U say hunt,preserved food,ok.......
do u know what is nuclear missile? FOOD SHOULD be gone by now ( 200 years after, there could be no more preserved food even if u have mall)
Plants would still grow, even with fallout. Root Vegetables would be safe to eat weeks after a nuclear blast (as long as throughly washed). Seeds stored away from blasts would grow as normal. Food that grows in pods (like Peas) will also be safe.
You'd be really suprised by how much is actually edible
http://www.atomica.co.uk/farming/main.htm <- Prepared by Her Majesty's Government for Post Nuclear farmers!
On the subject on what is edible, bear in mind the focus here is on the first few days after the bombs...
FOOD FOR YOUR FAMILY
The food in your larder would be safe to eat, provided it was in sealed containers or otherwise protected so that no dust from outside could get on to the food.
There would also probably be food on the farm which you would want to use if you knew it was safe to eat or knew how to make it safe.
The following paragraphs give some advice on dealing with food produced on your farm.
MILK There would be a very great risk in drinking milk from cows which have eaten food contaminated by fallout. If your family badly needed milk, it should be given to them only if you were sure that your cows had been under shelter before the fall-out came down and had not left it since, and that they had had only food and water on which there could have been no fall-out dust.
EGGS It would be safe to use eggs from poultry that had been under cover the whole time since the fall-out came down. It would not be quite so safe to use eggs from poultry on open range, but they could be used if badly needed as food, since the risk from fall-out would be only slight.
POTATOES AND ROOTS It would be safe to use fully grown potatoes and root crops ready for harvesting, provided they were well washed to remove all soil particles and also peeled. It is important that the fall-out should be removed; it is not destroyed by boiling or cooking (see below-'Growing Plants').
GREEN VEGETABLES It is better not to eat green vegetables which might be contaminated by fall-out. But if in the first few days after the attack you had to take the risk of eating green vegetables choose only plants with solid hearts such as cabbage, sprouts and lettuces. Several layers of the outer leaves would have to be removed and the heart washed thoroughly before cooking. The discarded leaves should not be kept indoors. Loose-hearted cabbages, etc., would not be fit to use, as there might be fall-out on the leaves. In dealing with all garden produce, it would be advisable to wear gloves, preferably rubber, to keep contamination away from the skin. You should scrub your hands paying particular attention to your nails.
PEAS AND BEANS Only the pods of peas and beans would be contaminated. The peas and beans inside would be quite safe to eat.
So if you like Beans, Peas, Chips and Mash, you're suited to the first few days after the blast. And Farming was expected to go on:
Are there any genetic effects on seed exposed to fall-out?
For practical purposes you need not worry about this. Just sow your seed as usual.
Would it be safe to plant by hand in contaminated soil?
If it were safe to be out, yes. But wash well afterwards.
Would the use of sprayers help to remove the fall-out from the top soil?
Not to any appreciable extent (experiments are being carried out to find out whether deep ploughing or some other method offers often the best means of removing fall-out from the top soil). But it would be worth spraying the yards near the house with water to keep the dust down and wash it away.
Should crops growing in contaminated land be limed and fertilised?
Yes, just as usual. The better your crop does, the less would be the amount of the dangerous radioactive chemicals in each unit of weight of the crop.
And this comes from the a guy at Oak Ridge, about long term farming: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_war_survival_skills - Description of the document and links to it)
Eating food produced in the years after a large attack would cause an increase in the cancer rate, due
primarily to its content of radioactive strontium and cesium from fallout-contaminated soil. Over the first
30 years following an attack, this increase would be a small fraction of the number of additional cancer
deaths that would result from external radiation.29 Cancer deaths would be one of the tragic, delayed
costs of a nuclear war, but all together would not be numerous enough to endanger the long-term survival
of the population.
hunt=Hello? people die while hunting
People die whilst crossing the road... Last time I checked, We're still here, and crossing roads.