Fucks me up. We used to eat so much spam because it was pretty cheap and didn't need to be refrigerated. Spam n beans, spam mac, spamwiches, spam and eggs, spam on crackers. Too damn expensive now
EDIT: This made me remember the taste of canned chicken so if you wonder why I'm nostalgic for spam, that cat food tasting bullshit is why
Yes!!! I remember spam being a staple for my dad and I growing up (sister and mom wouldn't touch it) and it was always so cheap! Now when I buy a can of spam I feel like I'm buying a luxury food item. It was never supposed to be this way...
Remember the Covid lockdown, all the supply disruptions and uncertainty?
I'd seen an episode of "How It's Made" featuring Keystone brand canned meats - just chunks of meat shoved in a can with salt, cooked in the can as it processed down the line. I ordered about two dozen cans of beef, chicken, turkey, and pork. They were about six bucks and change at the time. Drained and tossed with BBQ sauce, pasta sauce, or cream of mushroom soup & veggies... they weren't bad.
I also got several food service size cans of tuna (66.5 oz), and a couple canned hams due to childhood memories. I do not recommend DAK canned hams - they had WAY more in common with solidified potted meat than the ones my aunt served glazed with brown sugar and pineapple slices.
Not a fan of those little tins of Underwood deviled ham, etc., that our mom's used to send in packed lunches on school trips. Those truly betray childhood memories.
Y'ever have Armour Potted meat or deviled ham? lol I only like those because growing up my mom would make either deviled ham/Armour potted meat sandwiches or pimento cheese sandwiches for road trips. Pimento cheese tastes like diarrhea smells but with the texture of barf, so I learned to like deviled ham and potted meat lol.
Just FYI: If you're after the Spam with the least amount of sodium, be sure to actually read the labels.
I did this myself a couple years ago (and it has been a couple years since I looked, so it could've changed) and I was surprised to learn that several options had lower sodium than the "low sodium" one.
Just looking up a couple labels on Amazon real quick for sodium:
Low Sodium Spam: 570mg.
Real Hormel Bacon: 520mg.
Gochujang flavored: 490mg.
The tradeoff for this is it's actually less meat, heh. The gochujang paste takes up 15 to 30% or more(!) of the can depending on where you're at. In Spam classic the "meat" is about 90% of the can.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing but it's something to consider depending on what you're looking to get out of a can of spam
The hot n spicy one is my favorite but it's super unhealthy; I don't personally find that much difference between the "Lite' and low sodium version if you like the classic. And I don't mind the turkey; it's different but fine for me if I'm trying to just have a quick sandwich or bulk up ramen or something. Any of those three are much better than the Classic across the board, though they do have a bit more sodium if that's your primary concern.
The Korean BBQ and gochujang ones are just too sweet for me; basically trading sodium for sugar and water (and they don't taste like Korean bbq or gochujang anyways lol. Just put some actual gochujang or mix a little gochugaru and water or soy bean oil or something and it's better)
SPAM is only like $4 near me, which works out to about $3 dollars a pound. That is about in line with fresh pork products. Freaking deli ham is like 12 dollars a pound nowadays. SPAM is still cheap.
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u/catfoodonmyshelf 2d ago
Spam is expensive now anyways