Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Lovely Spam, wonderful Spam!

What a bummer--we were looking forward to "Last Comic Standing" tonight, but NBC is showing hockey instead. Not a fan, with all apologies to any hockey fans out there. So we're delaying dinner a bit so Ken can crank out some "work" work, then we'll watch a movie.

No, we're not having Spam for dinner, but there was an article on AOL about how Spam sales are up as grocery prices have gone up. I haven't had Spam for years, but I'd certainly eat it if I had to. Believe me, when I was growing up, there were times when we had Spam for dinner. Mom would fry it nice and crispy, and we'd have some kind of vegetable with it, and probably some kind of potatoes, maybe baked sweet potatoes...I am no stranger to Spam.

I find it interesting that it would be perceived as a "hardship" to have to eat *gasp* Spam. At least it's eating, right? It's nutritious, and you won't starve if you have to include it in a meal. And no, it's not Nutraloaf. It's actually edible.

I dunno...I guess that being a child of Depression-era parents gave me a different perspective. Mom was very frugal with her dinners, and every once in a while, we had fried mush (any Southern readers will know about fried mush) and THAT I wasn't a fan of. (Although I might like it now.) Sometimes we had dandelion greens that Mom picked from the yard. We didn't eat like kings, but we never went hungry.

The Spam article talked about how people are starting to cook more meals at home, rather than going out a lot. I'm not saying that we should all start cooking with Spam, but maybe cooking at home more often is not such a bad idea. You'd be surprised at how much we save by not going out to dinner often. It's pretty much a rare treat that we reserve for special occasions and vacations. In that spirit, here's the recipe for what I made last night. Sorry I don't have a picture, but it basically looks like hamburgers. My Mom used to make these a lot, and still does, and it's really easy to fix. Serve a salad and something like rice or potatoes with it, and there you go! Dinner is served.

Mom's Meatloaf Patties

1 lb hamburger

1 slice of bread, in tiny pieces

1 egg, beaten

about ¼ cup milk

a little minced onion

a little dried parsley

Combine egg, milk, onion, and parsley. Pour over hamburger and bread, and squish together with a potato masher.

Form into four patties and fry until cooked through. Enjoy!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have eaten spam lots of times. I actually love it. I havent eaten it in awhile because it was actually getting expensive to buy (at last I thought so) I wouldnt mind eating it again...we used to eat alot of tuna fish when things got hard. Now tuna is really expensive. I just cant believe people are complaining about spam, you are right, it could be worse for them. ...love, Christine

Anonymous said...

We used to eat spam a lot but Ken doesn't like it so I don't ever fix it. It makes pretty good sandwiches also. I used to fry it up for breakfast with home made biscuits and white gravy. Helen

Anonymous said...

I understand that Spam is very popular in Hawaii.  So many things
have to be imported there.  They actually have contests to find
new ways to fix Spam.  In leaner days,  I would bake it like ham,
sliced almost through with a a pineapple half-sice between each
piece and glazed with brown sugar, mustard and pineapple juice.
It was actually quite good.  My kids would turn thumbs down, of
course.   They can't remember rationing.    Pat

Anonymous said...

I am amazed at how many people I work with that eat out every day!  EVERY DAY!!  That is just nuts!  We rarely eat out, and even when we're on vacation, it all starts to taste the same...nice to get home and cook for ourselves.  We don't eat fancy either, but we're pretty good about eating healthy, and yes, we've had some Spam too!
xoxo ~myra

Anonymous said...

I never ate Spam growing up. We lived and ate very frugally (5 kids and my dad was a brick layer-cement business , my mom didnt work) - I can remember eating very inexpensive, pasta and potatoes was something we had a lot or pasta and beans...lots of salad even if it included just lettuce...and NEVER had bottled salad dressing we had oil and vinegar each time. But I can honestly say, we also never went hungry.....  I never had the dandelion greens though, at least she never TOLD us we had !!!!
Be well,
Ellen

Anonymous said...

... the meatloaf patties sound good ... uh, I AM one of those hockey fans ... but the Wings fell short ...

... I think that many of us in America, myself prolly include, has taken our country for granted, thinking that cheap gas, plenty of jobs, and all the food was truly a birthright ...

... it isn't that we don't know about 'Spam', but that we are fat and selfish ... sorry bout the little rant ..!

Anonymous said...

Rick still loves Spam. We get the WM brand for like $1.19 a can. He also loves the cheap and oily chip chopped ham that he was raised on. It is still only $2.49 a lb.
HUGS