Supermarket closed? No worries mate...

Have you ever had to provide your own food to keep yourself fed? OK, I assume most people will be able to answer yes to that question however I call bullshit. When I say provide your own food I don't mean that you've braved the car park and long lines at the checkout to find some gluten-free vegan facon and salt-free, fat-free, nut-free, taste-free, non-dairy, non-corn corn chips...I mean have you ever provided your own food!

Doing so is a little more complicated than parking your SUV (that has never seen the other side of the city limits) at the local Tesco, Coles or Woolworths supermarket. It takes effort, skill and ability. I've done it, many times, and I've also gone hungry due to not locating something suitable to eat. It's not pleasant, going hungry I mean. I've eaten roots, foliage, yabbies, fish, duck, rabbits, goat, kangaroos pigs and venison (deer) that I have sourced myself through effort, skill and (probably on occasions) a degree of luck.

You might ask under what circumstances I found myself having to provide my own food; A valid question I guess. It's a simple answer though:

Under circumstances in which I placed myself.

You see, having the ability to source my own food seemed important to me a long time ago; Important enough to learn how to find edible food, gather, capture and kill it then prepare it. I'm good at it too. Maybe not quite Bear Grylls good but good enough that I probably wouldn't starve. Why would I want this skill you may ask. Why, when I could simply head down to the local supermarket where food is made and purchase something to eat? Well yes, of course I could do that, and I do...But what if I couldn't? What if there was a natural disaster or I was stranded in the outback due to a vehicle breakdown. Maybe I'm on a boat that gets shipwrecked or a plane that has to land in the middle of nowhere...There's many reasons why I might need to find my own food. You too in fact. It happens you know, improbable stuff happens.

I've learned how to stalk an animal. They all require different skills, a goat, deer or pig for instance have different characteristics and habits. I've also needed to understand how to set traps and snares and to have the correct equipment with me to do the job. It's not only about animals either as knowing what plants to eat can be critical. This is probably my weakest skill however I'm building it slowly.

Once the food has been sourced obviously it needs to be prepared which, with animals requires, field dressing and eventual preparation for cooking. Getting this part wrong means going hungry. It's not the most pleasant thing to do however over time it gets easier and if it's a choice of going hungry or cutting up an animal most people would choose the latter I think. Well, vegans and vegetarian's probably wouldn't and would have to accept the consequences. Or I suppose they could make the choice to change their eating habits and enjoy some goat, kangaroo or yabby stew.

One of my favourite thing is to collect yabbies. This requires a dam, creek or river to be present of course. It's pretty simple to do really. Just bait the yabby net and throw it in. The conditions need to be right of course but generally a couple of hours later you'll have a net full of the tasty little fresh water crustaceans. Let them sit in clear fresh water for a while which exits the muddiness from within and then boil them in some salted water and you're done. I made yabby sandwiches once which went down quite well. Sure, I'm not going to win any Michelin Stars for the recipe but it kept me from going hungry.

Another was a goat stew which we first made on a hunting trip around the year 2000. I'm not a big fan of goat so we made sure we masked it well. We threw onions, potatoes, carrots, garlic and chicken soup stock into a pot on the fire and then the chunks of seared goat meat which we pre-rubbed with salt, garlic and pepper. We stewed that up for about as long as it took for us to think it was ready and then served it up with some damper (bread) we'd made earlier that day. Again, not the best meal I have ever had but I've paid for worse meals for sure!

I find it enjoyable to challenge myself in many different aspects: Work, physically, emotionally and mentally and to build new skills and challenge myself in hostile and harsh environments is something I really enjoy. Do I think I could survive in the outback with nothing more than a knife and compass? Hmm, I'm not so sure...But I know that on those occasions when I find myself in the outback I'm prepared for most of what the environment can throw at me. I can navigate in several different ways, know first aid, can shoot well, build shelter and make fire...I know bushcraft, survival techniques and, of course, can feed myself and those with me.

I know that having the need to source your own food sounds far-fetched and improbable, maybe even more improbable than an earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, terrorist attack, shipwreck, plane crash, getting lost in the wilderness, civil unrest and war...All highly unlikely things that have never happened right? Wrong. So, so wrong. Be like Bear Grylls mate, and be prepared. Or not...Your choice.