Tips For Cooking When The Power Goes Out

Can you use some tips on cooking when the power goes out? If you are lucky enough to have a gas stove you will probably be okay. Do you sometimes get overwhelmed thinking about cooking devices to use after a disaster hits your neighborhood? You are not alone, I promise. Here’s the deal, let’s break this down with each device I have personally used. These are all in my emergency preparedness preps located in my home and garage.

Tips For Cooking

1. Butane Stove w/Butane Canisters

What Can I Cook On A Butane Stove?

I actually used a butane stove indoors for several weeks, along with a Sun Oven outdoors, while Mark and I waited for our gas line to be run for the gas stove in our kitchen we had purchased. It worked great and I used very little fuel.

When I taught classes some of the stores had a butane stove for me to use. The instructions say to use them outside, I use mine inside with a window cracked nearby. Please use your own judgment when using yours.

You may remember me telling you I gave these stoves to each of our daughters for Christmas one year. Here’s the deal, they can cook any meal if they have fuel stored, which they do. Here’s one like mine: BUTANE STOVE

• Boil water
• Scrambled eggs
• Chipped beef on bread
• Grilled cheese sandwiches
• Cook soup in a saucepan
• Make coffee or tea
• Cook anything you cook in a small to medium saucepan on your stovetop
• Cook rice
• Boil macaroni
• You can cook just about anything out of a can if the pan fits on the burner

What Fuel Do I Need?

• Butane BUTANE FUEL

Pros

• Inexpensive

Cons

• You can’t cook large pots
• Cooking quick meals only
• Once you run out of fuel you are done cooking with this unit

2. Kelly Kettle

What Can I Cook On A Kelly Kettle?

If you missed my post on how to use a Kelly Kettle, you may want to see it. It shows pictures of how to use it step by step. KELLY KETTLE TIPS You can boil water, and cook just about everything you can cook in a small saucepan. KELLY KETTLE

• Boil water
• Cook soup
• Heat anything you can fit in a small saucepan
• Make coffee or tea
• Fix a small meal

What Fuel Do I Need?

• Wood chips
• Dried leaves
• Pinecones
• Dried twigs

Pros

• It comes in a compact bag and takes up very little space
• You can cook a meal quickly
• Uses fuel that you can find just about anywhere (free)

Cons

• I hesitate to say it’s expensive because the one I bought came with a rocket stove, saucepan, plates, and cups
• The only con would be you can only fix small meals

3. Camp Chef Stove/Oven Combo

What Can I Cook In A Camp Chef Unit?

This is a great unit, I have seen it at Costco a few times for about $200.00 or so. I have taught several classes using one of these. Camp Chef Stove/Oven

• Bake bread, yes I have done that, it works great
• Casseroles
• Grilled cheese, if you get the griddle that goes on top
• Pancakes, here again, if you buy the griddle
• Cook on top of the stove with a small to a medium-size saucepan
• I do not recommend canning on this unit (you need constant heat)

What Fuel Do I Need?

• Propane: please check the unit you purchase, it may only come with the smaller connect attachment for the small canisters. I highly recommend getting the larger tank connectors that go with it.

Pros

• Inexpensive to purchase
• Cooks many types of meals

Cons

• Once you run out of fuel, you are done cooking with this unit

4. Lodge Dutch Oven

What Can I Cook In A Dutch Oven?

If you have one or more Dutch ovens you already know how versatile these gems are. These are probably the cheapest cooking device you can buy. Plus, it can be used to cook so many things. Be sure and check out thrift stores and garage sales for a used one. They are really easy to clean up.

• Boil water
• Make biscuits
• Bake bread
• Make casseroles
• Great for breakfast casseroles
• Pineapple upside-down cake
• Cheesy potatoes
• Meat

What Fuel Do I Need?

• Charcoal
• Lump charcoal
• Wood

Pros

• Inexpensive
• You can stack several Dutch ovens to cook several meals at once if you have the ones with the lid as shown above.

Cons

• If you have fire restrictions where you live you may not be able to start a fire even in your fire pit (this happens where I live in Southern Utah). If you run out of fuel you are done cooking any meals

5. Sun Oven

What Can I Cook In Sun Ovens?

This is a great cooking device if you have sunshine at least 200 days a year. If you don’t have a great deal of sunshine I would not buy one. In Southern Utah, we average about 255 days of the sunny skies each year.

• Brownies
• Bread
• Cakes
• Boil pasta
• Any casserole
• Fish
• Turkey
• Chicken
• Cheesy potatoes
• Cookies

What Fuel Do I Need?

• Sunshine

Pros

• You can bake anything in a Sun Oven that you can bake in your conventional oven. If the pan fits, you can bake it in the Sun Oven.

Cons

• If there is zero sunshine outside, you will not be baking.

6. Camp Chef Two-Burner Stove

What Can I Cook On The Stove?

This is a great stove, even if you are cooking for a crowd. It’s like having your kitchen stove with two burners outside and ready to cook for the neighborhood. This is the stove that a lot of church groups use to cook for large crowds. You will see 4-6 of these going non-stop at breakfast parties. You may even see people flipping hamburgers at family reunions on one of these gems. CampChef Two-Burner Stove

• Pancakes (if you have a griddle)
• Grilled cheese (if you have the griddle)
• You can cook anything you cook on a griddle inside your home
• You can use larger pots on one of these stoves

What Fuel Do I Need

• Propane

Pros

• It’s pretty inexpensive even with a bag to keep it stored

Cons

• Once you run out of propane it becomes useless

Final Word

I hope today’s post on tips for cooking outside helps you understand a few ways you can cook if the power goes out for days, weeks, or months. We can do this if we prepare before an event hits our city or neighborhood. It’s all about having the cooking device and the proper fuel for each unit before the power goes out. We can do this, I promise. May God bless this world, Linda