Alternative Cooking Methods

Alternative Cooking Methods

In times of disaster or emergency, having a way to prepare hot meals for your family that does not require electricity is important. Plan a method you can use if you are not displaced from your home as well as a method you can use if you have to be evacuated from your home. Take the opportunity to review the following alternate cooking methods, visit the websites and include more detailed information in your family’s preparedness binder.

Fireplace – Fireplace cooking is one of the most primitive ways to cook food aside from cooking on a campfire. Although it was once THE way to prepare meals in the home, this method is unfamiliar to most of us today. If you have a fireplace and plan to use it in times of emergency be prepared with the proper utensils, cookware and ability to build the right kind of fire to cook on. You can read more about fireplace cooking here:
· http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/surv/cookingf.htm

Dutch Oven- the dutch oven is a thick walled cast iron cooking pot with a tight fitting lid. They are well suited for long, slow cooking. Food is cooked inside the dutch oven pot by arranging hot charcoal briquettes on top and underneath the pot. For additional information, see here:
· http://papadutch.home.comcast.net

Haybox Oven-also known as retained-heat cooking, is an age-old slow cooking method used to conserve energy, both in fuel and labor. Food is brought to a boil on a stove, simmered a few minutes then put into a well insulated box where it continues to cook slowly for hours. For more information, see here:
· http://www.ssrsi.org/Onsite/PDFbin/Haybox_flyer.pdf

Buddy burners- small fuel sources made from cardboard, tin cans and wax used for cooking and warming. For more information, see here:

· http://www.justpeace.org/buddyburner.htm

Apple Box oven- oven box made from heavy duty cardboard box. Utilizes hot charcoal briquettes for long, slow cooking. Cook anything in the apple box oven that you would in a conventional oven. For more information on apple box ovens, visit:

· http://www.preparingtoday.com/Literature/Apple%20Box%20Oven.pdf

Flower Pot Grill- this grill is created using a 10 inch terra cotta flower pot, sand and hot charcoal briquettes. Ideal for cooking kabobs. Stays hot for hours. To learn more about flower pot grills, visit:

· http://www.preparingtoday.com/Literature/Apple%20Box%20Oven.pdf

Solar Oven- oven box that utilizes the sun as fuel source for long, slow cooking. Any meal cooked in a conventional oven can also be cooked in a solar oven. Simple, convenient and environmentally responsible way of cooking for your family.

· http://www.sunoven.com/usa.asp