Food in the CCC

August 18, 2011
Food in the CCC
Napoleon has been credited with the saying, "An army marches on its stomach."  
When it came to feeding the men of the Civilian Conservation Corps, this saying was 
taken very seriously. Food was an important part of CCC camp life. Many of the 
enrollees came from homes where food was scarce, and they expended plenty of 
calories working on their CCC conservation projects.

It was the U.S. Army who was responsible for feeding the enrollees. Army personnel trained 
the cooks and bakers, developed menus and recipes, and bought the food.

Cooks and bakers attended U.S. Army training schools and/or were trained on the 
job. They were paid $45/month, quite a bit more than the $30 other enrollees 
received.

Menus were developed each day, approved by the camp commander, and sent to 
CCC headquarters in Washington, D.C. For special celebrations, such as Christmas, 
the enrollees were fed special meals.

Here's a sample menu from 1941 at Camp SCS-26-A, Patagonia, AZ

Breakfast                              

Stewed fruits                         

Dry Cereal                             

Milk                                        

Pork sausage                         

Gravy & Biscuits                  

Fried Potatoes 

Coffee

Dinner (in field)
      Meat spread sandwich
      Fruit spread
      Cheese spread
      Fresh fruit
      Coffee

Supper
      Beef soup               
      Vegetable salad
      Boiled beef and dumplings
      Iced cocoa
      Boiled potatoes                 
      Buns & butter
      Beans                                  
      Raisin pie

Food came from local markets and from CCC district quartermasters.The food 
allowance ranged from 40 to 45 cents/day per enrollee through the history of the 
CCC.

Here's a recording of the perishable food consumed at Camp SCS-26-A, Patagonia, 
AZ, in 1941. The camp had about 200 enrollees.

Fresh Beef: 1,402 lbs.          

Bread: 2,350 slices     

Potatoes: 4,000 

Ice Cream: 30 gallons 

Butter: 320 lbs. 

Cheese: 389 lbs. 

Eggs: 480 dozen                  

Milk: 5,033 quarts     

Frankfurters: 302

Lots of fats and meats in the CCC enrollee's diet, which provided fuel for their 
demanding physical labor.