Suppose that all next month there would be no stores in your town. No trains, trucks, or airplanes could bring things for you to eat. What would you have for dinner?

Pioneers could not go to the store to buy their foods as we do today. They had to grow or hunt for most of the things they ate. They did not have as many kinds of food as we have today.

Deer, bear, rabbits, wild turkeys, ducks and geese, prairie chickens, and other wild animals were hunted and killed for meat. They raised pigs, sheep, cows, and chickens. Meat was a very important part of their food.

Wild strawberries, blackberries, grapes, plums, and other fruits were picked. In the fall the children gathered nuts.

Corn was used for making hominy, mush, and bread. White bread was not eaten very much until more mills were built to grind grain, and more land was cleared to plant wheat.

To sweeten food, honey, maple sugar, and molasses were used.

Vegetables such as cabbage, turnips, potatoes, pumpkins, onions, beans, peas, and carrots were raised in the garden. The pioneers brought the seeds with them when they came from the East. Some wild plants were eaten as greens.

Today we keep our food in refrigerators or can it to keep it from spoiling. Pioneers did not have refrigerators, tin cans, or glass fruit jars.

They kept some fruits and vegetables from spoiling by drying them. Some fruits were cooked with a lot of sugar so they would not spoil as fast. Sometimes these sweet, thick preserves were put into earthenware jars with covers. Sealing wax was poured around the top to keep the air out. Vinegar and spices were added to some foods. This was called pickling.

In some places pioneers dug holes in the ground and put their fruits and vegetables in them in the fall. They covered them with straw and dirt to keep the food from freezing.

Meat was salted or smoked. In the winter it was put outside in the cold to keep it from spoiling.

Until railroads and better roads were built pioneers bought very few things at the store. Sometimes salt, spices, and a little white or "store" sugar for special occasions were bought in the settlement.

You can use old-time recipes that will tell you how to make some of the pioneer foods, so you can see what they looked like and how they tasted.