Chair Warmer, I do both right now with taking in foods that are good for me that I purchase at the local store and then what I can get from the wilderness.
In what I bring in with me are Macaroni and Cheese (and I cook this over a fire for do not bring with me a stove), Almonds - Nuts, Beef or Buffalo Jerky, Powdered Milk, Fruit and Grain Bars, the flavored Oarmeal in packets (eat as is), some Chocolate like Nestle's Powder (my one addiction in life - chocolate), Tuna Fish in the packets, etc. etc.
Now some of the wild edible plants that are nutritious and is found commonly where I go in the deep Rockies - Yellowstone wilds are:
Spring Beauties - Common and Abundant with being found from April/May to August. They have a nice nutritious corm that can when cooked be just like potatoes. The whole plant is edible raw or cooked. The scientific name is Claytonia and they are found over a wide portain of North America. Grizzlies also love them. This plant comes out shortly after the snow melts and follows the snowline up the mountains from the lower meadows then to the high ridges and alpine basins in early summer.
Biscuitroot - Comes in the later spring thru the mid summer. It has a nice edible corm - root with the young shoots also being edible. The Indians and others would dry and then powder the root and make the flour into huge biscuits which could be carried. Grizzlies also feed of this plant extensively. It is edible both raw or cooked. Biscuitroot also can be used against colds and other similar illnesses. It is in the carrot family and one has to be careful with what they eat in the carrot family for there are some that are severly poisonous like hemlock. Biscuitrrot or Wild Parsley seen also in the spring in the Escalante Canyon Country.
Yampa - a common plant in the west and Yellowstone from mid summer into the fall. It is one of the best tasting roots in the Rockies. It was extensively used and even traded by the Indians and Mountain Men. It has a nice edible corm - root that is edible both raw or cooked. If one knows the seed head, the plant can be found after blooming in late fall or even the next spring when dried. It is a Great Wild Edible in the Rocky Mountain West.
Yarrow - this is more medicinal then anything with benefitting the inner digestive system. But in my summer wilderness wandering I make certain that I eat a few leaves everyday from this plant. Never have gotten ill by drinking the water when utilizing and eating a few Yarrow leaves every day in the summer in the High Country.
Camas - This plant has a good edible corm when cooked. This bulb like root was extensively used by the Indians. This is found in the Northern Rockies down to the Yellowstone Area with also over the Pacific Northwest. But for the bulb like root to be edible it has to be really cooked then the ingrediant Inulin in the root turns to Fructose. The iIndians would pit cook the
root over several days. In some tribes this made up a major portain of the tribe's vegetarian diet.
Wild Onions and Wild Chives - Where I go, Yellowstone's Thorofare, there are fields and fields of Wild Chives and how good tasting. One just needs the time to go out and forage for them, in early to mid and to late summer.
American Bistort - an common to abundant high country plant from early June thru the summer. It has a good nutritrious corm - root which can be eaten raw or cooked. Now it is espicelly good after being roasted. Grizzlies love them.
Dandelions (a great edible and medicinal with having a ton of vitamins), Thistles (like Celer and Grizzlies love them), Many a Wild Lily like Glacier Lilies, Yellow Frittilary, and Mariposa/Sego Lily (Sego Lily also seen in Southern Utah with along Lonely Lily in Southern Utah), Fireweed, Arrowleaf Balsamroot (An Edible but also an Medicinal with like Echinacea), Aspen Catkins in the spring (all poplars have some edible and medicinal qualities like a substitute for Aspirin), Horsetail (edible and helps with the enamel of the teeth. But be careful for can harm the B 1vitamins if eatten too much. Also Grizzlies eat this plant.) , Sheep Sorrel (a great trail nibble in the High Country, in folklore this plant helps against cancer), Shooting Stars ( In spring, a great trail nibble), etc. etc.
Wild Berries - there are many a wild berry that grows in mid to late summr which are excellent. One excellent which I love is the Whortleberry which is a small cousin to the blueberry and the huckleberry. Also Rose Hips are excellent in the fall and into the winter.
Pine Nuts - Now all five needle pines have pine nuts like the Pinyon Pine of the Southwest, the Whitebark of the Northern and Central Rockes, the Limber Pine, etc. Grizzlies in Yellowstone feed extensively off of the buts provided by the White bark Pine. Excellent in late summer and fall.
Also the Trout in the creeks and rivers. There is also a variety of Grouse Squirrels, Marmots and Small Game that can be utilzed also. Now with this, look at one's local hunting seasons and regulations. I am not going to say much here because of the local laws and regulations and I do not want to get into trouble. But Fish can be a big local item that can be used.
Chair Warmer, this is just some of the edible that can be utilized. As one can see it varies thruout the summer with in the spring mainly the Spring Beauty and Biscuitroot, then later the Bistort, Wild Onions and Chives, and Mariposa Lilies, then later the Yampa and the Pine Nuts and Berries. There is always if fishing, for to catch a Trout or such. Hope this helps but if not then be free to ask again. Hope you find this helpful. Wishing You the Best!
