Farm on Kitchen Branch

Off Grid Cooking

Heat, Light & Cooking In An Emergency

  • Matches - waterproof airtight tin with each piece of equipment that requires them
  • Sterno - will ignite with a match or spark from flint and steel - safe to use indoors
  • Sterno Stove $3 to $8 - fold compactly - will cook 6 meals frugally
  • Coleman fuel (white gas) not as portable but greater BTU. Highly volatile,m will explode so always use outdoors
  • Charcoal - Least expensive use outdoors only difficult to light if old - store in airtight metal or plastic cans - each briquette will produce 40 degrees of heat if you are baking bread and need 400 degrees, use 10 briquettes

Adobe Oven

Picture




Back yard project

Homemade Instant Foods
Make Your Substitutions


Using Dutch Ovens

Picture



Charcoal Briquettes on bottom & top

Rocket Stove Mass Heater

Picture



90% more efficient than a wood stove

NOTES

  • Always do your cooking in the most efficient manner
  • Don't boil more water than you need
  • Extinguish the fire as soon as finished
  • Plan ahead to consolidate as much cooking as possible
  • In winter cook on top of the wood stove while heating the house
  • Use pressure cookers as much as possible
  • Keep 7-10 days of fuel for outdoor cooking at all times

Solar Box Cooker

Picture


Cardboard boxes, aluminum foil, glue & plastic roasting bags or glass.

Build a Solar Mess Kit Stove

Picture


Aluminum baking pan
or 
Emergency blanket

Build a Dryer Lint & Wax Stove

Build an Outdoor Oven

Picture



Bake and cook outdoors

Thermos Bottle Cooking

Bake Bread Without an Oven

Picture



Many ways to produce bread

Freezer Bag Cooking

Cooking with Charcoal

Learn to funnel the heat where you want it
Cook inside a cardboard oven
Take a cardboard box, about the size of an orange crate, cover it with aluminum foil inside and out.
Make sure the shiny side is visible for maximum reflection.
Turn the box on its side so that the opening is no longer on top but is on the side.
Place small bricks or other noncombustible material inside upon which you can rest a cookie sheet about 2-3 inches above the bottom of the box.
Place 10 burning charcoal briquettes between the bricks (if you need 400 degrees).
Place the support for your cooking vessels, and then place your bread pans or whatever else you are using on top of the cookie sheet.
Prop a a foil-covered cardboard lid over the open side, leaving a large crack for air to get in (charcoal needs a lot of air to burn) and bake your bread, cake, cookies, etc.

Making Charcoal

Select twigs, limbs, and branches of fruit, nut and other hardwood trees, black walnuts and peach or apricot ptis may also be used.
Cut wood into desired size, place in a large can which has a few holes punched in it, put a lid on the can and place the can in a hot fire.
When the flames from the holes in the can turn yellow-red, remove the can from the fire and allow it to cool.
Store the briquettes in a moisture-proof container.

Alternative Power

  • Wood or Coal
  • Wood
  1. Need dry (seasoned) wood.
  2. Cord 8'x4'x4'
  3. Wood pellets
  4. Store covered and off the ground
  5. Works for both heating & cooking and pretty safe to store.
  • Coal & Charcoal
  1. Maintains a very hot fire that will last for 6-8 hours
  2. Can be used with coal-burning ovens, dutch ovens, or barbecues
  3. Must be stored in a dry place
  4. You can make charcoal by slowing heating wood, or whatever you've got, in the absence of oxygen.
  5. Stores for decades if kept dry, but if it gets damp or wet it can spontaneously combust.
  6. Requires a large quantity if being stored for emergency
  • Kerosene, White Gas, and Butane
  • Kerosene
  1. Kerosene used for lighting, heating, cooking & cleaning gunk from equipment
  2. Does not have explosive vapors so it is safer to store
  3. Inexpensive and does not have to be treated with a stabilizer
  4. Drawbacks, smokey, has a strong smell, requires priming & wicks, over time you will have to filter out water accumulation in the storage.
  5. Must be stored in blue containers, tightly sealed, out of sunlight and away from big temperature swings.
  • White Gas "Coleman fuel", "Camp fuel", or "Naptha"
  1. Easy to find, has a high BTU, can be used in any temperature
  2. Highly volatile, it can explode.
  3. Messy and a hassle to fill appliances with.
  4. Evaporates eve in in a closed container.
  5. 2-5 years storage recommended
  • Butane
  1. Used in lighters & aerosol sprays.
  2. Comes in blue cylinders, used in torches, refillable lighters & camp stoves.  Also, heaters & lighting.
  3. Is a pressurized gas, which becomes liquid.
  4. One canister is enough for three hours of cooking, or light cooking for several days.
  5. Hard to find, compared to other fuels.
  • Propane
  1. Fuels barbecues, portable stoves, portable heaters, some engines, torches, central heating, fireplaces & generators.
  2. Indefinite storage potential
  3. Easy & convenient to use & considered to be very reliable.
  4. If using the larger tanks with camp equipment you will need additional hose and adapters, so make sure you have everything.
  • Gasoline
  1. Be sure to keep your car's fuel tank full.  
  2. Refill at 3/4 of a tank
  3. This is the best storage container
  4. Government sets legal limits as to how much gasoline we cans store.
  5. Keep gasoline in containers made for storing gas.
  6. Add stabilizer to your gas such as STA-BL
  7. Store gasoline in a safe place