cooking without electricity

[Beekissed]

I'll tell you a real tastey treat you can cook up using just tin foil as a dish....on the grill, on the wood stove, in the firepit, etc.

Slice potatoes(red is best), green peppers, onions, yellow squash(purely optional but I love it), add a couple pats of butter, and seasonings into a large piece of tinfoil. Close the tinfoil tightly(doesn't really matter how), punch a few holes in the top for steam and place anywhere it will get some good steady heat but not too much flammage. Cook until ingredients tender to fork and eat!

You can add meats to this dish for a one-dish wonder and I prefer some kielbasa (when I don't care if I put processed meats in my body...camping, cook-outs, etc. ). It works well with skinned chicken as well.

I really like, and use almost exclusively, a seasoning made by Morton's called, Nature's Seasons. Just the right amount of ingredients, no msg, to season everything just right.

 

[pioneergirl]

Oh man, now I really really really want a wood stove in the house!! LOL

*note to self, get cast iron cookware and learn to use it!*

I tried my hand at canning meat, and it turned out really well, so I did more, lol. I have plenty of food that is pre-cooked, so I could go without the stove for awhile. At least long enough for me to go buy a wood stove and get crankin!!

 

[chiknmama]

We got a new woodstove this year. We had a little potbellied stove, but my new one (I had to have it!!) has two burners on it, so I can cook if need be. I also have a propane gas bbq, but if things went on for long, replacing the propane would be difficult at best. (you could take out the guts, though, and convert it to charcoal or wood) My neighbor has a grill (DELUXE!!!) that he can smoke, bbq or whatever in, that takes wood - I want one, LOL will have to make my own, though, he told me how much his cost him !!!!!!)

I have cooked over open flame, and over woodstoves before - I actually prefer the fire thing (fire good, mmmmm). I had a neighbor up north who cooked all of her bbq stuff on wood flame. I mean, she had a grill, kettle type, and she would put in a few (very few- maybe 4 or 5) coals to get going, then feed wood on top to burn, instead of just charcoal. The charcoal was simply to get the wood going really well. She cooked most everything that way - roasts, steaks, a half a turkey, etc... Always tasted great.

We have one of those tripods - a cheap one we bought while camping once. I've used it before, but for everyday use I'd want a stronger one - I'll have to have hubby make me one. We are talking about making an outdoor kitchen, anyway, for canning and the like (or cooking in summer) that would have a wood burning system with a grid on top for pans. I'm also looking into making a smoker.

Basically, if you can make fire, you can cook. Even if all ya have is an old hand torch, LOL you can still cook a hotdog with it.

I love fire <g>. I can't wait until winter so I can fire up that woodstove.

Peace -
Meriah

 

[chiknmama]

Oh man, now I really really really want a wood stove in the house!! LOL

*note to self, get cast iron cookware and learn to use it!*

I tried my hand at canning meat, and it turned out really well, so I did more, lol. I have plenty of food that is pre-cooked, so I could go without the stove for awhile. At least long enough for me to go buy a wood stove and get crankin!!

I got my two burner woodstove at TSC for 250.00 - I will save more than that the first month in electric heating bills. The stove pipe is expensive - more so than the last time I had to buy it. It is about 10 bucks for a 2 foot section!! yikes! But we only needed 8 or 10 straight feet, and a couple of elbows, and the cap - so we have extra straight pipe (came in a box of 10 pieces) if we need to replace.

There are better and fancier stoves out there, but for basic stuff, a good used or a good cheaper one will do the job.
We once used a "fireplace insert" as a woodstove to heat our wole house for 3 years. It worked great. We didn't have a fireplace, so we just set it up as a woodstove - you can get those (you used to be able to, not sure about NOW) for really cheap - I think we paid 20 bucks for ours because the guy wanted it gone out of his yard.

In a pinch, for heat, anyway, you can get a barrel stove kit. You'd have to weld some sort of flat top on it to make it good for cooking, but it could be done - wouldn't pretty, LOL but functional.

I had thought about this for our outdoor kitchen - have two of them, but instead of round sides down, make them like the burn barrel and just cut a door in the side to feed and put a grid on top. Maybe enclose it with some type of screen around it so it aint so ugly to look at. The barrel kits are available at TSC, too.

eta - I just thought of something - I could put slits in the side and a grid with handles to hold the fire, so I could raise and lower the heat.

Peace -
Meriah

 

[chiknmama]

quote=Beekissed -- I'll tell you a real tastey treat you can cook up using just tin foil as a dish....on the grill, on the wood stove, in the firepit, etc.


We make those - haven't in a long time, we called them "hobo dinners". hmmm... now ya got me wanting to make some for dinner, LOL.

Peace -
Meriah

 

[MorelCabin]

get yourself a tire rim, fill it with wood for a fire out in thebackyard, and use the rack from your oven over top to cook anything you wish:>) Thats what we do often and boy it is a real treat! the steaks that come off there are wonderful!

 

[Hiedi]

We have several different ways to cook without electricity: over an open fire, propane & butane burners, solar oven, dutch oven, kerosene cook stove. Also, I have been experimenting with number 10 cans by making simple hobo stoves. It is amazing how well they actually work. Maybe I will try to post a picture of one that I have made.

 

[unclejoe]

BBQ We have 3 propane tanks. 2 full & 1 on the grill.
Open fire. We have some cast iron cookware also.

 

[pioneergirl]

I got my two burner woodstove at TSC for 250.00 - I will save more than that the first month in electric heating bills. The stove pipe is expensive - more so than the last time I had to buy it. It is about 10 bucks for a 2 foot section!! yikes! But we only needed 8 or 10 straight feet, and a couple of elbows, and the cap - so we have extra straight pipe (came in a box of 10 pieces) if we need to replace.

There ya go! I found one at Farm King that I think would do nicely in our house, and it was $220, not counting pipe, etc. So I'm like you, I think I could keep it under $500 and be WAY ahead of the game. Last year we paid $1000 for LP in the tank...UGH.

 

[makerofstuff]

Solar oven, propane stove, wood stove, and wood fire. I have a dutch oven made in Africa that makes really really wonderful stew. If you put food in a oven proof metal pan, and wrap securely in foil, and take a drive down the road you can even cook a turkey!! That is silly fun for a road trip picnic, but if you are traveling it beats fast food. I have no links to post for it though.