How to Prepare Food Without Electricity

Obviously, during a power failure, your methods of cooking are going to change and this post will help you get prepared. You need to conserve fuel as much as possible. Consider the amount of cooking time needed for particular foods. If you have limited heat for cooking, choose foods that cook quickly. Prepare casseroles and one-dish meals or serve no-cook foods. Some methods for cooking without electricity are;

• Fireplace
• Camp stoves or charcoal burners
• Dutch ovens.

Fireplace

To cook in the fireplace, you can skewer, grill or wrap food in foil to cook it.

Camp stoves or charcoal burners

Be sure to use camp stoves and charcoal burners outside your home, and not even in your fireplace, because these stoves give off carbon monoxide and the fumes are deadly.

Dutch oven

You probably know what a Dutch oven is already, but incase you don’t, it is a heavy, flat-bottomed cast-iron kettle with a close fitting lid and sturdy handle. This cast-iron oven can be used for frying, baking, boiling, roasting and deep-frying. There are two types; one with legs for outdoor use and the one without legs for use indoors. The indoor version can be used outdoors by placing three stones underneath the oven to raise it off the fireplace coals. The lid can be turned over and used as a frying pan. One way to use it as a frying pan, is to push sticks into the ground, to hold it over coals. Another way is to turn it upside down on top of the oven itself, and put coals on aluminum foil inside the oven. The oven can be used for baking with the inside lined with foil and the oven placed on coals and put some coals on the lid of the oven also. To use it for boiling, simply fill it with water, put it over heat and add the food. For deep-frying in the Dutch oven, fill it with oil and drop either fish, poultry or meat into the oil. A Dutch oven will provide your family with a versatile tool that will come in handy when camping or surviving a disaster.

Remember, you should only cook frozen foods if you have enough heat supply for cooking, because frozen foods take considerably more cooking time and heat than canned goods. Commercial canned foods can be eaten straight from the can. Do not use home canned vegetables unless you can boil them for ten minutes before eating. To conserve water, save the liquids off the canned vegetables and then use it instead of water for cooked dishes. Drain and save juices from canned fruits and substitute it for water in salads and beverages. For your health sake, boil all water used in food preparation for at least 10 minutes. If you are without refrigeration, open only enough food containers for one meal. Some foods can be kept a short time without refrigeration. Recently cooked foods such as vegetables and meat can be kept unrefrigerated from noon until the evening meal if it is covered. If available, packaged survival or camping foods are good to have. Do not serve foods that spoil easily, such are ground meats, creamed foods, hash, custards or meat pies. These end up being a good source for bacteria growth. If necessary, substitute canned and powdered milk for fresh milk. Canned milk will keep safely for many hours after you open the can. But, if you are feeding a baby canned milk, you need to open a new can for each feeding. Only use boiled or disinfected water to mix the powdered milk in. If safe water or water disinfectants are not available, use your canned or bottled fruit juices instead of water. But remember you may have clean water in your water heater. (see water section of this CD). If you can, prepare and eat foods in their original containers so you won’t need to wash so many dishes and use so much water. Before using any dishes, pots, pans or cooking utensils that were in contact with floodwater or contaminated rainwater, wash and disinfect them. Air dry dishes. Do not dry them with a dish towel. If cupboards and food preparation surfaces were in contact with contaminated water, clean and rinse them with chlorine bleach solution before storing dishes and utensils.

• Use camp stoves, fireplace, charcoal burners and Dutch ovens to cook.
• Only use camp stoves and charcoal burners outside because of toxic fumes.
• Dutch ovens can be used in many ways.
• Choose foods that have a shorter cooking time when possible.
• Keep your first aid kit handy in case of accidents while cooking.