SPAM: Nature's Gift or Not?

[BoondockingAirstream]

Spam use to be something put in between slices of thick bread.  It was great camping meals when doing a 'hit and run' short camping stop, coffee and some healthy doughnuts as a teenager. Three traveling in a 1964 VW Bug on a camping trip to the Badlands of western Nebraska Badlands to hunt fossils.

Tuna in a can was also loaded with protein and lasted most of the day.  Yummy.  Tuna and a Soda was enough energy to keep one going until early afternoon climbing the gullies and hill tops looking for fossils washing out of the soft silty hillsides.

Having a package of Tootsie Roll Pops, except chocolate..., were good energy boosters in between 'meals in a can or a bag'.  Potato chips for salt.  Fresh water in a canteen.  A Candy Bar stuffed into a shirt pocket when feeling weak... a Baby Ruth use to be 1/4 pound and now is just a fraction of that, today.  This mixing of good, bad and some apples or oranges provided vitamins to counter act all of the... other menu items that were convenient and portable.

Spam has taken a bad rap today.  Multiple meanings. To post Spam and to eat Spam are not the same.  Yet, my wife will not purchase Spam at a Grocery Store, nor dig into a can with the convenient Key to twirl to open the sterile container.  Spam... now considered inappropriate to be sent, digested or applied to a sandwich.

Does anyone recall feasting on Spam while camping?  How about the 1/4 pound 'BABY' Ruth candy bar for Five Cents?  Another example of Spam being applied to a hiker's options of easy energy access.

Our Tents on Wheels... have ruined our Diets. We have been Spammed with so many options that we live better... on the road and off the Civilized World with our food selections and options to sleep in a comfortable bed, on a couch with some discomfort or just slumped over onto the table, while sitting on a comfortable sofa.  What has become of US?

C Rations in the US Army in 1969 varied with the contents.  The dry chocolate was not too bad.  The cookies, as well.  There use to be good stuff in a Can.  I still yearn for a freshly opened can of Tuna... when rock hunting and climbing around rock exposures.  Puncture the can, drain the Tuna Juice onto some surface and enjoy.  No doubt late at night the Coyote, the Bear, the Badger or some other Tuna lovers would lick what they could as a treat for themselves.

Spam in a Can... not on the Internet... was a common sight.  Today... I have not seen a full or empty can anywhere.  Spam has been taken off the Menu?

What do you miss? The Tootsie Roll Pop snacking late in a long hike into and out of... nowhere?  A Butter Finger, shared?  These were the 'health foods' we as youngsters could afford and easily digest.  Healthy food has ruined our choices... or have you found options?  What, may I ask... are your substitutes?  Baloney and mustard on a Bun?  That is ancient history as well. A 10 pound watermelon eaten entirely by three individuals under 20 years old?  Ancient history, gone.  Please tell me I am not alone.  I miss the smell of a hot dog, smothered with mustard... raw and burnt on a campfire before catching on fire... as Ahhhhhh.  No wonder I am so healthy.  I survived my youth... by living on the Edge.

[Trainman]

I had my wife pickup two cans on Spam and we took it on our last camping trip. I cooked it as a snack on the grill before dinner and all the guys thought it was great with their beer and drinks. All being said, it has been some 30 years ago since I had eaten Spam, tasted just like I thought it would taste, the guys said we should do it again as a pre dinner snack. 

trainman

[BoondockingAirstream]

Ahhhh Yes.  Another living on the Edge of Civilization.  Fried Spam... just the smell will bring out the Grizzley, Brown and Black Bear at Yellowstone and Glacial Park.

For the Tame and less risky personalities... how about Dinty Moore?  Put a Sterno Cooker underneath either Spam or Dinty and... enjoy life.  Possibly a belly ache the first time, but it sure goes down.... ahhhhh. 

[Boonter Jeff]

Apparently Spam has been popular in Hawaii for a long time.  I crave and eat crispy fried Spam every once in awhile in spite of facing ridicule and abuse from certain family members.  I have a case stuck in a corner of my closet for emergency rations.

 

 

[BoondockingAirstream]

Boonter Jeff.... now we are on a roll.  Hot or cold rolls, who cares when hunger is growling?

What about the 'Desert'?  Baked Beans?

Dinty/Spam as the 'meat' portion of a healthy meal.

Bush's Original Baked Beans.

One big Watermelon.  Under five pounds is not a Big Watermelon.  OK?

... at breakfast... Half of a one pound Apple Fritter.

Of course this is not what you eat at home. This is Boondocking and better yet... Off the Grid where even stale bread is... OK.

Cowboys sitting around a campfire in the movies is REAL  Faces Baked in the Sun and having a large cast iron pot of Baked Beans stewing.  "Blazing Saddles" comes to mind with an Oliver Trailer for the Cook.  Oh yes.  Real Boondockers know the difference.  Singing and tooting... along with company.  Even an Airstream works for us.

 Watch Real Boondockers on Videos of Blazing Saddles with Campfire...  If you cannot beat them, join them.

[Mike and Carol]

Spam.  Meat in a can.  Tuna and Sardines, too.  When I was working, part of my job was tent camping.  OD Green canvas tents in Germany, Netherlands, and west Texas mostly.  Sometimes I attached my OD Green canvas to someone else’s and we had a proper tent.  Sometimes I just attached it to the side of the small trailer being towed behind my Jeep.  Sometimes the tents were big enough for more than a couple of people and there are memories of sitting around on the ground or the side of a cot eating Spam, tuna, sardines on saltines, maybe some baked beans.  The little C-ration can opener shared the chain with your dog tags.  Some of those camping trips were pure misery but the Spam memories are all good.  Mike

[dewdev]

B&M baked beans were the original.

Last month they stopped making the beans in Portland, Maine (right on the ocean) after more than 150 years. The building was sold to a developer and the property wll be a hotel, restaurant, high rise apartments and an extension of Northeastern University (grad school).

[topgun2]

OK - all you Boy Scouts out there!

Which one of you put that can of Dinty Moore in the fire without opening the can first?😇

[Mattnan]

3 hours ago, BoondockingAirstream said:

Ahhhh Yes.  Another living on the Edge of Civilization.  Fried Spam... just the smell will bring out the Grizzley, Brown and Black Bear at Yellowstone and Glacial Park.

For the Tame and less risky personalities... how about Dinty Moore?  Put a Sterno Cooker underneath either Spam or Dinty and... enjoy life.  Possibly a belly ache the first time, but it sure goes down.... ahhhhh. 

Check out Captain Q yacht hunter on YouTube if you want Dingy Moore!!!  

[BoondockingAirstream]

5 hours ago, dewdev said:

B&M baked beans were the original.

Last month they stopped making the beans in Portland, Maine (right on the ocean) after more than 150 years. The building was sold to a developer and the property wlll be a hotel, restaurant, high rise apartments and an extension of Northeastern University (grad school).

(Various versions of the song exist. These are some examples of the lyrics:)

Beans, beans, the musical fruit
The more you eat, the more you toot
The more you toot, the better you feel
So we have beans at every meal!1

or

Beans, beans, they're good for your heart
The more you eat, the more you fart
The more you fart, the happier/better you feel
So let's eat beans with every meal1

or

Beans, beans, they're good for your heart
The more you eat, the more you fart
The more you fart, the more you eat
The more you sit on the toilet seat

or

Beans, beans, they give you gas
They make you fart, and burn your ass
The more you eat, the more it hurts
So slow down your eating to stop the squirts

Beans, beans, the magical fruit the more you eat the more you toot 1This line can also be replaced with: "So eat them beans at every meal"

or

Beans, beans, they're good for your heart
the more you eat the more you fart
the more you fart the better you feel
beans, beans for every meal. This line can also be replaced with: "So eat your beans with every meal"

Even a grown man has the boy within.

 

[SeaDawg]

Thanks for the memories.

My parents are both from Spamville, Austin,  MN.

My  grandfather was construction super  on some of the Hormel estates, as well as some of the other grand homes in the area . What they did without power tools is amazing. They worked foundation to roof , in those days.

Everyone worked,  on everything.  My grandfather had back injuries,  twice, on roofs where he probably shouldn't have been. From falls.

If any if you are on i90, west of Rochester,  the spam museum is a short detour. Austin is a lovely small city. I still have many relatives there. 

The new museum is just off main street, downtown.

Many camping opportunities  around the area. 

My advice? Don't skip the smaller, sometimes forgotten  little places.  We've  often found them to be the best. 

Get out, and go. You don't have to boondock in the desert,  to enjoy Americana..

Personally, I hate desert camping.. others love it. Its up to you.