When All Hell Breaks Loose (104 page)

Pasteurizing nonpotable water in a commercial solar oven.

Various forms of stored food: (from left to right) Pasta, dried fruit, canned food, MREs (meals ready to eat), freeze-dried and dehydrated food in single-serving foil packets, whole grains and legumes, and dried food in nitrogen-packed #10 can.

Cook stove options. The small fold-up stove in front uses hexamine or other fuel tablets for fuel. Notice the coffee-can cook pot on the far left with bailing wire handle and tinfoil lid.

No conventional kitchen stove? Not a problem with a handy dandy two-burner camping stove.

Preparing to break-in a Dutch oven with its first meal in the backyard.

Picture perfect pots; one sporting a genuinely jamming Ace Frehley (my boyhood hero) rubber ducky. Note the metal loop on the lids for securely tying them down, with or without survival ear inside, when needing to hit the road.

1
Bright ideas to light up your life! The blue LED flashlight in the middle has its own solar-panel charger built in, thus it never needs conventional batteries. Note that extra batteries are stored within their original package.

2
Lovable lanterns. The white gas (middle) and propane (right) models smell and get hotter than hell when lit. Use caution, common sense, and serious ventilation if you dare use them indoors. The battery-operated lantern on the left is the only safe lantern of this variety for use indoors.

3
Curious candle collection. The big green one in the back, through a combination of poor design and cheap wax, sucks as the flame tunnels into the candle as it burns, hiding the flame before it finally puts itself out. The "turd"-shaped candles in the front are handmade from beeswax and bear fat with a hand-twisted, two-ply wick made from a dogbane plant (Apocynum cannabinum).

4
Two "lights" for the price of one by using a mirror. Horrid, jail jumpsuit orangecolored candles can be bought cheaply in after-Halloween sales.

5
Smaller oil lamps give off a surprising amount of light. "Glass wicks" ensure worry-free operation for years.

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Oil lamps, just like grandma used.