Emergency cooking (practice)

[sam_uk]

One of my next projects is going to be building a IBC based biogas digester. I can get IBC containers for £20, so shouldn't cost too much. Going to do food waste only in it so the runoff can be used in the garden as a fertiliser.

Going to base it on this:
http://www.appropedia.org/Open_Source_S ... tor_system

But with a floating gas container instead of the pumped one.

Probably build it in a polytunnel and clad it in strawbale to keep the temperature up.

Should give 1000 litres of unpressurised biogas on a warm day, which should be enough to cook a couple of meals.

[Tarrel]

3) Boiled pasta on the wood stove, not very successfull as it got hot enough to burn and stick to the pan but not hot enough to cook properly.

I'm thinking a heavier pan would fix this. Heats up more slowly, distributes the heat through the food better and cools more slowly.

[vtsnowedin]

3) Boiled pasta on the wood stove, not very successfull as it got hot enough to burn and stick to the pan but not hot enough to cook properly.

I'm thinking a heavier pan would fix this. Heats up more slowly, distributes the heat through the food better and cools more slowly.

Actually if you don't have enough water in the pan then the size of the pan or the material it is made of is of no consequence.

[adam2]

3) Boiled pasta on the wood stove, not very successfull as it got hot enough to burn and stick to the pan but not hot enough to cook properly.

I'm thinking a heavier pan would fix this. Heats up more slowly, distributes the heat through the food better and cools more slowly.

Might help, but I suspect that the wood stove was not hot enough for proper boiling, no matter what pan was used.
I then left it unattended in the hope that prolonged stewing in very hot but not boiling water would cook the pasta. It was not properly cooked.

Might do better on a very cold day when a fierce fire could be built without overheating the room or wasting wood.

[emordnilap]

Not easy cooking anything that requires a rolling boil on a wood stove. The only way we could do it, now we've got better insulation in the house, is to light a fast, hot fire just when we want to eat and then let it die down, otherwise we'd cook too. The corners and blocks of dry pallets are great for this 'once off' type of fire - masses of heat in a very short time.

[vtsnowedin]

Not easy cooking anything that requires a rolling boil on a wood stove. The only way we could do it, now we've got better insulation in the house, is to light a fast, hot fire just when we want to eat and then let it die down, otherwise we'd cook too. The corners and blocks of dry pallets are great for this 'once off' type of fire - masses of heat in a very short time.

You open the windows and kitchen door when cooking over wood in the summer. Unless you are also baking you turn the damper to direct the smoke directly up and out without going around the oven. Some stoves have a higher (summer ) position for the grate that lets you build a smaller fire directly under your pans and lids where you can lift a center section out and slide your pot directly over the flames. Split your wood half the size you use in winter to get a fast hot fire that burns out quickly after your food is done. I have no trouble at all getting a twenty quart canner full to a full boil.
"If you can't take the heat stay out of the kitchen"

[adam2]

All the above is no doubt true of a cook stove, but my experiment innvolved a wood burning room heater on which some cooking is possible in an emergency but the appliance is not designed for cooking.

[Tarrel]

"If you can't take the heat stay out of the wearedodgy"

Quote of the week!

Yes, there's a big difference between cooking on a wood burning range and just a wood burning stove. The Rayburn, for example, has a hotplate with a very high thermal mass, and fins where it protrudes into the firebox. This allows a fairly modest fire, over time, to put enough heat into the hotplates to sustain a rolling boil. There are also insulated lids to keep the hotplate hot until it's ready for use.

I still think a heavy based pan would make a difference. Also, one thing we've learned with the Rayburn is that surface contact is absolutely critical, as this is the only way the heat is transmitted to the pan (i.e. conduction). We've had stuff boil in less than half the time in a decent flat-bottomed pan compared to a pan that has even slight imperfections on the base (e.g bowing). I'm sure this would also be true on the top of a wood burning stove.

[vtsnowedin]

All the above is no doubt true of a cook stove, but my experiment innvolved a wood burning room heater on which some cooking is possible in an emergency but the appliance is not designed for cooking.

Ahh! . Yes a space heater is often a poor cooking surface. If the fire box is large enough you could put a dutch oven right into it and build your fire around and on top of it. Need some welders gloves or good pot holders to fetch it out of the fire when done though.

[therabble]

Hi all,

A few years ago I cooked a fry up on top of Kinder Scout in the snow when the temperature was -5C using 'buddy burners' made from leftover fat from the local kebab house (after I'd used all the liquid stuff to run my car.). I've also made them with leftover candles. These are great because you can have loads of them stored and ready to go. They can be blown out and relit many times and give off a decent amount of heat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Burner

I've also made little meths stoves out of coke cans (took me about 16 cans to get it right, and got no sleep that night...I was buzzing! Again used that on top of a mountain to make an all day breakfast

http://www.thesodacanstove.com/alcohol- ... build.html

Finally I have a Rocket stove from stove tek knocking around which I've found to be incredibly efficient, but not all that portable. Good to have in the garage ready to use in the back garden ready to go if the gas/elec goes off and I need to cook and feed the family.

http://stovetecstore.net/product/biomas ... o-ceramic/

Whilst I've only really used them always used them for 'fun' they've got serious practical applications when the zombies come

I also have cooked on my wood stove. I think the trick is to have lots of different options available because we never know what fuel/resources are going to be available.

TR

[emordnilap]

One of my next projects is going to be building a IBC based biogas digester. I can get IBC containers for £20, so shouldn't cost too much. Going to do food waste only in it so the runoff can be used in the garden as a fertiliser.

Going to base it on this:
http://www.appropedia.org/Open_Source_S ... tor_system

But with a floating gas container instead of the pumped one.

Probably build it in a polytunnel and clad it in strawbale to keep the temperature up.

Should give 1000 litres of unpressurised biogas on a warm day, which should be enough to cook a couple of meals.

For your info, sam_uk:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/renewabl ... z3I8wK9BOT

[adam2]

Friends in London, neighbours of mine when I lived in London, are doing a little more improvised cooking than they would wish

They have a large house and foster a number of kids that would otherwise lack homes.
Until a few days ago cooking arrangements consisted of a large catering type electric cooker, plus a microwave oven.

They decided to replace the increasingly unreliable electric cooker with a solid fuel Aga.
The work was planned to minimise interruption to cooking. Unfortunately all has not gone well !
Neither the cooking area floor nor the chimney were sound and building works are underway with the Aga not expected to be available for a few more days.
Basic hot snacks and light meals can be cooked in the microwave, but much use has been made of a rocket stove in the garden and a catering size hired LPG barbecue.
A very cheap induction cooker blew up after a few hours use, perhaps to be expected for £20!

[vtsnowedin]

Friends in London, neighbours of mine when I lived in London, are doing a little more improvised cooking than they would wish

They have a large house and foster a number of kids that would otherwise lack homes.
Until a few days ago cooking arrangements consisted of a large catering type electric cooker, plus a microwave oven.

They decided to replace the increasingly unreliable electric cooker with a solid fuel Aga.
The work was planned to minimise interruption to cooking. Unfortunately all has not gone well !
Neither the cooking area floor nor the chimney were sound and building works are underway with the Aga not expected to be available for a few more days.
Basic hot snacks and light meals can be cooked in the microwave, but much use has been made of a rocket stove in the garden and a catering size hired LPG barbecue.
A very cheap induction cooker blew up after a few hours use, perhaps to be expected for £20!

I have no idea what a solid fuel Aga is but I feel their pain. No renovation project is complete until the owner comes to the point where he wants to bulldoze it into a pile and walk away.

[emordnilap]

I have no idea what a solid fuel Aga is but I feel their pain.

They come in gas + electric but a new solid fuel version would look very similar. Popular with the chattering classes, too expensive for normal folks.

No renovation project is complete until the owner comes to the point where he wants to bulldoze it into a pile and walk away.

Or you get to the point where you say "it'll do" and put up with the missing bits, as we've done. There's lots more to do but honestly, few care.