If you want to have protein when in the wilds, but just forgot to bring the meat department from the store, you can still have some. Be prepared to eat things we normally would throw away.
In rotten logs, you can find punk-wood for kindling, but also grubs, ants and other things that can be put into a survival stew. Many types of ants have edible larvae, and even the ants themselves can be eaten. Look under loose bark for grubs, the fatter the better. If there is corn, there may be corn worms, which, even though they turn into Daddy Long-legs later, can be a good addition to the stew.
Check with an area expert to make sure before going in if you are concerned about what you can eat.
When you have found grubs and worms, now you need to add them to your meal. I keep mentioning survival stew. This is a combination of whatever you can find, from tubers(like wild carrots) to grubs in a stew concoction. Clean all the ingredients you can find, chop up the veggies, add the herbs and add the protein.
One way to deal with the grubs and such is to pre-pop them. This sounds odd, but if you put the grubs into the stew directly, they will have less of an appealing taste and mouth feel. Use the stew pot, gerry can or even foil to briefly saute or dry cook them. If you dry cook them, they will pop. Ants pop well, and I recommend it before putting them into anything else, or eat them right after they pop.
Larve have lots of fat in them, and in a survival situation, fat is good. Very few non cultivated vegetables have fats in them, or loads of sugar. If you find edible berries, eat them from hand or in a stew. Apples and other large fruits are good, too, in stews.
Finding food index