What did the pioneers eat?

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. each of carbonate of soda and salt), Johnny cakes, cornbread, cornmeal mush, and bread.

What did pioneers eat for breakfast?

Beans, cornmeal mush, Johnnycakes or pancakes, and coffee were the usual breakfast. Fresh milk was available from the dairy cows that some families brought along, and pioneers took advantage go the rough rides of the wagon to churn their butter. "Nooning" at midday meant stopping for rest and a meal.

What did 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.

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.

What meat did the pioneers eat?

Dried Meat

The pioneers were big fans of dried meats, as it provided them that delicious protein without causing them to worry about spoiled food. Bison was a popular meat to preserve.

What Early Pioneers Ate To Survive The Old West

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 cowboys eat for breakfast lunch and dinner?

Cowboys in the United States relished similar "chuck" (also called grub or chow). Canned and dried fruit, "overland trout" (bacon), beans, fresh meat, soda biscuits, tea, and coffee. Breakfast might include eggs or salt pork. Eggs, sometimes shipped west for considerable distances, sometimes went bad.

What did the pioneers drink?

They just knew that water made them ill. So instead of drinking water, many people drank fermented and brewed beverages like beer, ale, cider, and wine. Children drank something called small beer. One of the first steps in brewing beer is to boil the water, which kills the germs and bacteria and makes it safe to drink.

How did pioneers smoke meat?

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.

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. Once the calf was born, the cow started producing milk. Most farmers kept the cow and her calf separated until milking time, at which time the farmer allowed the calf to nurse.

How did pioneers get clean 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.

Did pioneers eat fruit?

Settlers learned to forage off the land, hunting and gathering berries and native fruit, nuts, edible bulbs. Nearly anything that had fur or feathers could be eaten and was.

What was the first snack food?

Salty Snacks. America's first commercial snack foods were peanuts and popcorn, which were cheap, tasty, filling, and eminently portable. Peanut and popcorn vendors sold their products on the streets, circuses, and fairs, and later at sporting events.

What did real cowboys eat?

The staples. Along the trail, the staples of a cowboy diet consisted of beans, hard biscuits, dried meat, dried fruit, and coffee. Occasionally, a type of bread known as pan de campo (or “camp bread”), which was cooked on a skillet was also available.

What was a typical meal in the 1800's?

The main meal in the 1800s, however, was not the large evening meal that is familiar to us today. Rather, it was a meal called dinner, enjoyed in the early afternoon. Supper was a smaller meal eaten in the evening. A big difference between the way people eat today compared with long ago is the work and time needed.

How did Cowboys keep meat from spoiling?

Brine was saltwater that was traditionally "strong enough to float an egg." Preserved in this way, homesteaders could keep meats for weeks and months at a time. However, like the other staple of pioneer diet, salt pork, "salted down" meat had to be laboriously rinsed, scrubbed, and soaked before consumption.

How did they keep meat cold in the old days?

Community cooling houses were an integral part of many villages to keep meat, fruit and vegetables stored. At various points in time ice houses were built often underground or as insulated buildings – these were used to store ice and snow sourced during winter, to keep foods cold during the warmer months.

How did cowboys cure meat?

In making pemmican, Native Americans would mix ground meat and berries with melted animal fat. The meat substance would then be packed together into small cakes. When it was not possible to build a smoke hut to cure the beef jerky, cowboys would use the power of the sun and wind to dry their meat.

Did kids drink alcohol in the 1800s?

People of all ages drank, including toddlers, who finished off the heavily sugared portion at the bottom of a parent's mug of rum toddy. Each person consumed about three and a half gallons of alcohol per year.”

What did the pioneers do for fun?

They had races and played games such as Sheep Over the River, Hide and Seek, Pull the Rope, and Steal-Stick Duck-Stones. They also sang and danced.

Did settlers boil water?

In many cases, the pioneers would boil their water first if they were able to do so. However, knowledge about contaminants was minimal during these times, and many people did not understand the necessity of boiling water that is taken from an unknown source.

What toilet paper did cowboys use?

Mullein aka “cowboy toilet paper”

If the cowboys used the large velvety leaves of the mullein (Verbascum thapsus) plant while out on the range, then you can too! Mullein is a biennial plant available for use in almost every bioregion.

How did cowboys keep bacon from spoiling?

The cowboys were actually eating “sowbelly.” It was pork fat from the belly, and perhaps the back and sides, of a hog carcass, cured with salt. Sowbelly could last a long time without spoiling. Marshall Trimble is Arizona's official state historian and the vice president of the Wild West History Association.

Did cowboys drink milk?

Cowboys would have eaten hardtacks, a dense bread made with few ingredients that resemble modern-day biscuits. These were edible for years. The only downside is that they were rock hard, so had to be soaked in water or milk before eating.