Alternative Cooking
Alternative cooking is a necessary part of preparation. This can also become a fun thing for families to do.
A sun oven is great on any day the sun is shining without clouds regardless of outside temperatures. Sun ovens can literally be used in the snow on a sunny day. They become a small oven that will typically reach about 300 + degrees. They are also a great energy saver.
Outdoor grills. - BBQs, etc. are an excellent alternative to cooking indoors. Other types of cooking methods include Dutch oven cooking (fantastic results when done properly), rocket stoves and wonder ovens. Wonder ovens got the idea from the pioneers who used hay boxes to place boiling hot food into and allowed the food to continue to cook throughout the day.
How do we get started choosing which one of these ways to cook?
First - decide what method will work best for you and also what type of fuel each one requires.
Here are a few examples.
Sun ovens are fantastic when the sun is available, even on low temperature days. They are typically a small, usually enclosed, box with reflective material that directs the sun's rays. These ovens often will get up around 350 degrees and can be adjusted down.
Rocket stoves are very handy and can be configured and even self built. These are typically designed for outdoor use. There is a lot of information available for these devices, so take a few moments and check them out. One that we are somewhat familiar with is the
Kelly Kettle. These are a bit pricey ranging from about $120-$200 depending what accessories you get with it. These will heat water super fast and will burn most natural fuel such as twigs, dry grass, etc. These will work well even in windy/stormy conditions, so long as the fuel is dry and can be burned. There are a variety of other types/designs that can range from as little as $20 up to $160+. Check them out but remember the $20 stove may work, but they will tend to be a bit flimsy, You decide what will work for you and fits your budget.
Outdoor grills - this type of cooking is fantastic and will allow for a wide variety of cooking types, not just for throwing meat on fire. there are a lot of type of outdoor grills these days ranging from a simple inexpensive charcoal grill, gas grills which are very effective and pellet grills. Keep in mind the need to store fuel for these as well. Always use outdoor grills, outdoors. Too many people every year try to use them to cook or heat in an enclosed area and suffer from carbon monoxide poisoning. One of the cool things I found online to start charcoal or wood is a Grillblazer Grill Gun - Basically a handheld torch that looks like a gun, is very safe and really gets things started in a hurry. I never use lighter fluid these days due to toxicity and taste and also not as safe as propane.
Propane camp stoves - not much needs to be said about these - they are tried and true in most every condition. We would recommend propane fuel as opposed to the older liquid fuel, white gas or "Coleman Fuel" as it was often called. Propane is much safer to use and to store.
Dutch Ovens - The cast iron Dutch oven does an incredible job at cooking outdoors. many people have Dutch ovens designed for indoors too. The old cast iron Dutch oven are fun to use but take just a little learning and practice to be able to hit just the right temperatures. We learned the basics from a friend but most of what we know came from sources on YouTube.
Wonder Box/Wonder Oven - These are well insulated boxes or "bean bag" type top and bottom where a very hot pot is placed for some longer term slow cooking. they work great with a little effort and were often called "hay boxes" back in the days of the pioneers. This is considered Thermal Cooking. One thing that we have seen are homemade boxes where the pot is wrapped in a blanket and placed inside of an ice chest. The "Wonder Oven" is one that we have used many times and continue to use it when taking hot pots places where heat retention is important.
Canned Heat Stoves - These little stoves are great and depending upon which one you have can be safely used indoors. One brand is the "Vesta Self Powered Indoor Space Heater and Stove" which can take up to 3 cans of fuel at once so you can really get cooking . The Vesta runs about $130. there are other less expensive brands, some of which can simply fold down. We used ours to warm up our office room recently when our heater died - worked great!
Fuels types
Listed below are just a few of the types of fuel that may be used in an emergency or as needed.
Canned Fuel - One type of canned fuel that is made for indoors is called "Safe Heat" - we get ours from Sam's Club for about $20/box of 12. There are others available but this is the one we chose.
Propane- I can't say enough about propane as an emergency fuel source. We all know that is works great for camp stoves, gas BBQ, etc, but if you have a Tri-Power generator, it can be used to generate electricity as well. Gas bottles can be found used all the time and can be used for exchanges on refilled, tested/certified bottles. Home Depot and others offer exchanges services. We use a company call Cynch that delivers and exchanges the tanks at you residence. TIP - Check out garage sales for used tanks. You can often find them very cheap and use those to exchange for fully tested and full tanks.
Charcoal - excellent safe storage fuel type. Briquets work great on Dutch Ovens, but the Lump charcoal tends to burn longer/hotter. I like Royal Oak in both forms of charcoal. Another very good lump charcoal is the Jealous Devil brand. I also consider pellets for a pellet grill or pellet stove in this category.
Organic material - these included burnable organic mater such as twigs/sticks, dry grass and even dry cow dung. Pioneers used the latter from bison quite often. These would generally be used in Rocket Stoves and other devices designed for outdoor use unless in an enclosed fireplace inside.
The Sun - Obviously this is necessary when utilizing a Sun Oven for cooking. Clouds and other impediments will cut down on the effectiveness of using the sun.