ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways that army families procured, preserved, and prepared their food. It looks at attitudes and expectations to see where they coincided with reality and where they clashed. When it came to consuming meals, army officers and their families had several options available to them and during the period of their enlistment most officers experienced all the different methods of obtaining meals. The basic techniques for preventing spoilage of foodstuffs remained the same between 1840 and 1880, just as they had for centuries. Foods were dried, preserved, or kept cold. Food offered the army wives an opportunity to recreate the tastes and smells of home while living in an alien environment. The use of family recipes helped to maintain emotional connections with loved ones back home and mothers periodically sent their daughters the ingredients for fruitcakes, plum puddings, and other special dishes.
