Homeless cooking on The Cheap -Stoves & Oven









Raw or processes food can become a staple when homeless, but it doesn't have to be that way. There are several cheap options for cooking and preparing food. We will cover three stove options and one oven option in this post. I've heard it said, "backpacking is expensive homelessness". In a way, that is true and I have looked to backpacking/hiking/camping resources to gather the best items and resources for cooking while homeless.

Whats hard about being homeless is that no one wants you around or on their property, therefor it's important to hide where you are and what you are doing.  Below are  some quick to use, light to carry stove options.

#1. Super Cat Alcohol Stove 

Cost: about $2


The Super Cat stove is a  ultra-lite backpackers stove made from a 3 oz cat food can that has been used for years by outdoor adventures. It's easy to make, cheap, and light, and works well.


MAKE YOUR STOVE

1. Gather tools
     One can of Fancy Fest or similar 3 oz. cat food, hole punch, and denatured alcohol, tape, scissors (Heet works great)

2.Remove food and clean out can with warm soap and water.

3. Follow the directions for punching holes from diagram provided here. If you don't have access to a printer you can free hand it, or save the PDF to a thumb drive, take it to an office supply store like Staples and print it for about $0.10.

4.Cut out the desired strip (the template has guidelines on which strip works best for various applications). If you're unsure - try all three. After all, they only cost $.50 a piece.

 5.Tape the paper strip to the can, wrapping it all the way around. Ensure the holes are set to the upper portion of the can.

 6. Using your hole punch, follow the guidelines punching holes in can. If you don't have a hole punch, don't want the spend the one, or don't have room for one I recommend going to a local thrift store and checking out their office supplies. Take your can with you and if they have a hole punch for sale, stand there and use it to punch your holes in the can before you leave the store. 

 7. Remove paper strip and tape.

 BUY  A POT

Pictured are an aluminum pot, aluminum skillet, and stainless steal cup/pot that I purchased at thrift stores. I paid one dollar for each and each could be used to prepare a meal on a Super Cat Stove. If your local thrift stores don't have any small camp cook pots, keep checking they will eventually have some. When buying a pot, try to get one with a lid if you can (it helps keep to heat food faster and more efficiently)


A small aluminum skillet, aluminum pot, and stainless steal cup/pot I bought at thrift stores for $1 or less each.


You can buy a new camp cook stove at your local outdoor store or Wal-Mart if you prefer or cant find used ones at a thrift store.

HOW TO USE YOUR STOVE (from http://www.supercatstove.com/makeSupercat.php) 

Once your stove is constructed (see the previous section), it's time to use it.
  1. Place the stove on a flat, even surface.
  2. Fill it with 1 - 1.5 ournces of denatured alcohol. This can be done by filling it with 2-3 tablespoons or by filling it to just below the holes.
  3. Light the alcohol.
  4. Let it burn for 25-45 seconds, or until the surface of the alcohol starts to slightly boil. This is known as priming and ensures the fuel is hot enough to pressurize and continue burning in the next step.
  5. Slowly place the pot directly onto the stove, allowing it to create a seal. The flames should then be forced out the side holes.
  6. Place a windscreen around the stove. A windscreen can be made from heavy duty aluminum foil or similar materials. It ensures that the wind will not blow out the flames and allows maximum efficiency to heat up your pot.
  7. Heat until desired. Two cups of water will typically boil in 5-6 minutes, depending on temperature, altitude, etc.
  8. Remove the pot. You can either safely allow the flame to burn out, or cover it with an empty pot to remove the oxygen and extinguish the flame.
http://zenstoves.net/StoveSystems.htm

There is a learning curve for using this stove so take some time to figure it out. Using different cants with different amounts of holes punched affects the temperature and speed of heating food, so make a few cans with different patterns and try them out. Google "super cat stove" if your having problems and look at other blogs/websites with information about them, there is lots of information out there on how to use them. 

#2 Etekcity Ultralight Portable Outdoor Backpacking Camping Stoves with Piezo Ignition


Cost: about $12

The Etekcity Ultralight portable stove is a good cheap option if you want to buy a stove. It's light, small, and easy to use. In fact, it's a number one seller in it's department on Amazon.com and only costs $11.99 plus shipping. Or, you can look for one at your local sporting goods store although I think it's cheaper to buy the stove from Amazon, especially if you have free shipping with Amazon Prime membership.  

 It uses a butane, propane mix that burns very hot. It comes in small canisters made by MSR, COLEMAN, JETBOIL, or PRIMUS. Great stove boils 1qt of water in about 3 .5 mins. I used Jetboil, it was cheaper when bought locally. You can get 3 Primus 4 season mix canisters (8.9 oz) at Walmart for $4.41 each. They are selling on Amazon for $13.17, and they will fit this stove.

 If your in a windy location or it's raining, you might have trouble keeping this stove lit, the only real downside. Also, you need to buy a pot that will fit on this stove. I recommend checking thrift stores for used camping pots, or pots and skillets small enough to use with this stove. 

#3 Jetboil Flash Personal Cooking System

Cost: about $99
Specifications

  • Volume: 32 ounces (1 liter)
  • Boil time: 2 minutes (1/2 liter)
  • Water boiled: 12 liters per 100-gram Jetpower canister
  • Dimensions: 4.1 by 7.1 inches
  • Weight: 14 ounces

 This is an easy to use, pot included, fast boil time stove. It costs a lot, but if you need to cook quickly and run, it might be the stove for you. It is recommended that you use the Jetboil brand fuel.

The downside to this unit is the cost, and the size. If you are living in your car, or on the streets where you carry everything with you this might not be a good option.

#4. Dutch Oven - Baking


Casts iron Dutch ovens are versatile tools that can be used to not only cook but bake too. They are capable of baking bread, pie, brownies, pizza, and more over a regular fire or charcoal briquettes. By placing briquettes under the oven, and on top of the oven an oven like environment capable of baking depending on how many briquettes are placed on top of and below the oven.


Here is a link which describes how to cook with a Dutch oven over a campfire.
Here is a link to a site that tells a little more about Dutch ovens and cooking with them.
Here is a link to a site that describes how to care for and season cast iron.


#5. Dakota Fire Pit 

The Dakota Fire Pit is useful whenever you want an unnoticed campfire. They are good to use on mountains or hills because the light of the fire is not visible in the dark and the nearby tree disperses the smoke during the day. It does require some effort to build, but can allow you to go undetected for much longer if necessary.









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