I experienced Spam for the first time this summer. I was in the grocery store with a bunch of my friends looking for provisions for our canoe trip down the WI River. We loaded up the shopping cart and suddenly realized that we were going to need to bring a cooler because of the beer, eggs, and bacon. One guy returned with Spam and another with several boxes of wine. The beer, eggs, and bacon were jettisoned. I thought the Spam was a joke and didn't think any of us would actually eat it until I found myself holding a Spam-burger next to the camp fire. I'm ashamed to say that it was quite good. In fact, we had a summer picnic after the trip and Spam was served along with the brats and hamburgers. No one who tried the Spam complained.

So my survival checklist goes like this:
Spam
Corbet Canyon Box-O-Wine

Ha - I was drawing attention to the spam activities of the poster above me - but yes, as humiliating as it is to admit, I have enjoyed spam. Growing up in the 70's (and being a fussy eater as a kid), spam was on the menu more often than I'd like to think. To this day I like the Hawaiian "sushi" made with spam - musabi?.

with all those nitrates in the can, how long is that stuff rated to survive anyway?

btw - on backpacking trips my father used to bring a smoked pork shoulder - without any cooling, it would last close on a week and stay edible - sliced and fried it makes a tasty morning meat product

box-o-wine eh?

ah ha and yikes: i pulled this quote from a great article on Richard Rainwater in FORTUNE Magazine for you "'How come some doofus billionaire in Texas made all this money by being aware of this (peak oil scenario), and why didn't someone tell us?'" That's basically all I meant by my comments, Like I said above, my comments were meant only for those interested ie i'm aware some people are not and was certainly hoping not to offend anyone ---pk

Shaun;
You could have Spam, eggs, bacon, beer and Spam. Or Spam, eggs, Spam, bacon, Spam, beer and Spam, or Spam, beer, eggs, Spam, bacon, Spam and Spam. Instead, you had Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, wine and Spam.

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself...

SubKommander Dred

Well, at least give them a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ7YedEopp4

Spam spam spam spam...

That's the great thing about camping, everything always tastes great! Most of the time that is.

...eggs,...were jettisoned.

Why? How long was your canoe trip?

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Livestock-and-Farming/1977-11-01/Can-You-...

[3] The widely touted idea of covering eggs with a solution of one part waterglass (sodium silicate) mixed with nine parts of boiled and cooled water does indeed seem to work better than any other "room temperature" preservation method we tried. If our experiences are any indication, though, it's really good for only about five months and is a distant second to controlled refrigeration.

Here's another one of those weird things like the thread about milk a couple of days ago. If the eggs are fresh out of the chicken they'll keep for a looooong time unrefrigerated. There's a coating on the eggs that keeps bad things from penetrating into it. Remember that this is the way a chicken reproduces and it lays a lot of them before it goes and tries to hatch them. So if you have a fresh, unwashed, and fertilized egg...it can stay edible for weeks. Eggs bought in the store have been washed of the coating so that they're "pretty" and are usually unfertilized and I wouldn't trust them very long out of the fridge.