Leftover Parts

Most parts of animals can be used - chicken heads and feet can go into a stockpot as a base for soup, as can other animals' heads, tails and feet . Bowels can be emptied and cleaned, and then the tube used to make sausage casings, putting in ground meat, organs and spices. These can then be boiled or roasted. Don't throw out the blood - it is almost a complete food, and can be used in broth. Be careful to discard the gall bladder (stores bile, used in breaking down fats) - although some Oriental folks use them for some medication - bile can foul the meat, if it spills over it. Bones can be boiled with a small amount of vinegar to release the calcium, the marrow will release fat as well as the storehouse of other vital nutrients it contains as the factory for blood cells. Also remember that boiling bones etc. produces gelatin - high protein content, and excellent for nourishing infants and infirm people.

Hoofs of goats or other parts made of horn can be boiled into glue, probably also edible if nothing else is around. Fat can be used for eating, cooking and for making candles and soap. Rabbit fur can be used to line boots, or sewn together as mitts/gloves/hats. Feathers can be used to make flights for arrows, or kept in a bunch to make pillows or other bedcoverings. Don't forget bones can also be used as needles, in a pinch. Fish parts make great fertilizer, but I'd do that only after I'd used everything to create a fish broth, then throw it out! You should have substantially less waste if you use most of the animal parts. Remaining parts may be useful as fish/animal baits if you are planning to hunt.

Offered by Cass.

For complete nutrition you should eat as much of the animals as possible. The meat is the least nutritious part. The marrow, heart, liver and kidneys should be safe to eat and very nutritious. Save the brains of at least your goats for tanning the goats' skin for clothing (oils from the liver and kidneys can also be used, however these are probably better off eaten). If you eat most of the animals you can survive on nothing else as all nutrients one needs to survive are contained within animals. If you ate the meat alone you would eventially die of malnutrition. This according to John McPherson in Primitive Wilderness Skills - Applied and Advanced (Naked into the Wilderness II).

Offered by Ryan.

If you have any more questions on some of the methods of turning the tendons in to cording or thread, or the animals brains for tanning, please feel free to ask me as I have done this many many times in making hats an mittens as well as numerous articles of clothing.

Offered by Matt.