Survival: Cooking With The Dutch Oven

During the cold, maybe not so cold right now, season I like to cook food over open fire. Especially with my Fire Pot or "Dutch Oven".

The Dutch Oven is a thick walled, cast iron pot designed to make food in over a fire. It is perfect for larger groups and probably lasts several generations (what happened to the profession "Tinker"??)

The Fire Pot in Action

My Fire Pot has a 4 L volume. Enough for 5 persons.

First add a thin layer of fat.

Then a layer of cabbage, at least 2 cm thick! The Cabbage will prevent
the rest of the food getting burned. I added some bacon skins for extra taste &
increased chance of heart diseases.....

More cabbage...and bacon!

Sausages! We forgot about sausages!

I make up for it by adding a good amount!

Potatoes!

Rosemary.

Quite a lot rosemary actually.

More potatoes, celery and carrots.

And onions.

Ready to go!

I place the pot on a cast iron tripod.

A better picture of the tripod :-)

Soon a delicious smell starts to spread...

Better put the lid back on.

After 1 1/2 hours :-)

The cabbage got burnt a bit....

But nothing a high pressure cleaner can`t cope with....

It is a bit of work...but worth it :-)

Survival: Burning Sands

The amount of energy stored in liquid fuels is amazing, a very small amount gives a lot more heat/light than most solid fuels.

 

This is probably why we have been so stupid to base modern society on that stuff....

 

The use of gasoline or diesel for survival/prepper purposes is generally ignored since it is ASSUMED that liquid hydrocarbon fuels will be rarer than officers sweat (which is the rarest substance in the universe!) after an apocalyptic event.

 

It is true that gasoline will be useless for the use in high-end combustion engines after weeks or months (depends on how long it has been stored before your purchased it) since the lighter chemicals added to the fuel evaporate. But you will be able to use it in a more forgiving (simple) engine.

 

 In some cases the  hydrocarbons (in your fuel)  react with oxygen and produce some new things....most definitely not the fuel you started out with. Using this gunk for fuel, even in the most forgiving engine, is a very bad idea since it will clog up all filters and nozzles.

 

But in both cases liquid hydrocarbons can still be used for heat/light!

 

Burning liquid fuel can be done with a wick but I prefer the sand/fuel method since it is:

 

- hassle free (the wick dropping into the fuel)

 

- sand/fuel lamps or stoves are easier to move and extinguish....and SAFER.

A beer can lamp running on sand and gasoline

I added 15 ml of gasoline into the sand (In my Kelly Kettle fire base).

Ten seconds after ignition.

30 seconds after ignition.

The flame is very hot and is spread over a large area...making it perfect for
the Kelly Kettle!

The sand/fuel combination works well in
a Kelly Kettle Hobo Stove

The beer can lamp.

10 ml of fuel = 40 minutes of light.

A sooty affair! You simply extinguish the flame by putting
some sand over it.

....mhhhh.......Beer!!

Survival: The Improvised Compass

You can improvise a compass by taking a razorblade OR needle (any piece of ferrous metal actually) and magnetize it by using a magnet: The magnets in your telephones headset can be used, just to mention one possibility

 

Move the magnet over the razor/needle with 30-40 steady strokes going in the same direction. 

 

The start/end the strokes, will later be the South and North direction of the compass.

Survival: The Improvised Backpack

You can improvise a backpack out of almost anything; From curtains over sheets of plastic to tarps.

I really like that solution since its cheap, easily made and very comfortable to carry, well unless you roll to many things into the place where your neck is going to be.

One tarp..

One wool blanket.

I will be gone for two days, so I pack some spare underwear.

And pack it as small as possible...

...using a method...

...I learned in the Danish Navy...

...to have ready-sets of clothes...

...compressed...

...in your socks.

Some long underwear...

...is a must...

...and I pack it...

...as compressed/small as possible.

The general layout.

A big boy needs his moose soup!

A small radio/hand crank charger/flashlight & toothbrush as "luxury" items.

Hard tacks and a mess tin.

All on board? 

Did you notice that I put the hard/heavy items at the packs ends?

Okay, lets roll it!

I tie off the ends.

Put as little as possible where your neck will be: Elsewise it gets uncomfortable after a very short time!