Cooking Without Purchased Fuel

[MissingAll4Seasons]

LOL - you can set a soup can straight down in the middle of firepit if you're bold and quick enough; although punching two holes on either side of the can and hooking a bit of wire in them to form a bale lets you use a long stick to place and retrieve them without risking your flesh or eyebrows Of course, if you're just heating something up, near the flame is usually good enough, it doesn't have to be in the flame.

Nearly any grating close enough together to keep the can from tipping should work just fine, or place the can on a skillet if the gaps are too wide. I routinely set cans right down on the burner rings of my propane cooker (grate too wide) and on top of my woodstove.

If I have any canned goods in my pack, I don't even bother bringing a pan or kettle. Less to pack in and less to pack out. With a little foil for a lid and some wire for a bale, you can cook right in the can, and then use the can a few dozen times to boil water and cook other things (punch holes in the bottom and it's a strainer!!). Instead of washing it (if water is scarce) just chuck it in the fire and burn off any food residue, then wipe it clean -- easy peasy

When water is scarce and heating it takes time and fuel you can't afford, or you're packing gear and lugging water around, minimizing the amount of dishes you're carrying and have to wash is a big plus

[emilybh]

Originally Posted by MissingAll4Seasons

Masonry Heaters represent the top end of Thermal Mass Stoves. The principle behind TMS is the masonry which absorbs, stores and gradually radiates the heat from the firebox and chimney for longer periods. With the addition of heat exchangers and/or careful design, you can also cook/bake and heat water. There are many ways to achieve a similar effect with a smaller price tag (including encasing a rocket stove with cob!), but they all are relatively resource (if not cash) expensive due to the large amounts of masonry required to surround the firebox and the convoluted flue -- they are, quite literally, massive

All the pros and cons of thermal mass, masonry construction, and alternative building methods apply, so do your research

One thing I like about thermal mass/masonry heater is that from a tending the fire standpoint, they are the exact opposite of a rocket stove or a wood stove for that matter. ( I know encasing a rocket stove might make it require less tending to.) You might be able to heat your entire house making just one small fire a day. That would be a huge savings on cord wood and let you sleep through the night as opposed to a rocket stove that needs constant tending to or a wood stove that needs tending to every few hours or so. At least the Masonry Heater would let you sleep through the night. The exterior also doesn't get much hotter than 120 degrees so there is no danger of someone getting burned by touching it accidently.

[Gungnir]

Originally Posted by emilybh

The exterior also doesn't get much hotter than 120 degrees so there is no danger of someone getting burned by touching it accidently.

How would you cook on a stove that only achieves 120F external temperatures? Just wondering considering this is a cooking thread.

120F is the ideal temperature for the INSIDE of a rare steak, so that rules out fish, chicken and pork which need cooking temperatures in excess of 120F. Also many beans contain toxins (haemagglutinin) that require boiling to decompose them to non-toxic products. To make matters worse heating above room temp to 176F actually increases the concentrations of these toxins (by up to five fold), the only way to reduce the levels (and make the beans non-toxic) is to boil them, and you're not doing that on a 120F cook surface unless you change the laws of physics.

[Nor'Eastah]

Originally Posted by emilybh

...as opposed to a rocket stove that needs constant tending to...

A rocket stove is not intended to heat any space (except for those that, as mentioned, are enclosed in cob). Small rocket stoves are used for cooking, usually for only about 15 minutes for most meals, and use so little biomass fuel (basically twigs, pine needles/cones, dried grass, etc) that the fuel is essentially free. That's what this whole thread is about. It isn't about how to most efficiently heat a home. We've been through all that before.

I started this thread because I regard cooking with free or scavenged materials to be a benefit, especially when fuel supplies are tight, or are needed more urgently elsewhere. I did not wish to start an argument about whether someone could also cook on a woodstove, masonry stove, or whatever. Of course they can. Perhaps I should have titled it "Portable Cooking Without Purchased Fuel" -- as so many of us may be unsure as to whether we will be bugging IN or OUT, and may need a portable stove, without lugging fuel.

Any type of open-fire cooking needs "constant tending to" or you may end up with scorched food/pans at best, and an out-of-control fire at worst. I encourage anyone contemplating the purchase of a rocket stove, Volcano stove, or even a Sterno stove, to use caution when using the stove. In my case, I had to supervise my 11-year old grandson while he used it. I advise all parents and grandparents to exercise caution when children are using, or are near, an open-fire cooker.

That said, I feel that small, portable cooking stoves that use no purchased fuel are a blessing, not a curse, when bugging out.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

Any type of open-fire cooking needs "constant tending to" or you may end up with scorched food/pans at best, and an out-of-control fire at worst. I encourage anyone contemplating the purchase of a rocket stove, Volcano stove, or even a Sterno stove, to use caution when using the stove. In my case, I had to supervise my 11-year old grandson while he used it. I advise all parents and grandparents to exercise caution when children are using, or are near, an open-fire cooker.

That said, I feel that small, portable cooking stoves that use no purchased fuel are a blessing, not a curse, when bugging out.

I agree. Unless you already have an enclosed alternative fuel stove/stovetop/oven, you'll be cooking on open flame once you lose the electric stove and microwave. Even a conventional gas range or barbecue grill is open flame; it takes some getting used to and you can't leave it unattended and unsupervised for long. Conventional woodstoves and cookstoves get very hot even though the fire is fully enclosed, so you still want to supervise pets and children around them.

The best thing for all of us to do is learn how to cook on our alternative cookers now before you really depend on that dinner or boiled water; then teach your related children to respect it and use it. Most children don't know how to safely cook anything other than in the microwave, but you never know when their life or yours may depend on their ability to safely build a fire and cook/boil on it with whatever is handy. Crap happens and it doesn't care how old your are. We want to take precautions to keep them safe; but kids aren't stupid, they aren't careless around dangerous things that they've been taught to respect and use properly.

Any child over the age of 5 or 6 who hasn't at least started becoming familiar with the more dangerous tools (fire, knives, saws, firearms, etc) will be ill-equipped for survival if TSHTF... you wouldn't want them using them unattended, but at least they could safely assist you and could do manage for themselves if they absolutely HAD to for some reason. I remember cooking hot dogs and marshmallows over the campfire we built ourselves and boiling water over makeshift lard cooker (fat-filled tuna cans) when I was in the Brownies (Girl Guides)... so around 7.

[MissingAll4Seasons]

I have a Dietz Millennium Cooker that fits on top of my kerosene lantern (which can run on used veg oil). The lantern makes it easier, but the cooker itself rests nicely over a soup or beverage can, and you can make a small lard/oil, tealight candle, alcohol, or rocket stove lamp/cooker out of a couple of cans in a pinch.

[lifelongMOgal]

Another form of cooking not yet approached in this thread is pit cooking. Shovel, rock or firebrick, dutch oven and/or foil, firewood is all that is required (along with food of course). Some folks may know this as pit bean cooking.

How To Build A Pit Oven (And Cook A Salmon In It)

Common Ground

[emilybh]

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

Welllll....we washed the pan out! Actually, this rocket stove is pretty BIG (12" dia); it has a cooktop grate on it for a sizeable dutch oven or large skillet. The flame comes up from the middle, and I'm not sure a little can of soup would cover the flame opening . I'll have to go back and look at it. Anyway, with an 11-year old at the helm, I wasn't taking any chances. It's one thing if I singe my own eyebrows...it's quite another if I allow the kid to singe his . Of course he'd live just fine, but you know how the wimmin are! We must keep the Little Prince lookin' pretty! But hey -- I like your idea of grabbin' a can with pliers -- a woman after my own heart!

I've been watching video reviews of cooking on rocket stoves and the way one person solved the problem of covering the flame opening while warming up/ cooking his can of food in the can without dirtying a pan was to put a saucepan with water over the flame opening and then put the can of food in the water and let it cook that way. He of course first removed the label on the can in case, he said, you'd want to use the water later.