Beans were one of several foods dried and preserved to allow storage. Dried beef, dried fruits (apples, apricots, prunes, raisins, others), salted fish, salt pork, rice (major crop in south Texas where many of the cattle drives originated), flour (biscuits, pancakes, pan bread) all provided foods that were capable of lasting several weeks or months and easily converted to table fare under primitive conditions. Canned goods, particularly tomatoes and fruits, were becoming fairly common during that era, and probably added to the options.
A steer found dead was likely left alone due to contamination concerns. An injured steer could be destroyed and meat sufficient for a couple of days could be taken for fresh food.
Not unusual to have several pigs travelling with the camp. Pigs will forage for themselves under most any conditions, and are good at killing rattlesnakes around the camp. A good-sized hog could be slaughtered and butchered for a few days of sustenance.
Prior to the 1890s north Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming all had good populations of game. Buffalo, elk, deer, antelope, turkeys, rabbits, prairie chickens, grouse, and others likely added to the dietary needs.
Native flora along the way could contribute various fruits, berries, and tubers. Most people of that era were much more accustomed to foraging for food, knew where to look and what could be used at varying times of the year.
With limited local commerce and minimal transportation service local populations (native and settlers) probably welcomed opportunities to swap their produce for a beef critter ready to be fattened up for use.
Many of the drovers being from Texas with large percentages of Mexican vaqueros and free blacks, meal planning likely included several other necessities such as dried peppers, onions, and others.
Many of the earliest cattle drives were organized as cooperative enterprises in Texas settlements. After the Civil War commerce was practically nonexistent in Reconstruction Texas, cash was practically unknown, but free-ranging cattle were all but free for the work of rounding them up. Markets existed in the Colorado gold camps, and the major packing houses in and around Chicago had buyers stationed at railway hubs (largely eastern and central Kansas). Communities might organize a drive working on shares, or several ranchers might recruit drovers on promises of wages due upon the expected sale at trail's end.
Those recruited consisted of discharged Civil War soldiers, free blacks, and more than a few teenaged orphans and runaways. Skilled hands were largely Mexican vaqueros with a great deal of experience handling cattle.
