I realize that it's not possible to live as a vegetarian in a survival situation. This is because plants have almost no calories, you can't digest them without fat, most don't have enough protein, they take too much energy to gather and cook, etc.
Nuclear War Survival Skills says you can almost get by with grain, but that includes sprouting it for vitamins (and making yeast might be better for that). BUT children will not thrive without fats.
As for hunting, I am not only a gun owner, but my father's favorite/only hobbies are hunting and fishing (the latter of which I don't like, whereas hunting was OK, if he offered to take me on a hunt I'd go).
While we didn't hunt anything that we didn't eat, it's generally not an efficient way to gain high quality protein or fats. To do that, you need to cheat with methods that as I vaguely recall don't involve guns, e.g. use big nets to catch fish (or raise your own catfish, for example, although as I recall most fish we in the US catch aren't good oil sources). For animals, "poaching" and trapping methods, e.g. snares: http://www.snareshop.com/departments.asp?dept=14
As for not being able to label yourself as a prepper, I'm an old school nuclear war/economic collapse 60s-80s survivalist, and as others have noted, if you aren't able to protect you and yours, including the stores of materials and food you'll be needing to survive, well, why bother unless you live in a completely rural low population far from the big cities areas where you can depend on others in the community to do that in general for all.
(And, hey, try one out some time, they're lots of fun and not very dangerous if you follow the 4 Rules (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Cooper#Firearms_safety) and for your first time or three, have a formal or informal coach.)
This book claims otherwise, and without resorting to grains (note I've only skimmed it a bit, starting a garden is a next year thing for me): https://www.amazon.com/Grow-Die-Guide-Survival-Gardening/dp/...
Nuclear War Survival Skills says you can almost get by with grain, but that includes sprouting it for vitamins (and making yeast might be better for that). BUT children will not thrive without fats.
As for hunting, I am not only a gun owner, but my father's favorite/only hobbies are hunting and fishing (the latter of which I don't like, whereas hunting was OK, if he offered to take me on a hunt I'd go).
While we didn't hunt anything that we didn't eat, it's generally not an efficient way to gain high quality protein or fats. To do that, you need to cheat with methods that as I vaguely recall don't involve guns, e.g. use big nets to catch fish (or raise your own catfish, for example, although as I recall most fish we in the US catch aren't good oil sources). For animals, "poaching" and trapping methods, e.g. snares: http://www.snareshop.com/departments.asp?dept=14
As for not being able to label yourself as a prepper, I'm an old school nuclear war/economic collapse 60s-80s survivalist, and as others have noted, if you aren't able to protect you and yours, including the stores of materials and food you'll be needing to survive, well, why bother unless you live in a completely rural low population far from the big cities areas where you can depend on others in the community to do that in general for all.
(And, hey, try one out some time, they're lots of fun and not very dangerous if you follow the 4 Rules (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Cooper#Firearms_safety) and for your first time or three, have a formal or informal coach.)