Stocking Up On Spam

I’m not talking about those unrequested emails that seem to always clog your inbox. It seems that Hormel is having to work overtime to make enough Spam, lately there has been a big run on Spam. The different news sources say it’s because of hard times, but I have to wonder how many preppers  and others are seeing the writing on the wall.

Either way, stocking up on foods, especially foods that do not need to be refrigerated, is certainly a good idea. What would you do if, Heaven forbid, you weren’t able to go to the grocery store? There could be lots of reasons why you couldn’t go to the grocery store, could be natural causes, a bad storm, flooding, icy conditions, wild fires, hurricanes, or man made conditions, fuel shortages, riots, police or military action, doesn’t really matter though, if you can’t get to the store, then you will have to make due with what you have on hand.

Having a variety of foods that do not need to be refrigerated, and even better, do not have to be cooked, can be a lifesaver in an emergency situation. Spam fits that bill in every way. It’s so versatile, it can be eaten straight from the can, sliced for sandwiches, diced or shredded, it can be eaten cold, fried, added to other foods to round out a meal…

My family had an encounter with Spam as a survival food many years ago, I will not elaborate as to why, but many years before Y2K, many many years before, during the cold war with Russia, there was a small group of us who believed that nuclear war was inevitable and coming soon, so we began to stock up on provisions to survive for an extended period of time without having to leave our homes. We stocked up on water, food, toiletries, and some other needed items. All the things we thought would get us through at least a month or more.

One of the things we stocked up on was Spam, I don’t know how many cases we had, but suffice it to say, we had lots and lots of the salty meat in a can. Well, the time came and passed when we thought things were going to go to Hell in a hand basket… fortunately Russia didn’t twitch, so we began to relax and started using our supplies for every day needs.

Now, I will not say that my parents are stubborn, bull headed maybe… My dad was working hard to support mom and 3 kids, money was tight, for some reason my parents began to argue about the grocery bill, so my mom, dear lady that she was, decided not to fight about it, and merely refused to buy any more groceries. A few weeks went by and the kitchen was getting rather bare. So my mother dug into the Spam stash. Pretty soon we were eating Spam 3 times a day. My mother was a creative cook and was able create many tasty meals out of a few basic ingredients. We ate fried Spam, BBQ Spam, Spam hash, baked Spam… we ate Spam in nearly every conceivable manner.

The day that she served Spam soup, enough was enough, my Dad told all 3 of us kids to get into the car, he told our mom to get in the car, we were going to the grocery store, YEAH!!!! I don’t know exactly what happened to the Spam soup, I just know that we didn’t eat it! :)

From that day forward, Spam was banned from our home, it was the one and only food product that was never to cross our doorstep, for any reason. I would say that incident happened when I was an early teenager, now I’m 43, and for the first time in (gasp!) 30 something years, I have eaten Spam again. If my sister is reading this, I hope she is sitting down, she will never believe it.

I purchased 2 cans of Spam from the little Country Store in the neighborhood, I looked at the ingredients and it looked very similar to the canned hams we have been enjoying. The Spam has more salt and other stuff in it, but essentially it is nearly the same, or at least in the same family. It says it contains both ham and pork, wait a minute, I thought ham WAS pork??? Oh well, who am I to nit pick.

I opened the can, poured out the block of meat, I diced it into small pieces, fried it in a hot cast iron pan until it was browned and slightly crispy, that vastly improves the texture and makes it more fun to eat, I set the toasted Spam aside. Next I diced up some potatoes and onions, those get fried it in the same pan until they were cooked and browned, then I added the Spam back to the pan to heat through.  Bob and I gave it a thumbs up.

I have to admit, it was a bit strange eating that banned meat product after all of these years, it still tastes the same, it’s one of those things where you never forget the taste once you try it. I hope my mom is laughing from where ever her spirit resides right now, Yes mom, I’m eating Spam now and thinking about you. :)