Survival kitchenware, page 1
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Topic started on 7-2-2008 @ 04:08 PM by dr_strangecraft
My problem is that I like to cook. Specifically, I cook with Revere ware pots and pans. They have a copper bottom that helps them heat quickly and evenly on a gas or electric stove.

The trouble is, they are practically useless on a campfire or grill, because the handle isn't made to be heated, and the soot that collects from a direct fire is heck to clean off---basically takes a steel wool pad.

My solution has been to camp with cast iron. It's rugged, and you don't even need soap to clean it. It heats fast and even as well. The trouble is the weight. A cast iron skillet, even my little omelette skillet, makes a decent murder weapon. My brother dropped a dutch oven on his toe and it broke the toenail off and it never grew back right.


There are some other options, but they have huge problems:

-aluminum campware
My old boyscout messkit is pure aluminum. Of course, Alzheimer's has been definitely linked to exposure to aluminum cookware . . . and, um . . . something else . . . but I forget what it is . . . .

- teflon
Linked with impotence in males. thanks a lot Dupont.



Also, what about coffee?

We lost power in a snowstorm earlier in the winter, and were without power for more than a day. I got out my old percolator coffee pot. I put it on the coals in the fireplace. I made the worse soup of ground up bits that produced what was either the weakest coffee or else the strongest tea I've ever tasted. it sucked.

So what do you do for coffee in a "red dawn" or other situation? I've seen a little single cup, espresso maker that looked suitable for campfires. It was italian, and I've never met someone who used it. That would be excellent, tho.


Any ideas?
.


reply posted on 7-2-2008 @ 04:17 PM by AWingAndASigh
WRT coffee, get yourself a french press.

en.wikipedia.org...

All you need then is hot water to make coffee. Put the hot water in a thermal carafe, and you can make coffee all day from just a few minutes fire. You can also make tea in a french press.

WRT cookware, just about all of them have some kind of adverse effect. You can buy stainless steel with metal handles that would work.

Example:

www.gifts.com...:724137:419&sid=vsmopd:stainless+steel+pots+%26+pans+11+pieces&r id=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Dstainless%2Bsteel%2Bpots%2Band%2Bpans%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501%26toggle%3D1%26cop%3Dmss%26ei%3DUTF-8

You can even use an oven bag inside the pot to keep cleaning to a minimum in a survival situation where water might be in short supply.

WRT fire - get a solar oven. You don't need to collect firewood, it doesn't give off smoke that marauders can smell from miles away, and it works great.

www.sunoven.com...

In the case of a sun oven, you need dark colored cookware. Grannyware - cheap at WalMart - works great. The oven bags are handy in this case, too.


reply posted on 10-2-2008 @ 09:59 AM by Nyorai
reply to post by crgintx



That Alzheimer's comment is a good point, but if you can help it I would say stay away from aluminum and your body.

Then again, if TS does HTF, making coffee probably won't be a priority. But if you can pulled it off...


reply posted on 10-2-2008 @ 12:36 PM by Ahabstar
Well that is what I get for sleeping in this morning, I too was going to mention the enamelware.

I have seen the french press and wasn't sure how well it would work as it seemed to just be steeping coffee ground and would result in a coffee tasting tea by my reckoning.

Coffee in Sit X will become interesting. Unless we have international commerse that will allow for bartering you will have to grow your own eventually. This means greenhouse or indoor growing for much of the US. Grandpa had a couple trees indoors and once a year they produced enough beans to make one cup of coffee.

The beans were a dark reddish in color and roughly the size of a small lima bean and waxy in texture. You have to place them on a cookie sheet and dry roast them in the oven (not sure temperature) and be careful not to burn them. We gave them a coarse "ground" via hammer. From there it was pan coffee for preperation by light simmer in water and strained into a mug with a small metal sieve. As for the taste, it sure wasn't Maxwell House but lightyears ahead of Folger's Crystals.

Two shrub sized trees grown indoors was one cup of coffee per year. I would say buy some large sacks of beans, educate yourself on roasting by experimentation, and consider pan coffee preperation from coarse ground. Percolated coffee works best by not using ADC fine ground...there is some age showing there, remembering when cans were labeled ADC for the fine ground used by Automatic Drip Coffeemakers. They do make paper filters which is a disk with hole in the center for percolator to cut down on the amount of grounds passed through to the coffee.

The keys to percolator use is cold, cold water and time as it will cycle coffee through the system a few times for best flavor. Low, slow heat works best such as suspended over coals or low fire. If the interal basket is too loose fitting and allows too many grounds to slip through use an external filter like a screen sieve or the old paper cone trick. The local Wal-Mart camp percolators are best used for shelf decoration in my opinion as their holes in the loose baskets are made by either a flathead screwdriver or the "better" model with a 10 penny nail. Not too many enjoy eating grounds and those will leave them floating in your cup.


reply posted on 11-2-2008 @ 06:50 PM by Terapin
How about using a Mongolian Fire Pot or hot pot. They work great for cooking with fire, have been in use for centuries, and are easy to use. The pot stays clean and free from soot.

Another modern option is the Foul Weather Kettle which is basically a hollow-center chimney surrounded by a double-wall boiler as seen here.
Garrett Wade (also a great place to get quality hand tools)
A great way to efficiently heat any liquid with fire.

As for solar, YES!!! this is a great way to go as it leaves no signature. They are in use around the globe and are actually very low tech. You can build your own quite easily, or buy one pre-made. Many varieties and styles. Me, I like a big parabolic mirror with a pot at the focus point. Boiling water in just a few minutes. Here is a link for more info on solar cooking. The Solar Cooking Archive

[edit on 11/2/08 by Terapin]


reply posted on 15-2-2008 @ 10:15 PM by reblazed
reply to post by dr_strangecraft



Someone, such as yourself, who thinks of coffee as a food group, might be interested in checking out toddycafe.com and their cold brew system for coffee concentrate. With a little ingenuity you don't even have to purchase their equipment ... just use their directions on how to. The liquid could probably be vacuum packed and it'd sure beat carrying around bushels of coffee beans.

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