PNG Cooking Adventure!

One of the most exciting things about being home on furlough is the FOOD! :) We eat a lot of "Western" style meals in Papua New Guinea, but it's a lot harder to cook there when you only get groceries every 6 weeks or so, and you have to cook a lot of things from scratch! And we can't consistently get things like good hamburgers, frozen pizzas, fresh salads, or even deli meat sandwiches. So we always enjoy eating those when we're home!

Sometimes, I wish my friends back home could come to PNG for a week just to see how different cooking can be there. Even relatively simple meals back home can turn into quite the ordeal if you don’t plan ahead. 

Here are a few meals that we make often when we're in Wabuku: homemade pizza, tacos, grilled cheese sandwiches, rice with various toppings or fried rice, and spaghetti.

Want to try your hand at cooking a Western meal in PNG? The following 15 statements set up a situation and allow you to choose how you might cook one of two meals. Choose carefully or you might end up with a disaster on your hands!

1.      It’s 4:30, and time to start working on dinner after a long day of language study. What meal do you want to make tonight? If spaghetti, go to 2. If chicken tacos, go to 3.

2.      You’ve chosen to make spaghetti. Time to grab your ingredients! If you go get your spaghetti noodles from the pantry, go to 4. If you get them from the fridge, go to 6.

3.      Chicken tacos coming right up! Better get that chicken cooking. Question is, where is it? If you get your package of chicken out of the freezer, go to 5. If you get it off your kitchen counter, go to 7.

4.      You go to the pantry and grab a package of spaghetti noodles. You rip open the package and… yuck! Bugs! If you decided to cook the noodles anyways, go to 10. If you decide to do chicken tacos instead, go to 3.

5.      You grab your package of chicken out of the freezer, but it’s as hard as a rock. No microwaves here, so there’s no way to defrost it in time to make your meal. Bummer! I guess you’ll have to make spaghetti instead. Go to 2.

6.      You open the fridge and grab out a package of spaghetti. The cold air in the fridge protects against and/or kills any bugs, so you don’t have to worry about those. You get a pot of water and prepare to light the stove to cook the noodles. You grab a match and turn the burner on, because it doesn’t automatically light itself. After several tries, it still won’t light. Then, you realize the gas bottle is empty! Go to 8.

7.      Good thinking! Getting your package of chicken off the counter means you planned ahead and pulled the package out of the freezer earlier in the day to thaw. You get a pot of water and prepare to light the stove to cook the chicken. You grab a match and turn the burner on, because it doesn’t automatically light itself. After several tries, it still won’t light. Then, you realize the gas bottle is empty! Go to 9.

8.      You finally get the gas bottle changed, the stove lit, and the water boiling. You dump the spaghetti noodles into the water to cook. Now for your sauce. If you get a jar of prepared sauce, go to 11. If you make your own, go to 13.

9.      You switch out the gas bottle and the stove finally lights. You boil the chicken, shred it, and add taco seasoning. Now for your tortillas. If you go look in your freezer for a package of prepared tortillas, go to 12. If you make your own, go to 14.

10.  You cook the spaghetti noodles, bugs and all. Most of the bugs float to the top, so you’re able to scoop them out with a spoon. Now for your sauce. If you get a jar of prepared sauce, go to 11. If you make your own, go to 13.

11.  You go to the pantry to get a jar of prepared sauce, but you can’t find one. Then you remember, you forgot to order any on your last grocery order! The next one isn’t for another three weeks. Oh well, I guess you’ll have to make it from scratch. Go to 13. 

12.  You search your freezer for tortillas, but can’t find any. Then you remember, you forgot to add that to your last grocery order! The next one isn’t for another three weeks. Guess you’ll have to make them from scratch. Go to 14. 

13.  Thankfully, making spaghetti sauce isn’t too hard. You get a can of plain tomato sauce, add some Italian seasoning, salt, and garlic powder, and throw in some cooked sausage or ground beef and onion. Perfect! You finally have your meal ready, even though it took longer than expected. 

14.  Tortillas are easy to make. Mix flour, oil, water, and salt; roll flat; and cook in a frying pan for a few minutes. Those are done… now for the toppings. Go to 15.

15.  You quickly mix up some sour cream (one package of thickened cream plus 1 tablespoon of vinegar) and shred some cheese. You do have a jar of prepared salsa, so you grab that as well as a can of refried beans. Put all those on the table, and you have a yummy chicken taco meal! It takes some time to make, but your family will love the Mexican flavor!

Hope you enjoyed that cooking adventure! While these scenarios might seem extreme, I've actually experienced all of them before at one time or another! Some of them simultaneously! :) It's just all part of learning to cook in a different environment on the mission field. You can also check out this blog post from a few years ago if you want to read more about what we eat and how we get it. :)

It's actually been fun learning to experiment and improvise and discover you don't just have to follow a recipe every time to make a delicious dinner. And I've enjoyed learning to make things I wouldn't have otherwise, like homemade bagels! :)

Our kitchen (our fridge is there on the left hand side. We have a separate chest freezer too)

The mostly homemade Thanksgiving feast we enjoyed with our coworkers last November