Getting tactical while staying practical

We all know someone whose preparedness plan goes like this: “When the store shelves are empty, I’ll just go out and shoot a deer.” Simple is good, right? If you’re that person, then go ahead… and you can plan on cooking that deer over a tin-can rocket stove fueled by wood scraps.

If, on the other hand, you favor creature comforts and learning from other people’s mistakes, then let me tell you about my experiments with outdoor cooking. In the service of science, or, more precisely, in the service of you, fellow prepper, I’ve tried just about all of the portable, folding wood-fired emergency stoves, rocket or otherwise. Some are easier to use than others, and they all work, to a degree. But they’re more of a novelty than a serious tool to be relied upon in an emergency… unless you actually enjoy trying to bring water to a boil while basking in a stiff breeze on a 19-degree winter morning after an ice storm.

I’ve had trouble trying to boil water on a portable wood-fired stove on a warm summer day, and I had loads of dry twigs on hand. It still took 25 minutes to reach a boil, and I was sitting there the whole time, constantly feeding it.

I love cooking with wood, but it is not an expedient solution for feeding your family in an emergency.