Cooking over a fire will become a necessity following a major disaster or SHTF situation as fuel supplies get depleted. While cooking with fire takes a little bit of practice to develop good techniques, it’s also important to choose appropriate meals that can be prepared with minimal resources. Let’s look at a few examples of meals that are perfectly-suited for fire cooking.
Eggs and Oatmeal
Imagine that you have a rocket stove, a skillet and a small pot or tin cup. You can make a couple of scrambled eggs along with oatmeal without having to cook one item at a time. Place your greased skillet atop the stove and let it heat up. Fill the cup with water and place it on one side of the skillet while you whisk your eggs. Once the water is boiling, add in the instant oatmeal and carefully pour the eggs on the opposite side of the skillet. There should be plenty of room to cook both simultaneously, and they should be finished around the same time as well.
Eggs and Pancakes
Make a couple of boiled eggs in a pot that is hanging above your stove. When finished, remove the pot, place the skillet on top, and pour in the pancake batter. You can prepare the eggs while the pancakes cook, and both will also be ready at the same time.
Rice and Canned Beans
This combination is loaded with carbs, protein and nutrients that can give us sustained energy and strength. Cook the rice first before adding the beans a couple of minutes before the rice is finished. Stir continually to avoid scorching, add in some seasoning to taste, and you’re good to go.
Canned Goods
There are limitless options in terms of meals that you can enjoy straight from cans after being heated up over your fire. Soups, chili, veggies, or meals that you’ve canned and incorporated into your emergency stockpile can be cooked in minutes. Technically, you can even cook food while it’s still in the can if you don’t have a pot available.
Pasta
Boil a pot of water over the fire, add in some pasta, and let it cook for about 10 minutes. Next, drain the water, add in the sauce, return to the fire, and cook until the pasta becomes tender. If you want to add in some meat for protein and extra flavor, canned chicken or tuna are excellent choices to consider. In the end, you just cooked a meal with one pot, a small amount of fuel, and you won’t need a lot of water for cleaning up.
While these are pretty basic examples, they drive home the point that you don’t need a lot of material or resources to make full meals in minutes over an open flame. If you have a pot, skillet or even cans, then you can whip up all kinds of meal options in minutes. Think along these lines as you start building up your survival stockpiles, and you’ll be amazed at how much variety you can give yourself in the midst of a crisis.