I was putting together the crockpot dinner and an ant was on the soup can and I saw it tumble in the crockpot. Of course I couldn't find him to fish him out because I already had soups and vegetables in the pot (I did look!)
I know he won't eat much :)
Would you throw dinner away? Keep it a secret from your family? I feel kind of bad, but I'm imagining that we probably eat lots of bugs and don't even know it. I hate to throw away all that good food!
I know I can't mention it to my daughter or she won't eat the food or spend the whole dinner looking for the ant. My husband might get mad and refuse to eat. I'm a little grossed out myself...
Well, I'm sure we've eaten ants before and were none the wiser. I know it won't hurt anyone so I just added some pepper and I didn't tell! We picnic in the summer and I'm sure we eat lots of bugs! I just keep telling myself that maybe he didn't fall in and he just crawled under the can. Money is tight so I couldn't justify throwing out all good food (which will feed us for 2 nights). Thanks for all the laughs!
P.S. I told my husband after we ate. He laughed and said we probably eat a lot of ants and dont even know it. We aren't telling my daughter or she would freak out for weeks and we'd never hear the end of it. She'd probably refuse to eat any food from our kitchen. She's a bit of a drama queen!
Oh my gosh, you just cracked me up with this question and the other mamas' answers even more!!!! Who would have thought so many of us are so relaxed about this issue??? Just great! Oh, one more thing: Bonne appetit!
LOL! That made me laugh Good!!!
I say eat it. You eat ground up bugs in apple sauce, hot dogs, peanut butter...ect.
What's that old joke? "Waiter, what's that fly doing in my soup?" "Why, the backstroke, sir."
Don't tell. Ignore.
Let me add - if you really knew how many insect parts and rodent dropping were considered "acceptable" in the nation's food processing plants, you wouldn't give two thoughts about the one ant you actually saw!!
.
It's just a little protein. Don't tell.
I love the way this ant is a boy. :)
One well-cooked ant? Probably not a big deal when chocolate-covered ants are a delicacy in some parts of the world. I woudn't tell your family, because it might turn them off the idea of soup next time you make it too.
When I was growing up we used to eat garden broccoli. Sometimes I'd find caterpillars in it and get grossed out. My mom would always joke that it was just extra protein.
Just be sure to add pepper to the dish so that no one questions if they just ate an ant!
Maybe he will float to the top like bugs tend to do and you can scoop him out...if not then if anyone finds it in their dinner jump up and tell them they won a prize lol.
ETA - I just asked my 7 year old son, who is a wuss about bugs and anything "gross" if he would eat it and he said, "Yeah, I wouldn't even taste one ant in a whole bowl of food. Not if it was a fly though." LOL So there you go...eat the food lol!!!
This is the funniest damn thing I've heard today! Thanks for posting this! I have no idea if I would eat it or not but this cracks me up! Let us know what you decided to do! :o)
I would eat it. Tell yourself he probably crawled out before you closed the lid. If your husband would be grossed out, don't tell him, but I was going to suggest telling at least him, but not your kids. The FDA allows a certain number of bugs to be in canned and packaged foods and still sellable, so really this isn't anything new to your palate! ;) It's just an ant...if it were a roach or something equally gross I'd throw it out, but it's just an ant.
Well, did they eat it? Did you tell?
C'mon the suspense is KILLING me!!!
:)
Ah, this is too funny.
I say go a head and take this secret to the grave, or maybe you want to let it out when they grow up, by then it should be fun.
lmao! too funny! i say an ant's okay...roach or anything bigger than an ant...hell no! :)
Looks like I am in the minority here. I think an ant or any insect in food is really gross! I wouldn't eat it and I would hope that no one would do that to me. I know it's a waste of food, but I would throw it away.
Whoever finds the ant in their meal gets special dessert!!
LMAO @ 'I know he won't eat much', hahahahaaaa!!!!!
I wouldn't say anything, but me personally, I'd be laughing on the floor while everyone ate ;)
Ants = PROTEIN.
pffftt. an ant? he'll just add 'substance', 'interest' or 'piquancy.'
a stinkbug or a cockroach? i'd pitch dinner over that.
but not an ant.
:) khairete
S.
a cockroach would be differant an ant just eat it. and dont tell anyone. just next time keep your eyes peeled for anymore freeloaders.
No biggie.
Its just one ant.
Unless you want your entire dinner wasted and not eaten.
A 'boy' ant as Peg M. said.
LOL
yah, insects are gender based... some languages have gender forms for insects. Feminine or masculine.
In the French language, "ant" is a 'girl.'
ie: la Fourmi.
Too funny.
OMG, last week they were cooking with LIVE creepy things on "Top Chef Masters!" I fast forwarded thru that mess. One ant would have been fine with me compared to worms, scorpions and whatever else they dug up...LITERALLY!
I've eaten pancakes with ROCKS in them. Who EVER thought little girl scouts should cook their food on an inverted coffee can should be shot!
Ewwww.....throw it out!!
oh who cares. people digest all kinds of bugs while you are sleeping. you eat about 6 live spiders a year...mmmm extra protein lol, and in some countries they eat chocolate covered ants
keep it a secret! can you imagine what things we really ingest and don't know about it?, think of all the stuff in the air we breathe...hey he might add some crunch! maybe your hubby will be the lucky one! LOL
no one will know if you dont tell. I would tell them after though, just to see the looks you get! People eat chocolate covered ants, nothing wrong with crock pot ants too LOL
Silence is golden. So is not remaking dinner. What's a teeny bit of protein. Just don't scrutinize your own bowl too much!
That gave me such a great and needed laugh!!
Well - insects are protein, and people DO eat chocolate covered ants... so, yeah - I'd keep that to myself and probably close my eyes with every bite but I"d still eat it.
I agree about wasting all that food for one little ant would be WAY overboard!
I wouldn't say a word. It's just one ant. I think my sons eaten more then that already LOL
I'd serve it, but pretend to not be hungry so that I wouldn't have to eat it. Hopefully I wouldn't get caught later making whatever quick meal I could to get rid of my hunger. Lol
Thank you for the laugh! I'm sure it's no worse than pulling a hair out, which happens frequently in my house since I tend to shed. Or for pet owners pulling dog or cat hair out of their food. Some foreign cuisines use bugs all the time. Good source of protein, according to Man vs Wild! :)
Thought I'd share a story, though: when I was younger, my cousin came to stay with us for a couple days and while there, she lost a tooth. My mom put it on the counter with the intention of putting it in something nice for her to bring home, and then she went about finishing making dinner. Midway through our meal, my dad took a bite of salad and CRUNCH!!! Spit out a tooth! He thought he'd lost a crown or something overly dramatic. Turns out, my cousin's tooth had somehow managed to find its way into the salad and onto my dad's plate, though no one to this day knows how. It's still a story we all laugh about to this day!
I am certian Ants are someones favorite food somewhere in the rest of world. However me in mine I would so feel funny eating it, and letting the rest of the family do it.
I would still eat it. Bugs are delicacies in some countries. It's not going to hurt anyone. In actuality, there are trace amount of bugs that fall into our processed foods in processing plants... this one little ant is just a little 'fresher'.
Bwahahahahahahaha- that was so funny! LOL - Heck, it's just protein :)
I wouldn't have an issue with it... Like others have said, there are bugs in lots of things you can buy packaged. It's just a tiny bit extra protien. You could always tell them after. ;) lol.
Just saying ... when I was in 7th grade and we went to outdoor ed (5 days camping) our teacher gave us 50 extra credit points for eating an ant. I ate several. Very tarty! He was explaining to us that if we were lost in the wilderness we could eat certain things and somethings we were not supposed to eat. So I have always remembered that. And in some countries they eat insects all the time. There is no harm in keeping this a little secret!
I wouldn't worry about it! LOL! And I certainly would not tell anyone. What they don't know won't hurt them. Besides...it's just an ant. Everyone will be fine. :-)
I love that you asked this. I am a freak about eating bugs myself so I'd have to dump it just for that reason. But sure I'd let my family eat an ant if they didn't know. :) Thanks for the chuckle!
Oh, tough one!! I'm not sure what I would do, but I'm leaning towards throwing it away. I know I couldn't eat it!
Haha! That's hilarious! I'd look the other way and carry on ;)
Did you know that the average human per average life span eats about 8 spiders total - all ingested during sleep???
Did you know that the FDA allows 2 dead rats per vat of coke/pepsi/ soda syrup before bottling? Yep, rats love sugar too and it's a compromise between FDA and soda manufacturers.
I don't think an ant will hurt anyone....many cultures eat bugs.
When I was in the 8th grade we moved from SoCA to Portland, OR at the end of the summer and right on our street there were beautiful cherry trees growing. I ran down there with bags, picked as many cherries as I could reach, returned home and started making homemade cherry pies. I made the crusts from scratch, I had picked and washed and pitted the cherries and right when I was about to pour the cherry mixture into the prepared crusts I noticed these small whitish things squirming around in top layer of the cherries???? What's this??? Upon closer inspection...yes, they were maggots I'm pretty sure...I was very disgusted and tried to pull them out but I'm pretty sure I did not get them all. I was devastated after all those hours of work and I already knew then they would just add a little protein to the pie once fully cooked...I know it sounds gross now....but my entire family of 9 ate those 2 pies the following night for dessert and after everyone had licked their forks clean, my older brother announced to everyone the truth as he had been reading in the next room and overheard my mutterances. I don't think some of my sibs ever forgave me....but they none the wiser...
Don't send me any hate mail - I was just 13.
hyesterical...lol! i would probably not have had the guts to ask this question! and yes, i agree with most everyone - won't hurt a thing. disgusting...try to forget lol.
As Michael Jackson once said,, "Just Eat It"...(o:
I wouldn't have said anything either! Maybe pretended not to be hungry, also! Another story to share: When I was a teen, my mother was in charge of preparing a huge tuna noodle casserole for some big dinner at the church. She put it in the car, and left the windows down as she was planning to come back out in a few minutes and deliver the casserole. To her dismay, upon returning to the car and opening the door, 2 kitties leaped out the window...they'd been snacking! What to do...didn't have the time nor the funds to make another...so a knife smoothed out the "dents"!!!!! I am the only one to know this story to this day!
It's an ant - they will live. If it was a cockroach (ugh), then that is a different story. You can let them find it themselves or not!
LOL - hilarious! I would totally not tell!
If it were me, I think tonight might just be the night I start my new diet!
I took a course on Food and Drug Law in law school. You would not believe the amount of bug parts permissible by law in our foods! (Ground pepper is particularly disgusting.) You cooked everything, right? So, its no biggie. I'd be more worried that someone would actually find the ant -- then you'd have some explaining to do!
I wouldn't dare throw all that food out over one ant. And, I wouldn't dare say anything either.
That little ant is how many parts per million of the other stuff in the pot?
Seriously, in many parts of the world, ants are considered delicacies.
If you hadn't seen the ant, you would just have eaten the food and been none the wiser with no problems.
No harm done. I wouldn't say a word.
Honestly it would probably depend on who the food was for! My girls and me - I would probably be gagging a little so would toss it. a certain few people I would gladly serve it and look for some friends (of the ant)!
don't tell....no one will ever know!!
C. M., we probably do eat ants and much more and are unaware of it. My husband would have eaten it no matter what, my daughter on the othere hand would never eat again!! LOL!!! This is why we should pray before we partake of ANY food(s) and ask the blessings of God that the food would nourish our bodies and that all impurities be removed. I don't know if i would've thrown it out either. That's a lot of ingredients to be going down the drain. :>) Good day.
My sister just returned from China and she said you would not believe the fried"insects on a stick" they eat there...grasshoppers, etc. Ants seem pretty tame in comparison :-)
Baaaahahaha!!!!! You and J L. Are hilarious!!!
Oh and don't say anything. Ant probably dissolved and turned into a speck of pepper :)
Ha, ha shame on you :)
Well, tonight you might have a teeny bit of extra protein and crunchy chitinous exoskeleton.
No worries! Remember, we ate dirt as kids. (oh shoot, was that only me?!?)
I believe that myth about everyone eating several spiders during their lifetime (while they're sleeping) was created by someone wanting to see how easy it was to trick people using the internet. That's what my son told me, anyway. I know I've never eaten a spider!
Some people like ants covered in chocolate. You could try that next time, lol!
Throw it out. I can't stand the sight of hair anywhere near my food, so the thought of an ant makes me gag.
I wouldn't throw the dinner away... just a little extra protein, as others have said.
My daughter lives in Seoul, Korea... she is a teacher over there. She ate "bondagi" (boiled silkworm larvae) one of her first meals there... she had told the pastor at the church that was sponsoring her school that she would try anything once.... the first day after school, he took the teachers out to eat and that was one of the side dishes.... so she ate one!
Many other cultures eat things we Americans are very squeamish about, including many insects.
HA! thanks for the laugh. I love a fun question.
Keep it & don't tell the kids:)
My dad worked at a meat packing plant, yikes you don't want to know!! He never at ground beef & still makes his own.
I stopped buying instant oatmeal from a store brand because it had itty bitty moths in it. The part that grossed me out the most was the whole bowl was filled with more than twenty dead floaters after adding my hot water. Sadly I know more than likely I ate many moths eggs, because I had opened the canister months earlier to make oatmeal cookies, and I was just trying to finish off the plain oatmeal. The difference putting your glasses on before making breakfast can make...
Anyway, I wouldn't toss it for one ant. If anyone finds it in their soup I'd play dumb too. If it was many ants I'd toss it those. I would have eaten my moth infested oatmeal if I had only found one or two moths. Thankfully I have all our food in plastic storage bins so the oatmeal was an isolated incident and came from the packaging plant.
Food is expensive, Protein baby!! if it were an ear wig I would toss but an ant...no big deal! enjoy
Think about peanut butter, cereal, and other processed foods that we eat. Bugs end up in all of those foods. I think the national average is that we eat between 1-to-3 pounds of bugs per year without realizing it from food that we've purchased.
Oh, and get this. All of the flours and sugars we buy... even the organic stuff... has bug eggs in them. The reason you don't normally see bugs in them is because they need the right conditions to hatch. I like to keep ahead of my open bags of sugar and flour by freezing planning-to-use-next bags in the freezer for two weeks. That kills the eggs so that they'll never hatch and surprise me with meal worms or some other nasty critter. :-)
I wouldn't have said anything.
One time I was cutting up chicken for soup, and throwing the scraps into the trash below me...and a huge piece of chicken fell into the trash. Like, most of the chicken. I had already spent almost three hours on this soup, and I was not about to have veggie soup take three hours. So I took the chicken out of the trash (okay, so it was pretty much just laying on some papers...not like on a pile of diapers or anything) and washed it off for about two minutes in hot water, and put it into the soup.
A friend of mine had stopped by to chat for a few minutes and witnessed the whole thing. She just laughed, and laughed...but I didn't tell my family. Still haven't.
There are some things that should be kept secret and this is one of them.
You made me laugh! Eat up!
My first reaction was, no way keep it cooking. but if you are grossed out and couldnt bring yourself to eat it...toss it.
LOL... I dont even know what to say!! Its just funny!! Im sorry!! I know it happens more than we know...but its just kinda ironic... and I am with you I would be looking threw it to looking for Mr. Ant!! Sorry that I was know help.. just had to say "ewww" and giggle a bit... ; ) Good Luck Momma!!
