Spam Mac and Cheese
Boxed mac with a can of Spam fried crisp and folded through it.
- calories
- 750
- weight
- 7.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 104
- protein
- 35 g
- serves
- 3, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- 1500 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Canoe / raft
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Boxed macaroni and cheese | 1 box | |
|---|---|---|
| Spam | 1 can (12 oz) | |
| Powdered milk | 2 tbsp | or whatever the box asks for |
| Butter | 4 tbsp |
Method
- Dice the Spam and fry it in a dry pan over medium heat until the edges are brown and crisp, five to seven minutes.
- Boil the macaroni in a second pot while that happens, then drain it.
- Stir in the cheese powder, butter, and reconstituted milk.
- Fold the Spam through and eat it out of the pot.
Boxed mac is cheap, light, and about 250 calories a serving of almost pure carbohydrate. The can of Spam is what makes it dinner: it roughly doubles the calories and takes the protein from eight grams to the mid thirties.
Fry it hard. Warm Spam stirred into pasta is limp; crisp Spam holds its edges and reads as an ingredient rather than an apology.
Packing
Cheese powder, milk powder, and pasta all live in the box; repack them into one bag and leave the cardboard at home.
Variations
- Hot sauce, and a handful of dried onion softened in the pasta water.
- Fry the Spam first and cook the pasta in the same pan to lose a pot, at the cost of a harder scrub.
Spam mac n cheese on the Outdoor Boys channel, catalogued at outdoorboysalmanac.com.