Alaskan Game and Greens You Can Share With Pets

There are a bagillion ways to use 100% of the food you trapped, hunted, fished, gathered, or gardened. And I thought it would be fun to share ideas of native-to-Alaska foods that can be shared with your pets!

Dried Goose/Swan/Duck/Crane Legs and Feet: Snacks and chew toys for dogs, cats, ferrets, and rats.

Crab Shells: Legs of king crab, dungenous crab, and other sea-residing crabs can be crushed up and fed to Hermit Crabs.

Willow Tree Twigs: These can be used as chew toys and snacks for rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, mice, chinchillas, and birds. A grove of willow can also be used to feed goats.

Dandelions: Can be fed as snacks to birds, reptiles, rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, mice, rats, and chinchillas.

Voles/Muskrats/Squirrel Meat: Most pet mice, rats, ferrets, and cats will eat these wild meats. If the voles are alive they can be fed to snakes that eat mice/rats.

Lynx/Beaver Meat: A well known source of nutrition for sled dogs these meats will happily be eaten by almost all dogs.

Wild Spinach: These can be fed to reptiles that eat vegetables, hermit crabs, rabbits, birds, gerbils, hamsters, chinchillas and mice.

Blueberries: Almost all small animals enjoy these, excluding ferrets (that should not be fed anything except for meat). Hermit crabs and some reptiles will happily eat these as well.

Blueberry Stems: Birds love these! They make great chew toys and snacks.

Foods for Kids While Camping

What foods are good for camping or even road tripping with kids? After summertime adopting about a hundred village children- I've had a few trial and error events with food and kids. Here are things I've learned usually work out pretty well.

 

 

Gossner Milk & Cereal: Gossner milk doesn't exactly taste like fresh milk- but it lasts a long time and goes really well with cereal. When served chilled I'm sure kids wouldn't even notice the difference in taste. The ideal children's camping breakfast food in my mind. Plus cereal and milk makes a great snack.

Dried Fruit and Nuts: The fruit is something sweet that won't melt like chocolate. And the nuts are something crunchy and salty that won't crumble like potato chips. They're a bit more healthy and a bit more practical. Personally I love dried fruit and nuts. Some kids aren't a fan. But try things like kiwi and banana chips and most will happily munch them up.

Chef Boyardee: These genius little cans cook great right beside a campfire. A quick easy meal that almost any kid will eat. If you pour it out of the can after cooking it will cool faster- instead of serving it in the can. And the fact it was cooked on a campfire is usually pretty cool to kids.

Pringles: Unlike other potato chips these ones come in a container that keeps them fresh (with the lid) and prevents them from being smashed. They're great for packing in a backpack. And snack-sized packs are good for kids to carry around in case they get hungry half way through that 3 mile hike your honey decided to take.