Cooking Off-Grid: Rocket Stoves, Camp Stoves, and Stovetop Ovens

A lot of people work hard to put away a year's supply of food. They've got the wheat, the rice, the beans, all stacked up and ready. And then I ask them a simple question. What are you going to cook it on?

You can't eat most of that food raw. Wheat and dry beans have to be cooked. You need to boil things. You're going to need to fry things and bake things. If the power is out and your kitchen stove won't run, all that food storage isn't worth much until you have a way to put heat under it.

So let's talk about how to cook when the grid is down.

Camp Stoves Work Great, Outside

The little camping stoves work great, and I'd recommend having one. But I have to say this clearly: they have to be used outside. You can't use them indoors.

That goes for propane camp stoves, white gas stoves, and butane stoves, unless a particular stove is specifically rated for indoor use. These stoves burn fuel in the open, and they can put carbon monoxide into the air. You can't see it, and you can't smell it. In a closed-up house during a winter outage, that can turn deadly. So plan on setting up your cooking area outdoors, on a porch, a patio, or in the yard, and make sure it's somewhere you can get to in bad weather.

The fuel matters too. Propane is the easiest to use and store. White gas works well, but it's a bit difficult to store. I've had a gallon of white gas sitting on a shelf that I thought was full, and when I went back to it a couple of years later, it was only half full. I don't know exactly where it went, but it was gone. I cover more about that in my emergency fuel comparison.

Pots, Pans, and a Little Oven

A stove alone isn't a kitchen. You need pots and pans that can handle direct flame and that are the right size for your burner. Think about what you'd actually cook from your food storage, and make sure you have a pot big enough to boil beans for the whole family, a pan for frying, and something to bake in.

Baking is the one people forget. I have a little oven that fits right on top of a camp stove. It means I can bake on the same stove I use to boil water. If you're storing wheat and flour, you're going to want bread, and a stovetop oven is one way to make that happen. I'd encourage you to practice with it now, while it's easy. Every stove and oven cooks a little differently, and you want to learn that on an ordinary Saturday, not in the middle of an emergency.

Why I Like Rocket Stoves

Speaking of wood, let's talk about rocket stoves. They are much better than trying to cook on a campfire.

A campfire wastes an enormous amount of wood. The heat goes up and out in every direction, and only a little bit of it actually reaches your pot. You end up feeding it log after log just to boil a pot of water.

A rocket stove uses very little wood. It burns small sticks and twigs and focuses all of that heat in one spot, right where your pot sits. When fuel is scarce, that difference matters a great deal. In a long emergency, propane will run out. Wood may be what you have left, and you'll want to make every stick count.

A rocket stove is still an open fire, so it belongs outdoors too. Keep it on a stable, nonflammable surface, away from anything that can catch, and keep water or a fire extinguisher close by.

I have rocket stoves available here on the website. Everything on this site links to products that I either have or recommend, and I always recommend the ones I own first, because I've tried them and used them myself. You'll find the ones I use listed on this site.

Have at Least Two Ways to Cook

Here's the principle I keep coming back to. Think of more ways than one to cook. Don't depend on one, but at least have one. You don't want to have nothing, because you can't do very well without cooking.

A camp stove and a rocket stove make a good pair. One runs on fuel you've stored. The other runs on small amounts of wood you can gather. If one runs out or breaks down, you still have a way to feed your family. Add a stovetop oven and some good pots and pans, and you've got a working kitchen that doesn't need the power company.

When you're planning, remember that cooking and heating often draw from the same fuel supply. If you're using propane to heat your home and cook your meals, it's going to go fast. I write more about that in heating your home safely when the power is out.

If you want to figure out how much cooking fuel your family would need, the free Family Planner on this site covers cooking, heat, fuel, and light. It's free, there's no sign-up, and nothing you enter is stored anywhere.

A Thought to Carry With You

There's a quiet kind of faith in cooking a meal for your family when everything around you has fallen apart. It says, we're still here, and we're going to keep going. The scriptures are full of moments where God provided bread in hard places, manna in the wilderness and loaves on a hillside. I believe He still provides, and I believe part of how He does it is by nudging us to prepare ahead of time. So get your stoves, learn to use them, and when you sit down to that first meal after a hard day, take a moment to give thanks.