A few weeks ago Jeff jokingly made a reference to Trash Can Soup. Of course that got the kids attention and they had to know what it is and how it’s made.
So, what’s a homeschooling Mom and Dad to do, but make it into a history lesson and a fun experience.
Ingredients and Supplies: Onion, potato, carrot, hamburger meat, any spices you want, butter, empty tin can, and aluminum foil**
**the ingredients are only a suggestion during the Depression they used whatever they found, so change it up how you want
1. Use an empty can from vegetables or soup (Mine is left over from making spaghetti sauce). Cut up your supplies and put them in the can. Make sure to use a good supply of butter to keep the ingredients from sticking to the can, Jeff used about half a stick each and that was too much.
2. Then a quick lesson on how to make a fire, which the boys especially thought was fascinating.
3. While the fire and coals got hot enough to cook dinner, we went ahead and had desert first. S’MORES! Who doesn’t love s’mores?
4. Finally it was time to cook our trash can soup. Princess happily helped carry it out, and the boys got a bucket of water to be ready to put the fire out. Then we placed the cans near the fire. They cooked for about 20-30 minutes. Time will vary depending on your fire.
5. Afterwards we very carefully poured the water on the fire to make sure it was out. Safety first, especially now in a drought.
6. And then we happily ate it. It was quite popular, and Superman loves potatoes, so any meal with potatoes makes him happy.
I’m sure you’re wondering, how is this a history lesson?
Well, during the Great Depression food was scarce, there was also a drought that went through the Bread Box of America, so food production was down, not to mention people didn’t have as much money for food. Often times people would gather together and bring what they had. One person brought some potatoes, another brought some carrots, another might have some tomatoes. It would all get thrown together in a big can and cooked over a fire. Often times this was a can picked up from the trash and rinsed out. Hence the name “Trash Can Stew.”
Now of course, it’s a common camping food. You eat the soup from the can for one meal, and the next you cook inside of the can and eat your stew. Jeff regaled the kids with many stories of how he used to eat this while camping.
I have never heard of this. We will definitely do this when we get to the Depression in history. Make sure you link it up to the Meme. : )
Thanks for the reminder. With summer being hectic I’m trying to get back into the swing of things for linking up places.
This looks like the Hobo Dinners that the Scouts make on their camping trips. They are actually pretty good.
Probably the same general principle. I’d agree it is actually pretty good.
Great stuff! I am sure boys loved making fire to cook this soup!
You better believe it 🙂
I remember doing this in Girl Scouts, and with my kids while out camping. I have to remember to do this some day with Selena.
She’d LOVE it!
I have never heard of this. So interesting. I want soup right now. I have a bit of a cold and soup would taste so good. My cold is my excuse for spending time on the computer right now. I just don’t feel up to cleaning while Kate is napping right now. Blog reading = my guilty pleasure.
I’ve been craving soup too. We’ve had a bit of a cold front, so it’s been down in the 70s and for a short bit in the 60s. Amazingly enough the weather hasn’t crept back up to the 90s yet.
It always shocks me when it’s not in the 90s during September.
What a great idea! My only caution would be that I’ve heard a lot about what cans are lined with these days, which is mostly BPAs. Some natural / organic brands (like Eden) don’t, however, so I’d seek those ones out for a project like this so I wasn’t unknowingly leaching toxins into my kids’ yummies!
I actually did this project a second time and didn’t check for that, so that was in my post the second time to make sure the cans you use aren’t lined with BPA. Most brands, including organic ones are lined with BPA, the two ones that are nation wide that don’t are Hunts (only plain tomatoes) and Campbells (they’re phasing in no BPA, so some cans may still be lined, the last ones I bought were not).