These 20 Amazing Foods Kept 1930s Hoboes Alive — Cheap and Simple to Carry!

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]And that's what our 20 items look like all stacked together. And I'll probably be talking about this one a little bit later. This is a unique pot that I managed to come across. But one thing that the hobos would definitely carry with them would be Hello. Welcome to Waypoint Survival. Today we're going to talk about the top 20 food items that a hobo might carry in his pack. Stay tuned. All right. All right. So, what we have here is a large duffel bag filled with 20 different items that a hobo might carry that he might find or procure from walking and working and just the things that he would find. Now, this is not things that he would fish and hunt and forage for. These are purchased items or things that he could get at a local store or perhaps from a local farmer or housewife that he had done some work for. Also, let me note here in the very beginning that hobos did not carry all of this stuff at once.

[00:00:50]As a matter of fact, many times they didn't have any food at all. So, this is just representative of the 20 different kinds of food that they might carry.

[00:00:59]It's also something that you might want to consider for your hobo impression or if you're just setting up a camp from the 1870s on through the 1930s in the Great Depression era. All right, let's get to what's in this bag. Now, first of all, notice that a hobo would not want to carry everything just loose and rattling around in the bag. Uh, getting on and off trains was very important, and you would have to have some things in compact areas. So, you would put them in bags or containers, whatever you might have. If you had access to some sort of a coffee pot, you could put stuff in there. Perhaps you would have some sort of a frying pan and you could put that in a bag. There were many types of tins available back in that day and you would look around and find something like that. Of course, any kind of waxed canvas or waxed linen. And then these berry type buckets were very common and uh you could easily get a hold of something like that. So, this would just be carrying whatever clothes or other items that you might possibly need. And this is not intended to be a comprehensive list of what you would carry. I've done several other videos on that. This is just about the items that a hobo might carry in his wanderings.

[00:02:11]And notice I said might. Didn't mean they did. Most of them were very poor and very hungry most of the time. All right. So, the first items we're going to go over are carried in just a small potato sack and held together with a bit of stiff wire.

[00:02:29]The first item, and we've talked about this for hunters, and this could be tuna, this could be some sort of a fish like sardines, or it could be your red devild ham, but a tin of canned meat.

[00:02:40]And this has lots of calories, salt, as well as beneficial fats. So, this would be the first item that you might find in a Hobos kit. The next item that you might find in a Hobos kit would be some salt pork or bacon. And this is bacon that is wrapped up in wax paper.

[00:03:01]You can see it right there. And this will last for many days because of the salt and the curing process. And remember, this keeps without refrigeration. You can use the leftover grease for cooking, baking, as well as for waterproofing. You know, you can coat your pocket knife to keep from rusting. You could rub the grease on your boots to help them repel water. And also, it gives you beneficial fat calories, especially in the cold. The next item that we have here, again, a lot of things were wrapped in wax paper for safekeeping and to keep dirt and things off of them, as well as keeping this from getting on your other food. As long as you were carrying it in something safe, it wasn't such a big deal. But you still had to be careful.

[00:03:40]And this is summer sausage.

[00:03:43]And I'll show you what that looks like.

[00:03:45]So, right there, just a nice piece of summer sausage. Now, this lasts months without refrigeration. Because of the combination of the curing, the fermentation, as well as the salt that is in it, and the smoking, it inhibits bacterial growth. A whole and uncut summer sausage could safely stay in a hobos pack for weeks. It's a high energy dense uh piece of fat and proteins.

[00:04:10]Excellent flavoring agent. They would often cut it up into pieces and uh put it into a Hoover stew, uh macaroni, canned tomatoes and beans or the very well-known mulligan stew. And it added smokiness and some flavor to the broth and just made the whole thing taste better. By the way, the hobos did prefer to get this in these small sizes. So, one to two, maybe 3 ounces. It's something that could be a one-time use because as soon as you cut the skin open, then it would start to deteriorate on you. But as long as the casing was kept intact, then you could carry it for a really long time. And so for safe use and ease of carry as well as would be cheaper uh for what little bit of money they did have, you'd want to get it in the small sizes. The next item, and you'd want to carry quite a bit of this if you could get a hold of it, would be some flour. Uh flour is very, very handy. And you could use a scoop like this or measuring cup, anything you had.

[00:05:04]Uh even your small tin cup that you would carry would be a good measure for a lot of things. Most of them were six or eight ounces. But flour was used as a stew thickener. Um you could use it with the grease from your bacon or if you cooked up your summer sausage, something like that. You'd have some grease left over. You could make gravy. Of course, this is excellent for trailb bread, bananic, or sometimes called hobo bread.

[00:05:28]And uh you could even add dried fruit to this to make sort of a sweet bread, which was a nice treat for the trail.

[00:05:35]Before we go any further, I want to remind you to make sure and sign up for the Waypoint Survival and Prepping 101 newsletter. It comes to your inbox at least once, if not twice a week, absolutely full of great ideas that Bob and I are so happy to bring to you, and you're going to want to print it out and keep it. It's that good. Again, it's completely free to you and it allows us to stay in touch with you no matter what happens to this platform, which we hope it stays up for a long time, but you never know. So again, if you love the hobo content and all the other things we do, make sure and sign up for that free newsletter. Thanks a lot. The next item that we would have that would be really cheap to get and so you could carry a lot of it would be some cornmeal.

[00:06:14]And cornmeal so useful for so many things. Uh, I mean with cornmeal you can make a mush or a porridge. Uh, you can fry the porridge. You can make ho cakes or ash cakes. Um, hot rock cakes where you just put it together with some water and a binder of some sort and cook it on a hot rock. Uh, you can make corn dodgers. Corn dodgers you would make a patty and you'd fry it until it was really hard. And these corn dodgers would be tucked into a vest pocket or tucked in your pack and it would last for days as kind of a portable snack. of course, Johnny Cakes. And then some of you remember that I did a thing on sawdust pudding. I did a video. So again, cornmeal for that. I'll make sure and put a link to it so you can watch that. And then this is also a fantastic stew thickener. So for the mulligan or for whatever you're making, if you just didn't have a whole lot to eat, you could put some of this in it, cook it a while, and it would just make everything thicker and it would fill you better and make you less hungry for the long run.

[00:07:13]So, in your cooking kit, drawstring bag, you would have several items, and we can talk about more of these later, but uh I am carrying handkerchief here from Logs and Company. You have a fork and a spoon in there wrapped up in a handkerchief.

[00:07:31]This would be for cleaning the dishes as well as grabbing hot things out of the fire. That's not part of the of the uh food thing, but this would be important to have.

[00:07:41]Then, we have some cooking wear here.

[00:07:42]I'm not going to get into that too much.

[00:07:44]But the next food item we have right here, and this is oatmeal, just plain regular oatmeal. And oatmeal was very, very common. Uh, it has a quick cooking time. And it doesn't take a very big fire, just a small fire. So, it can be a hot breakfast mixed with just boiling water or cooked in the boiling water. Uh, again, a mulligan stew thickener, a meat binder. So, if you got some ground meat or you had some meat that you wanted to to put together and and your sausage and something like that, but you can make a patty out of this in place of breadcrumbs, um you can actually eat this cold after an afternoon soak in your tin cup just in some cold water. You can make oat cakes and you can fry those up. And you can make hobo energy balls. And hobo energy balls, it is some oats and then a sweetener like some sugar and then some fat like some bacon grease or lard. And you would just make balls and then you could take that after after this was cooked up. You kind of dry it out, make it sure it was wasn't real moist and you would make a a bowl out of it and it was a dense mobile snack that was easy to carry with you and would last a long time. They would also make coffee soup with this. So while you're making your coffee, you could just pour some of this in there and stir it up. Maybe put a little sweetener in there and then you would have your coffee and your oats and everything all at once and uh you wouldn't have to carry a whole lot. So, a little sugar, some oats, and your cup.

[00:09:10]Find some water and you got a breakfast.

[00:09:12]The next item that we have stuck here in an extra tin can is just simply some rice.

[00:09:20]And rice was easy to come by. It's easy to cook. Again, it has a bunch of uses.

[00:09:26]And because it's dry, it carries well.

[00:09:29]It also doesn't take a whole lot uh to go very far cuz rice swells up really good with water. And so it can be used as a stew thickener. Um you could use this for breakfast if you wanted. Uh so you could actually soak this overnight.

[00:09:44]Uh and you could get it nice and and kind of tender. Uh it's still sort of chewy. Uh but again, you can eat it cold and uh works pretty well with that. Just soak in the tin can for several hours.

[00:09:56]Of course, you can make fried rice patties. And then you can also use it for breakfast. a tender boiled rice uh topped with some sugar, topped with some molasses or some uh dried fruit, and that would make a really good meal. And then if you had a leftover from the night before, like I said, you could always just fry it up and take it with you. All right, if you're keeping track, this is number eight. The next item that a hobo would definitely want to carry and would last a long time, be easy to take with them, and easy to get at a farm would be a nice onion. Now, this could be eaten in several ways. First of all, it could be coal roasted either in its own skin or wrapped in damp mud or clay. And then you would place it directly in the hot coals for 45 minutes or so until it becomes sweet and tender.

[00:10:42]Now, you can also eat this raw uh with a bit of salt if you can stomach onions like that. Um, also you could take a slice of onion and or several slices and you could place it in the bottom of a pan or of a tin can if you were cooking in that and it would provide moisture and also help prevent other items like vegetables etc from burning to the bottom of the can from the direct heat.

[00:11:07]So again, just a slice of this placed at the very bottom. It would add flavor as well as moisture and help keep from burning your food. The next item in this bag was something that every hobo looked to get when he came to town.

[00:11:21]And what is this? Well, it's just a piece of bread wrapped up in wax paper where it would last. Just simple dark brown bread. And many bakers would have extra bread and it might be a day old. It might be kind of stale and hard, but the hobo could get this and sometimes for a little bit of nothing or even free. And this you would soak in your coffee or you could tear it up into little pieces and throw it into your stew. Um you could make sandwiches if it was soft enough. And of course you could just eat it by itself if you didn't have anything else. Bread historically has been called the staff of life. So very important to have some bread. Now this next item needs no real introduction, nor does it need to be specially wrapped or prepared. As a matter of fact, if it can breathe, that's better. These were often carried in something like an old gunny sack. You don't want to close them up in an airtight container or wrap it in wax paper because it really does need to breathe so that it doesn't go bad on you. But the potato is known as the king of the hobo staples. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the king of the hobo lifestyle cuz it had so many uses and it was so nutritious. It was the main ingredient, for instance, for mulligan stew. You could wrap it in foil or put wet clay or mud around it and bury it down in the coals until it's cooked. Uh the classic poor man's meal was made using this as its main ingredient. So, potatoes, onions, and if you could get a hold of them, sliced hot dogs uh in a skillet and then fried in grease. Uh when it was kept dark and cool and well ventilated, the potato could last for several months. And again, it has essential carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. By the way, thick skin potatoes like russetss uh were preferred uh because of better storage and they handle bruises better. So, it'd be easier to carry in a hobo pack. Number 11, if you're keeping track, be a can of beans or pork and beans as it were. And again, it's probably a tossup. Is it the potato or is it the beans? We're not sure. Of course, you could get dried beans, but canned beans were better because they were already prepared and easily carried with a long shelf life.

[00:13:35]You had a can when you were done for cooking and boiling water, for making coffee if you needed it, for scooping up water, and there are many, many things you can use a can for. Making projects to sell to make a little bit of money.

[00:13:47]It would be the base for a mulligan stew. Uh you could use this on bread, for a sandwich, just beans on bread.

[00:13:53]That's very common over in other countries. and you can just eat it cold right out of the can. So, it didn't require any kind of heat or fire and something that was familiar and it tasted good. And if you've never eaten beans out of can, you ought to try it.

[00:14:06]But, uh, yeah, something like this, super awesome for the hobo. Next, you would carry some items in your coffee pot. And I'll probably talking about this one a little bit later. This is a unique pot that I managed to come across. But, one thing that the hobos would definitely carry with them would be something like this.

[00:14:25]Just some regular saltine crackers. You would want to carry them in a tin box so they didn't get crushed. And uh this one just happens to fit them perfectly.

[00:14:36]Get that lid back on there. So there we go. Holds quite a few crackers. And I think there's maybe 20 crackers in there, something like that. But you can eat these alone. A little bit of water to drink. Uh of course it's a great soup thickener. We use it today for that. And you can also make coffee soup with this.

[00:14:53]So again, you put this in your coffee, stir it around, and it thickens it up and gives you something just one meal that you just have to clean at the cup then. So it makes it a little simpler on the road. Next item that you would want to carry would be a piece of cheese. And you could get this, again, when Hobos worked, they did have some money. And if you were going to try to put together a sandwich, if you wanted something would last, most of you know that cheese will last a really long time, especially the hard cheese has a long shelf life and it can be eaten by itself or used on sandwiches. Again, it is nothing fancy.

[00:15:27]It is just simply a piece of cheese.

[00:15:29]still has the wax on it and you would have them cut a piece depending on how much money you had uh how big of a piece of cheese you could get for the road for riding on a box car or they walked thousands of miles as well and you'd have a something to be able to make a lunch with that way too. The next item that you would want to carry would be some dried fruit used for sweetening breads uh as well as breakfastes. And you can see in here uh we've got a couple of different things. We have uh some raisins and some dried apples. And the dried apples are kind of in the bottom, but there's some uh dried apples and raisins in there. And easy to carry, easy to use, great for putting in your oatmeal if you wanted or if you were making something uh that was kind of sweet like the hobo Christmas treat that we showed you how to make. Um so it could be raisins, apples, apricots, and these of course can be eaten by themselves for a quick sugar boost. and uh energy doesn't weigh a whole lot. And of course, it's not going to hurt for it to dry out because that's the idea. If you do this though, you do want to carry it in a bag where it can breathe. The last item that we have here in our pot is some leather britches. And I did a video on this and I'll try to remember and put it up at the top so you can watch it. But dried britches are simply dried green beans and cooked in bacon grease or lard with a little bit of salt. and they would often string them up and dry them. And you would go into the attic of of someone's house and you would find these strung up and drying and uh over by the stove or perhaps up in the attic and uh just make a fantastic meal thrown in with everything else. And it would be something that was cheap. People grew a lot of beans and so you would carry it again in a bag where it could stay dry and keep this stuff, you know, in something like this where it would be relatively free from moisture if it rained. So with the lid on it, unless you got submerged, it would generally be okay even in a decent rainstorm. Leather britches. Our next item, carry it again in a little bag where have a drawstring on top would be some dried corn. And this could be parched uh by cooking with grease and salt. Uh you can boil this to make it soft and then eaten like that or as a stew additive in the mulligan stew. You let this uh soak long enough and even hard dried corn can be boiled. And if you'll remember back in the colonial days, they actually carried a kettle, a small kettle called a corn boiler. And you could use that for boiling up your corn. The next item that we have in this little drawstring pouch, some macaroni.

[00:18:09]And Craft first came out with their brand in 1937. So, of course, still in the depression time, but uh macaroni or pasta has been around for a very long time. Of course, used as a stew thickener or a meal stretcher by putting this in the mulligan and foundation of what was called Hoover stew. Uh could be cooked with sliced hot dog. They were sliced real real thin to call hot dog coins. Uh canned tomatoes, corn, or beans. That's a a Hoover stew. Of course, it's full of carbohydrates and it's a quick preparation. uh macaroni or pasta actually requires less fuel than rice or dried beans. So, this would be something that would be really easy to carry and of course a familiar taste a lot of us today. You want to carry this around with you as a hobo. Now, these last few items um not necessarily a food. You do eat them and consume them.

[00:19:02]So, it is part of it, but it's something that you would definitely want to have with all of the other items we've talked about. So, the first item that we have in this tin is some brown sugar. And you could just carry it loose in here, but if this gets damp, it sticks all over the inside of the tin, even though it's well coated. But you really don't want that sticky sugar all in there cuz you can lose it. You carry it in a small loose bag like this. It's also easier to break it up if it has any lumps. And you can wash this out easily. or if it does get wet and sticky, you can just dip this in your tea or coffee and it will sweeten it as it is. So, just some brown sugar easily carried. The sugar can be used for your coffee, for sweetening your oatmeal, uh Johnny cakes, cornmeal mush, you know, whatever you wanted. Uh, and you might not have a whole lot of it, so you'd want to make it go a long ways, but it would certainly be pleasant out by the side of the road or in a hobo jungle. Have a little bit of a sweet taste. Item number 19 is some salt. And you do not want to carry this in anything but glass or wood. If you try to carry this in a tin, something that's metal, it will rust it. Of course, most of you know that salt is very corrosive, but you would carry it in something like this. And fishing lures came in these and all kinds of stuff. These these little tubes, you could easily get some salt and it's very important for uh your health and your survival. Of course, uh, salt makes any meal savory and it's an electrolyte. It's essential for survival. So, you would definitely have to have salt. And then item number 20 would be your coffee. Must have coffee.

[00:20:38]Whether instant or just ground that you would carry. Of course, coffee is communal. Give you something to share.

[00:20:45]You would always want to carry enough for one or two cups for yourself. Just always on hand. Carry it in something that was light and easy. Uh, it's warm.

[00:20:53]Uh it's stimulating and even if you don't have anything else to eat, if you could have a cup of coffee in the morning, at least that would get you going for the day. And for those who are interested, we just have pan, frying pan, and uh our plate here. But again, that's not part of this video. Well, I hope you've enjoyed this foray into our past as we consider the top 20 food items that a hobo might carry in his many journeys as he crisscrossed the United States years ago. This is James Bender for Waypoint Survival. If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up. Also, make sure and check out the links in the description box below, just under the more button. And while you're down there, you'll find the link for our Waypoint Survival Digital Class. This is where you can train in the comfort and convenience of your own backyard, the top 20 skills that we consider to be the most important from our phase 1 survival and bushcraft class. You'll also find the link where you can sign up for the Waypoint Survival and Prepping 101 newsletter. Absolutely full of great ideas, comes out at least once, if not twice a week, to your inbox. It's completely free to you and allows us to stay in touch with you no matter what happens to this platform.

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