Indoor Emergency Cooking

Indoor emergency cooking
Cook safely idoors in an emergency

How to cook off-grid in an emergency inside your home.
Even when the grid is down and it's raining, snowing or whatever
mother nature throws your way, you can cook indoors if you're a
clever prepper. Yes, you can cook indoors without electricity!
Below are your indoor emergency cooking options...

How to cook indoors without electricity
Indoor emergency cooking is possible and you can do it safely
with a few precautions. Below are eleven ways to cook in an
emergency when you can't cook outdoors or it's just more
convenient to cook indoors:

#1 Alcohol Stove with denatured alcohol.*
One way to cook indoors is with an alcohol stove. There are many
kinds of alcohol stoves. For the commercial variety, choose only
denatured alcohol for your stove.

D enatured alcohol, pictured right, produces a hot, clean, odorless
and smokeless flame in alcohol burners and marine stoves, and
so it is critically important to use it properly. Read all the
instructions specified and use only denatured alcohol in an
alcohol stove.

Advantages: Hikers love an alcohol stove. Alcohol stoves
also have the benefit of being lightweight and you can easily
put out the fires with water (you can't do that with
petroleum fuel). Unfortunately, fuels aren't as easy to find
as other fuels.

Disadvantages: The Boy Scouts do not recommend alcohol
stoves that use denatured alcohol for risk of burns.
Understandably, it's not safe for kids because the flame may
be invisible. Use an alcohol with extreme caution to avoid
injuries. For the same reason, never attempt to fill a hot
stove or heat source. Finally, always be sure to cook on a
non-flammable and stable surface and steer clear of cooking
near curtains or flammable decorations.

#2: Butane stove.*
Single burner butane stoves are usede in demonstration cooking,
hotel brunch omelet stations and table side service carts.
With extreme caution, preppers too can use butane to cook
indoors.

It's important to remember that while restaurants may use
butane, they do so in well ventilated and large rooms. Misuse by
consumers can result in death from Carbon monoxide poisoning!

Advantages. Simplicity is the main benefit. It's easy to use.

Disadvantages: Sterno warns against indoor household use
of their butane stoves and for good reason. Don't use
butane stoves in small rooms with poor circulation because
of the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Another
disadvantage is Butane cartridges generally can't be refilled.
And when the tank is low, it looses it's efficiency. Use with
extreme caution! Be mindful of the dangers.

#3: Hexamine fuel tablets.
The Esbit stove uses h examine fuel in solid form. They do not
liquefy while burning and they leave no ashes. For short periods
in well ventilated spaces you can cook indoors with these kinds of
fuel tablets.

Advantages: Fuel tablets do not liquify. They are easy to
store.

Disadvantages: Esbit's Material Safety Data Sheet states
combustion can create formaldehyde, ammonia, nitrogen
oxide, hydrogen cyanide and ingestion may cause nausea,
vomiting, gastrointestinal disturbances, and kidney damage.
[1] When burned, the chemical oxidation of the fuel yields
noxious fumes, requiring foods being cooked to be contained
in a receptacle such as a pot or pan, and burned tablets will
leave a sticky dark residue on the bottom of pots.

#4: Kerosene stove (liquid paraffin)*
Kerosene stoves are extremely hard to find, but under-developed
countries rely on Kerosene stoves in their off-grid communities.

Advantages: On the positive side, fuel for a kerosene stove
costs just a few cents an hour to burn and this fuel does not
evaporate quickly.

Disadvantages: The bad part is that it smells, and because
it doesn't evaporate quickly, you'll have a residue if you spill.
Pictured in red, immediate right, the Kerosene Cook and
Canning Stove holds more than 5 quarts of fuel, and burns
up to 11 hours per tank. With adjustable heat output, this
cook stove is great for cooking large meals and will even
hold large canners.

#5: Canned Heat.
Canned heat is condensed alcohol gel stored into a steel can.
Non-toxic for indoor: The most common way to use canned heat
is for heating party food. However, it's also useful to boil water
and cook food for emergency such as power outage in a winter
storm. Canned heat is something that just takes the strike of a
match or a lighter to activate.
Canned heat is perhaps the easiest and most inexpensive option
for indoor cooking in an emergency. The Colghan's Folding Stove
right, makes cooking with canned heat super affordable and
effective

Sterno is a great beginning camper tool. It is best at heating
things up, or boiling water to make soup, and hot drinks like tea
and coffee. Sterno is a brand name. It has low heating power, so
you'll need more Sterno to cook a meal than with other times of
fuel. Even so, Sterno is a great way to get started in prepping.
Sterno is safer than liquid fuels and you'll find they are easy to
store and inexpensive,and fun! Sterno brand cooking fuel is non-
toxic, biodegradable and water soluble.

Can you use a Sterno in an apartment in the event of an
emergency power outage? Yes! Sterno is a similar fuel used in
chafing dishes to keep casseroles warm in buffets and keeps the
fondue pot filled with melty cheese. Sterno Smores! Pictured right
you'll see how you can roast marshmallows, in the best Smores
party idea ever!

Emergency Zone Fold Flat Stove with Stable Heat Fuel cells
holding diethylene glycol, are odor free, soot free, nontoxic and
can be burned indoors The Fuel is Mineral oil.

Advantages: Fuel cells are odor free, soot free, nontoxic and
can be burned indoors. This biodegradable, water soluble
fuel delivers the ideal amount of heat to keep food in the
safe zone.

Disadvantages: Much of the canned heat you'll find is made
in China. Moreover, it can be difficult to see the flame if
there is a lot of light. For example, at an outdoor, noontime
buffet on a sunny day it would be difficult to see a lit can of
Sterno. Caution should be used as the can gets extremely
hot to the touch when lit.

Sterno Fuel

Global Sun Oven

Solar Oven Combo

Coghlan's Folding Stove

GasOne Portable Gas Stove

Esbit Cookset Alcohol Burner Stove

Kerosene Cook and Canning Stove

Portable Solar Oven

Campfire Reflector Oven

Classic Reflector oven used by pioneers and scouts

Esbit Folding Stove

------------------------------------------------- Revised 03/31/2021
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Denatured Alcohol

CO detector

Herc Tealight oven.

Stable Heat

Above, is Wonderbag. Think of it like an off-grid crockpot ~ food sits and
slow cooks, but you must first find a way to boil your water.

Fire hazards and Carbon monoxide.
In the flameless emergency cooking options above, you won't
have a problem carbon monoxide poisoning, but if there's a flame
then there's a potential for carbon monoxide.

Most preppers don't realize that the cause of death during an
ordinary blackout is carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.

Safety first:

Do NOT use propane indoors for risk of carbon monoxide
poisoning.

If it burns, it is emitting carbon monoxide! With an increasing
number of state and local governments passing legislation
requiring CO detectors in homes, it’s never been a better time to
safeguard your family against carbon monoxide exposure than
now. Right, the Kidde CO Detector has a carbon monoxide alarm
with digital display to help provide your home with extensive
protection against the dangerous threat posed by this odorless
and colorless gas.

When the power goes down, deadly CO emits from:

camp stoves
kerosene heaters
gasoline engines
gas water heaters
generators*
grills
wood stoves

It's also important to note that any non-electrical appliance that
uses heat ~ gelled or liquid fuel, coal, gas, or oil has an
additional risk of fire.

While cooking indoors and off-grid can be a deadly combination
because of carbon monoxide poisoning, not to mention the flames
which could more easily cause a fire in your home because of a
temporary setup that's not stable. It's not enough to have a
carbon monoxide detector, and ignore safety.

To avoid breathing deadly fumes, look for the "Underwriters
Laboratories (UL) for use indoors." Failing to heed warnings about
the proper use of your cooking equipment could result in death by
carbon monoxide poisoning.

Happy endings...
Cooking indoors in an off-grid world is possible if you're clever
and think first about safety. Be sure to have a safe platform for
your cooking (a sturdy and non-flammable surface, that's not in
the path of kids and pets, curtains or flammable decorations). Be
sure also to have a carbon monoxide detector in your home and
fire extinguisher.

Related articles...

______________________________________________
*WARNING: Do not use equipment intended for outdoor use
inside your home. Review manufacturer's specifications and follow
the instructions to avoid injury or death.

Prepare to live happily ever after with us at happypreppers.com - the emergency
preparedness Web site of prepping, survival, homesteading, and self-reliance.

Above hot dogs wrapped biscuit dough roast over the fire. Steal this idea for
camping or bring the camping fun home to your fireplace!

Fireplace cooking method: reflector oven.
One way for to how to use a fireplace to cook food in an
emergency is with a reflector oven. Not often discussed in the
prepper forums, the reflector oven method is actually a pioneer
cooking method. As well, scouts throughout the century have
gathered around the fire to cook with a reflector oven, but it has
become a lost art of cooking. Reflector ovens aren't easy to find.

With a campfire reflector oven, you can bake using an open fire.
It bakes by capturing radiant heat from an open fire and then
reflects the heat towards your food. Pictured in green right,
pioneers baked breads in this way. Scouts also appreciate this
classic cooking method.

#7: Flameless stoves and cookers.
Borrowing on the principal of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) you can
cook your own meals in ~ either cooking entirely from scratch or
in heating up freeze dried meals or canned foods using flameless
stoves and cookers.

No pot, not stove, no fire, no problem!

Yabul Flameless heater. With the Yabul flameless heater
you just add water to activate the disposable heater pack
anytime anywhere. Heat and steam from the pack reactivate
with water and will heat any MREs or ready made meals. No
need for a campfire pan or a gas stove, and there's no need
to worry the wind blowing. It's completely flameless, fast
and completely safe way to cook backpacking food and
emergency food. It gives you the flexibilty to make your own
MRE meals. You can even bring frozen food on an outing and
have warm food ready quickly when you get back to the car.

Flameless Cooker Pot. The flameless cooker, right, is a
large pot so you can cook hearty meals for a family or larger
group.

Magic cook: the M agic cook flamess cooker, as seen on
Shark Tank, is the most versatile lunch box container cooker
ever. Magic Cook container was designed for cooking &
heating up food and drinks without the need of microwave,
stove, fire, propane or electricity. Made of triple layers PC
with stainless steel inner case. Works as your everyday lunch
box container with an option to heat up and cook up at
anytime if needed. Water activated magic heat pack will
generate heat up to 203 F degree. It enables you to cook or
heat up food within 10-25 minutes. Magic heat packs are
made of Quick Lime, Non-Toxic flameless heat generated by
water activation. Once cooking is completed, magic pack will
absorbed all water and simply just trash as household
waste. Magic Cook is perfect for the use of all outdoor,
camping, survival kits.

Multipurpose ABC Fire
extinguisher

Thermal cooker

#6: Fireplace cooking.
Cooking in a fireplace is not a novel idea and yet preppers seem
to have forgotten that this is a way to safely cook your food off
grid and inside without electricity

Below are some innovative off-grid cooking ideas for how to use a
fireplace to cook food in an emergency...

Fireplace cooking method: stick roasting.
By the simplest of fireplace cooking methods, you can roast hot
dogs, marshmallows and even cook biscuits using the stick in the
fire:

Cook cinnamon rolls on a stick
Hot dogs
Biscuits

Flameless cooker

Magic Cook

Esbit stove

Wonderbag wonder oven

Emergency Meals

Magic heat Kit

Magic heat stove

All American Sun Oven

Fireplace grill

#10: TeaLight Oven (Herc oven).
Cook anything, anytime, anywhere, regardless of the situation
with the Herc Tealight oven. Bake, cook and dehydrate without
the electricity or gas, so you can cook indoors or out. This oven is
designed to harness the thermal energy from tealight candles
storing it in quarry stones. The Herc tealight oven uses two
methods of thermal energy transfer. Like your conventional oven
it uses convection and electromagnetic radiation (radiant) like the
sun heats you when you step outside. Fueled by tea light candles
makes baking and cooking without the use of electricity or gas
easy, economical and even fun.

Advantages: Bake chicken, bread, cake ~ virtually anything!
You can use any non-scented tealight to cook! Buy tealights
in bulk and safely store your fuel.

Disadvantages: The Herc Tealight Oven is rather expensive
and it requires quite a few tea lights to cook your food.

#11: Thermal cooking: Wonder Oven, thermal cooker.
Thermal cooking is heat transfer. With a non-electric thermal
cooker you first boil whatever is in the pot. After boiling on a
stovetop, a thermal cooker will continue to cook.

Thermal cooker
Right is a non-electric thermal cooker with a large 6-liter capacity
which will continue to cook for up to 30 minutes. This thermal
cooker keeps food warm or cold for up to 8 hours; and it's super
easy to clean.

You need just 10 minutes on the stove, leave for work or play and
return home to a delicious meal. Thermal cooker saves energy
costs and preparation time. Just place the ingredients in the inner
pot, cover lid and bring to a boil on your stove. When brought to
a boil, remove from stove and place in outer thermal pot. Thermal
technology creates a convection effect by using the steam
produced inside to circulate and continue cooking for up to 30
minutes and warms for up to 8-hours food is cooked in its own
moisture and steam, so you preserve the nutrients.

Thermal cooking: Wonder Oven.
It might be a misnomer, but a wonder oven isn't really an oven. A
wonder oven, like Wonderbag, continues to cook your food after
you've applied another heat source to get going. You might find
someone selling a Wonder Oven on ETSY, but it's going to be a
homemade version of Styrofoam filling.

Advantages: You'll never burn dinner again. A wonder oven
keeps your food hot or it can keep your food cold. The oven
is great for transporting food to potluck parties, so you don't
need to use the host's oven or you can bring along hot food
to a picnic where you can't cook with an open flame.

Disadvantages: It's NOT really an oven! You must find a
way to first boil your food. For example, for rice you'll boil
the water first and then let it sit for 45 minutes. If you have
a copper core pot, you wouldn't really need a Wonderbag for
this. Radiant heat can continue to cook rice in a quart pot
with a thick copper core for even heating. Rice will continue
to cook without a Wonderbag in about 20 minutes though
the Wonderbag certainly retains an even cooking in other
kinds of pots.

Above, see how easy it is to reheat or even cook your own meal from
scratch using Magic Cook, as seen on Shark Tank.

#8: Meals Ready to Eat.
Meals Ready To Eat come with a heater! There are preppers out
there who think they can make their own MRE, but they forget
that Meals Ready to E at come with this all important heating
unit. Without the unit, they are just assembling shelf-stable
foods.

Advantages: MREs are easy and convenient. The heating
element takes any kind of water, do you can conserve your
drinking water.

Disadvantages: MREs have a limited shelf life of around five
years. Certainly you can eat them after the expiration date,
but the food won't be as palatable. The only other
disadvantage is that you are just reheating food and not
cooking from scratch.

#9: Solar ovens.
If you have a skylight or window with lots of sun, you can cook
with a solar oven. With a solar oven you can bake, boil or steam
any kind of food with the power of the sun. Absolutely no fuel
needed, and there's no learning curve. Create your favorite
recipes as you feast upon natural sun baked treats! Just like your
home oven reaches temperatures of 360° to 400° F!

Advantages: A sun oven is totally safe. There's absolutely
no danger of fire, and you'll never burn dinner again. A solar
oven will add variety to your meals because you'll be able to
bake.

Disadvantages: You obviously can't cook at night, which
means you'll need to plan well ahead of dinnertime. You'll
need sun through a skylight or window to ensure cooking and
you may need to move your oven to follow the sunlight.

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