Emergency Cooking, Part Two

Dear Preppers and Survivalists,

A couple of weeks ago, I started writing about emergency cooking. The post sucked.

Oh, well.

Let me try again.

Single Burner Propane Stove

For me, the simplest modern emergency method of cooking is the single burner propane stove. All you need  They cost a little over $20 at your local China-Mart. The box will contain a burner and a stand. All you need to complete your kit is to purchase some small bottles of propane.

I suggest the fat short bottles; they're more stable then the tall skinny propane bottles.

The picture to the left is my 'kit' from about thirty years, ago. I am using a short fat bottle of propane. Yes, the bottle of propane is also thirty years old, too.

Propane never goes bad, as long as; the container is in good shape.

Notice, the canteen cup easily fits on the burner. This set-up is perfect for heating hot water for some hot cocoa, coffee, or ramen noodles.

Needless to say, you don't need to buy or have a canteen cup (Plus, it would suck trying to cook a meal for a family of five) to heat some water. You can use your regular pots and pans.

The picture to the right shows, I think, a two quart pot. My family and I use this pot to heat a couple cans of veggies for our family meals.

You will notice, that is about as big a pot as you want to use for the single burner propane stove.

Unless, ...

You provide some support for the larger pot.

Note: I had to take the stand off to be able to get the propane stove under the pot.

The red pot is a five quart enameled cast iron pot


By the way, the supports for the pot are landscaping blocks I pulled from my partner's garden for the photo.

Double Burner Stove

A more expensive option is the double burner stove. These stoves use to burn only two types of fuel, propane or 'white' gas. Now a days, two burn stoves can burn unleaded motor fuel.

And, that's the one my family and I have, a Coleman Dual Fuel stove. The Dual fuel family of camping products will burn Coleman fuel (white gas) and unleaded gasoline.

This picture shows the compact model.

By now, you might be thinking about how we store our Coleman Fuel/unleaded gasoline.

We don't. We store propane for our cooking needs.

Yep, you read right. Propane.

We are able to do that because of these nifty little converters. The converter slide into the same hole as the liquid fuel tank.

Cool, eh.

One stove, three possible fuels to cook with.

Spare Parts and Accessories

As you can tell, we have more than one converter for our stove. We also have other stuff.

 In this picture, you will see the two converters with spare parts for the liquid fuel tank pump.

The pump pressurizes the tank, so the fuel will flow into the burners.

We also have two fuel filters and some lamp shade nuts. The nuts hold the shade for a Dual Fuel lantern.

The whole reason I posted this picture?

Notice the coil of black hose and the brass 'thingy' in the middle of the hose.

The brass thingy is a propane filler coupler. It allows the hose to hook up to the propane converter, so my family and I can also use five gallon (20 pound) propane cylinders.

Yes, the same cylinders you use for your ...

Propane Grill

Who thought grilling was prepping, too?

This grill has a small burner and a main grilling area this grill will allow my family to heat their food for important physical and psychological reasons.


Trust me, nothing is better then a warm drink on a cold day.

Link:
Wikipedia - Naphtha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naphtha


Didn't Fit the Narative

Needless to say, there are some photographs that didn't get included in the article.

Coleman Dual Fuel stove with two 2 quart pots. This is the 'compact' model. I think there is a larger size for more money.

The same stove with a five quart pot. Notice, the stove won't fit another pot.

By the way, those flaps on the side of the stove are to protect the stove from the wind. A breeze will push the heat away from the pot; causing the pot to take longer to heat.

I was really worried about the pot when I took this picture. It looked like it could tip over the whole time; I was taking the picture.

Just think, if the pot was full.

This picture shows two types of canteen cups. The one on the left is a United States stainless steel canteen cup dated around 1954, with a solid flip up handle.

The one on the right is a French aluminum canteen cup, with wire handles this one is very close to the later model of United States canteen cups.

Old timers like the canteen cup on the left because it won't tip back and spill coffee like the wire handle model. Plus, these United States canteen cup is stainless steel; it's a lot more durable (less likely to bend) then the French aluminum canteen cup.

P.S.
If you go looking for a propane converter, please consider Campmor. I have done business with them, off and on, for over 20 years.


Link:
Campmor -  Century Propane Conversion Kit
http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___86801