Spam for survival food ?

Spam is a good survival food. It has the fats and sodium that bodies need when other foods are scarce. And if you are woried about the high sodium content, there is a low sodium version on shelves here. It can be cooked any number of ways and keeps well. That is one reason it was such an important product for soldiers in WWII serving in both the European and Pacific theaters. Fresh meat was hard to come by, difficult to store and transport. It isn't "mystery meat", it is processed pork shoulder with ham added. I keep a can or two in the pantry year round. slice thin and fry it for a faux BLT sandwich. I note for those who don't care for the original flavor that there are now ten flavors on the market including bacon, garlic and hickory smoked.
 
+1 Codger_64.

All good points. SPAM's history speaks for itself. As to taste, that is subjective but SPAM is about the only canned meat product I'll eat. I even get a craving every couple years or so. Almost always in the winter.
 
marchone said:
+1 Codger_64.

All good points. SPAM's history speaks for itself. As to taste, that is subjective but SPAM is about the only canned meat product I'll eat. I even get a craving every couple years or so. Almost always in the winter.
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As to varieties (some I have not seen here in my small semi-rural market):
Spam Classic – original flavor
Spam Hot & Spicy – with Tabasco flavor
Spam Jalapeño
Spam Black Pepper
Spam Less Sodium – "25% less sodium"
Spam Lite – "33% fewer calories, 25% less sodium, and 50% less fat" – made from pork shoulder meat, ham, and mechanically separated chicken
Spam Oven Roasted Turkey
Spam Hickory Smoke flavor
Spam Spread – "if you're a spreader, not a slicer ... just like Spam Classic, but in a spreadable form"
Spam with Bacon
Spam with Cheese
Spam Garlic
 
Mussels vary a lot.

I personally don't care for them. I don't think they are bad just over rated. Same with cockles, winkles, all that sort of stuff. I don't really care for snails either. I've long thought of them as just an over priced way to dunk bread into garlic butter without looking too much like a bum. The snail somehow dignifies the experience. I'm sure that's not how they started out but when I see them on a menu now...

I've got about 3-4 kilos of mussels in the freezer. There are some mussel beds not far from my other place and I could harvest huge amounts if I wanted. Unless I go to the extra effort of only selecting the really big ones, as one would buy in a shop, they are very snotty. In fact, they are so snotty that even with bait elastic they can be very hard to bind onto a hook unless I give them a quick blanch in boiling water.

In your classic survival desperation scenario though any of these things boiled up in a can should be a breeze. No bad taste, but no good taste either. Just too chewy to be much fun.
 
Are we talking actual survival? If so, I don't think anyone would turn their nose up at SPAM, or mussels for that matter.

I spent a few days stuck on a beach in Tierra del Fuego at the end of a 30-day kayaking trip and we were basically down to the contents of our spice kits for food. Our pickup boat couldn't get to us because of big winds. There was a fishing boat also trapped in the bay we were camped in, and they hooked us up with a couple sacks of fresh sea urchins. We'd break them open, and suck out the what are essentially the large gonads. They weren't half bad and we were in no situation to be picky - that was our primary food source for several days. I bet there would have been a war over a can of SPAM if one appeared.
 
marchone said:
People pay big money for sea urchin roe. You had a great experience.
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That's what we kept telling ourselves! But after the 50th or 60th chunk of roe, that was getting hard to believe...:D

restaurantuni4.jpg
 
Smithhammer said:
Are we talking actual survival? If so, I don't think anyone would turn their nose up at SPAM, or mussels for that matter.

I spent a few days stuck on a beach in Tierra del Fuego at the end of a 30-day kayaking trip and we were basically down to the contents of our spice kits for food. Our pickup boat couldn't get to us because of big winds. There was a fishing boat also trapped in the bay we were camped in, and they hooked us up with a couple sacks of fresh sea urchins. We'd break them open, and suck out the what are essentially the large gonads. They weren't half bad and we were in no situation to be picky - that was our primary food source for several days. I bet there would have been a war over a can of SPAM if one appeared.
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I thought we were talking both, bit like practice in ya garden type of thing. See how far you can go before you get to “this would have to go real deal” before I went that far.

I've had fun with mah woman doing that. I've got here eating eels, worms, camel, locusts and whatnot. She doesn't like any of it but wanted to explore her boundaries. Some stuff like sheep brains she knows she would be willing to do but isn't about to do it just to run a simulation. I will, but then I have drawn the line a big ole spiders eggs before because it wasn't necessary.
 
Smithhammer said:
That's what we kept telling ourselves! But after the 50th or 60th chunk of roe, that was getting hard to believe...:D

restaurantuni4.jpg
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There's some fermented fish stuff they have in Iceland that really stinks. Apparently it is a delicacy. I think I'd have to be telling myself a terrible perversion of the actuality to get much of that down.
 
I had found quite serendipitously this past year that my local walls world carries an amazing selection of

Spam,offering just about very flavor Codger mentioned along with a huge variety of "bargain" Spam

impersonators by companies I had not heard of before. Apart from the sodium overload,I have been a

lifelong Spam fan. Love it and it's always in my pantry,

along with Vegemite(which is not easy to come by here), pickled herring in the fridge almost always,pickled

eggs, sausage

and just about anything else one could pickle.

As a survival food, apart from weight,I would consider it practically gourmet. Beats the heck out of grubs, slugs and all the

other tasty tidbits people eat in survival situations.

I love my Spam breaded and fried or simply on a stick over an open fire. Hot sauce on the side. With

pickled garlic.

I have also tried urchin at the "ocean club" in NYC and it was NOT a pleasant experience. Costly,yes.
 
What is the world coming to when wilderness and survival enthusiasts have never had spam?! (J/k)

Sliced thin and fried... yep, it's a classic camping food.
 
In my travels in third world countries three WWII staples have worked their way into traditional cuisines. They are SPAM, evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk.
 
Ate a lot of Spam in Peace Corps (Micronesia, circa 1969), and I still like it, though I wouldn't eat it every day. Excellent food for emergencies. Could save your bacon (or pork).
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Pickled herring is not gross! :)
I have never been tempted by Spam.
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LOL
Can only agree.....
Herring is difficult to take camping...
Never tried Spam

but Corned beef or bully beef in cans makes good survival food
I used to carry Corned beef for winter camping
Where I had to boil the can to thaw it and the tin to be mallable enough to use the key opener
 
Sardines are also excellent food if you're planning ahead for a survival situation. Lots of nutrition packed into those puppies. And I've seen them available in sealed plastic containers (versus cans) which cuts down a lot on weight.
 
as a side note, that milky white lining inside the can i think contains bpa? i think i read it here somewhere so don't be tempted to re-use it to boil water, etc.


cooked over the fire and chopped on top of a birch bark.

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good topping for cup o' noodles.

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