Yesterday, we had a little living history event at Sully Plantation and decided to go upscale well supplied Federals of 1864 and made a little Pork, Onion, Potato and Cabbage stew. Many meals at events such as this are kind of bland and tasteless, because the lads will dump everything in a kettle and let it boil for an hour. Apply a little culinary process cooking and the results are far better; Brown the pork and remove, get a nice bit of grease, sweat your onions down, then toss in the cabbage to sweat down. Peel your spuds, cut into small one inch chunks and toss them in with some water. We cheated with one container of chicken stock to add some more flavor. Add a goodly portion of salt and pepper, toss the meat back in, bring to a boil and cook until spuds are tender.
Another nice meal is result from foraging (stealing from the local farmers,) the old beef on the hoof. Salt crusted skillet steaks, pan seared, fried taters and maybe some green beans. If you freeze your beef at home, wrap it good with brown paper and toss it in your knapsack wrapped in your blanket to insulate it, it will still remain slightly frozen for a day, even in hot weather, so fine for Saturday supper.
Quick easy breakfast: Fry up some really thick slices, maybe quarter inch, Scott Hams Bacon with your evening supper. Wrap it up with your leftover brown paper, with a chunk of hardtack. Get up in the morning, get a brew on for your morning tea (unless you are with a bunch of coffee drinkers, then you have to make coffee for them) roll up your bedroll and you are full and on the march in less than a half an hour.
Depending on what area you are in and what season, the local fruit trees can make for some really great additions to your chow. If there are Pear trees around, you can whip up a really tasty side salad of English plankton (that big broad leafy thing which grows everywhere there is grass) or watercress. Slice your Pears thin, mix one lemon, one egg yoke, a little honey, salt and pepper, beat with a fork until frothy. If you really want to get fancy, find some honey suckle, pull the middle stems and add the flowers. Throw over the greens and Pears and you have an upscale, $20 dollar salad with ingredients you could forage, scrounge or get a hold of.
Eastern half of the country, do not forget about Paw Paws. They are either a love them or hate them fruit, but if you love them, they are awesome for many desserts and were very popular for a long time. You can find them growing on the banks of creeks, rivers, pond and lake shores. Mulberries, black berries and huckle berries are usually plentiful everywhere in the summer and that forage cap makes a great basket.
If you really want to go native, try cat tail roots and green heads. The roasted green (not after it dries out) cat tail heads taste like corn on the cob and the roots are kind of like potatoes.