Achieve protein self sufficiency through edible insects
Can you grow your own protein ?
Yes, but as well as growing plants which are protein rich, like soy, legumes and nuts, you should also farm a few edible insects. Growing your own insects, in particular mealworms, is a truly sustainable way to grow your own protein. Mealworms can feed on oats and scraps of fruit and vegetables from your kitchen, so you can easily convert these into healthy homegrown protein. Since mealworms are very efficient at drawing and retaining the moisture from the vegetables, they require no water to drink.
What can you do - protein self sufficiency
Raise edible insects
Set up a few trays with some starter larvae. The insects multiply exponentially, giving you lots of protein in no time. The life cycle of Tenebrio Molitor is divided into four phases: egg, larva, pupa and adult beetle. The overall duration of this cycle ranges between 8-9 weeks. The life cycle takes place as follows:
Hatching of the eggs
Newly hatched larvae tend to stay below the surface of the wheat bran substrate in which they live. Here they perform a series of moults as they grow up.
After 4 weeks they will have already reached 1cm in length.
The last moult takes place after about 2-3 months. As soon as the moult is complete, the larvae are white and their exoskeleton is still very tender.
The adult larvae become golden-brown in colour and are 2.5cm to 5cm long.
The larvae rise to the surface. Now they look fat and move little.
The larvae turn into pupae. During this phase they remain motionless all the time.
After several days (4 to 14), beetles emerge from the pupae, which are the adult life stage of the mealworm. At first these beetles are whitish, but in a few days they turn red, brown and eventually black. Their length varies from 1 to 2cm. It is not possible to distinguish the male from the female.
After 10-20 days of metamorphosis, the moths begin to lay eggs. A female lays 200-500 eggs in groups of 40 at a time for the rest of her life, which lasts 2-3 months.
The eggs hatch after 4-19 days (on average, after 12 days).
The production cycle
Mealworms need daily attention. They are better bred in food-grade plastic trays without lids, stacked. The trays must have smooth sided to prevent the insects from climbing out. These can be easily moved, allowing easy access for cleaning. Mealworms are harvested every eight weeks. The substrate, incubated with eggs from the Tenebrio Molitor beetles, is removed every eight days to avoid the eggs being eaten. Heating is required in the Winter months to maintain a temperature of approximately 24c, however due to the high insulation specification of the facilities, a 2kw fan heather is sufficient.
Each Tenebrio Molitor female beetle lays up to 500 eggs which will then into full size larvae. After that, you can decide how fast your colony expands, by adjusting how many mealworms you use, versus how many you keep for your next generation. In a matter of weeks, you should have plenty of insects.
You can follow us on our social media, where you will find information on our edible insect range Horizon Insects Instagram . If you would like to try cooking with insects, we suggest purchasing some of our dried insects products.