From lists made and kept by Lewis and Clark during the voyage, we know that they ate a variety of foods. These foods can be divided roughly into three catagories:

Lewis noted that he purchased 193 lbs. of "portable soup" from Francois Baillet, a cook in Philadelphia in May 1803 at $1.50 per pound. Portable soup was either a dry bouillon or a thick liquid-type substance made from beef and stored in cans for the expedition. The soup was reconstituted by adding water. The members of the expedition cordially hated it, and the starvation time in the Bitterroot Mountains in September 1805 was one of the only times they ever ate it. See Donald Jackson, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, with Related Documents, 1783-1854. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1962, pp. 78 and 81-82, and We Proceeded On, October 1983, pp. 10 and 11.

We also know that Lewis bought 2 pounds of Hyson Tea and 30 gallons of strong wine.

At the Wood River, Illinois camp William Clark purchased from Mr. Bagley Potatoes and fowls. "Mr. Cummins came with meel & Brandy from Contractor...Porter all frosed & Several bottles broke." Clark 1/28/04 (Moulton, v. 2, p. 166)

From the army's contractor for rations Major Rumsey, the explorers got 14 flour kegs and 19 pork kegs. It is unclear how much flour, pork and salt Lewis and Clark received in the St. Louis area and loaded aboard their boats. Their supplies also included 45 kegs of pork, 50 of flour, 18 of whisky and 7 of corn. They received what they tallied as 4175 complete rations @14 1/2 cents, 5555 Rations of flour at 4 1/2 cents, 25 Casks of Corn @ 50 Cents, 12 casks of Salt, 100 gallons of Whiskey, and 4000 rations of pork @ 4 1/2 cents, 1 Keg of Hogs Lard, 1 bag of Coffee 50 weight, 2 ditto of Sugar, 1 ditto of Beans, 7 bags of Biscuit, 4 Barrels of Biscuit, 44 Kegs of Pork packed w. 3115, 6 Half barrels of pork ditto, weight 590.

While on the trail between 1804 and 1806, the expedition relied mainly on meat to sustain them. It has been estimated that the men needed as much as nine pounds of meat per man each day to keep performing the hard work of traveling. The men must have burned a very large number of calories poling, pushing and pulling their boats forward, as well as hunting and performing other strenuous activities. The game meats the men ate varied with their location and the seasons. East of the Rocky Mountains game was plentiful and the men relied primarily on buffalo meat. Once in the mountains game became scarce and the men had to rely on provisions like their portable soup. On the west side of the mountains they encountered Indian tribes who subsisted on roots and fish, which Lewis and Clark's men thought caused diarrhea. Because they disliked this "western" diet, the men began to purchase or trade for dogs kept by the Indians. Between Weippe Prairie in Idaho and the Pacific Coast the men subsisted almost exclusively on dogs, in the midst of one of the most productive salmon fisheries ever known! During their winter on the Pacific Coast, the diet changed once more, this time to elk. The men began to dislike the monotony of their diet of elk, elk and more elk. On the return trip they switched once more to dog meat, then breathed a sigh of relief when they descended once more to the plains and prairies to the east of the mountains where buffalo were plentiful. In addition to these major sources of meat and protein, it can be said that Lewis and Clark tried nearly every type of game animal that they shot, just for the experience. They certainly preferred the meat of mammals like bison, elk and dog to birds or fish.