Many foods, such as grains and dried legumes, require heat to make otherwise indigestible components digestible. There are many options to cook food when conventional methods are no longer available.
A two- to four-quart cooking pot with lid, eating utensils, paper plates, cups, and towels, heavy-duty aluminum foil, ways to light a fire, a manual can opener, and a camping cook stove with fuel are nice items to have for the preparation and cooking of food after a disaster.
A can of food can be opened by sanding the top of the lid on an abrasive object such as a cinder block wall.
Other options for cooking or heating food are charcoal or barbeque grills, candles, woodstoves or fireplaces, campfires, Dutch ovens, pressure cookers, and solar ovens.
Solar ovens can easily be made with cardboard and an oven cooking bag. Cooking pots that work the best in most solar ovens are dark-colored, shallow, lightweight metal pots.
Reducing the size of some foods before cooking such as dried beans will allow them to cook quicker, using less water and fuel. Hand-crank grain mills work wonderfully for this purpose.
Maximizing the efficiency of cooking fuels is important. Choose a good pot with a lid and keep the lid on when cooking. Make a noncombustible skirt out of aluminum foil and place it around the pot to reflect radiation to the sides of the pot. Keep the pot close to and centered over the flame.
Make sure all fires are well contained. Strong winds can blow embers into dry grass or other fuels and cause wild fires. Six-inch-deep trenches in mineral earth can be dug to contain the fire. Use rocks if you must, bricks or concrete blocks, or metal drums and charcoal grills.
Extinguish all fires when done. All parts of the fire should be
cool to the touch
. Think ahead about when you want the fire out and burn small fuel or stop adding it altogether to make the fire easier to put out.
Hay boxes allow you to save cooking fuel by using the heat of the food within the container after being cooked for a short time. The pot is then put into a superinsulated box to maximize the radiated heat. Insulated cookers can be used anytime, not just after emergencies, to save a tremendous amount of cooking fuel and energy.
Survival kitchens should be set up with attention to keeping people, pets, and kids out for maximum safety, germ control, and efficiency. They should have areas to dispose of compost and grey water as well.
Most group dishwashing systems should have multiple containers in which to scrap, wash, rinse, and bleach-dip dishes.
