grasswire primitive feeds ants to family

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x84253

Oh my.

grasswire  (1000+ posts)      Tue Jan-18-11 01:51 PM
Original message
 
I fed my family ants last night.
 
Breakfast for supper. Ham and eggs and pancakes. I thought I would use up an old box of pancake mix -- about six months old. We rarely have pancakes and I don't even know why we bought the mix.

Mixed it up -- made the pancakes. Eaten with homemade crabapple jelly. Too carb for me, so I didn't have any.

As I was washing the bowl later, I found a couple of dead ants in the batter. Ack! I checked the last of the mix in the bag. Oh no. Several dead ants in it.

Damn. I fed my family dead ants.

cbayer   (1000+ posts)      Tue Jan-18-11 02:17 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. Protein

Denninmi  (485 posts)      Tue Jan-18-11 02:43 PM
Response to Original message
 
3. Really, it's NOT a problem.

Ants are actually edible. I took a one-hour nature walk at the local park once about "edible wild foods" -- one of the things we got to harvest and sample were great big, squishy, black carpenter ants crawling on the tree trunks. Not bad, sort of crispy crunchy with an acidic bite from the formic acid with which they sting their prey and their enemies.

Actually, any time you eat any grain product, or much of anything plant based which is commercially prepared, you are getting a certain level of insect residue. The government sets allowable levels of insect contamination in various food products.

I wouldn't worry about it, ESPECIALLY if they don't know. In this case, what they don't know won't hurt them.

You might want to pick up some ant poison bait packs though.

trud  (229 posts)      Tue Jan-18-11 03:35 PM
Response to Reply #3
 
4. I'd rather have ants in the house than poison bait packs, myself.

Too much poison. Those of you who have heard of Pale Male, the hawk in NY Central Park, may know his mate of some years Lola disappeared a few weeks ago. Probable cause: eating a rodent poisoned with the poison bait the Parks Dept puts out. God forbid they pick up their trash instead of poisoning everything that moves.

Ants in the house? Find where they come in and seal it off.

kestrel91316  (1000+ posts)        Tue Jan-18-11 05:50 PM
Response to Original message

5. Just extra protein. I have occasionally baked with buggy flour.

You don't even notice them.

hippywife  (1000+ posts)        Tue Jan-18-11 06:23 PM
MRS. ALFRED PACKER
Response to Original message

6. Like everyone else said, I wouldn't sweat it. It won't kill anyone or even make them sick. If I find moths in my flours, I take and sift them out and use it, unless it came that way from the store, then I take it back. I've even told Bill and he has no problem with that. About every five years, I seem to get a moth invasion, I try to keep things well sealed but it's amazing what small spaces they can work themselves into.

Well, considering what hippyhubby Wild Bill eats, of course he has no problem with it.

[Ballygrl]

We don't have a bug problem, though in the spring we do have an ant problem, but I don't want to take a chance so we keep powdered pancake mix and bisquick in the refrigerator.

[Evil_Conservative]

How about you make some homemade pancakes?  Lazy.

Oh, and EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

[franksolich]

We don't have a bug problem, though in the spring we do have an ant problem, but I don't want to take a chance so we keep powdered pancake mix and bisquick in the refrigerator.

That's a very good idea, one I've used all my adult life.

All foodstuffs that come in boxes or paper, get stashed in the refrigerator.

Cereal.  Flour.  Sugar.  Macaroni.  Spaghetti strands.  Oatmeal.  Corn starch.  Crackers.  Bread.  &c., &c., &c.  

I dunno why I do it; I suspect it's from when I was in college, and lived with some other guys in place that had little white worms that looked like rice haunting the cabinets.

Of course, being a single male with a supersized refrigerator, I got all sorts of room in there.  Sometimes I've even been tempted to stash the dry Friskie's cat food in there too, to keep it clean.

[Ballygrl]

That's a very good idea, one I've used all my adult life.

All foodstuffs that come in boxes or paper, get stashed in the refrigerator.

Cereal.  Flour.  Sugar.  Macaroni.  Spaghetti strands.  Oatmeal.  Corn starch.  Crackers.  Bread.  &c., &c., &c.  

I dunno why I do it; I suspect it's from when I was in college, and lived with some other guys in place that had little white worms that looked like rice haunting the cabinets.

Of course, being a single male with a supersized refrigerator, I got all sorts of room in there.  Sometimes I've even been tempted to stash the dry Friskie's cat food in there too, to keep it clean.

I think it keeps it fresh longer also.

[true_blood]

That's epic!

[GOBUCKS]

What is this family she speaks of? DUmmy grasswire, at last report, was still squatting in a charity room over a friends garage, on a quarter acre "farmette" up in Wisconsin, where she has been for the past couple of years. The arrangement, she told us at the time, was to last for 6 months at most. The friend has learned the hard way about the danger of allowing a DUmbass to get its nose under the tent.

So the "family" is her, and maybe a budgie and a stray dog, or perhaps her host family has begun demanding that she serve as a housekeeper in return for the free crib. If it's the latter, she repaid their generosity by surreptitiously feeding them bugs.

[franksolich]

What is this family she speaks of? DUmmy grasswire, at last report, was still squatting in a charity room over a friends garage, on a quarter acre "farmette" up in Wisconsin, where she has been for the past couple of years. The arrangement, she told us at the time, was to last for 6 months at most. The friend has learned the hard way about the danger of allowing a DUmbass to get its nose under the tent.

So the "family" is her, and maybe a budgie and a stray dog, or perhaps her host family has begun demanding that she serve as a housekeeper in return for the free crib. If it's the latter, she repaid their generosity by surreptitiously feeding them bugs.

I've never been able to figure out the grasswire primitive's family situation.

She's married, and old enough to have adult children, apparently some of whom are married.

Other than that, ???

[compaqxp]

Sounds tasty.

[Alpha Mare]

My dad fed me chocolate ants once. I liked 'em.  Sweet & crunchy. 

[DLR Pyro]

Ever eat a pine tree?  Many parts are edible.

[AllosaursRus]

^5 for the new avatar frank! Them was the days of real TV! Hoss is the spittin' image of my Step Dad down to all his expressions! God rest his soul! He was a pretty good 'ol boy after he found the Church.

Oh, and anything dry meal we keep in plastic or glass jars. Just makes sense, since some of that stuff has no expiration. I'll bet I have corn meal over a coupla years old! Still makes excellent corn bread or "mush". Don't know if y'all know what "mush" is, but basically it's breakfast oatmeal only with corn meal.

Keepin' dry goods in a cardboard box! We don't call 'em DUmmies for nuttin'!

[Rebel]

Hey DUmbasses, how about cleaning your f'n home once in a while?

[Alpha Mare]

Ever eat a pine tree?  Many parts are edible.

Euell Gibbons!

[Evil_Conservative]

Hey DUmbasses, how about cleaning your f'n home once in a while?

No, not until there is a government program that gives the DUmmies funds for a maid.

[miskie]

We just put everything into Tupperware containers. Problem solved.

[Celtic Rose]

Hey DUmbasses, how about cleaning your f'n home once in a while?

That is what kills me about this post.  Yeah, a few ants in your food won't harm most people, but who would tell the whole internet that your kitchen is dirty enough to have that many ants and that you didn't even notice them while cooking? 

[DLR Pyro]

  who would tell the whole internet that your kitchen is dirty enough to have that many ants and that you didn't even notice them while cooking? 

A DUmmy would, thats who.  I'm sure some how it is all Bush's fault.

[GOBUCKS]

hippywife  (1000+ posts)        Tue Jan-18-11 06:23 PM
MRS. ALFRED PACKER
Response to Original message

6. Like everyone else said, I wouldn't sweat it. It won't kill anyone or even make them sick. If I find moths in my flours, I take and sift them out and use it, unless it came that way from the store, then I take it back. I've even told Bill and he has no problem with that. About every five years, I seem to get a moth invasion, I try to keep things well sealed but it's amazing what small spaces they can work themselves into.

So anyway, what's up with the hateful DUmmy Mrs. Packer having wormy flour? If you believe her claims, she bakes enough to go through at least 25 pounds of flour a week. She must have it shipped in from Somalia.

[franksolich]

So anyway, what's up with the hateful DUmmy Mrs. Packer having wormy flour? If you believe her claims, she bakes enough to go through at least 25 pounds of flour a week. She must have it shipped in from Somalia.

I dunno if you were around, sir, when I brought over Mrs. Alfred Packer's experience with African goat stew.

Or whatever it was; it was "African" something.

The ingredients were remarkably similar with Greek goat stew and Paraguyan goat stew and Annamese goat stew and Rhode Island goat stew and Nepalese goat stew and Iwo Jiman goat stew.

It was obvious what was going on; Mrs. Alfred Packer wanted to "empathize" with her African brothers across the ocean, share in their sufferings and travails, absorb their sorrows, help carry their burdens and afflictions, and so she and Wild Bill dined upon African goat stew.

Or whatever it was.

[AllosaursRus]

I dunno if you were around, sir, when I brought over Mrs. Alfred Packer's experience with African goat stew.

Or whatever it was; it was "African" something.

The ingredients were remarkably similar with Greek goat stew and Paraguyan goat stew and Annamese goat stew and Rhode Island goat stew and Nepalese goat stew and Iwo Jiman goat stew.

It was obvious what was going on; Mrs. Alfred Packer wanted to "empathize" with her African brothers across the ocean, share in their sufferings and travails, absorb their sorrows, help carry their burdens and afflictions, and so she and Wild Bill dined upon African goat stew.

Or whatever it was.

That's just disgusting! The closest I get to goat anything is venison! The stuff is stringy as hall! Not my idea of appetizing! The milk seems to leave an aftertaste, too! Yuck!

[Randy]

Still makes excellent corn bread or "mush". Don't know if y'all know what "mush" is, but basically it's breakfast oatmeal only with corn meal.

We call them Grits round here. 

[AllosaursRus]

We call them Grits round here. 

Naw! Grits are white, and mush is yellow! Ya have to soak yellow corn meal for a coupla hrs then boil it like ya do oatmeal, to make "mush"! We take the leftovers and refrigerate it, cut it into slices and fry it in butter! Great stuff with butter and syrup!

[Texacon]

The ants I wouldn't worry about but old pancake mix can kill you;

What may surprise you, however, is that the mold spores (including penicillin ones) that can grow in exposed, aged, stale pancake mix can also contain penicillin spores (as well as other mold spores or even mites) that can cause an allergic response including anaphylaxis, the most severe allergic response.

You should never eat expired pancake mix.

KC

[AllosaursRus]

The ants I wouldn't worry about but old pancake mix can kill you;

You should never eat expired pancake mix.

KC

We use Bisquick! Never lasts long enough to expire!