when you get out to the countryside you wont be growing potatoes as it is not as common as it once was. I live on a cattle farm and in the modern world of agriculture the farm is streamlined to provide a specific food type such as dairy, beef, grain or yes potato farms, and it was painful backbreaking labor to dig potatoes so it too was streamlined as soon as machinery technology was advanced enough to pick out the spuds without damaging them.

Any bit of soil will grow spuds, unless you're too close to the sea. Half the Aran islands is unsuitable purely because they are saturated with salt. They are also pretty much fire and forget vegetables, plant them and wander back in a few months to pick them. They usually do fine left in the ground for months as well, if you cut the stems so slugs can't dig into them. I would say an acre will feed a family of four.

southcentralts wrote: »

Even if you could find some seed potato ( best bet creamery or co-op) you will still be waiting for months for spuds. We get our potatoes at the store too. No longer enough time in the day to think about growing several crops.

I grow spuds from the stuff I buy in Dunnes, theres no such thing as seed potatoes.

southcentralts wrote: »

WARNING: do not try to construct a bow and arrows, as you will look foolish and remain hungry.

You won't be taking down any armoured knights with a home made bow but youtube is riddled with guys who successfully made bows for hunting small game.

southcentralts wrote: »

Fishing is very undervalued as you can survive if all you can do is fish and will even sustain you if eaten raw.

Fatty fish only, salmon for example. I don't think you can get the full complement of vitamins and minerals from other fish. If you can find land based animals without diseases or parasites on the other hand...

doolox

I've been spending all my life living in a Zombie Paradise.
Looking for some food to eat and a little scotch and some ice.
A bag of crisps and a chocolate bar, a can of coke and a cookie jar,
Supermarket junk that is not chilled or refrigerated as the power will be gone,
Stuff that has no sell by date to eat rotten vittles I would hate.
Stuff in a packet or a can, stuff in a shelf and needing no chilling,
I'd buy for pound, a shekel, or a shilling,
If a cashier was alive and to working was willing,

Agriculture I would hate, too much work to appreciate,
digging, tilling cultivating,
would not me be motivating.
Nor would fishing be my passion,
stuff that needs patience is not my fashion.
Nor would I subscribe to hunting,
Although Animal Rights I would not be Fronting.

Too much hassle in all of these
a shop or a market is what I need,
A Butcher, a baker a candle stick maker,
but not a fraudster or a money faker,
Someone who provides the food
takes the money and is not rude,
Keeps me in my accustomed situation,
In this well imagined Zombie Nation.

Fuzzytrooper

Scavenging for insects would be quick and easy. You still have to worry about getting your 5 a day though.

ScumLord

It's hard to know exactly what will happen to the animal and insect populations with humans on the decline.

While it's true their habitats would likely expand, vermin and some insects live off human food waste. You could see an initial collapse in populations of mice, rats, crows, foxes, cats, dogs, cattle, pigs, chickens and sheep, although the connemara sheep are hardy enough to survive on their own hungry humans could go on killing sprees wiping out domestic animals.

Insects would be the same, they can live quite nicely next to human populations but may not fare as well out in the wild.

Fuzzytrooper

There's also the usual problem of what kind of zombie plague it is. Maybe it affects animals, bugs etc.