So, it's Saturday night, it's pitch black in my backyard, and I haven't eaten dinner yet. I decide to conduct an "emergency" backyard cooking test, as if there had been some kind of local "disaster" and we were without power, water, etc etc.

I go to my workshed and retrieve my box of "emergency" items, including some freeze-dried food and a jug of water. With my new ARC-AAA-P camo flashlight in my mouth so I can see, I place the items on the picnic table and start to unpack the Trangia stove. I quickly realize that holding the flashlight in my mouth is a pain and decide to light one of the little tea candles I included with my kit. I discover that these tea candles don't burn for s___t. The wick is so short that it fizzles out after a few seconds and burns down to a nubbin that is impossible to light with a Cricket lighter. Resolution: retrieve a regular 5" inch long normal candle which lights without difficulty and I set this on the picnic table as a steady source of light.

Next, I take out my Trangia alcohol burner and windscreen combination. I make a mental note that it looks like there is some worrisome oxidation of the aluminum on the outside of the windscreen, but it cleans off quickly. I note that the lid on the brass alcohol burner is frozen on but with several taps from the potlifter it unscrews with effort. Resolution: coat rubber O-ring in cap with a little silicone grease.

I fill the burner from my flask of denatured alcohol and light it with a spark from a sparker unit that they sell as a replacement for the sparker units in Coleman lanterns. These are wonderful strong brass sparkers by the way that even have a little compartment for spare flints. It makes a beautiful big fat spark, and by the way, also creates a nifty smoke ring that twirls up into the air almost every time you spark it.

I open up my packet of Mountain House Freeze Dried Chicken Stew and note that it says to use 2 cups of boiling water. I note that I don't have a cup measure in this kit, but quickly retrieve a plastic one that also has a drinking cup handle on the side so you can use it as a teacup.

I fill the Trangia teapot in the kit, light the stove, place the pot on the burner inside the windscreen and wait for it to boil. Within a few minutes I have two cups of water boiling in the pot, but realize that the flames from the alcohol burner are occasionally licking up the sides of the little teapot, making it a little dicey to try to grab the teapot handle with my bare fingers. No problem, I grab it with my pot lifter.

I realize that pouring boiling water into the plastic bag of freeze-dried food takes some degree of care and concentration to avoid spilling some of the scalding hot water on my fingers that are holding the bag open. I stir as instructed, twist the bag shut, and store it back in the foil pouch for 10 minutes as instructed.

Ten minutes later, I open the pouch up again, stir again, dump a small packet of pepper from the kit into the food, and taste away. I didn't remember the last time I had tried freeze-dried food, so this was interesting for me. After giving a big spoonful to my spouse and asking her what she thought it was, she commented "Chewy sponges in a white sauce." I didn't react quite so negatively myself, instead opting for "Chewy chicken tasting sponges in a white sauce." Anyway, it was edible, and pretty satisfying.

Oh, by the way, while I was eating, I decided to put another cup and a half of water in the teapot and heat it up for some Stash brand lemon and ginger tea, which I drank out of my plastic measuring cup. I have to say, this tea was completely delicious, and I'm going to get some more ASAP. It wouldn't be exaggerating to say that it was delectable to drink along with the food, and almost added a dessert-like finish to my little outdoor emergency test. If it had been a real emergency, it would have added a real morale boost to my meal.

Finally, one thing I really liked about my test was that I had no pots to wash, and that the fairly minimal trash was conveniently stuffed back into the foil freeze-dried food pouch, which in a real emergency could have been used for multiple other purposes.

I packed everything back up neatly by the light of my candle, blew it out, and went back in the house fairly comfortable that if there's a real emergency, I'll probably eat pretty good at least for awhile.

Tip- use quart water bottles, not gallon jugs. Pint = 2 cups = 1/2 quart. Easy to determine how much water you are using, even if they aren't nalgenes or the like.

We had to buy a new grill a few yesra ago after pulling the cover off mine in the spring and lighting it only to find out something had built a nest in the burner which caugt fire and burnt up half the grill. I bought this coleman grill2go which is designed small so you can pack it easy and take it whereever you want to go. This made it easy to combine our survival prep gear and our normal everyday gear. If we want to grill out we open the grill2go and grill, then clean it and pack it away. When we go camping or whatever we pack it up and take it with us. So the advantage I get is its not packed deep away where its hard to find if we need it and were familair with it since it gets used often. Its designed to run from the little 1lb propane tanks and I've found I can get about 6-8 meals from a 1lb tank. Then I bought the adapter hose to connect to the 20lb tank from our old grill. So when were around the house I use the big 20lb tank and save our little 1lb ones for taking with us. I took an old picnic basket and packed in the uninsels, come plates, 2 of the 1lb propane tanks, etc so everything we need is handy. So now if power goes out I can cook on our normal grill with no issues, basically my preparadness gear gets tested once every couple weeks.

HEADLAMPS rock (or a clip for you light to attach to your person) . Your example is perfect to illustrate why.

They do rock, however there is a perpetual problem I see with everyday headlamps such as the ones made by Petzl, Streamlight, Princeton, Ray-o-vac, etc.

They can't be used with hard hats (safety helmets)!

I see my search & rescue collegues using zip-ties and all sorts of fragile setups to attach their Petzls to their hard hat... <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Doug:

Flashaholic that I am, I can't get into headlamps no matter how hard I try. However, the regular 5" long candle I used was perfect: cheap, bright, easily blocked from a breeze by my gear box, added cozy elegant comfort, and of course battery-less. Candles...what a great invention.

BTW, Doug. Thanks for this great forum.

Many lights come with a separate rubber strap for going around a hard hat, here 's just one.

Since you've got the camo version of the Arc lite, you probably won't be interested, but bikers have been wrapping their AA maglites in duct tape for years. Easier on the teeth, easier to find the light in the dark, and a good way of carrying a 2 or 3 extra feet of tape.

My Arc AAA camo does come with a pocket clip, so now all I need is a baseball cap in my emergency cooking kit!

Petzl will be making helmet adapters for many of their headlamps in 2007.

I always thought headlamps were a little gimicky. Our Scout troop was going caving and we had to provide our own lights so I broke down and bought a Petzel Yukon (I think). Has a center bulb for distance and three led's for close light. Found it to be pretty convenient, but slightly bulky with three AA's. Bought my son a Petzel Tikka Plus for our trip to Philmont. Super light weight. Ended up buying one for myself. Used for 9 days on the trail on a pair of AAA's and you could hardly tell. It sips battery juice. Now it is my first go to when the lights go out. It is a whole lot easier to drag out the generator from the garage and run the cable through the basement to the disconnect switch, when you don't have to fumble with a flashlight.

I know I am slightly off topic with the above, but I can remember back when I used to cook on a camp stove in the dark with a minimag in my mouth. Now I wonder why I was so stubborn about trying a headlamp!

Right, Streamlight makes some with rubber straps, but this kind of setup goes in the "fragile" part I was talking about. I can easily imagine a strong branch getting under the strap and catching the whole lamp in rough terrain!

I am working on some kind of setup with glue and plastic hooks to keep the strap near the helmet...

Somewhere in the distant past, I think I read about some stand to hold freeze-dried meal pouches while you filled them with boiling water. It was pretty much a waste to carry anyways. I think some people still make "bag cozys" out of that mylar-ish bubble wrap to hold in heat while the food rehydrates. I've only ever eaten a few of those meals and gave them up for the bags of instant flavored rice or noodles. One of those and a retort-packed bag of chicken makes a heck of a warm meal for only a little more weight (but less money) than a bag of freeze-dried sponges.

Since I keep my Arc AAA-P on a keychain, I can usually toss or tuck half the keychain's load somewhere to put the light where I need it. Or I just hang it from a neck lanyard. I keep a nylon cord fob (braided neck lanyard) on another light and I can just bite down on the fob instead of the metal light body.

I like headlamps, particularly the cheap ones. I use a cheap Energizer one that swivels, so I can just set it on a work surface and angle it how I need to. Or it makes a decent night-light in the tent.

I like the idea of trying out your cooking. I break out a soda can stove every month or two and cook a simple dinner for me and the kids. Partly to try out my latest stove or pot stand or other toy and partly because they think it's neat. I need to break down and try baking over a can stove.

Having lived without power a few times due to different storms, it's amazing how much you can crave just a hot meal. PB&J, cheese crackers, granola bars, etc. get old really quickly.

The mashed potato pouches, particularly the "loaded" kind. Add a small can of deviled ham or some bacon bits, maybe a shot of butter and/or sour cream powder if you enough of a headonist to have put that in your stash, and a maybe a small can of sweet corn. If you find them, some wild onion, or fresh chives that went wild. And it is good to carry in the fall- cut it with half the volume of mashed cattail tubers, and no one will be able to tell.

And you don't need to drain anything like you do with pastas. Just slowly add a little water until it is your desired consistancy- the rest of the water turns into tea.

Although, if you are true survival gourmet.... Freeze dried corn, with some lime juice crystals, butter powder, and freeze dried salsa, in a pouch. Add a some water to rehydrate it, add a broiled partridge (and the juices), toss to coat.

Or carry lime, lemon and orange crystals, and mix a bit of each (I do two parts lemon and lime, one part orange) with some black pepper and water, and marinate the partridge in it before steaming in foil along with fresh fiddlehead ferns and the first dandelion leaves of the spring.

Or some dried onion, a tiny bag of real bacon bits, and a sliced puff ball, sauteed in a little deer fat along with a nice plump rabbit that has been cut into strips.

Hmm... five star grubby living. Beats the wonder of MRE clam chowder all hollow. And no, that isn't why my pack is heavy- it's the water.

Maybe this could be usefull for people who needs a helmet ?

I wear a hardhat in an industrial environment where snagging isn't a real big concern. Seem to me that anything you add to the outside, like hooks, is going to increase the likelyhood of getting snagged. How about using adhesive (maybe 3M Super 77 spray or brush-on rubber cement) on the inside of the band to keep it next to the cap. The adhesive would have to be recommended for use on rubber. It doesn't have to be solidly bonded, just sticky enough to make it difficult to get a finger under. Drilling mounting holes can weaken the cap and some glues will make the plastic brittle.

*edit* - OR... how about covering the strap with a layer of our dear friend, duct tape.

Puff ball! Battered, seasoned, and pan fried. Mmmmmmm... That's some good fungus. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I harken back to my original post---

Not to discount the substantial significance of renewable natural edibles, but freeze dried food in an emergency=NO pots to scrub. Somehow, I cannot discount the incredible value (to me), of that. Not only am I lazy, but it does conserve considerable water to use for more cooking/drinking activities. OK, I AM real lazy.

Sorry. I enjoyed your post and can fully appreciate no-cleanup cooking and careful use of water. It's good that you got out there and tried some of your emergency stuff, something I should do more often.

It's just that "Chewy chicken tasting sponges in a white sauce." made fried fungus sound pretty tasty. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> I'm kidding!!! (not about the puff ball though, it's good stuff)

We need a recipe thread.

In Iowa, where I used to live, my yard was the national puffball sanctuary for some reason. I do know what you mean about sliced and sauteed puffballs. And also sauteed morels, which are quite available IF (a big IF) you know where to look. It's a highly guarded secret!

Actually, the first meal I mentioned doesn't need a pot. Rehydrate in a freezer bag, and broil the birdy bits on a stick. The second one cooks in aluminum foil- eat out of that. With freezer bags and aluminum foil, there isn't a lot of waste even compaired to commercial freeze drieds or MREs.

Although the rabbit one does need a pot. But you if your prefeer it a little drier, you can fry it on a flat rock.