What did you eat when overlanding in the early 19th century

[James86004]

If you were headed out on an overland expedition in in the 1840s from, say, Independence, Missouri, to Oregon or Santa Fe or the gold fields of California, what food would you bring and how would you cook it?

Biscuits? Bacon? Varmits shot along the way?

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Salt pork, jerky, corn, milk, eggs, wild game, etc. Biscuits, broth, corn meal, oat meal. Cooked over a fire.

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

This is a fun site for some good history........

http://www.lonehand.com/chuckwagon_central.htm

http://lonehand.com/chuckwagon.htm


I always wondered what a Chukar tastes like:REOutShootinghunter ........prolly like chicken!

They are loud and proud in the Panamints. They sound really funny.

.

 

[Linus Tremaine]

ideas

James,
this forum is a little new, but its pretty fun to poke around in.

http://www.camp-cook.com/forum/

They have a good dutch oven section, which would certainly be how some of your food would be cooked if you traveled in 1840.


I would add beans to your list.

 

[FortyMileDesert]

:chowtime: :REOutIceFishing: :12_4_18: You asking what I did eat back then? I forgot......:coffeedrink:

 

[Pskhaat]

...what food would you bring

My wife's a prairie-life buff: I think part of the answer is that food was not a major stow, rather hunted & gathered along the way.

Sage grouse are like slow B52s: easy to hunt, and taste like about the same but in my mind's mouth is about what that time would have tasted.
:REOutShootinghunter

EDIT: it also goes without saying (almost) however that stock was driven with most movements.

 

[66LV]

I tried some of that grub, About 20 years ago I was a park ranger in the California gold country. I attended a 49er history course my department put on. Part of the class was to live like a 49er. So in late October they gave us a wool blanket each,a few bottles of brandy, some salt pork, hard tack and a bag of beans. We then hiked to the bottom of a river canyon in the sierra and spent the night.Glad we had plenty of brandy.. good times
:1888fbbd:

 

[James86004]

I forgot about the livestock they herded along - a source of fresh groceries!

What does salt pork and hard tack taste like? They don't sound appealing.

 

[Skylinerider]

Did you just break out the Apple II to play Oregon trail?

 

[Pskhaat]

I forgot about the livestock they herded along

Let's see how would that work with overlanding? Remember Dinky behind the family truckster?

 

[SinCityFJC]

I wasn't around back then but growing up family vacations were weeks out on the trails camping out of the back of a CJ-6. Got low on food one time so we hunted & had Varmit stew :chowtime:

 

[rusty_tlc]

My Dad was born in 1922. At the time his family was moving from one farm to another. They were crossing Grand Mesa in CO, in a covered wagon.

I was lucky enough to spend some time with my Grandmother and talk about her experiences. She had traveled out from Kansas in the 1800's with her family. She also saw the advent of automobiles, electric lighting, the telephone and men walking on the moon. As she said "I have lived in wounderouse times."

A few things I remember from talking with her:

All of her children were weened on goats milk. I don't think they traveled with cows. She mentioned how nice it was when they stopped someplace where another family had a cow and would share the milk.

She got tired of "soda bread", they didn't make yeast bread while they traveled.

You can make a good pie with dried fruit.

They would fill milk cans with river water at night so the silt was settled out by morning.

 

[RHINO]

this is a great topic, and timely,,, i really like old school cooking and eating. i like to obtain and use old cookbooks, especially related to camp or chuckwagon type cooking.

more and more i am getting my "provisions" stocked for camping. my cruiser looks more and more like a covered wagon when i go out.

i have made some changes to my basic food storage, including some wooden boxes that house things like dry beans, onions, potatoes. and i have been working out a better way to carry dry goods like sugar, flour and coffee.

i am trying to really get old timey and have a decent stock on hand of all the basics to build off of, i know what i like to eat while camping and i want to get it more unrefined and raw, if anything it takes more time to prepare and cook and thats good when camping.

 

[DontPanic42]

Applewood Books has published a copy of :
The Prarie Traveler by Captain Randolph B. Marcy, US Army
First Published 1859
Includes routes, first aid, recommended clothing, shelter, provisions, wagon maintenance, and the selection and care of horses.

The Food Journal of Lewis and Clark by M. Gunderson gives lists of provisions and stores.

Both are an interesting read.

 

[spunky2268]

"The Food Journal of Lewis and Clark by M. Gunderson gives lists of provisions and stores."

+1 I've got this and tried some of the recipes. Good stuff.