I have been looking at a Volcano stove. They look like they are sturdy, fuel efficient and a good option for camping and survival cooking. Has anyone had one of these or have experience with them? It looks like you can charcoal and use dutch ovens with them. Also if any of you like to camp and are looking for a way to bake on the trail or in an emergency situation, take a look at these. I have 2 of them and they work great. We do 3-5 day float trips and love to be on the river a day or two and be able to bake biscuits and gravy or do blueberry muffins on the river bank. They work like a heat exchanger and all you need is a Ziploc bag and a pot of water that the Bakepacker fits in. http://www.bakepacker.com
Curiousity strikes me: With the bakepacker, does it act the same as a drop-in steamer (just keeps the product off of the pot bottom)?
Kind of, but they way we use it is to mix up batter, like a muffin mix, or Bisquik in a Ziploc and actually bake in it. I am not sure whether it is like a drop in steamer, I have not used one of those, this works on the same principle as a heat exchanger. It is approx 2 1/2" high, and you add about 1" of water and place your mix and plastic bag on top of it to cook. So yes, I guess it does act as a steamer in that it is cooking with live steam. It is also good to cook fish in also. I like it because clean up is so easy. No hard wash up, just pack out the empty bags. It is a nice treat for someone on the trail, we have even done brownies. I live in Oklahoma, and our utility companies don't have enough practice to restore power etc when it snows or whatever, so we have used ours many times at our house, which made me start thinking about the Volcano, instead of my campstove. I am thinking I will get one and try the Bakepacker on it next.
Cool, thanks! Ziploc omelets are fun to practice (and easy to clean up) even when you're not camping or without power. I think I'll try some of the other recipes and see how far I can go without a kitchen disaster. The Volcano looks really neat! The one that's gas/charcoal would be pretty handy in any situation.
This threads a month old but something i started addingto the locker is castiron cookware.I'v e got a nice three legged dutch oven... cast iron is too heavy to carry with you but: at your bug in or refuge, They are made to be used in open fires. it heats evenly in a wood or charcoal fire, there's plenty to be cooked or baked in a dutch. Oven they retain heat. Something to think about...
Oh man yeah, Cast Iron stuff rules. Not very portable due to weight, but great stuff, we got lots & the wife loves it. It's so durable it's like it's made of........ well iron
Just remember, the main purpose of "survival" is to stay alive. Please remember that charcoal, no matter what you burn it is gives off carbon monoxide. Ever time there is an "emergency", defined as no power for the wide screen high defination TV for over 6 hours on a game night, a lot of people seem to kill themselves or at least make themselves very ill with CO or burn their houses down with candles or the old barbaque in the basement. The boy scouts have tken cast iron cooking to an art and with open fires and coals it can not be beat. The people who have taken "survival" seriously for almost 150 years and who imho are the most practiced in it, the followers of LDS seem to think that the best long term stratgy for cooking that 1 year supply of food in the cache is a few sacks of charcoal with a storage life of perhaps a century and the ability to manufacture more charcoal in your own back yard, and a volcano type stove. A few briquets and a dutch oven will convert that useless wheat into bisquits, breakfast food or part of a stew. You will have to cook outdoors, not in the garage, not in the basement with the bulkhead open, not in the breezeway, not on the deck with the door open. Stay alive. That said either an old fashined wood cookstove with an oven or a shaker type woodstove with a coleman type oven on top of it and either one connected to a good chimney is the best long term option in any area with available firewood.
Yup, a flat top wood stove works for cooking on and with a colapsable coleman oven can be used to bake on from first hand experience. A fireplace works too but is a bit more difficult for anything other than grilling unlessyou have a good way to hang a dutch oven or kettle. Cast iron is great though as long as you dont have to carry it around for on the kitchen stove, the wood burner or a fire pit in the yard.
Sounds okay for a hiking or travel thing. Can you paint it so that it isn't all shiny? Like a signal flare that thing is. Or do they come in other colors? Just a thought.
Actually it stays inside your cookpot so it doesn't reflect anything, but I guess you could paint it, I don't think it would affect anything. I did buy me a new Dutch Oven tonight. I am going to try to bake biscuts in it this weekend.
Okay, I missed something.... What is it thats shiney? If its the dutch oven then Im confused cause the onesIm used to are cast iron and dull black, so I figureit must be something else.
Yeah, I think tailor dropped his tinfoil and intercepted a free range psychotronic message there, I'm confused too.
The Bakepacker that we were talking about in the first post is an aluminum ring that fits inside a pot so that you can bake on a camp stove. It is shiny, and I believe that he was talking about it. In about the middle, the thread starts talking about cast iron cookware.
It's the voices again. They won't leave me alone. Haha. I was speaking of the shiney metal. Oooh, pretty shiney. Haha. Then they moved on to the cast iron cooking. Which I love by the way. If I had my way, I'd tote a bunch in my BOB, though I do want to be able to walk. Great stuff and once it's hot, it stays hot for a good while. Nice sizzle as a fish is dropped in and the smells of fresh herbs. Mmmm good.
