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Student Version/For Kids:    • What Did Pioneers Eat on the Oregon T...  

We’re going back to the 1830’s1860’s on the Oregon Trail to find out what pioneers were eating along their journey. Before railroads connected the west, Pioneers in covered wagons traveled about 2000 miles on the Overland trail, taking roughly 6 months at 35 miles per hour! What did they eat on their journey? What food was packed on the covered wagon? How did they cook? This video will cover breakfast, lunch and dinner and a recipe for dried apple pie, an Oregon Trail staple.
A Day of Food on the Oregon Trail
Breakfast: pioneers cooked meals over open fire, using buffalo chips as fuel (dried dung). (When i start feeling bad for myself I remember that at least i don’t have to cook 3 meals a day over burning buffalo dung) Bacon and biscuits were common. Pancakes, beans and oatmeal were also options.
Midday meal: Some pioneers cooked this meal ahead at breakfast so that they could rest. When supplies of fresh food were low or they couldn’t cook because of weather conditions, they ate dried fruit, hardtack, and bartered jerky with Native American tribes. Coffee and tea provided extra energy and boiling the water killed bacteria.
Supper: To supplement the wagon food supply, pioneers hunted turkey, prairie hen, bison and duck. They also fished and gathered local fruits & vegetables. For dessert a pie made with dried apples.
Many adults walked along the trail to keep the wagon from being too heavy so they needed plenty of calories to sustain themselves. Bacon, carbohydrate rich foods, coffee and butter helped energize pioneer diets. Some brought cows along the journey for milk. Crafty pioneers learned that if they put cream at the back of the wagon, the movement would churn the butter for them! They strained the buttermilk to drink and used the butter for recipes like… dried apple pies. More than once I came across quotes like, “spit in my ears and tell me lies, but give me no dried apple pies.” What could be so bad about them?! Were they just sick of dried apples? Did the pie not cook properly in a Dutch oven? I had to find out for myself.

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Sources:
Siegerman, Harriet (1997) Lands of Many Hands: Women in the American West
Brown, Dale (1970) American Cooking: The Northwest, Time Life Books
Sonneborn, Liz (2002) The American West: An Illustrated History
Moulton, Candy (1999) Everyday Life in the Wild West from 18401900

Photo sources:
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