One of the scariest scenarios we can consider for survival is a complete loss of power. There are lots of reasons for the grid to potentially go down. We already see this happen with snowstorms, hurricanes, heat waves, and other destructive storms. I know plenty of people that have lost power for several days, weeks, or even months because of these storms. Folks in Texas were stuck without power during a snowstorm last winter, and my friend in Puerto Rico knows people that went without power for more than a year after a bad hurricane.
The four resources that you absolutely need to survive are water, food, fire, and shelter. Food not only keeps us alive, but it gives us the energy we need to complete other survival tasks. For food to be safe to eat, it often needs to be cooked to a certain temperature to kill bacteria that could make us sick. If you have no power or gas, cooking can be a challenge. However, my family has come up with several different ways to cook without utilities. In this article, we will cover how you can cook while off the power grid.
Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
Two of the most common ways people have to heat their homes and cook food are fireplaces and wood stoves. These permanent features in homes are currently used all over the world for cooking and have been for a long time. They can also make for a good backup plan in case your home ever loses power.
Fireplaces are a bit more common these days in modern homes. Many have been converted to gas, but wood-burning fireplaces are better for survival purposes. Fireplaces are designed with rocks or bricks to hold in the hot embers and prevent them from catching the home on fire. They also have a chimney that draws in air at the bottom and then channels smoke out of the home at the top. Without a chimney, fireplaces would produce too much carbon monoxide and smoke for them to make sense in a home.
With fireplaces you get heat and light from the flames, the coals, and the bricks or rocks after they are heated up. After they absorb heat, they will release that heat for a long time after the fire goes out. Once you learn how to work with the coals and flames, you can cook in a fireplace just like you would with a stovetop or oven. There are racks, rotisseries, and hooks that can be installed to make cooking a bit easier.
Wood stoves can easily be installed in a home that does not have one, so this is the best aftermarket option. They really can be installed anywhere in the home if you get creative with the smokestack. These stoves are normally cast iron, so they also radiate heat after the fire is out. They hold in the embers and push smoke out the smokestack. The stove is more enclosed, so the inside works just like an electric oven. Most wood stoves have places on top to set pots and pans as the top heats up like an electric stovetop. In some ways, this design makes it more functional than a fireplace for cooking.
In a survival scenario, smoke is sometimes a bad thing. If the grid is down for weeks or months, you probably don’t want people passing through to know that you have resources and are doing fine. That smoke coming out of your chimney could attract all kinds of unwanted attention. Try to build up the fire at night when the smoke is not visible. Then you will have lots of coals during the day to continue cooking and heating the home without smoke.
Back Yard Cooking
When you factor in weather, lighting, and neighbors it makes more sense to do your cooking inside in a survival scenario. However, you may not have that choice. Without power, a fireplace, or a wood stove you will really be forced to cook outside. Without these tools, cooking inside would be both a fire hazard and a carbon monoxide hazard. So, it looks like we are moving outside.
I personally love cooking outside and have gotten used to cooking in the rain, snow, or dark of night. Just last week I fired up my smoker at 1 am in the pouring rain to smoke a bunch of pork butts. If you want to cook quickly and get back inside, propane appliances are your best option. They produce very little smoke, so you will not be alerting anyone else to your presence. I have a propane grill, a propane plancha or flat top grill, and several small gas stoves. We always keep four or five propane tanks on standby, so cooking outside is always an option. In fact, there are many times that I find cooking outdoors to be faster and easier than cooking in our kitchen.
You can also cook outdoors with wood or charcoal grills and smokers. I have a propane egg-style smoker, an offset smoker, and a barrel-style old smokey. These smokers allow me to cook in several different ways based on my needs for the meal. They also allow me to smoke up to 100 lbs of meat at a time, so it is a very efficient way to cook.
These do produce lots of smoke, so there is no hiding the fact that you are home and have supplies. When all three smokers are going, it looks like the back of our house is on fire. However, using charcoal and wood makes for tasty and hassle-free cooking. Smoking food makes it last longer, and you can set up a good smoker and let it run all day without much maintenance. Also, I have plenty of timber on my property to fuel these smokers if we run out of propane.
Even without any fancy grills or smokers, you can still cook outside. We have a fire pit in our backyard that is great for cooking. I put a tripod over the fire pit with sticks and cordage so we can adjust the cooking height when needed. Your best option is to let your fire cook down to coals so you get a more even cook, but you can cook with the flames if you are in a hurry. Just be careful not to let anything burn.
To judge cooking temperatures, you can use the palm of your hand. Hold your hand steady and flat over the fire at the height you want to test. If you must pull back after just a couple of seconds, that is high heat. If you can let it sit for about five seconds, that is medium heat. If you can hold it out there for eight or more seconds, that is low heat. You can then adjust your height to get the cooking temperature you want.
Rocket stoves are designed to give you the same action you get out of a fireplace. Wood is fed into the base laterally, the smoke is sent out the chimney, and the body of the stove radiates heat. You can use bricks, trash cans, coffee cans, or really any fireproof material to build your rocket stove. We have one built just from standard construction bricks, and it works fine. You can also buy portable rocket stoves that are ready to load some sticks and light.
One other point I should make is that not all cookware is ideal for this type of cooking. Any time you cook with a pan directly over the flames, you risk both hot spots and damage to the pan. The best pans for this type of cooking are cast iron as they distribute heat evenly. They are heavy so not ideal for bugging out, but perfect for cooking at home. I suggest having a small pan, a large pan, a pot, and a Dutch oven with a lid. Buying new can be expensive, so you might check thrift stores and garage sales.
Solar and Gas Generators
While we have been working our way through this discussion assuming we have no power, there are ways to have power in a grid outage. If you have a gas-powered generator or a solar panel system set up at your home, you would have power for cooking even without the grid. Our home has a generator for these scenarios. We looked into solar last year, but just don’t get enough direct sunlight on our wooded lot.
With either of these setups, you would be able to use all of your electrical appliances during a power outage. If you had a generator, you would just need to flip it on when the power goes out. Many people have this set up to switch over automatically. The only downside is that you would need a good amount of gasoline, and generators are typically pretty noisy. There is no hiding from the neighbors the fact that you have supplies if you run a loud generator. Solar setups are silent, so you would not have this problem.
One other solar option you can consider is a solar oven. These devices collect sunlight using reflective surfaces and focus that heat on your food. I have had mixed results with these devices, so be sure you do your research. In my experience, you need clear skies with no tree cover and lots of direct sunlight. You are also better off reheating precooked foods rather than cooking raw foods.
In my early 20’s, I was a chef at a few small restaurants. Because of this experience, I love having a bunch of different ways to cook our meals. It is not uncommon for us to have one of our cooking appliances break down, so we always need a backup plan. For survival purposes, you need to have a backup plan as well.
Now that you have some guidance, just look through your kitchen. Ask yourself “How would I cook if the power went out indefinitely?” If you don’t have an answer, start working on putting the pieces in place to make that plan happen. When things get bad and the grid goes down, you will be glad that you took the time to plan your off-grid cooking.