Something to Eat (food and feasts)
Roast leg of lamb with all the trimmings, exotic foods from far overseas.... or old bread with turnips. Don't worry, there's a middle way, where you can eat period food and still not break the bank (or go hungry). As always, there are ways to do this, regardless of whether you can cook or not.
The stuff on this page:
- General tips
- The 5-step method
- Tips submitted by other people
- Tips submitted by Dame Aoife Finn
- Tips for camping without a cooler
Before the five-step system, here are some general tips to help you eat cheap:
- Pay for the feast: Yes, this costs you more money at the gate, but it includes a (usually very tasty) feast, and sometimes also includes dayboard as well. I've been to some events where an extra $10 Canadian (approx. US$6) got me two breakfasts, two feasts, and a dayboard.
- Buy at the supermarket: If you can't be on-board (pay for the feast), try buy your food at a supermarket instead of a convenience store on your way there. Let's face it, supermarkets are cheaper, and convenience store jerky sucks!
- Some good foods to start with: Your best way to start, if you're buying food for yourself, is with bread. It's filling and usually one of the cheapest things on your menu. After that, go for fruits and veggies in season. Have more to splurge? Grab some cheese, ham, or eggs (assuming you have somewhere to keep them). They make a great, period, cheap meal. If you're going to be having breakfast, try grabbing some oats to make porridge. Add some sugar, cinnamon, or honey, and you've got yourself a tasty breakfast for pennies (and you can use the leftovers at home).
- Prepare at home: If you can, prepare things at home first. Jerky is really easy to make if you have a dehydrator, and cheap too. If you make enough and give some to people, they'll love you.
- Water!: Don't forget water! You don't have to buy bottled water if you have bottles lying around, but this is definitely an area you don't want to neglect!
And now, the five-step method:
- Get it free: Sometimes volunteers in the kitchen or servers get to eat for free, so ask the head chef what the policy is. If you're in the kitchen, you also get to nibble on whatever it is your making, and often have access to leftovers. Without volunteering, you probably won't find free food, but you never know. Someone in our shire didn't have any money and wanted food, so he started begging, and people gave him some. You never know what might happen if you're willing to put aside your dignity. Alternatively, I have heard stories of "barbarian invaders" storming into camps and taking food, but I wouldn't recommend this.
- Barter for it: Ever heard the expression "sing for your supper"? Some friends of mine, at large camping events, go from camp to camp singing and storytelling, and usually get some food in the process. If you don't have a singing voice (or can't sing while you're eating), you could offer to do people's dishes for them for the whole event, or do their food shopping or cooking for them.
- Pay someone in the SCA for it: A lot of times at big (or even small) events, people will get together at events to have "food plans". That is, everyone chips in and everyone helps out, and everyone eats. This is a good way to get a better meal than you might be able to afford on your own, plus it gives you the chance to meet people and feel like part of a group.
- Get it used at discount: Until my friend dragged me to a local farmer's market, I had no idea how cheap some food can be. We got a basket of peppers for CAN$2, about 60 eggs for CAN$2, and lots of other things at similarly cheap prices. Find out if your city has any farmer's markets and check them out. It's a fantastic way of getting a lot of food at really good prices. Usually, farmer's markets will offer fruits and vegetables in season, and occasionally eggs, honey, grains, and other local specialties. It works even better if you're on a food plan (see #3), and you can get lots of people chipping in.
- Get it cheap: So, you're off-board, not on a meal plan, and don't know of any farmer's markets? Try going to your local supermarket or discount food store. Buy things that are on sale and that won't spoil. As a general rule, no-name brands (or better yet, things that don't need brands like fruit) will be cheaper than brand-name foods. Go for a loaf or two of french bread, some fruits and veggies, some pasta, and maybe some cheese and meats.
Here are some tips that other people have submitted about eating cheaply in the SCA:
- A few tips submitted by Dana ingen Faolan: When camping without a cooler, peanut butter, jelly and bread, though not really period, all keep rather well (in shaded storage) for weekend events, like smaller wars. Chips can substitute for staples as well, though be careful not to keep the bags out where squirrels can find them.
This may be obvious, but if you have to buy water, it's cheaper to buy gallons and use a tankard rather than a supply of smaller bottles. It also looks more period.
For people underage, or who simply don't drink, sparkling apple cider is a fun and tasty substitute that seems to feel a bit more period than soda. Sometimes, too, you can purchase it on a sale for a moderate fee.
- Submitted by Brian: At one event, for $6.50 I got 10-12 small loaves/kaiser roll type, a block of cheese and a small summer sausage. Slice up the cheese and sausage, insert into the rolls, and I fed myself and three companions breakfast and lunch (with water) for about $1.50 apiece or so, and remained "period". It was also unrefrigerated, and easy to carry around in one of my larger pouches.
- Book recommendation from Lady Lillith the Lost: "Simple Foods for the Pack: The Sierra Club Guide to Delicious Natural Foods for the Trail", by Claudia Axcell, Diana Cooke, & Vikki Kinmont (ISBN 0-87156-757-1).
This cookbook is designed for extreme hikers, the kind who will be carrying all their provisions for a couple of weeks. The recipes are for foods that are lightweight, durable, and often quick cooking (to conserve on fuel). There are lots of make-ahead recipes and what I call "baggie meals". Instead of buying expensive freeze dried meals at the camping store I now make up my own one-pot meal mixes for a few cents, from ingredients I can usually get at the local grocery store. Some of these mixes can be stored at room temperature for weeks! I pre-package the mixes in baggies and write any directions right on the baggie. People are amazed when they stop by my site, receive an invitation to dinner, and I can have Moroccan Couscous on the table, start to finish, in 5 minutes. - Submitted by Giano Balestriere: Pasta, rice and porridge are period. So are wheat porridge and gnocchi, and a large number of soups. All of this is easy and cheap to make with basic ingredients and comes cheaper than cheese sandwiches (though not usually cheaper than either eating feast and dayboard or joining a household). If you cook your food at an event and share with visitors, you may even end up being invited to cook for a household or group next time 'round. Good cooks are popular people, and there isn't that much too it.
- Submitted by Kat: I've also done well the few times I've made beef jerky... it started at an event where I had some for our family and then I took it to some events where there wasn't a tavern being run to raise money (whether for host group or kingdom or such). It's very easy to make so long as you have a sharp knife or slicer and an oven.
- Submitted by Vaughan: Much of the time it's cheaper to go onboard rather than outboard. Eating at a restaurant near the site can cost $10 or more, above the site fee, and you have to leave the site and not be with everyone else in the feast hall, but onboard is often only a few dollars above site fee.
- Also submitted by Vaughan: Another way to cut costs is to bring your own snack food so you're not tempted to buy dayboard or snacks etc. And, don't forget about volunteering to be a server, many times you get your food for free if you serve.
- Submitted by Tivar Moondragon: Things like cheese and summer sausage will keep pretty well. Bread and fruit are good choices, too. You can recycle old half-gallon milk or juice jugs into generic drink containers--one or two for water, one or two for tea, lemonade, gatorade, or whatever you like to drink. Fill them about half full and freeze them the week before a camping event, then top them off when you're packing the ice chest. That way you won't need to buy ice, you've got cold drinks all weekend and you avoid theproblem of the ice melt ruining everything in the bottom of your ice chest.
Want to suggest a tip? Email the webmistress at julie.golick@gmail.com.
Dame Aoife Finn has helpfully suggested a number of tips, which I decided to put in a separate section. She gives to sections of tips, the first is where to find free or nearly free foods:
- Offer to help at the event and explain that you can't afford to eat on board. Many groups have workers discounts, separate food (free) for servers at feast, some cooks will pay for those who will help cook, and many cooks accept beggars at the door (arranged in advance).
- Offer your service to someone who has lots of people to take care of: a family might feed you if you help watch their children during the tourney, for example. A Noble household might feed you in exchange for help setting up and taking down their stuff.
- Join a household. If the household goes to events and camps together, they might very well already have your meals planned for you. Sooner or later you'll have to contribute. Sometimes they'll ask that you bring the <
Her second section deals with easily-found modern foods that can pass as authentic:
- Whole bread loaves are cheaply made at home for less than $1.00 each. Many new persons fall into that hard-tack fallacy. Don't bother, unless you plan on a sailor's persona and like breaking your teeth. Use any low-tech bread recipe, avoiding using those rectangular bread pans. Or simply buy a round, oblong, etc. French, Italian or other ethnic loaf.
- Natural Cheese (not sliced, and not orange, marbled, or having flecks of any other ingredient in it).
- Pickles, olives, and similar foods are great, add flavor, and go a long way. Good to replace lost salts at hot events as well.
- Boiled eggs, or pickled eggs (not the ones made with red beets). These are very cheaply made, and keep a long time.
- Basic fruit, nearly any kind except grapefruit, kiwi, or nectarines are OK. Vegetables except: Squash, broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, green-type or chili type peppers, potato, corn.
- Plain baked meats, fish or poultry of any type except turkey or processed types of meats, except sausages are generally OK.
- Drinks: Modern drinks in historical containers are generally thought OK (check the site rules before bringing alcohol, though). Lemonade, mint tea and water are all good non-alcoholic drinks. Many folks consider Iced Tea acceptable though it is not an historical beverage for our period of study in Europe. Hide any cans, plastic bottles, or modern containers. If anyone asks what you're drinking, smile mysteriously and answer "lemonade."