Easy emergency stove/candle from a can of tuna in oil

If you store cans of tuna as part of your prep's it is a good idea to buy tuna in oil instead of brine.
The oil is of course useful energy when consumed, but it can provide an emergency heat and light source in a few easy steps.

1, Stab a hole in the centre of the can.
2, Insert a wick to the base of the can and saturate with the oil, this could be twine/string, an inch or so of bootlace, or simply a shred of cloth torn from your tee-shirt.
3, Light it and use as required.

Can placed in standard mess tin which acts as a hob for a saucepan etc.



For anyone interested in the stat's, I used a 198gram supermarket can of tuna in sunflower oil, with the wick made from a shred of cotton dish cloth.
1 pint of water took 1 hour and 10 minutes to boil, the candle burned for a total time of 4 hours and 5 minutes.

The tuna was also heated quite nicely and tasted no different after serving as a stove/candle.

As I said, if you store any fish cans I'd suggest using the oil products every time instead of brine - this also works with sardines etc so keep it in mind when you next do your shopping

Best Idea ever
S&F
No more using the cooker for me now

great post
this is one area i'd love to see more idea's on
shtf heating n cooking

on side note
from what i hear
most cans of post 3-11 tuna...this is only application worthy as tuna inside probably is hotter then that flame
"fukushima...the gift that keeps giving"

reply to post by grainofsand


Another way of doing this is to open the can fully and place a paper towel into the oil and light it.
It cooks your tuna in 5 minutes but you have to pick the black burnt stuff out before you eat it.
I have done this and it works.





Also,I own and use that exact same canteen kit as you have pictured.

Cheers chaps, actually learned this when I was in cub scouts many years ago
Got an easy lantern trick with household electrical cable and cooking oil as well, I'll knock one up in a minute and post it here, doesn't deserve it's own thread

Our cats would attack us for that. We add a little salt to the tuna oil or water and the cats slurp it up

Another easy lantern trick, take any electrical wire and coil it round a nail or whatever to form a stand for a string/cloth wick. I just stripped some speaker cable for this pic:



Pour some cooking oil, butter, etc over it in a saucer or bowl and in minutes you've got yourself a light/heat source.

Originally posted by rickymouse
Our cats would attack us for that. We add a little salt to the tuna oil or water and the cats slurp it up

Haha, my cat started mooching around within minutes of lighting it earlier...I did share a little bit with her though, proper scrounge bag moggy!

What does the tuna can smell like when it's burning?

I rendered deer tallow and made candles this year. They are odorless when burning.

Excellent idea, thank you! S & F for you

Originally posted by butcherguy
What does the tuna can smell like when it's burning?

Hardly any smell at all, it was just the sunflower oil burning and I could barely notice it - I'm guessing my cat was on the case due to her superior snout compared to mine

I rendered deer tallow and made candles this year. They are odorless when burning.

Now that is something I'd like to try myself, perhaps post your pics and story up? Definitely be interested, as I'm sure many others would.

Originally posted by grainofsand

Originally posted by butcherguy
What does the tuna can smell like when it's burning?

Hardly any smell at all, it was just the sunflower oil burning and I could barely notice it - I'm guessing my cat was on the case due to her superior snout compared to mine

I rendered deer tallow and made candles this year. They are odorless when burning.

Now that is something I'd like to try myself, perhaps post your pics and story up? Definitely be interested, as I'm sure many others would.

I didn't take any pics while doing it.
I shot a really fat doe this year, so I saved the tallow and cut it into 1/2'' cubes. I cooked it down until the cubes were light brown, then strained the fat, pressing what little remained in the cubes out with a spoon.

I poured the melted tallow into screw top jelly jars (Knott's Berry Farms) that I had set up with cotton wicks.

Deer tallow is very hard at room temperature, so it made fairly good candles.

Originally posted by butcherguy

Originally posted by grainofsand

Originally posted by butcherguy
What does the tuna can smell like when it's burning?

Hardly any smell at all, it was just the sunflower oil burning and I could barely notice it - I'm guessing my cat was on the case due to her superior snout compared to mine

I rendered deer tallow and made candles this year. They are odorless when burning.

Now that is something I'd like to try myself, perhaps post your pics and story up? Definitely be interested, as I'm sure many others would.

I didn't take any pics while doing it.
I shot a really fat doe this year, so I saved the tallow and cut it into 1/2'' cubes. I cooked it down until the cubes were light brown, then strained the fat, pressing what little remained in the cubes out with a spoon.

I poured the melted tallow into screw top jelly jars (Knott's Berry Farms) that I had set up with cotton wicks.

Deer tallow is very hard at room temperature, so it made fairly good candles.

That sounds excellent, I've had an idea for a while about trying something similar when this years generation of Seagulls appear again - I live on a cliff by the sea.
On any week in my street I'll find a few fat dead birds who didn't listen to their Mam when she said 'don't go too close to the edge of the roof' so instead of binning them I'm definitely interested in seeing if their fat can be used...as an experiment of course.

You can be sure that whatever my results, I'll post them up so others can either learn something new, or laugh at my failure!

reply to post by grainofsand


Try using fiberglass insulation as a wick. You can find it
in your attic and also on insides of electric ovens and refrigerators.
It lasts a lot longer than cotton wicks.

These crisco tubs work pretty well and last for about 14+ hours...if you buy the bigger cans then you get longer burning time, and the off brands are cheaper too.

reply to post by trig_grl


And you can also mix it with granulated sugar and blueberries to make eskimo ice cream!

I'm seriously not joking!

Originally posted by MystikMushroom
reply to post by trig_grl

 

And you can also mix it with granulated sugar and blueberries to make eskimo ice cream!

I'm seriously not joking!

Yes, it is a real thing.
It's not for people that think ice cream is fattening. Eskimos can handle it though, they have a historically high fat diet.

Very cool!

You say it works with sardines too, hrmmm... I'm a big fan of the ones in Louisiana hot sauce, and I keep a bunch of them handy for eatin' too. I'll have to try this out sometime, but I fear that it might not work well... and if it does, it might smell odd. I imagine the same would go for smoked oysters. At the worst, the contents are still edible on either.

On the topic of emergency light / cooking / heat: I was reminded of a "hobo stove" from years ago.

You guys and gals should google "buddy burner" and check that out also. We used these all the time back in the scouts, they are really simple to make, use an old tin can - tomato, soup, dog food... etc. add some rolled up cardboard, melt some wax into it and shebang. You can use old remnants of candles, to save some cash. It helps to put some string around in the top, for easier lighting if my memory is correct.


Good stuff!

None of those look wind proof to me.

This might double for heating a cup of Joe and staying lit in a breeze?

don't forget olive oil. it is smokless and oderless when burned. it gives off a decent light. I can't speak to the point of it getting hot enough to cook with. It has been used since biblical times as lamp oil. It will be more expensive than some of the other oils, but in an emergency, almost every body has olive oil in the pantry. And remember that it doesn't have to virgin oil. the cheaper oils will serve just as well.