Get ready for a fun time. This week, the Fillies are entertaining Kaitlene Dee aka Tina Dee and she’ll talk about covered wagons, the food they prepared on the trail, and some romance. She mentions a giveaway so don’t miss that.
In my new story, Grace, which is part of the Prairie Roses Collection, nineteen-year-old Grace loses her best friend and inherits her three-year-old daughter, Emma. It was her friend’s dying wish that Grace would raise Emma because the little girl is without any other family.
Adam begrudgingly comes to the rescue of Grace and Emma with a marriage of convenience proposal—and together, they set out to help an elderly couple of sisters move their tea shop business from one town to another in a covered wagon to carry the sisters’ precious bone china and heirloom cabinet. They head from northern California to southern California. What should only take two to three weeks travel time turns out to be a much longer trip, ripe with danger and disaster. In all this, Grace and Adam find out how much they must trust in God as He guides them into discovering that they truly need one another.
Personally, I love outdoor cooking, and writing this story was fun with all the cooking that goes on in it. I enjoyed researching foods pioneers packed and ate for their journeys. Guidebooks made suggestions to hopeful travelers on things to pack in their provisions.
But most interesting to me, was the spices. Some were used for medicinal purposes, as well as for flavoring. Some curatives that were packed were: Cinnamon bark for the relief of diarrhea and nausea and to aid against digestive issues, cloves for its antiseptic and anti-parasitic properties, and nutmeg or mace, which were used for tonics. (FoodTimeline.org –an awesome and fun resource! They refer to Randolph B. Marcy’s A Handbook for Overland Expeditions, a valuable resource manual for those traveling west).
Some folks also packed potable meat (cooked meat packed tightly into a jar, then covered with some sort of fat such as butter, lard, or maybe tallow and then sealed), and portable soups, desiccated dried or canned vegetables, powdered pumpkin, and dried fruits. These were a surprise to me since, prior to research, I pretty much thought their only options were beans, cornmeal mush, biscuits, bacon, flour, milk if they had a cow, and eggs.
On their journey, Adam used oxen to pull the covered wagon because they were strong, dependable, and able to do well on less abundant food sources. It was fun researching about wagons as well. I didn’t know the wagons carried a pail of pitch under the wagon bed. But discussing covered wagons is for a future post.
The story of Grace is a Christian marriage of convenience, pioneer romance set in the western frontier and is part of the multi-author Prairie Roses Collection. All books in the series are stand-alone stories and can be read in any order. Not all of the stories are set on the Oregon Trail, some travel across state or from one state to another, but all of the stories are romances that occur while on their covered wagon journeys. They are in Kindle Unlimited and are also available for ebook purchase on Amazon.
Next spring, I’ll be contributing two more stories to the Prairie Rose Collection. The stories will be ripe with adventure, romance, and food and I’ll make sure they satisfy your Old West reading cravings.
What kind of food would you pack to bring on a journey like this? Anything special?
Leave a comment to be entered in the drawing for an ebook copy of GRACE
Kaitlene Dee lives on the west coast, enjoys outings along the coast and in the nearby mountains, hiking, supporting dog rescues and outdoor cooking and camping. She also writes contemporary western Christian romances as Tina Dee. Kaitlene and Tina’s books can be found on Amazon.
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I would bring jerky just because I love jerky! And of course, coffee!
Yes, coffee is a must for me. I think jerky is an excellent idea. It would be pretty versatile. Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing what you’d bring, Rhonda. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
I would take whatever was recommended, but would definitely take potatoes as that is one of my favorite foods. It was interesting about the canned meats.
Me too! I love fried potatoes (actually, potatoes any way, lol). I could eat potatoes every meal. Thank you for hanging out with us here today. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.
Definitely jerky which I eat many mornings for breakfast!
I love that you have jerky every morning. I’ve often daydreamed about the different ways I’d use it. It’s something I’ve packed just for hiking before. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, Teresa!
I’d take some garlic. I can’t seem to cook much without it. Your book sounds great. I’m adding it to my wishlist.
Hi Christy, I was trying to research how readily available garlic was because I cannot imagine cooking without it. I love the aroma of garlic and the flavor. I love it with fried potatoes, and nearly every savory dish, no matter which meal it is. Lol. I’m with you, definitely would need to pack the garlic. Yum! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and thanks for hanging out with us today!
Spices would be on my list. The staples can always be improved with a mix of spices.
It’s the planning ahead that would be hard for me… soaking beans overnight. Having enough firewood and then the scavenging for dried buffalo patties. I’m surprised that there wasn’t more joint cooking along the trail, but maybe there was when a group of wagons joined.
I have read where there are ‘campground’s of wagons replicas. More like glamping I would think.
I would love glamping. My son had a covered wagon camping experience and we slept in wagons. It was fun. Spices would be a must for me. I love learning about what spices the CA missions grew and what they’d brought earlier from Spain. Firewood is always very important to me. I love collecting it to build outdoor cooking fires or a campfire. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and thank you for the fun reply!
I’d be adding potatoes to whatever was recommended to bring, because I LOVE potatoes, and there are so many ways to fix them!
Yes, absolutely to the potatoes! I love them too and I agree that they are so versatile. That’s one think I love about them. And they go with any meal of the day. I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving, Trudy! Thank you for stopping by and hanging out with us!
I’d bring meats and veggies in their 1800s form, plus spices for seasoning and medicinal purposes.
I always forget about veggies and packing them, ways of preserving them. I remember at least once giving thought to bringing veggies I canned myself (this is in my daydream, lol, as I don’t yet know how to can but I’m going to learn). I read that in the early part of the journey they ate better than later but that was another thing that, of course, would happen as they ran low on provisions but not something I realized until I read it in research. Thank you for hanging out with us today. Hope you had a very wonderful Thanksgiving.
I would definitely bring Potatoes and bacon and beans.
Those, and garlic and lard and flour, butter, eggs, milk I would definitely hope to bring. I cannot imagine how hard life on the wagon trail would be, but I do enjoy camping (but I’m not sure I’d make the entire journey in a wagon train). Food would be a highlight, and potatoes and beans would be something I would enjoy, at least at first. Lol. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Flour, potatoes, bacon and maybe some canned soups.
I would love to take flour to make bread, biscuits, and pie crusts with, lard, and sourdough starter, which character Grace gets from a friend, if I remember correctly. I hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving!
Dried fruits, such as apples — great for fried pies.
I think dried fruits would add interest to meals that they might otherwise, eventually, get tired of. We made an apple pie from dried apples. It was sooooo good. We had to soak the apples for a bit but they didn’t lack flavor at all. I hope you had a very wonderful Thanksgiving! Thank you for hanging out with us today.
I would bring sourdough starter.
Also as many and as much of the basics as I could (flour, sugar, salt, spices, saleratus, etc.), dried fruits and vegetables meat (jerky). Also seeds!
Another thing to bring would be a gun with ammunition and fishing gear and tackle.
I never thought about bringing seeds but, yes, that’s very important. I also love that you thought about a gun and ammo and fishing tackle! Great thinking! I hope your Thanksgiving was fun and memorable!
Welcome today. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. What a wonderful post. I would bring corn meal, jerky, beans, salt, sugar, flour, dried fruits, bacon all to start with quilting dash lady at comcast dot net
Lori, that’s a good list. I’m sure you’d need plenty of beans and lots of flour.
Yes! I agree, Linda. There were recommended weights to bring of each item and beans and flour especially. Even water barrels which were attached to the sides of the wagons.
and a barrel of pickles. I have been reading that a pickle a day has some amazing health qualities
I love your list and thank you for the very warm welcome! Cornmeal, jerky, and beans sound like a yummy meal. I’m getting the urge to make something with dried fruit. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Lori. Thank you so much for hanging out with us today and making me feel welcomed.
Kaitlene, welcome back to P&P! We’re so happy to have you. Love the premise of your story and the subject of your post. I don’t think I’d have had the gumption to start out in a wagon with all my worldly goods. That would’ve been extremely difficult and I’m not all that brave.
Thank you so much, Linda! I’m always very honored to be a guest here. Everyone brings such a warm welcome and I always enjoy my time with Petticoats and Pistols readers. I was actually shocked to find out how much smaller the wagon beds were than how I had originally thought them to be. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and thank you for always welcoming me to the table to enjoy fellowship with these wonderful reader friends!
Hello. I would think ham would be something that could be taken with them since it is cured. I had never really thought about it. I will have to give it more thought. Thank you for being here. God bless you.
Hello, Debra! Ham would be great because of the curing. I love ham for breakfast. I would enjoy that with eggs, a biscuit or cornbread, and fried potatoes or beans. I hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving and thank you so much for hanging out today with us.
Thank you for the interesting post. I hope you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.
I would bring the flour, sugar, vinegar, coffee, tea, dried beans, bacon, smoked hams, lard, and would try to dry meat so I would have something along the lines of jerky. I would dry both vegetables and fruits and bring rice as well as some potatoes to start out. There would have to be a leavening agent, most likely baking soda. One thing I didn’t see mentioned were nuts. They should travel well and are a good source of nutrition. As well stocked a spice cabinet as I could afford would be a must for both seasoning and as you mentioned, medicinal reasons.
I love how you would pack along certain things! You would have a well stocked wagon, for sure! I love that you mentioned vinegar, and baking soda (I cannot remember the exact name of the leavening agent used back then but there was one with an unusual name that I believe someone mentioned in an earlier comments.) Nuts was not something I mentioned but I think I did see it on a list or suggested. Thank you so much for hanging out with us today and I hope your Thanksgiving was full of wonderful memory-making moments!
I would bring flour, cornmeal, lard, salt, baking powder, baking soda, vinegar, sugar,beans, potatoes, dried fruit, apples, bacon, rice, jerky, spices, coffee, tea, and a bottle of whiskey for medicinal purposes.
Lol. My eyes paused at the word whiskey before dropping down to the next line to see the rest of your sentence. Lol. In Grace, they also brought a bottle of whiskey for medicinal purposes. I hope your weekend is restful. Thank you for hanging out with us!
I would probably be very impractical and bring snack foods, cookies, potato chips maybe some M&Ms. And I would probably starve to death out in the wilderness, LOL
Lol! Trudi, your comment had me laughing. I love it! In fact, I would love to have some of your supplies to much on right now, especially a few M&Ms. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and restful weekend. Thank you for sharing and making me have the munchies! Lol!
Yes I would definitely bring sweet potatoes. I eat them everyday, My favorite. I also bring cornmeal, meat and spices other root vegetables
Sweet potatoes would be a yummy treat, definitely! Thank you for stopping by, Sandy! Have a great time and enjoy all the festivities on Petticoats and Pistols this month by the wonderful authors here.