Would love to hear your thoughts on the banning of tools, generators, lawnmowers that run on fuel in some places. It was on my local news just the other day here in Australia that they want to do this. I see this change has already started in some places around the world. I was looking at buying a generator and now am not sure what to buy. I wonder what's next on the list that they want to ban?
I lived in a downtown area on south Florida when a hurricane caused the electricity to go out for 2 weeks. My family was the only one with a grill in our small apartment building of about 12 units. We brought the grill out side to cook and all the residents came around to ask if they could use it too. Let me just say that we all came together like a family and planned who would cook what, when. We all shared meals and ate fine together. No one had spoiled food. I know it was only a 2 week duration, but there is so much talk in these comments about people coming after each other and I just want to say that I was lucky enough to see the humanity of people caring and sharing with each other. I would suggest everyone to get to know your neighbors. We need each other; especially in survival times.
Yes it's true all what you say as long as there is enough to go around that is. You all knew that help was coming right? And that if you wanted to you could leave. But what if no help was coming? And what if it didn't matter if you left because there was nothing to leave to? Never underestimate other peoples will to survive. I've seen what a community can turn in to when the food grows scarce. My English isn't so good but I will try, let's hope the autocorrect is working. It was in Bosnia during the war there. I was with the red cross and we had just managed to go further in to the warzone than any before us and what we found was the direct opposite of what you wrote. I will not name the place because those living there now does not need to relive that nightmare but it was a resort of a kind. You know snowy mountains, fresh springs, a quaint little village the picture postcard resort as to say. The war came fast in that region and many that was on holiday there got stranded over night and got stuck there for months, months during winter. They were stuck between the Serbian troops and the Bosnian troops totally isolated. The survivors told the story of what happened when the food ran out and I will spare you the details because as I said they have suffered enough. You see this was not a village that could support all the tourists and such they were all dependent on regular supplies brought in by trucks. So when the food ran out it ran out and there was nothing to eat. Some had stuff stored away and some even had livestock, but not for long. You might think "Of course they turned on each other they were mountainfolk" but the main part of them was not they were educated people there on holiday, doctors, scholars you know educated and well mannered people that had an upbringing that had thought them values like equality and goodness and sharing and all that. Many of them living there permanently was rich people, people that was well off. Didn't matter because when the food ran out they all turned in to animals eventually. Just imagine what you would be able to if your kids were starving, not just hungry, but starving so much their bellies starts to inflate. It's all fun and games now but just you wait, just wait, and when they smell your cooking and kick your door in you will remember me writing this and warning you all. And it's not just the "bad" people. Pretty soon a community will form and that community will demand "tax" just like the community we live in now. They will appoint some people, most certainly former law enforcement, to go door to door and collect everything useful, for "the good of all". And just wait and see what happens to anyone that say no. If you are a prepper never tell anyone, never show anyone and never ever let them smell your cooking.
@@manictiger I always soak my legumes overnight but drain and rinse before cooking because the fermentation process has begun. I was told salt can make the cooking time longer for legumes... never salted until almost done. Also no matter the method of cooking lol the gas production was never lessened.
For those with solar generators a instapot is a great choice for cooking with. Only uses electricity to bring up to temp then shuts off and slow cooks under pressure. Little trick i learned from the van life peeps
I would love to see some videos of people showing what solar generator capabilities are necessary to meet the electrical demands for certain instapot tasks.
@@CascadiaPrepper Hobotech has done that several times on his site. He’s the premiere portable solar battery reviewer, and I find him very honest and straightforward. His findings have confirmed my own on several models I own.
I've always overlooked the Instapot. Thank you. I have a Jackery and was wondering what appliance I should buy to cook with. ( I have other methods, but always need a back up).
I live in a small town in rural Alabama, and moved here from Bham in 2001. I have a friend who lives near me who literally cooks all of her meals outside on a fire built near her steps, and uses cast iron. She does not have a stove inside, and she owns her house and land, but it's a very old unpainted wood house that's built in a very old style like a cabin - I don't think she has the type of electric connection for a stove or room for one, and doesn't have gas connections at all. She grows her own vegetables and also has chickens. She is retired and knows so much about self sufficiency. I didn't think about asking her if I could make a video of how she makes a meal, until now. I don't know how to edit, and only use a phone for internet, not a desktop or laptop, but I can try to make something and post it if you want. I'm sure she wouldnt mind sharing how she does any of the stuff she does, she great.
Going into the 4th day without power here on Cape Cod. Got my 2qt Dutch oven in the fireplace right now heating up a meal I had previously frozen. My cast iron has been invaluable the past few days. Stereo heat(from the dollar tree) has also come in handy. I also have a few dozen unwashed eggs I don't have to throw out with no working fridge. I trade with a local family for my homemade bread. Glad I was prepared for this storm. Many rechargeable lights and other items, along with our fireplace, make it easier to get through this power outage. Thanks for the info in this, and your other videos! We have another storm coming in tomorrow and winter isn't even here yet. Mother Nature has provided some unexpected firewood too🙂
@@RiceaRoni354 thank you! I guess the damage to the power lines in our area is extensive, so we might get power back tomorrow night. It's true that you never know exactly what might occur, but being prepared definitely takes the sting out of an emergency.
With the various weather conditions in our country , we need to have cooking methods to have available. Sounds like you have it under control where you are and stay safe.
I recently had a long power outage. I had my camp stove in a storage unit. The person running the place didn’t know how to manually open the electric gate, so there was no access to my stuff. Luckily I had her phone number so I could contact her and helped her open the gate. I realized my short term preps need to be in an always accessible location. The long term stuff can stay in storage.
Just ugh. If u have storage, ya got 2 much stuff. In shtf others will have ur $torage unit @ gunpoint or sneak in w/ bolt cutters. ...give ur excess 2 the poor. Ugh.
PSA: DO NOT USE THAT STYLE OF BBQ BRUSH!!! The fibers have been known to come off on the grilles and attach themselves to food, where they will puncture your stomach, causing a sometimes fatal infection!!!! It is way safer to use something like a plank to scrape off older food, but there are tons of alternatives! The metal whisker style is dangerous!
One seriously overlooked item I found out through hours of practice. The thermos flask Or lots of them Every time you heat water you can STORE that hard won item The thermopot is going to be my next purchase. Thank you so much
I use hot water and dont boil it. When it steams a little I pour in a thermos. It will keep for 36 hours in the winter. I fill 2 or 3 bottles. I love hot instant coffee. Plus you can cook in it. Just bring rice or whatever to a boil for three minutes and into thermos. I imagine you can wrap in a jacket or towell to extend.
Learn to eat cold food out of a can, then bury the can. If frozen in the can, heat it up just enough to loosen. Hungry people will smell your food cooking/heating a mile away. I've been teaching the grandchildren this, we practice on Sundays.
I had the idea of using tin snips to cut down the side of the can and pound it flat into rectangles. Then store them flat. I guess I better try this out this week.
@@erikjanthes that's not our reality right now, dude lol there's still plenty of food in the stores, you should enjoy the plentiful food sources now while you can. They can learn all the other stuff later if it ever happens.
The food that produces the least amount of scent is probably soup, if you do it right. You can't use all the fixings like your would a crockpot meal where it stinks up the whole house, you have to just use enough seasonings where you can taste it well enough. Soup is the ultimate survival food. Boils your drinking water, preserves all the flavors and calories that seep from the food, minimal smell, nice and moist for your throat and gut. Plus you can have it cooking nonstop around the clock without burning anything, so long as you can keep the fire going
Whenever cooking with a, from the bottom heat source, USE A LID! It cuts the time needed to boil water or heat anything. This will save time, and resources. In an oven this would not be the case. It will also reduce but not completely the smell of that great hot food you are cooking.
About 20 years I was visiting my parents when the power out. I had been camping so still had my gas cooker in the car. I brought it in & boiled water for my parents to fill a thermos of hot water. I visited the elderly neighbours either side who lived alone leaving them each a thermos of hot water to make tea or coffee. Next day I stopped by & they both told me they were safe but appreciated the hot water. These butane cylinder cookers are what I used on picnics / bbqs. I keep one in my garage for these type of emergencies.
In re: alcohol stoves indoors. Sailboat owners tend to replace the original alcohol stoves in their galleys because you can't see the flames when they're lit. This makes them Very dangerous, especially if you have pets or small children. I live alone and can put together a quickie stove using a #10 can, a roll of toilet paper and 91-percent rubbing alcohol, but I consider it a real doomsday option. Headline that I never want to feature in: Local Woman Flambes Self During Power Outage.
These should be used outside, as should the buddy stoves made with wax and cardboard. They have a nice, manageable flame...at first. The minute the wax or alcohol is spent (without warning) and the biomass starts burning (toilet paper or cardboard) it turns into a 3' high torch! I've seen comments in which people think they could use them indoors or in their car. Don't! They also emit carbon monoxide when biomass ignites as well.
I bought the Kelley Kettle deluxe set for about$165. It seems to be well-made and stores in about a one cubic foot space. It is a great option for us senior citizens who may not have the physical strength to manage many other options nor the space to store lots of equipment.
Great informative content for many people who have no clue, alot of different choices you gave ---- I've made sure since well let's say this past February 2021, in TEXAS- all stores were closed, NO ATM'S to get cash , MOST of Texas Uses Electric to heat their home , For such a HOT STATE, ALMOST ALL HOMES HAVE FIREPLACES - Thank goodness we also did, an propane an camping gear for years we camped,,,taught our grown adult Children how to garden, fish , hunt ,be frugal etc .... Our only Daughter April ann Ulrich at age 19 was killed by an illegal Criminal 5 months after she Graduated Highschool. WE With our Sons & many,many fire department families along with TRUCKER families have been preparing since NOV 2020 . God bless you & appreciate your calming voice ... Josette Tharp Montgomery County, Texas 🙏🏻
@J Tharp I am deeply saddened by the loss of your precious daughter. It's so cruel that she was just getting started and no doubt she had hopes and dreams about her future. I am praying for you and your family to have the strength and courage to live the best life that you can. Much love from South Carolina.
re -- illegals and border-jumpers . Preppers have a saying: * 'Rwanda times Bosnia during Chernobyl' or * 'Baltimore times Detroit during this phase of this Economic Lock-Down' . * Everyplace outside my home is a war-zone. * Every stranger is a homicidal 'vector' (disease spreader).
I've scrolled down through the comments and haven't seen anything on pressure cookers. They do take a little more time to heat up but make quick work of even the hardest and driest foods.
Mom told me years ago the grandma would heat up potatoes in a pot of how water then wrap them in a towel then put them under a pillow on the bed to keep them warm and will be cooked in time they just had a 2 burner stove and that was it.
I use a Coleman foldable camp stove and the 1lb propane tanks daily. 1 tank last me about a month cooking a meal a day. I also have the 30lb tank attachment I use in the winter. I've cooked just about everything you can imagine on it including baking bread and whole turkeys using a large dutch oven.
I have a K-Rocket Stove. It works great! I made a chicken pot-pie on it the very first week that I got it. I also have the option of using tea-lights underneath a stove grate in my kitchen if it's raining outside; not optimal, but at least I can heat something up. There's more than one way to get the job done...
Short term? We are not likely to have to worry about other people being out to get us. And for such a short duration, there’s plenty of easy food to eat that doesn’t require cooking. If we had to go 10 days on Twinkies and pretzels… Most of us would survive. LOL. Long term? Now there’s a problem. But to be perfectly honest ...it’s hardly the biggest one. On the list of things to worry about, hot home-cooked food will be on page 16 or 17. Now I know we prepare for many reasons. Some of us even prepare to maintain our current lifestyles and modern conveniences. But on day 182 of a grid-down scenario, you will be amazed how much lower your standards will become. A can opener and a spoon will become your best friends. If we are expecting to be following a recipe on day 182 that involves directions more elaborate than “eat it”, ...we miiiiight not be understanding the scope of the problem just yet. Lol.
The northern portion of this continent has been so coddled since WWII, by day 182 of grid down, the only living things left will be a portion of the military, global elites, cockroaches and a few backcountry elders who were raised with lead and a stockpile of it. Honestly, there’s not much difference between the aforementioned grouping except where they live.
Don’t get me wrong. This information is extraordinarily valuable. People need to know various alternative methods of cooking. Food, just like water, often times must be made safe to consume, chew, digest, etc. I’m just saying that if a crisis demands a survival situation greater than opening a pop tart… We will have bigger fish to fry than frying fish.
@@I_know_it_I_sew_it_I_grow_it try telling that to the homeless who will be/is the first line of people "forgotten" by our government... because... well frankly they are forgotten ALREADY.. Even the "uninvited" get better support....Second in that line are the elderly relying on SS as their only source of income..Guess who is the first to lose when the government runs out of money... Then there are the breeders.. yes those that have more children than they can provide for..Do you think they will still get those Child Tax Credits??
Good overview of cooking options. I'm sure all of this is new to so many who never dreamed they would be faced with the state of the world as it is now. Not me, I have 100 gal propane tank and extra 20 lb tanks, a propane grill, a propane heater, a wood/charcoal smoker/grill, a "hot tent" woodstove with side water tank, a fire pit, acres of woods and the means to cut it by hand if necessary, and lots of cast iron. Clearly I intend to bug in, but if I had to be on the "lamb" I have gobs of lightweight camping/backpacking cookware and have used all of the before mentioned several times each year. I practice bushcrafting and survival skills regularly and have been honing my skills for decades,
My new, We are permanently 'on the lamb'. We summer up rough logger tracks around remote mountain lakes. We winter on isolated Baja beaches. Every day is a lesson in foraging and networking.
I have the fire grate, a gas grill with a side burner and three tanks, a charcoal grill, and a butane chefs burner with 20 spare canisters. . I feel pretty good for now.
I didn't know this until recently, so I'll share in case others don't know, but you can buy an adapter to refill your camping stove Propane tanks (1 lb) using the larger tanks (20 lb).
Another avenue to save time while cooking is a stove top stainless steel pressure cooker. It can significantly decrease cooking times. We use it alot in Brazil to cook beans. It significantly decreases cooking times along with pre-soaking the beans. On a gas camping stove with a big gas tank you can cook for months.
For just 1 or 2 people I think I might go with a coffee can hobo/twig stove combined w/an alcohol penny stove made from a soda can. This allows for the option of using twigs or alcohol in the hobo stove. It also packs well if you need to become mobile. For something more,(semi), permanent I think I’d go with the Dakota Pit, however I would build the actual fire pit in the shape of a cone with a 6” or 8” opening at the top,(shaped like an upside-down flower pot). The smaller hole at the top creates a stronger draft, which causes the fire to burn hotter and the wood to burn more efficiently,(less smoke). It also helps the flames and light to be less visible. It can actually be made using a terra cotta flower pot using an angle grinder to cut the bottom off and cut a hole in the side for the air vent. To help retain the heat it can be surrounded by block and mortar or stones and clay.
When things were at their very worst: 2 Suns, Cross in the sky, 2 comets will collide = don`t be afraid - repent, accept Lord`s Hand of Mercy. Scientists will say it was a global illusion. Beware - Jesus will never walk in flesh again. After WW3 - rise of the “ man of peace“ from the East = Antichrist - the most powerful, popular, charismatic and influential leader of all time. Many miracles will be attributed to him. He will imitate Jesus in every conceivable way. Don`t trust „pope“ Francis = the False Prophet - will seem to rise from the dead - will unite all Christian Churches and all Religions as one. One World Religion = the seat of the Antichrist. Benedict XVI is the last true pope - will be accused of a crime of which he is totally innocent. "Arab uprising will spark global unrest - Italy will trigger fall out" "Many events, including ecological upheavals, wars, the schism in My Church on Earth, the dictatorships in each of your nations - bound as one, at its very core - will all take place at the same time." The Book of Truth
@@spritsfal5088 Hasn’t happened yet. This will usually only happen when there is moisture trapped in the flower pot and it freezes, then expands, causing the flower pot to crack. Building it inside some kind of structure with ventilation,(debris shelter/wiki-up), helps to keep the moisture away. Also the heat from the fire will help to harden the clay and solidify everything.
We live about 90 miles inland from the Gulf coast, NE of Houston, in the Sam Houston NF. For the last 40 years we have tried to be as self sufficient as possible. We have electricity, which can go out often from trees or limbs falling on the lines, we do not depend on it. I have. 500 gallons of LPG, so we utilize a gas range, also a gas grill, two charcoal/wood grills, a large smoker type grill, a Coleman camp stove, and a single burner butane stove. No worry about something to cook on, but in a true SHTF event, I would have a concern for the cooking odors wafting on the breeze. Should we need to bug out, (and for camping) I carry a folding grill, tho with shorter legs than the one shown above. I dig a hole about 18" deep and place the grill above it. Fire is from smaller twigs and wood pieces. It does smoke some, but you can cook at night, as the fire pit mostly hides any flames/light. Again, be aware of cooking odors. Easy to pack if walking, if necessary. I doubt the wife & I would try to bug out on foot, we're both well past 70, so we'd have to depend on our wits as much as possible. Really enjoy your channel, thanks for more ideas.
You are so close. Dig one hole about 2' deep, dig another hole about 18" deep and about a foot away. Dig a tunnel out between the two holes, build fire, and boom you've got a smokeless fire
You may want to consider asking friends and relatives to plan on staying at your place and storing disaster supplies with you. Safety in numbers when you plan ahead.
Another low-cost option for a thermal cooker is a haybox; any box lined with hay or similar material to insulate all sides into which the pot is nestled will hold the heat for several hours. Saw it on _Wartime Farm_.
To me, a much more practical and renewable resource is a woodburning heater. I have cooked on the top of a wood heater, and I have cooked on top of a kerosene heater -- even baking biscuits using a cast-iron crockpot (similar to a Dutch oven, but without the feet and the flat lid). Gas -- both natural gas and propane -- is likely to climb high in price and possibly become unavailable in some areas this winter. While that makes it unreliable in my mind, wood is always available.
I didn’t see you or anyone in the comments mentioning preserving food before anything happens. Like jerky or pre-smoked meats, dehydrated veggies and fruits. They can be eaten as is, or used in soups and stews when needed.
One of the things I was thinking you'd mention are the chemical heaters in MRE packs that I remember from the military. While they are single-use for one MRE meal, they don't generate any smoke and they seemed to get the food just hot enough to eat. I don't think it's a great solution overall, but it's definitely an opsec friendly option.
We used the butane stove a few times at the race track and still never used up the first bottle, so we bought a second stove seeing they were only $15 at ALDI and 4 more bottles of gas for emergencies.
Have made what we call buddy burners for years, a tuna can spiral cardboard in it then fill with wax long lasting cheap and with a folding stove or small cooking grate.
Grandson made a ton of these out of tuna fish cans. Boy do they burn hot so yes they could be cooked over top of. They are one thing in our arsenal of cooking, light, and yes warmth for cold hands.
That cup warmer coil is a decent thing I never would have thought of. Working construction through the winter this is definatly getting tossed in my car.
This is outstanding. Last Feb during Winter Storm Uri, I saved a few of these videos to my phone before the 10 day blackout that helped a lot. This and the water ones are downloaded in full res to my phone.
I love my Coleman 502 stove! It is just a single burner white gas stove that holds 16oz of fuel and you pressurize the tank by pumping it up. It is very stealth and burns perfectly clean! Also, it cools down very quickly, is very light, and takes up very little space in my backpack! So far, I've used it quite a few times and still haven't put a dent in the gas usage. Very high quality all brass fittings, and since I have an old model in mint condition from 1964, the cooking grate is some sort of stainless steel. I don't like the new stoves because the cooking grate seems to be cheap and prone to rust and would never recommend or buy one.
Comprehensive video 👍 With the exception of gas, all the other cooking fuels and methods need practice to achieve good results...only one I haven't tried is solar (I'm in UK) enough said :) Denatured alcohol is safe to use indoors... I think that's a big plus. The primary biproduct from burning it, is water vapour... virtually no carbon monoxide is produced. As you suggest, I do think a mix n match approach to fuel types and appropriate cookware is a reliable solution. I quite like wood pellets, since they can be weighed out for specific burn times, and they're virtually smokeless...cheap too, easy to store, clean to handle with little ash remaining. All the best from Bournemouth (South UK) 👍
GREAT JOB... This IS BEST COOKIN for emergency video I have ever seen... AND BEST INFORMATION.... And at 65 years young.... I have seen many... THANK YOU SO MUCH..... from Northeast Georgia mountains.....
A small detail that speaks *volumes* on the personality and mentality of those who create these videos. They always talk about *hiding* from others, "concealing your activities", "operational security challenges" and so forth. No-one has come out of long-term hardship or thrived as an individual. Communities however (down to even 2-3 families) who are there for each other, share the same mentality, can achieve far more than 'hiding' and 'concealing the small of burgers from your chimney'! Remember that even the proverbial 'Lone Wolf' is part of a pack and can't hunt or survive on its own
I’ve got more than one of these methods of cooking. I gradually acquired them over several years trying out different things. I’m contemplating actually building my own rocket stove in a bucket so it’s portable. Good video I liked it.
@@spritsfal5088 oh yes. I have been checking out videos I am looking at articles on how to make one. I have finally concluded that the best balance of weight and portability is going to be a mixture of sand and small pebbles in a 5 gallon bucket and I will put a 6 inch HVAC flu and elbow joints through the side and tape the seams with metallic tape. I’ll make sure that I have Enough space so that I can actually feed fuel in the side. I’m looking for one of those old metal 5 gallon buckets that you get asphalt or tar in. Although, I’m really leaning towards getting a Kelly Kettle now. It’s a lot more portable and I can do more with it but it’s more expensive.
Having layers of options is my plan. I have one of each of most of those categories but am curious about the thermal cookers after your video. Would save a lot of fuel. One of my favorite backpacking tricks is using a cat food can alcohol stove, denatured alcohol, and a windscreen cut from one of those disposable aluminum cookie pans. Cost a couple of bucks and weighs about an ounce. Fits right in your backpacking pot. The trick with alcohol stoves is to light it, then assume it’s lit, give it a second and then slowly feel for heat with your palm. I can attest to the fact that you can’t see the flame. Note that they are no good in wildfire areas and you can’t buy denatured alcohol in CA. I’ve tried. The OpSec aspect has me a little concerned, even with cooking in the house. Do you take it upstairs to get it above street level? Thorough video as always.
Great video! I'm self-teaching for this type of stuff. Videos like these are fantastic for learning new methods and tricks to practice. I was out in the cold for a few days when my town flooded. Never letting that mess repeat itself if I can help it!
I’ve always said Ready to eat meals are the only way to go into natural disaster. Avoid the fires that could cause an explosion. Gas leaks etc. and keep yourself safe from detection.
My current canning goal is putting ready to eat complete meals in jars on the shelf. Open heat and eat. And if no heat is available, they are fully cooked anyway.
Hi Kris. I too live in CA; on the central coast. I have multiple cooking options both indoors and out. Without worrying about OPSEC, I’d prefer my open pit BBQ. It it were a concern, I’d rely on my 2 burner camp stove.
Absolutely terrific episode! In fact I may look into the thermal cooker. That isn't something I had considered and being able to just bring it to a boil and then put it away for 8+ hours is something I could work into a 'typical' day. eg: Before sleep; stage tomorrow evenings meal ingredients. Morning; make coffee and a frieze dried meal [or whatever else is the morning meal] with boiled water. Place the pot and that days meal on the heating source I already have started. Boiling food, put the pot in the thermal cooker and extinguish the fire. -daily work and activities or even relocation-. Evening meal and clean up. Stage tomorrow evenings meal [stage it right in the pot! without water until ready to cook obviously]. Of course not something to carry on your back but even with a uni-walker I can see the thermal cooker as being very useful. Especially while on the move or during high labor times like spring and fall. It's a lot of work setting up a camp after a long day of walking, not having to think about making food is a welcomed check box when tired.
re -- 'on the move' . We prefer settling in an area, building tribe, 'owning' our turf. 'On the move' sounds like a perpetual refugee... scavenging for scraps.
I have a 12" cast iron frying pan that once belonged to my great grandmother, which makes it over 100 years old (I'm 62 y.o.). I can use it on the stove top, the oven, campfire flame/coals, gas/charcoal grill... just about any where I please as long as whatever it is used on can support the weight. Thanks Granny... just wish you'd also included your cornbread recipe along with it. 😄
Thank you for mentioning the cook time. Non-instant rice and beans take a long time, and if you don't have a wood stove or a battery system, odds are it's too much fuel. Instant rice, pasta, canned beans and veg and meat. Too many peopole say "this is what the pioneers used" or "this is what they do in haiti". Look at what people who are sailing long distances on small craft do.
I like the camp stoves because they can be moved around easily and used indoors with proper ventilation. Only limitation is making sure (a) you have adequate fuel (b) you can store it safely....
Great tips about the kinds of cooking methods to use during a disaster. Thank you for sharing these valuable tips. Bless you and your family and stay safe.
Suggest have extra silicone lids and pot holders. I have large and small rectangle lids I can put on any of my frying pans to keep the heat in. Light and durable.
We have a big green egg. There are ways to produce your own briquettes if you have a wood source. It is part of our preparedness. Granted you can’t move it but if you stay in place it is also an option.
Maybe it's a French Canadian thing, but there's a recipe for baked beans where you bring the ingredients to a boil and then bury them in the ground on a layer of hot coals; mark the spot and come back in 8-12hrs for a delicious meal! This method is awesome for one-pot meals and it's a perfect way to use up the firepit coals at the end of the night for lunch the next morning. As long as you are mindful of where you dig (tree roots= forest fires), it's crazy easy and good to use in my bear-infested province.
I have about 7 of these cooking methods. Prepping is a mentality, i have been out of the prep social circles for a long time but i have discovered these methods on my own. Its a hobby, a way of life. Everything has a dual or triple use. I go camping and cook over a fire, or with a dutch oven, Coleman camp stove. I go hiking and motorcycle camping. Never buy anything that doesn't get used at least twice or three times a year. Keep instructions with your equipment. I forget how to light my coleman stove sometimes
I suggest more than one method of cooking in case you run out of one fuel source or something breaks or it may be too cold to build a fire outdoors. Stock up on more fuel sources than you think you need- i.e extra bottles of propane. Redundancy may save your life. Also, get them now while available before the disaster.
I have a Biolite for emergencies. What I really like about it is that it uses biomass to cook with, but it also generates electricity so I can charge devices with it. I have battery and hand crank operated flashlights, for example, but I also have ones that work on solar +/or USB charging. The same thing with lighters. I have a lot of Nice ones, but I also have a couple that are flameless and are charged with a USB cable. For me, it's all about having multiple ways to do things, which is why I went that way. By the way, I also love Rocket Stoves ;)
Wow, that is a huge topic with a million variables - someone in a desert suburb with low fuel (pretty much just cannibalizing homes) and lots of neighbors is a VASTLY different scenario that someone in a rural wooded neighborhood where everyone is going to have some form of camp fire if only to boil/sterilize creek water with. Grilling up at first is going to be safe and universal as everyone is emptying their freezers and still has pantry food. Alas, Babylon (admittedly fiction) even comments on this after a nuclear strike. Your concern here is likely about how you are most efficiently cooked (and possibly preserving) those foods. Most will be preserving them as human fat by stuffing themselves on softening ice cream and frozen meals while the meats are thawing down to grilling temps. Having a plan to extend your freezer life (generators, keeping them full of frozen water bottles to preserve the cold, having coolers on hand, and even having some ice cream salt around to use your remaining ice to keep the last foods frozen longer all have their place as you eat your way through your freezer and fridge). Op sec is less important than maximizing that food. This is also a good time to be generous and get to know your neighbors in their new attitudes (they will be different people in a disaster than before).Find out who is staying, who is leaving, who seems desperate or panicked, who seems suspicious, etc. Get an idea of any major needs people have and try to work to facilitate them getting those needs met by others in the group. Being the middle man in neighborhood dealings is always better than being the neighborhood merchant baron yourself. Even if you are not a dedicated canner, dehydrator, etc - if you have some jars (even reusing things like old pickle jars) you can safely water bath can ANYTHING if you are only going to need it to last a short while so long as it is acid enough - so, if you can something in vinegar, tomato sauce, lemon juice, etc you are good canning cooked foods in boiling water pots for whatever length of time it takes to get them to seal (10-15 minutes at a full boil will usually work for all by the largest jars). This is NOT for real canning. This is to put a week or two only something that would otherwise go to waste. Once that phase is over - a few days to a week or two in colder weather - people will be down to pantry eating. At this point, you will be cooking less (you are not stuffing yourself with perishables, preserving foods with your canner on the grill, etc). Go with the flow. If the neighbors are cooking on campfires in their back yards - do that. If they are grilling - do that. When you notice that someone cooking something like bacon is drawing neighbors over to their house just to say "hey" (and maybe be offered some breakfast), that is your cue to cut the smells. I'm rural enough (and heavily wooded) that I could probably cook outside (or in the fireplace in winter) indefinitely. If necessary, however, my option after the grill is the camp stove - also propane, with adaptors for the grill tanks and plenty of the little green bottles as well. Blankets and stove in the winter are not ideal, but will absolutely take your profile down to almost nothing when everyone else has their fireplaces roaring. For me, that is it - the propane for convivence and speed at first and for stealth later with an unlimited ability for fire based cooking (I could armor a tank with my cast iron collection - it probably justifies intervention at this point). Learning to make a brick rocket stove is an afternoon's skill to do (and having the bricks for one stacked up out of sight lets you have one and have a happy wife).
Rice cookers are remarkably versatile and a great option if you have a way of maintaining electricity, either a generator, solar power, ect. They combine the effects of pressure cookers and insulated pots to allow the food inside to be cooked with the minimal amount of heat input and many come with a variety of settings and accessories such as steam baskets for cooking a plethora of different foods. They can even be great for baking cakes or bread if you want. Also a note about coil heaters... you can find electric kettles which contain these that allow for the rapid boiling of lots of water within a safe and easy to handle vessel. Definitely recommend getting one of these and using it everyday to boil water for tea. They are a godsend for the college student living off of package ramen and instant coffee.
You need to add to the list Evacuated solar tubes. Great for boiling water or cooking a meal without fuel, only sunlight. There are different sizes available.
The urban sheep-herder in southern Oregon uses these to bake breads, make stews, all ingredients foraged from city lots. 'Go-Sun'? His UA-cam channel has '123...' in the name.
I've covered most options now other than the solar cooker. Waste of money I could spend on more fuel and food. Excellent video. One of the most valuable. Thank you City Prepper 👊💜👊
Lived on cold MREs for nine month during deployment...not one hot meal (not even the MRE) in nine months. Alot to most can goods can be ate right out of the can. Warm or hot food is a luxury, less it MUST be cooked.
I have a solar cooker and consider it a secondary cooking device. Obviously it requieres good wheather and time, so my bugout back contains a small foldable caping stove and matches/lighter, to use anything I might find for cooking. But for the bugin plan I have a gas cooker and some small cannisters of fuel for it, that I plan to use whenever I can´t use the solar cooker. On the other hand a solar cooker is a way to connect to neighbors, offer them to save fuel and cook with me when the sun is out, to form connections, while showing only the cooker from my preps.
During the two Climate-induced heat waves here in the Pacific NW this last summer, I used my brick rocket stove off the back deck in my backyard to cook breakfast a couple of mornings, just to keep from generating any heat inside the house.
Solo Stove is by far my favorite but not my only option. We have the outdoor firepit with a large grilling surface as well as outdoor gas grill and a Coleman camp stove. Highly recommend that if you have a camp stove that you get a 20lb propane adapter. Another one to have, especially for indoor use is a butane stovetop. Many are not aware that there are butane stovetops that also run of the 1lb propane tanks. Always have back ups for your back ups people. Remember, 2 is 1 and 1 is none.
Excellent info! Another thought for those who have high efficiency fireplaces is to cook your meals inside the fireplace with the door closed. The closed door will reduce the cooking aroma inside the house. You can use small kindling for fuel and you can regulate the air flow for combustion. An additional benefit is the cooking aroma goes up the chimney and is well dispersed away from the source. Furthermore, the use of kindling will reduce the amount of heat the fireplace produces on warm or hot days.
@@spritsfal5088 Hot plates suck up alot of power. And the solar cooker is alot cheaper than your largest capacity solar generator, that could handle a hot plate.
When I was a reservist in the Canadian Army many decades ago, we were trained in various disciplines while in the field and operating tactically: noise discipline, light discipline, track discipline and odour discipline. Odour discipline meant having to eat our rations cold, so as not to give away our location through the smell of cooking, cooked food or the smell of an open fire. This also tied in with light discipline, as we would not be able to use wood fires to cook or reheat our rations.
Can't believe you never mentioned " backpacking stoves". They are used by everyday survivalist( backpackers) who actually live day to day in wild. They are cheap, light, and very effective.
I am so glad I know and have attachments to use my canners on fire pits. We could easily can up all of the meats we need to right away from the original grilling. Once they are in the jars, then we can heat up over candles if we want to.
Depending on the environment or predicament we find ourselves cooking it may be a good idea to cook at “odd” times. Guests may drop by uninvited for dinner at 6pm or breakfast at 8am expecting food to be on the table. Do you have enough to share? Could be more than one or once. I’m speaking from experience.
🤣🤣 Continuing in that same vein, I plan to put a sign out sheet in our pantry areas so that if family members take a can of this or that to give to someone, I know to replace it ... Blessings,
I disagree with this philosophy. If shtf, I plan to take care of others. I’m going to rally good people around me. I’m going to help feed people. You show up with your kids starving, they get fed. The rest of the world can act like animals. I refuse to become one.. Individuals are easy targets for villains, A strong community is not.
@@kwaynesatuckle5631 It really depends on the environment. In a tight knit community, your strategy would work fine. In a more hostile environment like cities on the other hand, yeeeeeeee, no. I'm within city limits, so chances are that I don't think your strategy is viable from where I am. Our instincts are helpful at the best environments and harmful at the worst ones. Unfortunately, survival favors the latter, so you have to choose your strategy very carefully.
I can do my propane stove top, campfire outdoors, and I bought that can cooker and tested it today. I does actually heat water with two tealight candles.
Good one, Kris. Me, I am a stove junkie. I have no less than 4 different stoves. A jet boil plus fuel cells, two Coleman white gas and multi-fuel stoves with a fold up Coleman oven. 4 gallons of Coleman fuel. Then I have a wood burner. I have a grill to cook over a fire and or coals. I have a gas barbeque and 4 extra tanks that I rotate. I also have a sun oven. I have an extensive collection of cast iron cookware. We should be good for cooking 🍳.
I expect that for the first four days or so of a regional grid down, those who have an outdoor grill and enough charcoal or propane will be cooking food from their refrigerator and freezer before the food spoils. I expect there will be lots of cooking aromas throughout suburban neighborhoods those first four days or so and many backyard BBQ chefs will probably away cooked food to neighbors instead of leaving the thawing food to spoil. A block party cookout or neighborhood pot luck picnic during the first few days of a regional grid gown would not surprise me if the outdoor weather is mild. Better to cook and give away meals than to have a refrigerator and freezer full of smelly, rotting food. Heightened danger will likely start the week AFTER the regional power grid goes down when the unprepared become desperate for food, assuming the unprepared cannot just get into their vehicles and drive several hours to a region that does have a working power grid and open businesses that can process credit cards and debt cards. When people are hungry and still have enough energy to do something about it is when some may use force to seize food from others. When a lean person has been starving for a couple of weeks or longer, they just may be too weakened to be able to use force to take food from others. Those who started out obese, will have larger fat reserves for energy and probably will be active a lot longer during times of famine assuming they have a source of clean drinking water. When stuck in a populated area days after the unprepared have used what food they had before the grid went down, days after the local stores have run out of their food stocks and days or weeks before there is some organized food relief from state government or charity groups, protecting your household from desperate and hungry people will be critical. It does not matter whether you actually have any food in your home. If a desperate, starving person believes you have food, that may be enough for them to target your home for burglary or invasion. Obviously, the aroma of cooking food will be a lure that will attract hungry and desperate people and the neighborhood stray dogs from a long way upwind from your home. Different foods vary in their strength of cooking aroma. Frying bacon and onions will produce a more intense aroma compared to simmering white rice or plain spaghetti pasta in plain water. But when a person is starving, their sense of smell heightens and they can smell that rice cooking. Even if they do not smell cooking food, they will see or smell the smoke from a campfire or charcoal grill and will investigate. If you can safely simmer water indoors on a butane stove when all the windows and exterior doors are tightly closed, then you can prepare instant meals such as pouches of Mountain House meals. If living in a multiple story apartment or condo building, you will attract the least notice if you just consume no-cook foods such as trail bars or peanut butter and crackers or meat jerky or dried fruit or unheated canned vegetables and are very careful how you dispose of food wrappers and packaging. If you must use a wood stove, outdoor grill, rocket stove or campfire for cooking, you will be less likely to attract attention if you are in a thinly settled rural area and do your cooking early in the morning a few hours before sunrise when most people are sleeping. Do keep in mind, when a starving person is sleeping they can be awakened by a strong food odor. Once awake, they will follow the scent plume of cooking food until they find the source. Assuming they still have enough energy to walk. It can be a challenge to make affordable, no-cook meals or low-odor hot meals from long-term food storage. I plan to make museli for breakfast by soaking rolled oats overnight in clean water and then just before serving mixing in powdered milk, sugar and dried raisins. Dinner will be a Mountain House meal plus some rehydrated freeze-dried vegetables using water boiled on a butane stove.
Very well thought out. This is one topic that we are constantly discussing in our household. The fact is, there’s is no simple answer. There are so many factors that play into it (location, population and types of food stored etc). I think you’d see a majority of people cooking openly in the first week, openly sharing perhaps. I would probably want to use that time to can/preserve what I could (quietly) out of my freezer/fridge. That way, smells aren’t an issue. After that, we would make use of a lot of cold soaking (when possible) and probably a thermal cooker to heat over long period of time while decreasing cooking smell. Maybe a dedicated area in the house that you can cook in that will keep the smell concentrated to that area only and you can move through diff areas so that the smell dissipates before you leave your home? Like a bathroom, inside a bedroom, down a hall. Just a thought. My goal (just as everyone else) is to find a method of cooking with the least amount of energy/fuel required, with the lowest signature (smell/smoke/visual-sun cooker) and is sustainable over time. Same with growing/securing food. We postulate how things will be and how we will handle them, but no one really knows what the reality will be. Thanks again for the thoughts!
Linda, Part of that scenario presumes a local catastrophe, presumes neighboring communities with an abundance to share, presumes fuel and unrestricted travel. During this phase of this Economic Lock-Down, the disaster is global. Every city is a war-zone. Every stranger is a homicidal 'vector' (disease spreader). . This past century or so of prosperity was an anomaly. All times prior were: * 'droughts times floods during plagues'... while battling everybody outside the tribe. Welcome to 'the new normal'... a return to the way it always was.
@@largemarge1603 Sorry, I do not buy into your dystopian view of the world. Two previous world wars provide plenty of examples of neighbors helping one another despite invasions, food rationing, starvation and genocide.
@@gonefishing3644 re -- two wars . You validate my point. The prosperity during that era was possible only through exploitation of: * natural resources, and * human resources (aka ingenuity and work-ethic). Neither of those are economically feasible. * Natural resources tipped into negative on the Return-On-Investment scale decades ago. * Human resources are also a liability, with too many mouths chasing obliterated top-soil... requiring ever-increasing amounts of petroleum-based chemicals to break even. Unfortunately, petroleum is simultaneously harder to extract and of lower quality. . A further complication is transportation costs. Trucking foods thousands of miles across continents is terribly uneconomical. . I think I can safely predict a continuation of the decline of our species. Any study of natural systems reveals a perpetual balancing and re-balancing. A peak predator cannot over-eat its prey without consequences. . Newton's Third: * every action creates an equal opposite reaction. . Unless you repeal the laws of our physical universe, our species will inevitably perish as a major influence. The artificial props and crutches allowed by diminishing our available resources is rapidly collapsing. . Buy it, don't buy it. You decisions have zero-zero-zero impact on my tribe.
Carbon steel paella pans are very light compared to cast iron skillets and are designed to cook over open fire. They are also very good for baking biscuits or pizza, can be used to fry eggs or pancakes like a skillet or griddle, and they are *MUCH BETTER* if you have to carry your cookware when bugging out.
i am wondering if the thermal insulated body of the Instant Pot would accomplish the same as that Thermal Pot if we use it in a similar fashion if the power goes out .....
Cooking was a worry so I bought a pair of 100 lb propane tanks and the adapters to run Mr Heaters, my camp stove and the BBQ, and I'm happy about that. I also got a full cast iron set with a griddle, Dutch oven, pots and pans, so when the propane runs out I can start burning wood for my fuel. I still need a wood-burning stove in my house though, as that's a real long-term solution for both heat and cooking (provided it's defensible)... that's my long term goal.
@@baneverything5580 How often do you cook your meals using 100-Watts? I saw a video press-release about an Australian 12v oven operating on 300-Watts, a roast required eight hours...
Biolite campstove is great. Just twigs for fuel like a Kelly kettle. Which I also have. If you are lazy you can use wood pellets. Can cook with 1/3 cup of pellets. Works out to over 400 meals with one 50 lb bag of pellets. Less than 2 cents worth of pellets runs smokeless with a bit of practice and you can recharge your phone or use fan unit as a battery bank. Takes 4 cents worth to cook a burger or steak Hard to beat.
We have MRE’s on hand for the period of time immediately after a natural disaster. I’m in the NW where earthquakes are always a possibility. MRE’s allow you to eat while still sorting out where all your gear is and if it’s still functional.
Items mentioned in the video:
Dakota firepit: ua-cam.com/video/5e60AxnUk60/v-deo.html
Foldable camp fire grill: amzn.to/3CvYyfP
Solo stove: amzn.to/3pRUWRU
Minuteman rocket stove: bit.ly/2EkM8yj
Minuteman K rocket stove: bit.ly/3Bvz2Ho
Kelly Kettle: bit.ly/2FMMoXl
Sterno stove: amzn.to/3GzhM6N
Camp stove: amzn.to/2Y1mYPs
Coleman camp stove: amzn.to/3jRppfb
Alcohol stove: amzn.to/3Etxoa5
Can Cooker: amzn.to/3EhmXWQ
Dutch oven: amzn.to/2XYFLuL
Thermal cooker: amzn.to/3q4Q4Jt
Wonderbag: amzn.to/3mqNTxq
Electric hot plate: amzn.to/3ErwHxY
12V water coil: amzn.to/3mrNc7a
Sunoven: bit.ly/3GJshnY
Thank you!!!! Very helpful!
Would love to hear your thoughts on the banning of tools, generators, lawnmowers that run on fuel in some places. It was on my local news just the other day here in Australia that they want to do this. I see this change has already started in some places around the world. I was looking at buying a generator and now am not sure what to buy. I wonder what's next on the list that they want to ban?
The description box is not below anymore. On a touch screen
@@ric5403 My dad says Solar. Both mine and the bf's
@@Preppergirl10 Thank you for responding. I will be for sure looking into that as it's next on my to do list.
I lived in a downtown area on south Florida when a hurricane caused the electricity to go out for 2 weeks. My family was the only one with a grill in our small apartment building of about 12 units. We brought the grill out side to cook and all the residents came around to ask if they could use it too. Let me just say that we all came together like a family and planned who would cook what, when. We all shared meals and ate fine together. No one had spoiled food. I know it was only a 2 week duration, but there is so much talk in these comments about people coming after each other and I just want to say that I was lucky enough to see the humanity of people caring and sharing with each other. I would suggest everyone to get to know your neighbors. We need each other; especially in survival times.
Thank you for that. It's good to remember that humanity has some good people
All humans are evil, hate-filled creatures. Some are just better at hiding it when they need to.
A lot of preppers are downright excited about a breakdown in society and are just itching to be able to shoot at other people.
Yes it's true all what you say as long as there is enough to go around that is.
You all knew that help was coming right?
And that if you wanted to you could leave.
But what if no help was coming?
And what if it didn't matter if you left because there was nothing to leave to?
Never underestimate other peoples will to survive.
I've seen what a community can turn in to when the food grows scarce.
My English isn't so good but I will try, let's hope the autocorrect is working.
It was in Bosnia during the war there.
I was with the red cross and we had just managed to go further in to the warzone than any before us and what we found was the direct opposite of what you wrote.
I will not name the place because those living there now does not need to relive that nightmare but it was a resort of a kind.
You know snowy mountains, fresh springs, a quaint little village the picture postcard resort as to say.
The war came fast in that region and many that was on holiday there got stranded over night and got stuck there for months, months during winter.
They were stuck between the Serbian troops and the Bosnian troops totally isolated.
The survivors told the story of what happened when the food ran out and I will spare you the details because as I said they have suffered enough.
You see this was not a village that could support all the tourists and such they were all dependent on regular supplies brought in by trucks.
So when the food ran out it ran out and there was nothing to eat.
Some had stuff stored away and some even had livestock, but not for long.
You might think "Of course they turned on each other they were mountainfolk" but the main part of them was not they were educated people there on holiday, doctors, scholars you know educated and well mannered people that had an upbringing that had thought them values like equality and goodness and sharing and all that.
Many of them living there permanently was rich people, people that was well off.
Didn't matter because when the food ran out they all turned in to animals eventually.
Just imagine what you would be able to if your kids were starving, not just hungry, but starving so much their bellies starts to inflate.
It's all fun and games now but just you wait, just wait, and when they smell your cooking and kick your door in you will remember me writing this and warning you all.
And it's not just the "bad" people.
Pretty soon a community will form and that community will demand "tax" just like the community we live in now.
They will appoint some people, most certainly former law enforcement, to go door to door and collect everything useful, for "the good of all".
And just wait and see what happens to anyone that say no.
If you are a prepper never tell anyone, never show anyone and never ever let them smell your cooking.
A communal kitchen is a brilliant idea!
Soak your grains and legumes overnight to cut way back on cooking time. Cut veggies and meat smaller to cook more quickly. Awesome video!
Salt might help, too. Lentils in water seems to attract microbes.
Great suggestion
@@manictiger That is a good thought! I don't usually soak lentils because they cook so quickly, but I am glad you mentioned this potential risk!
@@dorisdanielsen3296
Yeah, I had a batch get kind of funky. Took a risk and boiled them in a soup anyway. Didn't get sick, so boiling worked.
@@manictiger I always soak my legumes overnight but drain and rinse before cooking because the fermentation process has begun. I was told salt can make the cooking time longer for legumes... never salted until almost done. Also no matter the method of cooking lol the gas production was never lessened.
For those with solar generators a instapot is a great choice for cooking with. Only uses electricity to bring up to temp then shuts off and slow cooks under pressure. Little trick i learned from the van life peeps
For the algorithms
I would love to see some videos of people showing what solar generator capabilities are necessary to meet the electrical demands for certain instapot tasks.
@@CascadiaPrepper Hobotech has done that several times on his site. He’s the premiere portable solar battery reviewer, and I find him very honest and straightforward. His findings have confirmed my own on several models I own.
Instant pot is my plan for the first 3 months or so. Then rocket/liquid fuel to cook with.
I've always overlooked the Instapot. Thank you. I have a Jackery and was wondering what appliance I should buy to cook with.
( I have other methods, but always need a back up).
I live in a small town in rural Alabama, and moved here from Bham in 2001. I have a friend who lives near me who literally cooks all of her meals outside on a fire built near her steps, and uses cast iron. She does not have a stove inside, and she owns her house and land, but it's a very old unpainted wood house that's built in a very old style like a cabin - I don't think she has the type of electric connection for a stove or room for one, and doesn't have gas connections at all. She grows her own vegetables and also has chickens. She is retired and knows so much about self sufficiency. I didn't think about asking her if I could make a video of how she makes a meal, until now. I don't know how to edit, and only use a phone for internet, not a desktop or laptop, but I can try to make something and post it if you want. I'm sure she wouldnt mind sharing how she does any of the stuff she does, she great.
I’d love to see that.
That would be interesting!
If you would like someone to taste the food please count me in. Thank you.
I would love to see that as well.
Same. I would definitely watch it!
As a Veteran I thank you for helping others to better prepare for difficult times
Going into the 4th day without power here on Cape Cod. Got my 2qt Dutch oven in the fireplace right now heating up a meal I had previously frozen. My cast iron has been invaluable the past few days. Stereo heat(from the dollar tree) has also come in handy. I also have a few dozen unwashed eggs I don't have to throw out with no working fridge. I trade with a local family for my homemade bread. Glad I was prepared for this storm. Many rechargeable lights and other items, along with our fireplace, make it easier to get through this power outage. Thanks for the info in this, and your other videos! We have another storm coming in tomorrow and winter isn't even here yet. Mother Nature has provided some unexpected firewood too🙂
I hope you get power soon. Sounds like you have planned well.
@@RiceaRoni354 thank you! I guess the damage to the power lines in our area is extensive, so we might get power back tomorrow night. It's true that you never know exactly what might occur, but being prepared definitely takes the sting out of an emergency.
With the various weather conditions in our country , we need to have cooking methods to have available. Sounds like you have it under control where you are and stay safe.
Stay safe and warm. Let us know how you are doing. GOD BLESS and take care of yourself. From Washington State.👍🇺🇸
Sending prayers from Nebraska 🙏❤️🤍💙🇺🇸
I recently had a long power outage. I had my camp stove in a storage unit. The person running the place didn’t know how to manually open the electric gate, so there was no access to my stuff.
Luckily I had her phone number so I could contact her and helped her open the gate.
I realized my short term preps need to be in an always accessible location.
The long term stuff can stay in storage.
Just ugh. If u have storage, ya got 2 much stuff. In shtf others will have ur $torage unit @ gunpoint or sneak in w/ bolt cutters. ...give ur excess 2 the poor. Ugh.
@@didntask5689 Ugh, like yah, ugh, so right ugh, you-ugh go-ugh girl-ugh.
@@didntask5689 guess you live in a tiny house with only a fixed blade knife
@@didntask5689 Yeah, how awful for someone to not want to be stepping over their preps every time they need to get through the hallway.
PSA: DO NOT USE THAT STYLE OF BBQ BRUSH!!!
The fibers have been known to come off on the grilles and attach themselves to food, where they will puncture your stomach, causing a sometimes fatal infection!!!!
It is way safer to use something like a plank to scrape off older food, but there are tons of alternatives! The metal whisker style is dangerous!
Thank You for pointing that out. I was cringing! An onion sliced in half works wonders cleaning a hot grill!
Thanks for the warning. 🙏
One seriously overlooked item I found out through hours of practice.
The thermos flask
Or lots of them
Every time you heat water you can STORE that hard won item
The thermopot is going to be my next purchase.
Thank you so much
I use hot water and dont boil it. When it steams a little I pour in a thermos. It will keep for 36 hours in the winter. I fill 2 or 3 bottles. I love hot instant coffee. Plus you can cook in it. Just bring rice or whatever to a boil for three minutes and into thermos. I imagine you can wrap in a jacket or towell to extend.
@@ridgerunner106 I am making Reflectix cozy to cover thermos, and one for French press, to extend warmth (and for cooking in thermos)
Great point, thank you. I don't even need a thermo pot, i have an old thermos i never use
Learn to eat cold food out of a can, then bury the can. If frozen in the can, heat it up just enough to loosen. Hungry people will smell your food cooking/heating a mile away. I've been teaching the grandchildren this, we practice on Sundays.
I had the idea of using tin snips to cut down the side of the can and pound it flat into rectangles. Then store them flat. I guess I better try this out this week.
Goodness, you have your grandkids eat cold canned food on Sundays? lol what happened to spoiling grandchildren with turkey and fresh cookies?
@@claytonhawk8512 reality
@@claytonhawk8512 Spoiled children who are still eating turkey and fresh cookies on a Sunday will never survive what's coming.
@@erikjanthes that's not our reality right now, dude lol there's still plenty of food in the stores, you should enjoy the plentiful food sources now while you can. They can learn all the other stuff later if it ever happens.
The food that produces the least amount of scent is probably soup, if you do it right. You can't use all the fixings like your would a crockpot meal where it stinks up the whole house, you have to just use enough seasonings where you can taste it well enough. Soup is the ultimate survival food. Boils your drinking water, preserves all the flavors and calories that seep from the food, minimal smell, nice and moist for your throat and gut. Plus you can have it cooking nonstop around the clock without burning anything, so long as you can keep the fire going
Whenever cooking with a, from the bottom heat source, USE A LID! It cuts the time needed to boil water or heat anything. This will save time, and resources. In an oven this would not be the case. It will also reduce but not completely the smell of that great hot food you are cooking.
Can take the rack out of the oven and put it on 2 cinder blocks over camp fire outside. Can do this with bricks in fire place too.
Yep....
About 20 years I was visiting my parents when the power out. I had been camping so still had my gas cooker in the car. I brought it in & boiled water for my parents to fill a thermos of hot water. I visited the elderly neighbours either side who lived alone leaving them each a thermos of hot water to make tea or coffee. Next day I stopped by & they both told me they were safe but appreciated the hot water. These butane cylinder cookers are what I used on picnics / bbqs. I keep one in my garage for these type of emergencies.
That’s really good natured of you
In re: alcohol stoves indoors. Sailboat owners tend to replace the original alcohol stoves in their galleys because you can't see the flames when they're lit. This makes them Very dangerous, especially if you have pets or small children. I live alone and can put together a quickie stove using a #10 can, a roll of toilet paper and 91-percent rubbing alcohol, but I consider it a real doomsday option. Headline that I never want to feature in: Local Woman Flambes Self During Power Outage.
These should be used outside, as should the buddy stoves made with wax and cardboard. They have a nice, manageable flame...at first. The minute the wax or alcohol is spent (without warning) and the biomass starts burning (toilet paper or cardboard) it turns into a 3' high torch! I've seen comments in which people think they could use them indoors or in their car. Don't! They also emit carbon monoxide when biomass ignites as well.
lol. Good ideas.
@@dianenordstrom2770 Try a tightly rolled bundle of fiberglass fibers instead or TP or cardboard. I've had good luck using it with alcohol.
@@dbergerac9632 Or perlite or vermiculite. Now I have a couple of experiments to do. That was a great suggestion.
Used then can to and alcohol while hunting in small blind. Keeps ya warm.
I bought the Kelley Kettle deluxe set for about$165. It seems to be well-made and stores in about a one cubic foot space. It is a great option for us senior citizens who may not have the physical strength to manage many other options nor the space to store lots of equipment.
Great informative content for many people who have no clue, alot of different choices you gave ----
I've made sure since well let's say this past February 2021, in TEXAS- all stores were closed, NO ATM'S to get cash , MOST of Texas Uses Electric to heat their home , For such a HOT STATE, ALMOST ALL HOMES HAVE FIREPLACES - Thank goodness we also did, an propane an camping gear for years we camped,,,taught our grown adult Children how to garden, fish , hunt ,be frugal etc ....
Our only Daughter
April ann Ulrich at age 19 was killed by an illegal Criminal
5 months after she Graduated Highschool.
WE With our Sons & many,many fire department families along with TRUCKER families have been preparing since NOV 2020 .
God bless you & appreciate your calming voice ...
Josette Tharp Montgomery County, Texas 🙏🏻
@J Tharp I am deeply saddened by the loss of your precious daughter. It's so cruel that she was just getting started and no doubt she had hopes and dreams about her future. I am praying for you and your family to have the strength and courage to live the best life that you can. Much love from South Carolina.
re -- illegals and border-jumpers
.
Preppers have a saying:
* 'Rwanda times Bosnia during Chernobyl'
or
* 'Baltimore times Detroit during this phase of this Economic Lock-Down'
.
* Everyplace outside my home is a war-zone.
* Every stranger is a homicidal 'vector' (disease spreader).
I've scrolled down through the comments and haven't seen anything on pressure cookers. They do take a little more time to heat up but make quick work of even the hardest and driest foods.
I always look for stainless not aluminum.
Mom told me years ago the grandma would heat up potatoes in a pot of how water then wrap them in a towel then put them under a pillow on the bed to keep them warm and will be cooked in time they just had a 2 burner stove and that was it.
I use a Coleman foldable camp stove and the 1lb propane tanks daily. 1 tank last me about a month cooking a meal a day. I also have the 30lb tank attachment I use in the winter. I've cooked just about everything you can imagine on it including baking bread and whole turkeys using a large dutch oven.
I have a K-Rocket Stove. It works great! I made a chicken pot-pie on it the very first week that I got it.
I also have the option of using tea-lights underneath a stove grate in my kitchen if it's raining outside; not optimal, but at least I can heat something up.
There's more than one way to get the job done...
Short term? We are not likely to have to worry about other people being out to get us. And for such a short duration, there’s plenty of easy food to eat that doesn’t require cooking. If we had to go 10 days on Twinkies and pretzels… Most of us would survive. LOL.
Long term? Now there’s a problem. But to be perfectly honest ...it’s hardly the biggest one. On the list of things to worry about, hot home-cooked food will be on page 16 or 17.
Now I know we prepare for many reasons. Some of us even prepare to maintain our current lifestyles and modern conveniences. But on day 182 of a grid-down scenario, you will be amazed how much lower your standards will become. A can opener and a spoon will become your best friends.
If we are expecting to be following a recipe on day 182 that involves directions more elaborate than “eat it”, ...we miiiiight not be understanding the scope of the problem just yet. Lol.
The northern portion of this continent has been so coddled since WWII, by day 182 of grid down, the only living things left will be a portion of the military, global elites, cockroaches and a few backcountry elders who were raised with lead and a stockpile of it. Honestly, there’s not much difference between the aforementioned grouping except where they live.
This channel is overkill. I'm sure everybody is going to be fine.
Don’t get me wrong. This information is extraordinarily valuable. People need to know various alternative methods of cooking. Food, just like water, often times must be made safe to consume, chew, digest, etc.
I’m just saying that if a crisis demands a survival situation greater than opening a pop tart… We will have bigger fish to fry than frying fish.
@@JamieHitt "We will have bigger fish to fry than frying fish" - lol
@@I_know_it_I_sew_it_I_grow_it try telling that to the homeless who will be/is the first line of people "forgotten" by our government... because... well frankly they are forgotten ALREADY.. Even the "uninvited" get better support....Second in that line are the elderly relying on SS as their only source of income..Guess who is the first to lose when the government runs out of money... Then there are the breeders.. yes those that have more children than they can provide for..Do you think they will still get those Child Tax Credits??
Good overview of cooking options. I'm sure all of this is new to so many who never dreamed they would be faced with the state of the world as it is now. Not me, I have 100 gal propane tank and extra 20 lb tanks, a propane grill, a propane heater, a wood/charcoal smoker/grill, a "hot tent" woodstove with side water tank, a fire pit, acres of woods and the means to cut it by hand if necessary, and lots of cast iron. Clearly I intend to bug in, but if I had to be on the "lamb" I have gobs of lightweight camping/backpacking cookware and have used all of the before mentioned several times each year. I practice bushcrafting and survival skills regularly and have been honing my skills for decades,
My new,
We are permanently 'on the lamb'.
We summer up rough logger tracks around remote mountain lakes.
We winter on isolated Baja beaches.
Every day is a lesson in foraging and networking.
On the lam not lamb
Love the Coleman stoves; just make sure that you have a carbon monoxide monitor if used indoors.
I just put batteries in both CO2 and smoke.
CO is more dense than air, so it settles. You need an opening for it to dissipate, preferably outside.
I've used a coleman propane stove indoors for 3 years I just don't see any reason to buy a regular stove.
Great advice. Think about buying a spare carbon monoxide monitor now.
may not be available in the future.
I have the fire grate, a gas grill with a side burner and three tanks, a charcoal grill, and a butane chefs burner with 20 spare canisters. . I feel pretty good for now.
I didn't know this until recently, so I'll share in case others don't know, but you can buy an adapter to refill your camping stove Propane tanks (1 lb) using the larger tanks (20 lb).
Link please?
Thanks
Lolll,where have you been
Another avenue to save time while cooking is a stove top stainless steel pressure cooker. It can significantly decrease cooking times. We use it alot in Brazil to cook beans. It significantly decreases cooking times along with pre-soaking the beans. On a gas camping stove with a big gas tank you can cook for months.
For just 1 or 2 people I think I might go with a coffee can hobo/twig stove combined w/an alcohol penny stove made from a soda can. This allows for the option of using twigs or alcohol in the hobo stove. It also packs well if you need to become mobile. For something more,(semi), permanent I think I’d go with the Dakota Pit, however I would build the actual fire pit in the shape of a cone with a 6” or 8” opening at the top,(shaped like an upside-down flower pot). The smaller hole at the top creates a stronger draft, which causes the fire to burn hotter and the wood to burn more efficiently,(less smoke). It also helps the flames and light to be less visible. It can actually be made using a terra cotta flower pot using an angle grinder to cut the bottom off and cut a hole in the side for the air vent. To help retain the heat it can be surrounded by block and mortar or stones and clay.
When things were at their very worst:
2 Suns, Cross in the sky, 2 comets will collide = don`t be afraid - repent, accept Lord`s Hand of Mercy.
Scientists will say it was a global illusion.
Beware - Jesus will never walk in flesh again.
After WW3 - rise of the “ man of peace“ from the East = Antichrist - the most powerful, popular, charismatic and influential leader of all time. Many miracles will be attributed to him. He will imitate Jesus in every conceivable way.
Don`t trust „pope“ Francis = the False Prophet
- will seem to rise from the dead
- will unite all Christian Churches and all Religions as one.
One World Religion = the seat of the Antichrist.
Benedict XVI is the last true pope - will be accused of a crime of which he is totally innocent.
"Arab uprising will spark global unrest - Italy will trigger fall out"
"Many events, including ecological upheavals, wars, the schism in My Church on Earth, the dictatorships in each of your nations - bound as one, at its very core - will all take place at the same time."
The Book of Truth
@@spritsfal5088 Hasn’t happened yet. This will usually only happen when there is moisture trapped in the flower pot and it freezes, then expands, causing the flower pot to crack. Building it inside some kind of structure with ventilation,(debris shelter/wiki-up), helps to keep the moisture away. Also the heat from the fire will help to harden the clay and solidify everything.
We live about 90 miles inland from the Gulf coast, NE of Houston, in the Sam Houston NF. For the last 40 years we have tried to be as self sufficient as possible. We have electricity, which can go out often from trees or limbs falling on the lines, we do not depend on it. I have. 500 gallons of LPG, so we utilize a gas range, also a gas grill, two charcoal/wood grills, a large smoker type grill, a Coleman camp stove, and a single burner butane stove. No worry about something to cook on, but in a true SHTF event, I would have a concern for the cooking odors wafting on the breeze.
Should we need to bug out, (and for camping) I carry a folding grill, tho with shorter legs than the one shown above. I dig a hole about 18" deep and place the grill above it. Fire is from smaller twigs and wood pieces. It does smoke some, but you can cook at night, as the fire pit mostly hides any flames/light. Again, be aware of cooking odors. Easy to pack if walking, if necessary.
I doubt the wife & I would try to bug out on foot, we're both well past 70, so we'd have to depend on our wits as much as possible. Really enjoy your channel, thanks for more ideas.
I live S. of you in lake Jackson good to know more people-communities are prepped and ready. And this channel has taught me valuable lessons.
Thank you for the idea about digging the pit for the stove. That solves the cook top dilemma. Your spread sounds wonderful. Will you adopt me :)
You are so close. Dig one hole about 2' deep, dig another hole about 18" deep and about a foot away. Dig a tunnel out between the two holes, build fire, and boom you've got a smokeless fire
You may want to consider asking friends and relatives to plan
on staying at your place and storing disaster supplies with you.
Safety in numbers when you plan ahead.
Another low-cost option for a thermal cooker is a haybox; any box lined with hay or similar material to insulate all sides into which the pot is nestled will hold the heat for several hours. Saw it on _Wartime Farm_.
To me, a much more practical and renewable resource is a woodburning heater. I have cooked on the top of a wood heater, and I have cooked on top of a kerosene heater -- even baking biscuits using a cast-iron crockpot (similar to a Dutch oven, but without the feet and the flat lid). Gas -- both natural gas and propane -- is likely to climb high in price and possibly become unavailable in some areas this winter. While that makes it unreliable in my mind, wood is always available.
I didn’t see you or anyone in the comments mentioning preserving food before anything happens. Like jerky or pre-smoked meats, dehydrated veggies and fruits. They can be eaten as is, or used in soups and stews when needed.
One of the things I was thinking you'd mention are the chemical heaters in MRE packs that I remember from the military. While they are single-use for one MRE meal, they don't generate any smoke and they seemed to get the food just hot enough to eat. I don't think it's a great solution overall, but it's definitely an opsec friendly option.
You don’t need anywhere near as much food as you think you do. Water is what is truly needed.
12 volt rice cookers use 100 watts and are great with small power stations.
Oregon Patriot Prepper here, Love you !! 🇺🇸❤
We used the butane stove a few times at the race track and still never used up the first bottle, so we bought a second stove seeing they were only $15 at ALDI and 4 more bottles of gas for emergencies.
Have made what we call buddy burners for years, a tuna can spiral cardboard in it then fill with wax long lasting cheap and with a folding stove or small cooking grate.
Grandson made a ton of these out of tuna fish cans. Boy do they burn hot so yes they could be cooked over top of. They are one thing in our arsenal of cooking, light, and yes warmth for cold hands.
That cup warmer coil is a decent thing I never would have thought of.
Working construction through the winter this is definatly getting tossed in my car.
This is outstanding. Last Feb during Winter Storm Uri, I saved a few of these videos to my phone before the 10 day blackout that helped a lot.
This and the water ones are downloaded in full res to my phone.
How did you download them?
@@hottuna7 if you’re on iOS, it’s an option towards the right end of the Like/Dislike/Favorite/etc bar under the video
@@militustoica TY. But I'm not on iOS. Still trying to figure out a way.
I love my Coleman 502 stove! It is just a single burner white gas stove that holds 16oz of fuel and you pressurize the tank by pumping it up. It is very stealth and burns perfectly clean! Also, it cools down very quickly, is very light, and takes up very little space in my backpack! So far, I've used it quite a few times and still haven't put a dent in the gas usage. Very high quality all brass fittings, and since I have an old model in mint condition from 1964, the cooking grate is some sort of stainless steel. I don't like the new stoves because the cooking grate seems to be cheap and prone to rust and would never recommend or buy one.
I have a charcoal grill I got this summer. Took me a few times to learn how to use it. I’m so glad I got it now. Best $5 I’ve spent.
Comprehensive video 👍
With the exception of gas, all the other cooking fuels and methods need practice to achieve good results...only one I haven't tried is solar (I'm in UK) enough said :)
Denatured alcohol is safe to use indoors... I think that's a big plus. The primary biproduct from burning it, is water vapour... virtually no carbon monoxide is produced.
As you suggest, I do think a mix n match approach to fuel types and appropriate cookware is a reliable solution. I quite like wood pellets, since they can be weighed out for specific burn times, and they're virtually smokeless...cheap too, easy to store, clean to handle with little ash remaining.
All the best from Bournemouth (South UK) 👍
GREAT JOB... This IS BEST COOKIN for emergency video I have ever seen... AND BEST INFORMATION.... And at 65 years young.... I have seen many... THANK YOU SO MUCH..... from Northeast Georgia mountains.....
A small detail that speaks *volumes* on the personality and mentality of those who create these videos. They always talk about *hiding* from others, "concealing your activities", "operational security challenges" and so forth. No-one has come out of long-term hardship or thrived as an individual. Communities however (down to even 2-3 families) who are there for each other, share the same mentality, can achieve far more than 'hiding' and 'concealing the small of burgers from your chimney'! Remember that even the proverbial 'Lone Wolf' is part of a pack and can't hunt or survive on its own
One thing we prioritized here was the outdoor kitchen. Rocket stove, solar oven and brick oven.
The marauding gangs of violent hungry subhumans are going to thank you for your diligence.
@@Thyalwaysseek
Oh, those cannibal-slavers... always with the high-jinks!
One of your best videos yet. I have a couple of the cooking options but now I’ll be using them monthly
I live in a populated neighborhood and i have some food set aside. If I started cooking the smell would draw in the whole neighborhood.
Whatever you use, IF it needs a replacement part, get it now!
Redundancy, Redundancy, Redundancy
It is your friend!
These are the type of videos I love from you! And what got me to following you on UA-cam. I would love to see more of these type videos.
"This video is a little on the longer side"- please, no apologies needed, mate! Great video, many considerations!
I’ve got more than one of these methods of cooking. I gradually acquired them over several years trying out different things. I’m contemplating actually building my own rocket stove in a bucket so it’s portable. Good video I liked it.
@@spritsfal5088 oh yes. I have been checking out videos I am looking at articles on how to make one. I have finally concluded that the best balance of weight and portability is going to be a mixture of sand and small pebbles in a 5 gallon bucket and I will put a 6 inch HVAC flu and elbow joints through the side and tape the seams with metallic tape. I’ll make sure that I have Enough space so that I can actually feed fuel in the side. I’m looking for one of those old metal 5 gallon buckets that you get asphalt or tar in. Although, I’m really leaning towards getting a Kelly Kettle now. It’s a lot more portable and I can do more with it but it’s more expensive.
Having layers of options is my plan. I have one of each of most of those categories but am curious about the thermal cookers after your video. Would save a lot of fuel. One of my favorite backpacking tricks is using a cat food can alcohol stove, denatured alcohol, and a windscreen cut from one of those disposable aluminum cookie pans. Cost a couple of bucks and weighs about an ounce. Fits right in your backpacking pot. The trick with alcohol stoves is to light it, then assume it’s lit, give it a second and then slowly feel for heat with your palm. I can attest to the fact that you can’t see the flame. Note that they are no good in wildfire areas and you can’t buy denatured alcohol in CA. I’ve tried. The OpSec aspect has me a little concerned, even with cooking in the house. Do you take it upstairs to get it above street level? Thorough video as always.
Wonder if u can improvise. L like cast iron & put in an larger canner type pot?
Great video! I'm self-teaching for this type of stuff. Videos like these are fantastic for learning new methods and tricks to practice.
I was out in the cold for a few days when my town flooded. Never letting that mess repeat itself if I can help it!
I’ve always said Ready to eat meals are the only way to go into natural disaster. Avoid the fires that could cause an explosion. Gas leaks etc. and keep yourself safe from detection.
My current canning goal is putting ready to eat complete meals in jars on the shelf. Open heat and eat. And if no heat is available, they are fully cooked anyway.
🤳
Hi Kris. I too live in CA; on the central coast. I have multiple cooking options both indoors and out. Without worrying about OPSEC, I’d prefer my open pit BBQ. It it were a concern, I’d rely on my 2 burner camp stove.
Absolutely terrific episode!
In fact I may look into the thermal cooker. That isn't something I had considered and being able to just bring it to a boil and then put it away for 8+ hours is something I could work into a 'typical' day.
eg:
Before sleep; stage tomorrow evenings meal ingredients.
Morning; make coffee and a frieze dried meal [or whatever else is the morning meal] with boiled water.
Place the pot and that days meal on the heating source I already have started.
Boiling food, put the pot in the thermal cooker and extinguish the fire.
-daily work and activities or even relocation-.
Evening meal and clean up.
Stage tomorrow evenings meal [stage it right in the pot! without water until ready to cook obviously].
Of course not something to carry on your back but even with a uni-walker I can see the thermal cooker as being very useful. Especially while on the move or during high labor times like spring and fall. It's a lot of work setting up a camp after a long day of walking, not having to think about making food is a welcomed check box when tired.
re -- 'on the move'
.
We prefer settling in an area, building tribe, 'owning' our turf.
'On the move' sounds like a perpetual refugee... scavenging for scraps.
@@largemarge1603 I completely agree. I also know after a bug in period I will be moving from where I currently am to the compound.
I have a 12" cast iron frying pan that once belonged to my great grandmother, which makes it over 100 years old (I'm 62 y.o.). I can use it on the stove top, the oven, campfire flame/coals, gas/charcoal grill... just about any where I please as long as whatever it is used on can support the weight.
Thanks Granny... just wish you'd also included your cornbread recipe along with it. 😄
Dang, that’s a deep dive into cooking shtf for sure. I was just going to heat up my canned and freeze dried food on a tea light candle or two. Nice.
Which is why you're going to survive what's coming and most of the people commenting on this video won't.
@@Thyalwaysseek what's coming
@@annagutierrez4373 You won't have long to find out.
Same here....
That’s what I was planning, glad I’m not the only one
Thank you for mentioning the cook time. Non-instant rice and beans take a long time, and if you don't have a wood stove or a battery system, odds are it's too much fuel. Instant rice, pasta, canned beans and veg and meat. Too many peopole say "this is what the pioneers used" or "this is what they do in haiti". Look at what people who are sailing long distances on small craft do.
Thanks Chris! Love your channel!
How about a session on solar cookers and generators?
You are my fav prep channel! 🙏🏼
Coming soon! We'll cover the solar cooker shortly.
I like the camp stoves because they can be moved around easily and used indoors with proper ventilation. Only limitation is making sure (a) you have adequate fuel (b) you can store it safely....
Great tips about the kinds of cooking methods to use during a disaster. Thank you for sharing these valuable tips. Bless you and your family and stay safe.
Suggest have extra silicone lids and pot holders. I have large and small rectangle lids I can put on any of my frying pans to keep the heat in. Light and durable.
I love cooking in my Dutch oven they are so versatile in the types of foods you can cook and with some you can even cook on the lid
They are hugely versatile!
Dutch ovens and charcoal briquettes are my preferred cooking method....you can cook anything in a Dutch oven..
We have a big green egg. There are ways to produce your own briquettes if you have a wood source. It is part of our preparedness. Granted you can’t move it but if you stay in place it is also an option.
Maybe it's a French Canadian thing, but there's a recipe for baked beans where you bring the ingredients to a boil and then bury them in the ground on a layer of hot coals; mark the spot and come back in 8-12hrs for a delicious meal! This method is awesome for one-pot meals and it's a perfect way to use up the firepit coals at the end of the night for lunch the next morning. As long as you are mindful of where you dig (tree roots= forest fires), it's crazy easy and good to use in my bear-infested province.
I have about 7 of these cooking methods. Prepping is a mentality, i have been out of the prep social circles for a long time but i have discovered these methods on my own. Its a hobby, a way of life. Everything has a dual or triple use. I go camping and cook over a fire, or with a dutch oven, Coleman camp stove. I go hiking and motorcycle camping. Never buy anything that doesn't get used at least twice or three times a year. Keep instructions with your equipment. I forget how to light my coleman stove sometimes
I suggest more than one method of cooking in case you run out of one fuel source or something breaks or it may be too cold to build a fire outdoors. Stock up on more fuel sources than you think you need- i.e extra bottles of propane. Redundancy may save your life. Also, get them now while available before the disaster.
And after the die-off is another opportunity to forage supplies!
I have a Biolite for emergencies. What I really like about it is that it uses biomass to cook with, but it also generates electricity so I can charge devices with it. I have battery and hand crank operated flashlights, for example, but I also have ones that work on solar +/or USB charging. The same thing with lighters. I have a lot of Nice ones, but I also have a couple that are flameless and are charged with a USB cable. For me, it's all about having multiple ways to do things, which is why I went that way.
By the way, I also love Rocket Stoves ;)
Disappointed with nine. It doesn't charge much and burns out quickly
Wow, that is a huge topic with a million variables - someone in a desert suburb with low fuel (pretty much just cannibalizing homes) and lots of neighbors is a VASTLY different scenario that someone in a rural wooded neighborhood where everyone is going to have some form of camp fire if only to boil/sterilize creek water with.
Grilling up at first is going to be safe and universal as everyone is emptying their freezers and still has pantry food. Alas, Babylon (admittedly fiction) even comments on this after a nuclear strike. Your concern here is likely about how you are most efficiently cooked (and possibly preserving) those foods. Most will be preserving them as human fat by stuffing themselves on softening ice cream and frozen meals while the meats are thawing down to grilling temps. Having a plan to extend your freezer life (generators, keeping them full of frozen water bottles to preserve the cold, having coolers on hand, and even having some ice cream salt around to use your remaining ice to keep the last foods frozen longer all have their place as you eat your way through your freezer and fridge). Op sec is less important than maximizing that food. This is also a good time to be generous and get to know your neighbors in their new attitudes (they will be different people in a disaster than before).Find out who is staying, who is leaving, who seems desperate or panicked, who seems suspicious, etc. Get an idea of any major needs people have and try to work to facilitate them getting those needs met by others in the group. Being the middle man in neighborhood dealings is always better than being the neighborhood merchant baron yourself.
Even if you are not a dedicated canner, dehydrator, etc - if you have some jars (even reusing things like old pickle jars) you can safely water bath can ANYTHING if you are only going to need it to last a short while so long as it is acid enough - so, if you can something in vinegar, tomato sauce, lemon juice, etc you are good canning cooked foods in boiling water pots for whatever length of time it takes to get them to seal (10-15 minutes at a full boil will usually work for all by the largest jars). This is NOT for real canning. This is to put a week or two only something that would otherwise go to waste.
Once that phase is over - a few days to a week or two in colder weather - people will be down to pantry eating. At this point, you will be cooking less (you are not stuffing yourself with perishables, preserving foods with your canner on the grill, etc). Go with the flow. If the neighbors are cooking on campfires in their back yards - do that. If they are grilling - do that. When you notice that someone cooking something like bacon is drawing neighbors over to their house just to say "hey" (and maybe be offered some breakfast), that is your cue to cut the smells.
I'm rural enough (and heavily wooded) that I could probably cook outside (or in the fireplace in winter) indefinitely. If necessary, however, my option after the grill is the camp stove - also propane, with adaptors for the grill tanks and plenty of the little green bottles as well. Blankets and stove in the winter are not ideal, but will absolutely take your profile down to almost nothing when everyone else has their fireplaces roaring.
For me, that is it - the propane for convivence and speed at first and for stealth later with an unlimited ability for fire based cooking (I could armor a tank with my cast iron collection - it probably justifies intervention at this point). Learning to make a brick rocket stove is an afternoon's skill to do (and having the bricks for one stacked up out of sight lets you have one and have a happy wife).
I have read and still have the book Alas Babylon, anther book to read is “ Arslan”
What cool advice
Good information. Thank you.
Rice cookers are remarkably versatile and a great option if you have a way of maintaining electricity, either a generator, solar power, ect. They combine the effects of pressure cookers and insulated pots to allow the food inside to be cooked with the minimal amount of heat input and many come with a variety of settings and accessories such as steam baskets for cooking a plethora of different foods. They can even be great for baking cakes or bread if you want. Also a note about coil heaters... you can find electric kettles which contain these that allow for the rapid boiling of lots of water within a safe and easy to handle vessel. Definitely recommend getting one of these and using it everyday to boil water for tea. They are a godsend for the college student living off of package ramen and instant coffee.
You need to add to the list Evacuated solar tubes. Great for boiling water or cooking a meal without fuel, only sunlight. There are different sizes available.
The urban sheep-herder in southern Oregon uses these to bake breads, make stews, all ingredients foraged from city lots.
'Go-Sun'?
His UA-cam channel has '123...' in the name.
I've covered most options now other than the solar cooker. Waste of money I could spend on more fuel and food. Excellent video. One of the most valuable. Thank you City Prepper 👊💜👊
Lived on cold MREs for nine month during deployment...not one hot meal (not even the MRE) in nine months.
Alot to most can goods can be ate right out of the can.
Warm or hot food is a luxury, less it MUST be cooked.
I have a solar cooker and consider it a secondary cooking device. Obviously it requieres good wheather and time, so my bugout back contains a small foldable caping stove and matches/lighter, to use anything I might find for cooking. But for the bugin plan I have a gas cooker and some small cannisters of fuel for it, that I plan to use whenever I can´t use the solar cooker.
On the other hand a solar cooker is a way to connect to neighbors, offer them to save fuel and cook with me when the sun is out, to form connections, while showing only the cooker from my preps.
During the two Climate-induced heat waves here in the Pacific NW this last summer, I used my brick rocket stove off the back deck in my backyard to cook breakfast a couple of mornings, just to keep from generating any heat inside the house.
Rocket stoves are awesome ,I think. I’m going to make one.
Solo Stove is by far my favorite but not my only option. We have the outdoor firepit with a large grilling surface as well as outdoor gas grill and a Coleman camp stove. Highly recommend that if you have a camp stove that you get a 20lb propane adapter. Another one to have, especially for indoor use is a butane stovetop. Many are not aware that there are butane stovetops that also run of the 1lb propane tanks. Always have back ups for your back ups people. Remember, 2 is 1 and 1 is none.
So thankful for your insightful videos. You explain things in such a way that anyone could understand.
Excellent info! Another thought for those who have high efficiency fireplaces is to cook your meals inside the fireplace with the door closed. The closed door will reduce the cooking aroma inside the house. You can use small kindling for fuel and you can regulate the air flow for combustion. An additional benefit is the cooking aroma goes up the chimney and is well dispersed away from the source. Furthermore, the use of kindling will reduce the amount of heat the fireplace produces on warm or hot days.
Love that you included the Solar cooker. Got 2 types of these. Florida has alot of sun.
@@spritsfal5088 Hot plates suck up alot of power. And the solar cooker is alot cheaper than your largest capacity solar generator, that could handle a hot plate.
When I was a reservist in the Canadian Army many decades ago, we were trained in various disciplines while in the field and operating tactically: noise discipline, light discipline, track discipline and odour discipline. Odour discipline meant having to eat our rations cold, so as not to give away our location through the smell of cooking, cooked food or the smell of an open fire. This also tied in with light discipline, as we would not be able to use wood fires to cook or reheat our rations.
Can't believe you never mentioned " backpacking stoves". They are used by everyday survivalist( backpackers) who actually live day to day in wild. They are cheap, light, and very effective.
N where u find gas?
@@forestrussell-yount1355 Walmart or any store like that.
I use pump gas for years now.
I am so glad I know and have attachments to use my canners on fire pits. We could easily can up all of the meats we need to right away from the original grilling. Once they are in the jars, then we can heat up over candles if we want to.
Depending on the environment or predicament we find ourselves cooking it may be a good idea to cook at “odd” times. Guests may drop by uninvited for dinner at 6pm or breakfast at 8am expecting food to be on the table. Do you have enough to share? Could be more than one or once. I’m speaking from experience.
🤣🤣 Continuing in that same vein, I plan to put a sign out sheet in our pantry areas so that if family members take a can of this or that to give to someone, I know to replace it ...
Blessings,
@@spritsfal5088 how would there be another place to go besides your own home?
I disagree with this philosophy. If shtf, I plan to take care of others. I’m going to rally good people around me. I’m going to help feed people. You show up with your kids starving, they get fed. The rest of the world can act like animals. I refuse to become one..
Individuals are easy targets for
villains, A strong community is not.
@@kwaynesatuckle5631 It really depends on the environment. In a tight knit community, your strategy would work fine. In a more hostile environment like cities on the other hand, yeeeeeeee, no.
I'm within city limits, so chances are that I don't think your strategy is viable from where I am. Our instincts are helpful at the best environments and harmful at the worst ones. Unfortunately, survival favors the latter, so you have to choose your strategy very carefully.
I can do my propane stove top, campfire outdoors, and I bought that can cooker and tested it today. I does actually heat water with two tealight candles.
I just bought a campfire coffee pot- must have coffee!! 😉
I did too.
yes, at least some instant coffee!
Good one, Kris. Me, I am a stove junkie. I have no less than 4 different stoves. A jet boil plus fuel cells, two Coleman white gas and multi-fuel stoves with a fold up Coleman oven. 4 gallons of Coleman fuel. Then I have a wood burner. I have a grill to cook over a fire and or coals. I have a gas barbeque and 4 extra tanks that I rotate. I also have a sun oven. I have an extensive collection of cast iron cookware. We should be good for cooking 🍳.
I'm a big fan or pressure cookers.
They shorten the cook time and therefore use less fuel.
They can also be modified quite easily to distill water.
How do you modify the pressure cooker to distill water? I will need that for my CPAP machine.
Thanks for your sane, practical advice, without hysteria & politics! Much needed!
Bro that stache!!!! 👍🏽
It's for a Halloween outfit this weekend. Will try to remove it shortly :)
@@CityPrepping I think you should keep it brotha!
@@CityPrepping Keep it man, Looks great
Redundancy of solutions and using regularly (when you don't HAVE to) are spot-on recommendations! Thanks for the thorough helpful info.
I expect that for the first four days or so of a regional grid down, those who have an outdoor grill and enough charcoal or propane will be cooking food from their refrigerator and freezer before the food spoils. I expect there will be lots of cooking aromas throughout suburban neighborhoods those first four days or so and many backyard BBQ chefs will probably away cooked food to neighbors instead of leaving the thawing food to spoil. A block party cookout or neighborhood pot luck picnic during the first few days of a regional grid gown would not surprise me if the outdoor weather is mild. Better to cook and give away meals than to have a refrigerator and freezer full of smelly, rotting food.
Heightened danger will likely start the week AFTER the regional power grid goes down when the unprepared become desperate for food, assuming the unprepared cannot just get into their vehicles and drive several hours to a region that does have a working power grid and open businesses that can process credit cards and debt cards. When people are hungry and still have enough energy to do something about it is when some may use force to seize food from others. When a lean person has been starving for a couple of weeks or longer, they just may be too weakened to be able to use force to take food from others. Those who started out obese, will have larger fat reserves for energy and probably will be active a lot longer during times of famine assuming they have a source of clean drinking water.
When stuck in a populated area days after the unprepared have used what food they had before the grid went down, days after the local stores have run out of their food stocks and days or weeks before there is some organized food relief from state government or charity groups, protecting your household from desperate and hungry people will be critical. It does not matter whether you actually have any food in your home. If a desperate, starving person believes you have food, that may be enough for them to target your home for burglary or invasion. Obviously, the aroma of cooking food will be a lure that will attract hungry and desperate people and the neighborhood stray dogs from a long way upwind from your home.
Different foods vary in their strength of cooking aroma. Frying bacon and onions will produce a more intense aroma compared to simmering white rice or plain spaghetti pasta in plain water. But when a person is starving, their sense of smell heightens and they can smell that rice cooking. Even if they do not smell cooking food, they will see or smell the smoke from a campfire or charcoal grill and will investigate.
If you can safely simmer water indoors on a butane stove when all the windows and exterior doors are tightly closed, then you can prepare instant meals such as pouches of Mountain House meals. If living in a multiple story apartment or condo building, you will attract the least notice if you just consume no-cook foods such as trail bars or peanut butter and crackers or meat jerky or dried fruit or unheated canned vegetables and are very careful how you dispose of food wrappers and packaging.
If you must use a wood stove, outdoor grill, rocket stove or campfire for cooking, you will be less likely to attract attention if you are in a thinly settled rural area and do your cooking early in the morning a few hours before sunrise when most people are sleeping. Do keep in mind, when a starving person is sleeping they can be awakened by a strong food odor. Once awake, they will follow the scent plume of cooking food until they find the source. Assuming they still have enough energy to walk.
It can be a challenge to make affordable, no-cook meals or low-odor hot meals from long-term food storage. I plan to make museli for breakfast by soaking rolled oats overnight in clean water and then just before serving mixing in powdered milk, sugar and dried raisins. Dinner will be a Mountain House meal plus some rehydrated freeze-dried vegetables using water boiled on a butane stove.
Very well thought out. This is one topic that we are constantly discussing in our household. The fact is, there’s is no simple answer. There are so many factors that play into it (location, population and types of food stored etc). I think you’d see a majority of people cooking openly in the first week, openly sharing perhaps. I would probably want to use that time to can/preserve what I could (quietly) out of my freezer/fridge. That way, smells aren’t an issue. After that, we would make use of a lot of cold soaking (when possible) and probably a thermal cooker to heat over long period of time while decreasing cooking smell. Maybe a dedicated area in the house that you can cook in that will keep the smell concentrated to that area only and you can move through diff areas so that the smell dissipates before you leave your home? Like a bathroom, inside a bedroom, down a hall. Just a thought.
My goal (just as everyone else) is to find a method of cooking with the least amount of energy/fuel required, with the lowest signature (smell/smoke/visual-sun cooker) and is sustainable over time. Same with growing/securing food. We postulate how things will be and how we will handle them, but no one really knows what the reality will be. Thanks again for the thoughts!
Linda,
Part of that scenario presumes a local catastrophe, presumes neighboring communities with an abundance to share, presumes fuel and unrestricted travel.
During this phase of this Economic Lock-Down, the disaster is global.
Every city is a war-zone.
Every stranger is a homicidal 'vector' (disease spreader).
.
This past century or so of prosperity was an anomaly.
All times prior were:
* 'droughts times floods during plagues'... while battling everybody outside the tribe.
Welcome to 'the new normal'... a return to the way it always was.
@@largemarge1603 Sorry, I do not buy into your dystopian view of the world. Two previous world wars provide plenty of examples of neighbors helping one another despite invasions, food rationing, starvation and genocide.
@@largemarge1603 Your idea of history is wrong if you are talking
about the US or most of Europe.
@@gonefishing3644
re -- two wars
.
You validate my point.
The prosperity during that era was possible only through exploitation of:
* natural resources, and
* human resources (aka ingenuity and work-ethic).
Neither of those are economically feasible.
* Natural resources tipped into negative on the Return-On-Investment scale decades ago.
* Human resources are also a liability, with too many mouths chasing obliterated top-soil... requiring ever-increasing amounts of petroleum-based chemicals to break even.
Unfortunately, petroleum is simultaneously harder to extract and of lower quality.
.
A further complication is transportation costs.
Trucking foods thousands of miles across continents is terribly uneconomical.
.
I think I can safely predict a continuation of the decline of our species.
Any study of natural systems reveals a perpetual balancing and re-balancing.
A peak predator cannot over-eat its prey without consequences.
.
Newton's Third:
* every action creates an equal opposite reaction.
.
Unless you repeal the laws of our physical universe, our species will inevitably perish as a major influence.
The artificial props and crutches allowed by diminishing our available resources is rapidly collapsing.
.
Buy it, don't buy it.
You decisions have zero-zero-zero impact on my tribe.
Carbon steel paella pans are very light compared to cast iron skillets and are designed to cook over open fire. They are also very good for baking biscuits or pizza, can be used to fry eggs or pancakes like a skillet or griddle, and they are *MUCH BETTER* if you have to carry your cookware when bugging out.
i am wondering if the thermal insulated body of the Instant Pot would accomplish the same as that Thermal Pot if we use it in a similar fashion if the power goes out .....
Cooking was a worry so I bought a pair of 100 lb propane tanks and the adapters to run Mr Heaters, my camp stove and the BBQ, and I'm happy about that. I also got a full cast iron set with a griddle, Dutch oven, pots and pans, so when the propane runs out I can start burning wood for my fuel. I still need a wood-burning stove in my house though, as that's a real long-term solution for both heat and cooking (provided it's defensible)... that's my long term goal.
Awesome advice. This must be the topic of the day since ive seen 5 videos all talking about grid down cooking. Good ideas
12 volt rice cookers use 100 watts and are great with small power stations.
@@baneverything5580
How often do you cook your meals using 100-Watts?
I saw a video press-release about an Australian 12v oven operating on 300-Watts, a roast required eight hours...
@@largemarge1603 Rice or lentils take about 35 minutes. When I move and can set up solar panels outside I plan to cook that way daily.
Biolite campstove is great. Just twigs for fuel like a Kelly kettle. Which I also have. If you are lazy you can use wood pellets. Can cook with 1/3 cup of pellets. Works out to over 400 meals with one 50 lb bag of pellets. Less than 2 cents worth of pellets runs smokeless with a bit of practice and you can recharge your phone or use fan unit as a battery bank. Takes 4 cents worth to cook a burger or steak Hard to beat.
We have MRE’s on hand for the period of time immediately after a natural disaster. I’m in the NW where earthquakes are always a possibility. MRE’s allow you to eat while still sorting out where all your gear is and if it’s still functional.
Everytime I go on base, I get two MREs at the Commissary. I keep 3 in each car.
re -- MRE Meals Ready To Eat
.
For emergency only!
Those ingredients are rubbish.
Immediately, switch back to real food.
@@largemarge1603 We survived on them out in the field. If they have no real food then MREs will have to be it.
@@largemarge1603 youll survive off them