Dinty Moore """Beef Stew"""" is more like: hamburger soup.

If I'm eating a meal out of a can or a box from the frozen food sectionI better be sitting in a fox hole with my rifle or there is a zombie apocalypse.

It's quicker and easier to make your own food. You can go all crazy or keep it simple. Steak/chops and backed potato takes 5 min. Chilli just has to simmer for a long time but there no physical labor involved

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"You, like I, are a victim of the times. I don't know if the Bob Evans food lines are available in your area, but they are a lifesaver, to my wife, and I. We are "Old Poops", and don't want to cook large portions of food, so we rely on the great, ready prepared, food offerings of Bob Evans. The Kroger stores in our area, carry a large offering of their products."

Post Foods (Post cereals) has bought out the prepared food business of Bob Evans Farms, effective early this year. It might be interesting to see if the Bob Evans quality holds up. Bob Evans restaurants were sold off last year to an investor group, so essentially all that will remain of Bob Evans is the name.

Wal Mart sells a frozen pack of all the ingredients for beef stew. Just pour everything into a crock pot, add water, plug it in, and let it cook overnight. A little expensive, but very good stuff.

Ah yes... Dinty Moore beef stew, the food of choice for countless young scouts and budding outdoors men.
We used to cook it in the can set right in the fire. With the top opened of course, else it tended to blow up. It was something of a rite of passage. In my scout troop you hadn't "seen the elephant" if you never blew up a can of stew or baked beans.
I'm not so sure if Hormel changed any of the ingredients or if our tastes haven't changed with the passing years and acquired wisdom.
Thinking back, it tasted OK because we were famished and had no other alternative or common sense. It's also quite possible that fire ash added to it's flavor and digestibility.
Dinty Moore beef stew hasn't been on my list of must haves for nearly half a century, but it does remain a fond memory of the blissful ignorance of my youth.

John

rockquarry said:

As described in a previous post, it's not that difficult or time-consuming to prepare much better and healthier meals even for someone that doesn't cook regularly.

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It is for ME.

I'm not a cook.

In fact, I HATE cooking.

I would rather do my taxes than cook.

The fact that I live in a PIT with an AWFUL kitchen doesn't make me want to cook one bit more.

I build EVERY one of my PCs. I find it trivially easy. I don't assume that it's going to be easier or produce a better result for EVERYBODY than going out and buying some garbage Dell computer.

DWalt said:

It might be interesting to see if the Bob Evans quality holds up. Bob Evans restaurants were sold off last year to an investor group, so essentially all that will remain of Bob Evans is the name.

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I get off work at 5:30am. There isn't much else open then, and even still, I have to wait until 6:00am for the local Bob Evans to open.

So far their food has seemed to hold up reasonably while.

Arik said:

If I'm eating a meal out of a can or a box from the frozen food sectionI better be sitting in a fox hole with my rifle or there is a zombie apocalypse.

It's quicker and easier to make your own food.

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Not in any universe I've ever inhabited.

NOTHING heated is going to be easier OR quicker than canned chili or soup in a bowl in the microwave. That's simple mechanics.

And no, I'm not going to waste my one normal day off cooking.

I used to like it, nothing stays the same.

Behind the front seat of my Dodge pickup I have an old wooden dynamite box where I keep a skillet, coffee pot, small camp axe, and some canned goods in case I'm caught up the canyon or if I'm somewhere out in the hinterland and I need to prepare a little something to eat.

If I remember correctly, there's a can of Dinty Moore beef stew in that box. I don't know how old the thing is, but I think I put it there because I remembered that Dinty Moore stew was one of the better ones on the market at the time.

Ringo, you've now given me second thoughts. Like I said, that old dynamite box is there in case of emergency, but now I'm wondering if I want to eat that stuff even then.

Old_Cop said:

I used to like it, nothing stays the same.

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It seems to me as though the Armor corned beef hash changes recipes periodically, since cooking time and heat seems to vary noticeably.

I get a feel for how to fry it perfectly, then doing EXACTLY the same thing a few months later, it's either burned or has no crust.

I'm about to try again...

I always thought it resembled dog food.

I think the expensive stuff my wife buys for our dogs looks about as appetizing, and probably costs more.

cmort666 said:

It is for ME.

I'm not a cook.

In fact, I HATE cooking.

I would rather do my taxes than cook.

The fact that I live in a PIT with an AWFUL kitchen doesn't make me want to cook one bit more.

I build EVERY one of my PCs. I find it trivially easy. I don't assume that it's going to be easier or produce a better result for EVERYBODY than going out and buying some garbage Dell computer.

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The basics of cooking really is that simple. Making a meal is no more than a few minutes. Of course you can get as creative as you want, which can add time but it's overall a simple task. If you have a skillet, salt and pepper and fire you're done!

Take your preferred piece of meat. Steak, pork/lamb chops, whatever. Put your skillet on the fire and let it heat up. While it's heating up you salt and pepper the meat (add whatever ingredients you like but the basics are salt and pepper). Rub in the salt and pepper. By now you're skillet is well heated. Put your meat on the skillet and set fire to medium. 3-5 min on each side depending on the thickness of the meat and your preference for rare, medium or well done. And that's it. Max 10 min and you have your meat. If you want a side dish...say a potato. While you're meat is cooking wash and place the potato in the microwave for 2 - 4 min depending on size! Potato cooks at the same time as the meat. You're not wasting your whole day.

I made these in a little over an hour


Or say you're home all day and want to make something for dinner. Take 2 racks of ribs, you're preferred liquid to cook in. Can be Pepsi, beer, broth, just about anything. Season the ribs just like mentioned above. Can be however basic or complicated you want. Put the ribs on a slow cooker, pour the liquid all around till it covers the ribs. Set the slow cooker on low and wait 5 hours. You literally don't do anything to it. After 5hrs a quick 2 min on the skillet and done. The slow cooker doesn't even require you to be home although I dislike leaving it on in an empty house. You can also leave it overnight and it cooks while you sleep.

You can go as crazy or as basic as you want and still have something that tastes great

Arik said:

The basics of cooking really is that simple.

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Not simpler than pouring a can of chili or better grade Campbell's soup into a microwave safe container.

I LOATHE cooking.

Nothing's going to change that.

Certainly not as long as I live in this tenement where just washing dishes is a project.

JayFramer said:

+1

At least Alpo still tastes like it did in the old days.

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When I was about five years old the kid next door tried to get me to join him in sampling some dry kibble from their basement pantry. As much as he appeared to enjoy the stuff, I refused. Best part is that he grew up to be a veterinarian.

Chili likely started out as beef chunks simmered in water with Chilis. This is stuff that cattle drive cooks had in abundance. The beef would have been downers presented to the cook. Beans might not have been in the Chili, but they would have been served as a side. I know this; I saw Blazing Saddles. Onions and tomatoes are optional!

Best,
Rick

I go the Dinty Moore route on days I'm feeling lazy and dont cook, and I agree, the stuff that passes for food in that can leaves a bit to be desired, but in a pinch it'll do. I usually add whole kernel sweet corn and skin on diced potatoes and season to taste.

If youre looking for better than the average out of the can though, try Wolf Brand chili, with or without the beans, if you like good chili, its the BEST of the pre-made variety PERIOD.

Campbell is a "better grade"?

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Mule Packer said:

Ringo, you've now given me second thoughts. Like I said, that old dynamite box is there in case of emergency, but now I'm wondering if I want to eat that stuff even then.

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Chip—canabilism is preferable.

Arik said:

Campbell is a "better grade"?

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There are better grades OF Campbell's soup, very unlike the stuff I had as a kid.

The good stuff has pull tab tab tops and includes jambalaya, split pea and chicken and corn chowder. It's similar to Progresso.

It's all quite good and reasonably priced. If I want to get extravagant, I drain a can of white meat chicken and empty it into a bowl of the chicken and corn chowder before I microwave it.

And as I've stated, there's precisely ZERO chance of me making anything like it from scratch. I'd rather dig a two man fighting position with a lobster fork.

I spent the first 18 years of my life eating canned goods out on the ranch.
No refrigeration. Everything not out of a can was dang near burnt to make sure there weren't any live critters gonna crawl out of it whilst we was eatin' it.

Din't know what a good steak tasted like until a frat brother cooked one medium rare at a kegger.

The thought of spam, vienna sausges, canned tamales, Campbells one piece of pork fat and beans, and chili con carne plumb ruins my appetite.

cmort666 said:

There are better grades OF Campbell's soup, very unlike the stuff I had as a kid.

The good stuff has pull tab tab tops and includes jambalaya, split pea and chicken and corn chowder. It's similar to Progresso.

It's all quite good and reasonably priced. If I want to get extravagant, I drain a can of white meat chicken and empty it into a bowl of the chicken and corn chowder before I microwave it.

And as I've stated, there's precisely ZERO chance of me making anything like it from scratch. I'd rather dig a two man fighting position with a lobster fork.

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I pretty much feel the same way about canned food. I'm by no means a trained cook but I can do pretty good with basic stuff

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