Because we now live in an area where ice could knock out our power, as many in Oklahoma have experienced this week, it’s important to me to have alternate ways of heating food.
I love these little backpack stoves and have several. They screw onto the fuel can and when you’re done cooking, they unscrew and the fuel can is closed and the fuel does not escape.
The little stoves are lightweight and can’t handle a heavy pot so I keep backpacking pots to use on them. They’re great or cooking eggs, sausage, heating up soups or even chopping up a chicken breast and browning it.
When the ice was predicted here earlier this week, I got it all out, made sure I knew where all pieces were. Thankfully I didn’t have to use it.
They’re inexpensive, take up little space and are very handy if needed.
Chad told me about these several years ago. He takes them when they go camping and he said he can cook on them a lot for a whole week and never use up a whole can of fuel.
Caution: These stoves say “For outside use only”. If I were cooking on them, I’d either go into the sunroom and open windows, or go into the garage and open, or partially open a door. I wouldn’t use them inside the house unless I was using it for just a few minutes and we do have carbon monoxide detectors.
Paula Nordt says
We also keep a Coleman camp stove that uses propane. It can handle cast iron cookware. Our power goes out for no good reason sometimes. ?
Judy Laquidara says
As soon as I get a gas stove, I won’t have to worry because I’ll have it right in my kitchen. Those Coleman stoves are hard to beat for camp cooking and backup cooking.
vivoaks says
We have a very old Coleman stove that requires white gas. You have to pump it up after putting the fuel in and before starting it. We’ve used it for years and it still works. Hubby even used it a couple of years ago when we tapped our maple trees and made our own maple syrup. Worked great!!
Judy Laquidara says
I can remember having a Coleman stove that we had to pump before using it. Nice to have that! And, super nice to get your own maple syrup!
Judy in MO says
We have a gas grill with a cook top on it, also a griddle for it, so that is my back up. We also have a wood burning fireplace for heat. We usually aren’t out for very long. I think the longest in recent years was 8 hours.
Judy Laquidara says
We haven’t brought any grills with us and will be buying one for her but I doubt we buy gas but they definitely are most convenient when the power is out.
Liz says
In my part of central OK, I only had small power flickers though I had to reset my internet box and now I can reset the clocks that went out. But, there are many homes without power. My home is a small disaster with the trees. I called the tree guy and I am on the list to be given a quote for tree removal. In the meantime, I started cleaning up the front yard. I will probably lose 2-3 oak trees in the front. I don’t know about the back yard yet, but I had about 25 scrub oak and it looks awful. I didn’t check it out since we had high wind advisories and there are a bunch of “widow makers” lurking back there. I’ve already seen a Dallas area tree trimming company going through the neighborhood leaving business cards. The city debris removal starts on Nov 9th. Or, if I had a trailer, I could take the stuff to a city park. One benefit is that the city chips all the wood and then we have a chance to go pick up the mulch.
But, back to the cooking methods post – I have several Biolite Energy stoves.and gear. One of these days, I’lI get to use them! But, I bought the gear since they were a startup and were also working to get their stoves and lights to areas in Africa. Since I worked for an NGO and visited Africa, I have a soft heart and helped in the start-up phase. I use their flashlights all the time and have the solar panels to charge things. Even their stoves have a system to use the heat to generate charging power to a battery that can then be use to recharge the lights. The neat thing is that they use twigs for fuel and I have plenty of twigs right now. Even some very large twigs!!
I just bought a covered cast iron pot to cook bread in and this might be a great way to test it out – bake bread while I trim trees!
Judy Laquidara says
I have a small Biolite too but that’s definitely something I’d use outside. I’ve never tried the charging port and keep wondering how that will work. Let us know if you try baking bread on it.
Liz says
Under the current situations, I plan to try it first indoors with the new bread pan that I ordered and then go for the outdoor options. I work on the various charging options and will report.
Judy Laquidara says
Yes, please let me know how it works.
Nelle Coursey says
Great idea!