Table of Contents
Breads, potatoes, rice, and starchy foods put backbone into a meal and the hungry souls who ate it. The mainstays of a pioneer diet were simple fare like potatoes, beans and rice, hardtack (which is simply flour, water, 1 teaspoon each of salt and sugar, then baked), soda biscuits (flour, milk, one t.
What did the pioneers eat on the trail?
Each family brought along such staples as flour, sugar, cornmeal, coffee, dried beans, rice, bacon, and salt port. Some also brought dried fruit. Mealtime on the Oregon Trail was goverened by the sun Breakfast had to be completed by 4 a.m. so that the wagon train could be on its way by daybreak.
What did the pioneers eat for dessert?
As for desserts — they were simple, but many and varied. There were apple dump- lings, rice and bread puddings, soft molasses cookies, sugar jumbles, and mincemeat, pumpkin, dried apple, or custard pies. On special occasions we might have lemon pie. It was not necessary to skimp on eggs or milk.
What did the pioneers eat for lunch?
About midday, the travelers would stop for their “nooning” rest and meal. Lunch choices could include breakfast leftovers, more beans but now cold and with bacon, bread and crackers, rice and dried beef. A day’s travel ended in the early evening.
How did the pioneers get food?
Fresh Game. When dried meat didn’t do the trick, pioneers hunted local game. Hunting didn’t happen often on the trail—usually, it would take place during those rest days or at specific points on the trail so as not to slow down the caravan. Meat from the hunt would be dried, used in stews or cooked over the fire.
What did pioneers eat for dinner?
Breads, potatoes, rice, and starchy foods put backbone into a meal and the hungry souls who ate it. The mainstays of a pioneer diet were simple fare like potatoes, beans and rice, hardtack (which is simply flour, water, 1 teaspoon each of salt and sugar, then baked), soda biscuits (flour, milk, one t.
What did the pioneers drink?
The Founders, like most colonists, were fans of adult beverages. Colonial Americans drank roughly three times as much as modern Americans, primarily in the form of beer, cider, and whiskey.
What did pioneers eat in winter?
Winter Food for the Pioneers Root cellar: A root cellar is like a man made cave. Pioneers would dig into the side of a hill, and place some foods like root vegetables, underground. Root vegetables are foods where people eat the part that grows under the ground such as potatoes, carrots, beets, and onions.
How did pioneers get milk?
Thus, for the pioneer family to have milk, the farmer needed to have his cow get in a family way. After the calf finished nursing, the farmer removed the calf, washed the cow’s udders, and milked the cow. The cow was fed ears of corn to distract her while she was being milked. The cow was always milked twice every day.
How did pioneers keep food cold?
Most early settlers used a smokehouse, hanging hams and other large pieces of meat in a small building to cure through several weeks of exposure to a low fire with a lot of smoke. The process began around November. The meat would keep all winter and most of the summer.
Did pioneers eat bear meat?
Pioneer food was often stodgy, plain, or altogether absent. In summertime or fall, pioneers might feast on bear meat (Laura’s favorite), buffalo, venison, elk, and antelope, unconstrained by the big game laws of the Old World. But in winter, when nothing grew or could be hunted, pioneers were vulnerable.
How did pioneers get drinking water?
Many families had to boil their well water to kill off contaminants. When well-digging failed to reach water, families were forced to collect rainwater in barrels, cisterns, and pans.
What did pioneer kids eat?
Lunch at school, called ‘nooning,’ might include cold pancakes, bread with lard, jam or meat sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, dried meat, baked goods like muffins, cookies, and maybe even a slice of cake.
How did pioneers keep bacon?
Marcy advised travelers to pack the pork in sacks, “or… in boxes… surrounded with bran, which in a great measure, prevents the fat from melting away.” Unfortunately, bacon still occasionally spoiled and had to be ditched along the trail. In less delicious news, bacon wasn’t just cured, it was a cure!Jul 5, 2019.
What was a typical breakfast in 1800?
Before cereal, in the mid 1800s, the American breakfast was not all that different from other meals. Middle- and upper-class Americans ate eggs, pastries, and pancakes, but also oysters, boiled chickens, and beef steaks.
What did Canadian pioneers eat?
The early pioneers survived by eating meat, wild berries, and food they found in the forest. But once they had settled, they began to grow crops. The most popular and easiest to grow crop was corn. Corn could be grown almost anywhere and in the poorest of soils.
What did pioneers sleep on?
Some pioneers did sleep in their wagons. Some did camp on the ground—either in the open or sheltered under the wagon. But many used canvas tents. Despite the romantic depictions of the covered wagon in movies and on television, it would not have been very comfortable to travel in or sleep in the wagon.
How much food did pioneers pack?
The pioneers packed light because although their wagons could hold 2000lbs of supplies, 1,800lbs of that needed to be food.
