What's so interesting to us about the cook wagon is that Granpa and I worked with the SBTC Disaster Relief Feeding Units during the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustave and Ike. Cooking on the move in the late 1800's and early 1900's must have been much like Disaster Relief cooking. One difference would be that they feed upwards of 40 men, and we fed upwards of 4,000... During the Gustave/Ike deployment on Galveston Island, we combined three kitchens and turned out about 40,000 meals a day!
Their cook wagon was 10 feet wide and 16-18 feet long.
Cooking was done on a cast-iron wood or coal-burning stove. (Don't cha' know that that wagon had to have a reinforced floor!) They had the doorway screened off, but I think you can still see enough to tell how the interior was set up:
Just like in Disaster Relief, the cook's day began at 3:00 a.m. These meals were made from "scratch." Disaster Relief meals were pre-cooked meats and the rest was from scratch.
We cooked breakfast just for our crews, lunch was a hot meal prepared for walk-up lines or served from what's called Cambro's out of Red Cross or Salvation Army vehicles called canteens.
The Cook Wagon folks fed their crews breakfast, lunch, dinner, and sometimes between meal snacks!
Breakfast for them was hot biscuits, pancakes or muffins, applesauce or some other fruit, ham, bacon or sausage with eggs and fried potatoes, butter, jam or honey and lots of hot coffee - all cooked on that one itty-bitty stove!!
Dinner and supper would be meat, potatoes, gravy, vegetable, homemade bread, fruit, and a dessert! A single meal for a full crew would require 20
pounds of beef roasts or
more, 10 pounds of potatoes, literally gallons of gravy, several loaves of homemade bread (did you get that?
homemade bread!) 5 or 6 pies, 2 or 3 cakes or dozens of cookies with milk or coffee to drink.
The farmer having his crop harvested would provide the food to be cooked. With Disaster Relief, food was provided by the Salvation Army, Red Cross, or FEMA - all SBTC had to do was cook and serve. As with the farmer, if we were given good food to cook it wasn't hard to find a team to do the cooking.
This is what a cook wagon looks like today. This was the set-up in Port Arthur, Texas following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Meal prep was done in the "wagon" (18-wheeler trailer) and we had a walk up serving line. The "yellow hats" are the SBTC team members.
After hurricane Rita, SBTC decided the Salvation Army kitchens were too hot and cramped, and they developed a way to roll out cooking equipment under a tent and prepare meals outdoors in an airy, expansive environment. SBTC's purpose in doing disaster relief is to me the needs of people in distress - including the need to have hope when they have lost everything and don't know what to do next or where to turn to. We share the hope that WE have found for ourselves in Christ Jesus. You know, when I find something really, really good, I want to share that with all of my family and friends - and even strangers! And there is absolutely nothing better than eternal salvation through Jesus - and all you have to do is say a simple prayer:
Dear Lord, I thank you for being that bridge to God. I thank You for giving Your life so many years ago that I may have eternal life in heaven. Please forgive me for things I've done against Your will in the past. From now on I will try to live my life using the Bible, Your Word, as my guide. Lord God, it is in the name of Your Son, Jesus, that I pray. Amen
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