I am trying to find info about making an oven in the field or in an emergency. Does anyone know where I can get info like this?

Search for pop can or tin can stove. Also, "hobo stove"

I did a search on Google and came up with this:

http://www.permaculture.co.uk/mag/Articles/Earth%20Oven.html

Looks pretty interesting...

I've never tried these, but I remember thinking they'd be perfect in such a situation. Mostly because they require zero fuel (well, hydrogen for a fusion reaction, but you don't have to supply your own), and they can be made out of darn near anything (my favorite so far is the two pieces of glass and an old tire): Solar ovens

Can reach very respectable temps. Enough, IIRC, to bake some things.

Also, dutch ovens look pretty snazzy... Dutch Ovens In principle, it's just a specially shaped metal pot you fill and then surround / bury in hot coals. Apparently they can bake bread and stuff. But they're less of an improvised oven, because you really oughta already have the pot.

After that, I dunno... Aren't there some breads or bread-like things that can be made by wrapping dough in wet leaves, then covering the leaves with coals? What's the oven for? In an emergency, cookies would be nice, but hardly a necessity. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Well, I use a 30 cal ammo can for a charcoal grill. Works pretty well, to. I can make dinner diner for one on it with 10 briquettes.

If you stripped out the gasket, you might be able to make one into an oven if you stuck it in a hot fire, or layed it on stove or grill. If you went with a 5.56mm can, pulled out the gasket, you might (emphasis on the might) even be able to get it into a "fat-50" can. put a layer of coals in the bottom, then insert the small ammo can, stuff the space between them with more coals, and you have dutch oven.

Neat. How well does it hold up after using it for a while (multiple heat/cool cycles)?

Kinda non-survival here, but way back when (mid 70's I think) my dad made a charcoal grill out of an old quarterbarrel he happened to have.

Not very portable, but great to take tailgating at Brewer games. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I think it was an old Pabst barrel too.

i saw 2 diffrent way of baking in the field this weekend.
One of them was using 2 set of campingstyle pots and lids. You take a large pot and put the lid of the smaller pot in the larger pot first to act like a spacer ( for airspacing ). This way your food won't burn to the botom. than put the food in to the smaller pot and put thay in to the larger pot, on top of the small lid. Leaving airspace between the pods. Than put the big lid on to the large pot and put it in to the fire.

way number 2 is to dig a hole, make a fire, and add rocks to the fire to heat them. Than wrap you'r food in leaves. Put you wrapped food in to the fire and quickly cover it. If that isn't done it time the leaves will burn through. This can also be done with a large pod, where you add the coals of your fire and heater rocks. ( is the large pot in the picture )

Pretty well so far. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I packed it fully with charcoal adn burned that to ash four times when I got started, and I've used it a few times since then. Biggest thing I've seen is a slight warping on the long sides, but nothing major- the lid still goes on and off easily. I imagine that rust might be a problem over time, as I kill it by adding some water and dropping the lid, then letting it cool until I can hold it in my hand (not by the handle, but resting in my hand) before I stuff it back in my trunk.

The only thing I did do was add add a couple of pipe nipples and an angle to make a "snorkle" to get air into the underside of the coals. I could have drilled holes, but I didn't want to do that so that I could have everything be fully contained.

The gasket I figure might burn out over time, but if the can is in good shape at that time, it will be repainted and used for tool storage or something, if I don't use it for an oven. IIRC, Lofty Wiseman recommends ammo cans as part of a clay oven, so I figure it has to be rugged enough to last.

I have heard that you can just dig a hole in the ground, build a fire in it & keep it burning for an hour or so. Wrap the food in foil, leaves or a coating of clay and put it on top of the dying fire and fill in the hole. Let sit for 2 hrs.

I think you might have to have a trench leading into the fire hole while the fire is burning to provide enough oxygen.

I've been meaning to try this with a chicken. It's on my list.

Sue

Depending on your scale, it might be appropriate. Most of us plan on us and our families, but I imagine that some of us do emergency planning for larger organizations and for municipalities.

A barrel, scrubbed and burned clean and cut down, turns into a good grill wth a couple of cinderblocks for support. Two is better.

Use a couple chucks of coarse, strong twine to hold the blocks together, on top of a small piece of plywood.

Stick the two halves of the barrel together with a half dozen ig bags of charcoal inside on top of tthat. Stick 6 lengths of scrap rebar in there, wide enough to span the barrels, plus two sets that can hold a cross piece about a foot over the top of the halves in there to.

Lash a length of rebar that is a foot long that the barrel is long to the side, and wrap it up in chicken wire or harware cloth around the outside, pre cut so that you can fold it over the barrel halves, using the short bits of rebar for support, and making them short enough to leave about 20% of the top open so you can add fuel.

Once a year, twice a year, change out the charcoal, put in fresh matches. Other than that, leave it sitting in the corner of the shed.

And when the stuff hits the fan, your local boy scout troop or REACT group or Elk/Moose/what-have-you lodge has a cook station that can can be assumbled in half an hour, trasported with a pick up and dolly by two or three people. If it goes on longer than you have charcoal for, you can burn whatever you want.

I might add a large stailness steel pot, say the 8 gallon size, a long handled laddle with a one cup bowl, and a couple extra cinder blocks to hold it over a barrel half. That is your water pot- you draw from there for cooking, tea, coffee, hot cocoa, etc. And possibly a piece of sheet steel to serve as a griddle.

And you can use it for the regualr cook outs, to, so you don't get mistaken for a paranoid nut. A decent project for a troop of medium-junior scouts. The only hard part is getting the steel drums.

There are lots of methods very similar to what you describe. I have read about a few but have not tried and yet.

Wow ... Pretty cool! I have seen a quite a few "Earth Ovens" but none that fancy. None that doubled as a couch either. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Most of the ones I have seen looked more like these...

There are a few at this site. Scroll down a bit to the fire and cooking section:

http://www.primitiveways.com/index.html

I think it's a pretty neat place.

Regards, Vince

Kiko Denzer turned it into a book with full instructions & illustrations: Build Your Own Earth Oven.

Some beautiful work in it, too. The base seems to be a considerable issue.

Sue

I'm adding either metal water bottles or mugs to most of the kits - great for cooking or boiling water.

in my neck of the woods and the kind of survival that i'm really concerned about,dump in a lake canoe tripping and loose all the gear,something to cook a cup of sweet tea or soup in is %100 necessary.it was the search for a metal container with a lid that would fit in my PFD pocket that brought me to this site.i found no such thing and am using the canteen cup from a old Swiss Army canteen set for now.sealed with zip locks and duct tape it's waterproof so far--but what i really want to find is a Spam type can i can load up and run thru a can sealer,but so far no luck,the Spam people sent me a nice Email.."sorry we don't sell our cans empty"

Speaking of empty, CANOEDOGS can you free up some space in your PM box? I have a Minnesota question for you.

-Blast

You can try me, I'm from MN, and canoe here.

Cover it in foil - voila! an oven.

One of the best "improvised" cooking devices I'
m familiar with is the Hopi-Zuni "horno". It's a oven made of mud and sticks that you see in most yards on the Hopi and Zuni reservations. Look similar to the tan beehive shaped oven in brian's post, only smaller. Many thousands of people use them every day.

I only found one website that has instructions, and those aren't very good, but get ahold of a girlscout and ask about the "winebox oven." Find a good cardboard wine box (that holds bottled wine, not the box of wine with the mylar bag inside)as the cardboard is heavier duty. Line the interior with aluminum foil, holes half way up from the bottom on the sides to suspend a grill. A small tin can placed in the bottom with charcoal briquettes. the open side has to still have the cardboard attached as the "door." There is enough space around the "door" to let air in for the charcoal. If I remember, four briquettes equals 350 degrees. Each briquette added to that adds 50 more degrees. I have had bread and brownies baked inside one of these. I would imagine you could bake potatoes, fish, chicken, etc. I don't know about heavy pieces of meat like steaks or pork chunks. I suppose any heavy duty cardboard box would work, but I think the size of the wine box is part of the cooking/temperature equation.

A Girl Scout camp I worked at many years ago had some of these that had held together for years. They weren't used too often, but could be folded up and stored easily when camping season was over. Not so much for back packing but they can be used for car camping, vehicle bug out rigs, or at home without power. I think grills could be found easily, or improvised with coat hangers or similar.

This is my initial newbie post. Hope it is informative and I didn't break any rules.

Someone suggested this to a friend after he was saying their gas grill wouldn't stay at 250F while slowing smoking their food. It was mentioned this would increase the distance from the fire, possibly reducing the temperature that would be at the far side of the cart (the very top here). But, they mentioned they were trying to smoke it. Next time, I'll refer them to the "Good Eats" show on smoking. You put the fire somewhere separate from where the smoking happens.

Welcome sak45acp. Good first post. How about introducing yourself?

We have made the cardboard box oven and used it extensively at camp. It lasted for about eight months of monthly use until an small undetected tear in the foil caused the box to catch on fire. We put the fire out and finished cooking, then retired the box.

A couple of differences with our design...

We used a propane burner at the base instead of charcoal. That coupled with a thermometer allowed us to set very precise temperature controls and make adjustments on the fly.

We made everything from desserts to hot dogs to a huge roast. It worked great. And the oven was strong. We used a scavenged broken chair as the base of the oven. That way, the bottom was raised making it easy for the propane connections and temperature adjustments.

A couple of important tips. Elmers glue is the BEST glue for these types of projects. Apparently it is safe and heat friendly. Second, use a diffuser above the heat source to avoid burnt bottoms of whatever you are cooking. We installed aluminum racks in our oven held in place with the ever handy paper clip (drill the rack with a SAK awl, and thread the clip through as a stopper). And we used a large metal tray as the diffuser.

It was amazing how well it worked. I will see if I can find some pictures of it in action.

Depending on what you want to cook, there are many field expedient ways to cook. From the use of various reflectors, hot rocks, beds of coals direct and indirect, cooking sticks and stakes, etcetera. Most do not require the amount of material and preparation time that creating and using an earth oven does, and many can get excellent results.

There is a technique called "cold smoking" (where the meat/fish is not cocked by the heat, just dried and absorbs some smoke flavor) and a technique called "warm smoking" (where heat plays an important role). Both methods work really great if you care to investigate just a little bit.

Now there is a very real danger present in what I call "luke warm smoking", where you neglect to control the temperature (either cold or hot, NOT in between). I know a guy that food poisoned a lot of his in-laws, relatives and neighbors by giving away samples of "luke warm smoked" fish as christmas presents. Luckily, no one got critically ill but I think it is considered really, really bad form to give your in-laws food poisoning as christmas present... Smoked fish is really a delicacy, by the way.

You Sir, have not met my Mother-in-Law

Welcome to the fire sak45acp! I have never heard of making an oven like that. Very cool!

-Blast

I'm actually a registered Girl Scout leader as well as a Boy Scout leader. I've found some of those Girl Scout leaders to be quite the avid outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen (for the most part women), and have learned a lot from them.

That sounds like a fun oven. We'll have to try that sometime.

Ken

Sometimes I will pick up some Arbroath Smokies on my way back from fishing at Auchmithie or the cliffs between Auchmithie and Arbroath. Hot smoked haddock can be very very tasty.



North end of Auchmithie Bay

sak45acp, welcome to the group. In addition to the cardboard box oven, our Girl Scout troop uses a small trashcan (approx. 15-20gal.) to cook turkeys. The galvanized trashcan should be first burned before using it for cooking to burn off any coatings or treatments. We pound a stick (approx. 1+”) into the ground that will support the weight of the turkey, take an aluminum cake/roasting pan impale it onto the stick running it all the way to the bottom of the stick, so it is sitting on the ground to catch the juices. Impale the seasoned turkey onto the stick, you can add some water to the pan to add moisture and cover the entire thing with the inverted trashcan. Pile charcoal or wood that has developed into coals around the base of the can and onto the top (the bottom of the inverted can) of the can and cook for 15-20 minutes per pound. Add coals as necessary. Some of the best tasting turkey I have ever have eaten. We have used the same trashcan for years and you can store some of your cooking supplies in the can when storing.

Pete

I found a picture of the cardboard oven.



We used the lid to keep the top closed since we made ours top loading. And if you look at the top right corner of the oven, you will see the thermometer.

Here's the huge roast that was made in the oven on that wet trip. If I recall correctly, the roast cooked in the oven for something like five or six hours. Just one propane canister was used too I think.

Thanks for the welcome. Someone above asked me to introduce myself. I am in my late thirties, grew up camping and hunting, did fifteen years in the Army (half active, half NG), and have BA in History. I am still an avid "wanna be" camper as I can't get out as much as I'd like. I worked a couple of years at a Girl Scout summer camp as a lifeguard/canoe instructor and that's where I saw the winebox oven get used. I found the "real" Girl Scouts to be everybit as competent and interested in the outdoors as any Boy Scout, and learned a few things. I also worked at an outdoor retail chain for a few years and so have a better than average insite into which gear works in the outdoors and why, though I certaintly don't consider myself and expert on anything. All this has translated over to the survival/preparedness side of things.

As to the winebox oven, I have not yet constructed my own. I would not have thought to use the propane burner idea, but that is ingenius, and gives you more options. If your propane runs out you can still use charcoal. The trashcan turkey oven sounds cool, too.