Jeanette -- I'd very highly recommend cast iron "camp" Dutch ovens from Lodge of Tennessee. They are made in Tennessee and a great value (I've purchased most of mine on Amazon -- free shipping with Amazon Prime - and a lot cheaper than the MSRP you'll see on Lodge's website). They'll last a hundred years with minimal care. I think it would be a smart hurricane preparedness prep.

http://www.lodgemfg.com/seasoned-cast-iron/camp-ovens-and-grills

All your mom would need is a bag of charcoal briquettes. Camp dutch ovens are designed so that they can be stacked -- each oven helping heat the one above and below.

And a "chimney starter" to jumpstart the coals (via a bit of paper and a match):

http://www.amazon.com/Weber-7416-Rapidfi...chimney+starter

If you can find out how many people she'd like to be able to feed, then we can help with size recommendations. For one or two people, I'd get the 1 quart-2 qt-4 qt. I also use the 1-quart in my kitchen stove.


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It's been awhile but Major's Surplus had some nifty stoves from Sweden I think. Wood fired, compact and cylindrical with pipes included. They would do well on a back porch I think.

FWIW... and not a direct response to Jeanette's question... during the 2004 hurricane season's 9 day power outage, this inexpensive tailgate grill did most of my cooking...it is very lite weight, and with the tall lid, probably capable of baking something like bannock or cornbread... I used the camp stove to heat water to shave with, but at the time most of my perishable food was chicken breasts, ground beef, hot dogs, fish fillets,and pork chops that were frozen... without easily attainable hot water for clean up of cooking pots and pans, I did a lot of meals with bamboo skewers, or directly on the grill.. with paper plates and plastic flat wear....OK it needs to be cleaned up a little... canned goods were cooked in a water bath over the fish cooker...eaten directly from the can.. add open cans to determine the water level... needle nose or multi tool to retrieve... hot water for cleanup

Well I have just ordered a Frontier Stove and water heater jacket a few days ago as I am expecting some national fuel shortages this winter. It should be very flexible not only as a stove, but as a space heater and water heater (for hot water for cleaning cooking utensils, washing and showering). Light enough to be luggable and compact enough for vehicle carry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXc2iRVqPNk

A more substantive stove (more expensive) called the Traveller Stove is also available;

http://anevay.co.uk/camping-stoves.html?suitable_for=9

AFLM's stoves reminded me of the old cast iron wood fired stove in my Grandparent's home that they were still using up until the mid-1950's. It had an oven and "cook top" and also served to warm their house.

Functionally, it sounds like this might be what your Mom is thinking of.

A quick Google search for "old fashioned wood burning kitchen stoves" revealed that various versions are still being made.
For example:
http://www.elmirastoveworks.com/fireview/ and
http://www.antiquestoves.com/general%20store/generalstore.index.htm

(no affiliation)

I have seen similar concepts built out of brick (fire brick and red brick).

Costs and installation (perhaps on the porch) might be prohibitive, but they can last a lifetime.

Maybe you should experiment with hexamine solid fuel tablets. Inexpensive, compact, and non-explosive. Good for boiling up a cup of tea or heating up canned food. For baking or bigger cooking tasks, BBQ charcoal is a better deal.

There are many brands (esbit, coghlans) etc.
http://www.coghlans.com/products/fuel-tablets-9565

Don't bother buying the little folding stove; you can make one out of a tin can or a couple of bricks or anything. Remember to use it in a well-ventilated location and on a non-flammable surface.

If the main things you need it for are stove top uses, they make a small version of these. It will also work for an alternate heat source. Granddad used one to heat his woodworking shop here in the winter. He fed his with scraps.

small wood stove

The more this thread progresses, the burning question arises, "What's wrong with propane? I ask that because, aside from solo biking and hiking trips, I probably use propane more than anything else. It is available in a variety of reasonably safe containers, and with just modest, fairly routine safety practices, is about as safe as anything else.

On one of my field projects, we cooked on a two burner propane stove for five to ten people regularly for several months, doing our baking and heating in a stove top oven accessory. No problems at all.

Propane is versatile - accessories are available that allow you to use the same fuel for lanterns and refrigeration, if you choose to get that elaborate (we did in our field camp). It is also fairly cheap, especially bought in quantity.

In case of a major earthquake, I plan to basically camp out in the back yard, cooking and possibly illuminating with propane. Any fuel or stove setup can have safety issues, as can domestic ranges, for that matter. We've had potential problems ever since humankind tamed fire.

I agree with this. I have a two burner Colman stove with an adaptor to use 20# propane bottles for long term stuff. Great set-up and smaller propane bottles are available.

Maybe it's not the safety of the stove that's the issue. Maybe it's limitations on storage of the gas bottles and if there were a fire ... dunno, maybe Jeanette can amplify...

hexamine is the most expensive fuel you can buy

coghlan's 24 fuel tablets of hexamine , 0.2oz per tablet, 0.3lb total at 12,900 BTU/LB is 3870 BTU total. you can buy them at these prices

Compare that to dollarstore unscented vaseline 4oz for $1 , its 0.25lb * 19,900BTU/lb , 4970 BTU/$

Compare to Walmarts which lists 6-lb Crisco (24970 Calories) 95,400 BTU / $8.98 = 10,620 BTU/$ dollar

Compare to this past winter 40 lb of premium wood pellets for 342,000 BTU / $4.98 = 68,675 BTU/$ dollar


So for a three day or 30 day in-home earthquake kit, hexamine is too expensive as both fuel and tinder.

Everybody has paper and oil/grease/butter around the house to use as tinder to burn pellets or twigs or logs

I would leave the hexamine to Ultralight gram counters