PREP 38 Must Have Kitchen Items for Any Survivalist

Fisher

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Fair use
http://preppercentral.com/?p=2803

38 Must Have Kitchen Items for Any Survivalist
Silent Prepper
October 02, 2012

Regardless of how many #10 cans of “just-add-water-ready-to-eat” stuff you have, at some point you’re going to have to learn to use a kitchen in much the same way as your granny, or your great-granny, did. So we’ve put together this list of 38 essential kitchen items for any survivalist.

1. Matches – If you don’t smoke, why on earth would you need matches? But if we’re going to learn to cook like granny, for most of you that would include cooking on top of a wood heat stove, or on a wood cook stove with an oven. I know there are ways to start a fire with a magnifying glass, some straw and some kindling, but believe me, matches are easier. If you’re really good at starting and keeping a fire throughout the 3 daily meals, you could use as little as 1 match a day. If you’re not, 20 may not be enough. We have found that the most economical matches are book matches, like you get with a pack of cigarettes. They come in a box of 50 books, 20 matches per book, for about $1.50 in many stores. That’s a lot of lights for cheap. Wooden kitchen matches go for about $3.50 for 250 matches. See the difference?

2. Can-Opener – we’re not talking about the kind that plugs into a wall. Have at least 2 good, sturdy hand operated can-openers . The newer ones from China do wear out. We’ve worn out a few. We also have an Army C-Ration P-38 can-opener. It takes a little practice, but once you get the groove going on it, you can open a #10 can in a few seconds.

3. Hand Grain Mill – We have said this before, but we personally like the Wondermill Junior Deluxe Hand Grain Mill. (This is not a compensated endorsement, it’s just what we use and like.) For the money, it’s the best we have found. What can you do witih it? Grind wheat, rice, barley, oats, rye, lentils into flour. It can also be used to make nut-butters, like pinion butter, walnut butter, chestnut butter. It will also make cornmeal. The uses are virtually endless, especially if you eat a lot of whole, natural foods.

4. Cast Iron/Stainless Steel Cookware – If you are going to be cooking over a wood stove of any kind, you need durable stainless steel or cast iron cookware. Aluminum (besides not being good for your health) tends to warp on wood cook stoves. Black, cast iron pans heat evenly, hold the heat for a long time and do not warp – not to mention giving you a little dose of iron in your food.

5. Roasting Pans – Enamelware is best, and so is stainless steel. Make sure the roasting pan will fit into your oven! Wood cook stoves don’t have the same huge ovens as gas or electric stoves.

6. Tea Kettle – Stainless Steel or Copper. In the winter, a steaming tea kettle on the wood stove not only serves as as-the-ready for tea or coffee, the steam warms and moisturizes the air. Just don’t let it boil down all the way before refilling it.

7. Colanders – Metal (stainless steel) is best. If you have or want some plastic colanders, understand that they will break over time, and most of them are made with BPA in the plastic.

8. Cookie Sheets – for breads, biscuits, cookies, for drying fruits or veggies… Avoid Teflon coatings or aluminum cookie sheets – get stainless steel.

9. Cooking Utensils – Again, metal (stainless steel) is much better than plastic, and with stainless steel and cast iron cookware, you don’t have to worry about scratches:
1.Spatulas
2.Ladles
3.Serving Spoons
4.Serving Forks
5.Slotted Spoons
6.Pastry Cutter
7.Rolling Pin
8.Sharpening Steel
9.Cheese Grater/Slicer
10.Whisk
11.Potato Peeler
12.Meat Tenderizing Hammer

10. Measuring Cups and Spoons – Once again, stainless steel is the best choice for these. A 4-cup glass measuring cup with a pour-spout would be a nice addition, too.

11. Good Knives – Good Knives are ones that will keep a sharp edge for a reasonable amount of time, not go dull instantly upon use. If you can find old, carbon-steel knives in yard sales or flea markets, they are best – Old Hickory, Old Timers, Imperial are some brands to look for.

When you are ready to deal with cooking real foods, here are some things you’ll want to have on hand:

12. Sugar (or honey or molasses)– Essential for coffee, tea, baking, preserving, and much more. Get Turbinado or Demarara Sugar, which is unrefined and still contains nutrients.

13. Salt – Sea salt may seem more expensive that “table” salt (I didn’t know you could get salt from a table!?!), but it has many minerals and nutrients still in it. It also tastes better.

14. Baking Soda – there are soooooooo many uses for baking soda besides baking: antacid, drawing poultice, kitchen cleanser, vegetable rinse, fire extinguisher, food preservative, water purifier, toothpaste, bathing, hair rinse, facial exfoliant are just a few.

15. Vinegar – white distilled vinegar, apple cider vinegar, wine vinegar all have their uses. Distilled vinegar can remove lime deposits from cookware, use in salad dressings, rinse minerals from hair, preserve/pickle vegetables.

16. Spices – this will be different for different people (no accounting for taste!), but here are some suggestions:
1.Garlic powder
2.Paprika
3.Dill
4.Basil
5.Oregano
6.Onion Powder
7.Cinnamon
8.Chili Powder

17. Dried Veggies – these can also be used to season dishes, or to make soups or stews. Again, this is not a paid recommendation, but sfherb.com (San Francisco Herb Company) has a great bargain – 1 lb of dehydrated veggies for around $7. A pound lasts me about a month, and I cook a lot.

18. Cooking Oil – In our opinion, there are only 2 types of cooking oil safe for human consumption… Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Peanut Oil.

Dan and Sheila are the authors of Surviving Survivalism – How to Avoid Survivalism Culture Shock and hosts of the free podcast, “Still Surviving with Dan and Sheila”, both available at http://survivingsurvivalism.comhttp://survivingsurvivalism.com . For information about their survival community, or for other questions, they can be reached at surviving@lavabit.comsurviving@lavabit.comsurviving@lavabit.com .
 

jed turtle

a brother in the Lord
using a match a day?

not in the winter up north here. maybe in the fall and spring for a few weeks till the season gets going, then that fire never goes out.

and in the olden days, before matches, the fire was very carefully kept alive as embers, even during travels.

fire: don't leave home with out it...
 

KMR58

Veteran Member
There is no such thing as a sharpening steel. A steel only hones, does not sharpen. You need a good set of knives and a sharpening stone. Plus mineral oil to wet the stone. After sharpening use the steel to take off the burrs. A sharp knife is a safe knife.

Remember pepper. I use pepper daily. If you have a restaurant supply nearby it's a great place to find heavy duty cookware and bulk food items. I buy sea salt (both fine and course) in 5 gallon pails. We have restaurant depot around here but there are usually decent ones in any large city. If you need to be an owner to get in make a restaurant your friend. Ours isn't a paid membership club but you have to have a business license to get in. It doesn't even have to be a restaurant. You'll find the heavy duty utensils that we use in professional kitchens there as well. They last so much longer than regular home cook stuff.

It's also a great place to buy bulk aluminum foil and saran wrap. Things like that are going to be priceless.
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
I'm laughing because my husband does smoke and it never seems to matter how many matches I buy, we are always the "amazing survivalist household that has no matches" whenever the power goes out. I'm working on it, but it is an uphill struggle.

One "must -have" not on the list (I'm without one at the moment as even the Lehman's one break eventually) is a hand-operated rotary mixer aka the Egg Beater (in the US). At the time they came out (late 19th century) they were hailed as the most important invention in a house-wife's kitchen. They turned making cakes from a 700 hundred stroke "chore" often handled by several family members to a few minutes of hard cracking. It took omelets from another long-beating chore with a whisk (also a must have as noted above) to a minute or two of cranking.

Only the washing machine was considered (at the time) to have been of greater change to a house-wife's chores in the early 20th century. Later replaced by electric mixers (there were some versions by the 1920's and 1930') the good-old-fashioned egg beater only went out of style with the arrival of hand blenders in the 1990's.

Now they are very hard to find, especially good ones - I'm probably going to break down and get a plastic one I've seen over here as it is better than nothing.

Yes, you can use a whisk or spoon for many of these jobs; but when everyone is going to be busy, tired and cranky already, making a quick cake, pancakes, scrambled eggs or whipped potatoes will make everyone happier.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
The OP isn't my "survival kitchen" ... it is my everyday kitchen.

A match a day? Doubtful that most people are going to have gas to cook on so a "match a day" is wishful thinking, especially if your wood or other fuel source is damp or green. One match per day is going to leave a lot of people without fire.

And KMR58 makes a very good point about aluminum foil. That stuff is dead useful. Suran wrap I don't use as much of but I do keep it in stock. What was missed were the ziploc type storage bags.
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
Don't have a rolling pin, it may be used against me. LOL I can't ever remember needing one.
They make life easier if you are doing a lot of roll cookies, roll pie crusts etc; they are optional, but I always try to have one or two around. I think savory pies are likely to come back into popularity as people realize during the recession they are great way to dress up (and stretch out) leftovers, they were popular in the past because the cooked fillings will last just a bit longer in the pastry. Something that can make the difference between a spoiled lunch and something edible from last night's leftovers with no fridge handy.

Small pies/turn-overs of all sorts are "field hand food," something you can take out to those working the fields, standing guard duty or anything where you want good, heavy food that can be hand held. Again, rolling pins just make this easier, but my old cookbooks suggest a glass if you don't have one. The plastic turnover molds make it faster too, over here they are for "pasties," the set my mom brought me said "canape maker." Either way they are the same thing, they are cheap and have a much lower failure rate than just using a cooking cutter and a folk (at least for newbies).
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
All these things have been a part of my kitchen for many years, although I don't bake. And here in the old camper its hard to get to most of them. LOL

Judy
 

Red Baron

Paleo-Conservative
_______________
The OP makes a lot of very good points. Thanks for posting!

In my experience I can agree with almost all points that were made,

- Manual can openers are a great idea, finding a good one is very hard. Almost all now are crudely Made in China and literally wear out in under a year.

- Teflon, ceramic or whatever, the "non-stick" pans don't last more than a couple of years or me.

- Stainless pots, pans, strainers etc. are much more durable than aluminum, and safer.

- Youi can never have too many matches or lighters. The long butane lighters used for lighting grills are very handy.

- Wood or bamboo utensils are sturdier far outlast plastic.

- Try and get fry pans with lids, many don't. It makes cooking faster, saves fuel and allows you to keep food warm until everything else is ready.

If you don't know how to cook on a gas, charcoal, or a Coleman grill, learn now. You will learn many new skills and you will learn which extra utensils you will need actually work and which one's won't.

The big enchilada is cooking exclusively over a wood fire. Lighting and maintaining a wood fire is a lost art along with having the right cookware.
 

night driver

ESFP adrift in INTJ sea
Melodi.

Challenge your husband to do his smoking with flint and steel.

You will need some upholstery welting (cotton cord), a short (1.5 inch or thereabouts) copper nipple the same diam as the welting, and a flint and a steel.

YOU can thread the welting, light the end and then pull it back into the copper to extinguish and give it to him. Let him figger it out.

Friend of mine was the aprentice (then journeyman) blacksmith at Robbins Crossing (re-enacting village in Hocking Hills, OH) and the master blacksmith wanted to cut down on his smoking so he decided to light with ONLY flint and steel. With this aparatus, well, he didn't cut down much....
 

Conrad Nimikos

Who is Henry Bowman
...You want to survive if the power goes out for an extended time? Find someone who grew up without power. My wife grew up in the Philippines and her family did not have electricity. They know what is required to cook and live without power. And most of the items in that list they did not have.
 

Redcat

Veteran Member
I have a great second hand store/antique store near me. They have all sorts of hand beaters and whisks. I have a few now. Have you tried looking at an antique shop?
 

dstraito

TB Fanatic
For me one of the most important items is a can opener. I have gone camping before and totally forgot a can opener. I sat there staring at those can hungrily until I went to a campsite next to me and borrowed one.
 

Marthanoir

TB Fanatic
We have everything on the list and much more , but we bake and cook with our solid full range everyday, thy might want to add a couple of big stock pots to the list, I have a couple of 2 gallon stock pots that I use for making currys & chillis , soups and stews.

I'm a firm believer that when tshtf you best chance of survival will be to look out for your neighbors, soup mix (lentils, split peas & barley) is dirt cheap and only needs the addition of some dried veg & a ham bone to make a nutritious meal, a couple of stock pots of this or any other soup or stew will go a long way towards keeping your whole community alive.
Even better have a stock pot of porridge available for breakfast and a quick and easy bread like Soda Bread and your set
I can go from taking the flour out of the cupboard to taking a hot loaf of soda bread out of the oven in an hour , from flour to ready to eat in 60 minutes
 

night driver

ESFP adrift in INTJ sea
Even better have a stock pot of porridge available for breakfast and a quick and easy bread like Soda Bread and your set
I can go from taking the flour out of the cupboard to taking a hot loaf of soda bread out of the oven in an hour , from flour to ready to eat in 60 minutes

Andif ya don't share the recipe we'll have to send Melodi out to find and hamstring you....because *I* sure ain't gonna book a trans atlantic flight...


Redcat, I'm unsure that Irish Antique Shops would have the utensils in question....since Melodi is in Ireland....
 

Marthanoir

TB Fanatic
We cook , bake, heat our home and heat all our hot water without using electricity, All we need is combustible material, even if we did run out of trees there's not much chance of running out of the very ground we live on

View attachment 94917
 

Deena in GA

Administrator
_______________
We had a thread here a year or two ago about manual can openers because I was looking for one that actually worked. My old one had worn out since we only use the manual. We tried one after another after another and they were absolutely worthless. Don't waste your money on something that won't do the job its supposed to do. From suggestions here we finally found a Swing-a-way and have been using it ever since. Excellent! Need to go buy a back up.

ETA: +1 on wanting that recipe. My bread takes significantly longer.
 

Night Owl

Veteran Member
2 ideas that work: To sharpen a knife, turn over any porcelain type plate, on the center ring that is on the bottom of plate is a circle part of the plate that is never glazed. It you tub your knife over that unglazed circle it will sharpen any knife as sharp as a sharpening stone or file. ITS AMAZING & EASY! 2nd. If you need to open up any can, scary as it may seem, take a huge knife and insert it on the inside lip edge of the top of the can, hit it with you hand pushing down on the handle of the knife, it will make a thin hole where the knife inserts, you can turn the knife alone the top the the can top edge and repeat that tip of knife to edge, hit with palm downward hit to the handle of knife until the can is completely open. It may seem SCAREY at first, but it works like a charm. Many people don't have can openers in Asia, they just use a very large cutting knife, like the kind used to slice a turkey. FYI. ;)
 

Marthanoir

TB Fanatic
Andif ya don't share the recipe we'll have to send Melodi out to find and hamstring you....because *I* sure ain't gonna book a trans atlantic flight...


Redcat, I'm unsure that Irish Antique Shops would have the utensils in question....since Melodi is in Ireland....

:)

450g of plain flour
400ml of butter milk
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of baking soda
2 tsp of brown sugar ( not everybody puts the sugar in but I do :) )

Mix the dry ingredients together add the butter milk, mix with your hand into a soft pliable dough , add more flour if too sticky, put it on a baking sheet shape into a round dome, cut a large cross in it to let the faeries out or they'll ruin it.
Bake for 45 mins ( ish ) at around 370f, it should brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom
 

Marthanoir

TB Fanatic
2 ideas that work: To sharpen a knife, turn over any porcelain type plate, on the center ring that is on the bottom of plate is a circle part of the plate that is never glazed. It you tub your knife over that unglazed circle it will sharpen any knife as sharp as a sharpening stone or file. ITS AMAZING & EASY! 2nd. If you need to open up any can, scary as it may seem, take a huge knife and insert it on the inside lip edge of the top of the can, hit it with you hand pushing down on the handle of the knife, it will make a thin hole where the knife inserts, you can turn the knife alone the top the the can top edge and repeat that tip of knife to edge, hit with palm downward hit to the handle of knife until the can is completely open. It may seem SCAREY at first, but it works like a charm. Many people don't have can openers in Asia, they just use a very large cutting knife, like the kind used to slice a turkey. FYI. ;)

I used to use a ceramic rod and a steel all the time the CFI showed me how to use a car window, wind down your window and use the top edge, does a fantastic job
 

night driver

ESFP adrift in INTJ sea
:)

450g of plain flour
400ml of butter milk
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of baking soda
2 tsp of brown sugar ( not everybody puts the sugar in but I do :) )

Mix the dry ingredients together add the butter milk, mix with your hand into a soft pliable dough , add more flour if too sticky, put it on a baking sheet shape into a round dome, cut a large cross in it to let the faeries out or they'll ruin it.
Bake for 45 mins ( ish ) at around 370f, it should brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom

uuuuhhhhhh.....
In stupid American units ('Cuz I are one....stupid American and a unit)....

Pound of flour and pint of buttermilk???
 

MorningSunn

Rhea the Rogue
Our Dollar Store has the Large Box of Wooden kitchen matches as well as many of the other items on the list for $1.00 ... We also have Flint and Steel.

Nine Ways to Start a Fire​


1. The Hand Drill

The hand drill method is the most primitive, the most primal, and the most difficult to do All you need is wood, tireless hands, and some gritty determination. Therefore, it’ll put more hair on your chest than any other method. Here’s how it’s done:

Build a tinder nest. Your tinder nest will be used to create the flame you get from the spark you’re about to create. Make a tinder nest out of anything that catches fire easily, like dry grass, leaves, and bark.

Make your notch. Cut a v-shaped notch into your fire board and make a small depression adjacent to it.

Place bark underneath the notch. The bark will be used to catch an ember from the friction between the spindle and fireboard.

Start spinning. Place the spindle into the depression on your fire board. Your spindle should be about 2 feet long for this to work properly. Maintain pressure on the board and start rolling the spindle between your hands, running them quickly down the spindle. Keep doing this until an ember is formed on the fireboard.

Start a fire! Once you see a glowing ember, tap the fire board to drop you ember onto the piece of bark. Transfer the bark to your nest of tinder. Gently blow on it to start your flame.


2. Fire Plough

Prepare your fireboard. Cut a groove in the fireboard. This will be your track for the spindle.

Rub! Take the tip of your spindle and place it in the groove of your fireboard. Start rubbing the tip of the spindle up and down the groove.

Start a fire. Have your tinder nest at the end of the fireboard, so that you’ll plow embers into as you’re rubbing. Once you catch one, blow the nest gently and get that fire going.


3. Bow Drill

The bow drill is probably the most effective friction based method to use because it’s easier to maintain the speed and pressure you need to create enough friction to start a fire. In addition to the spindle and fireboard, you’ll also need a socket and a bow.

Get a socket The socket is used to put pressure on the other end of the spindle as you’re rotating it with the bow. The socket can be a stone or another piece of wood. If you use another piece of wood, try to find a harder piece than what you’re using for the spindle. Wood with sap and oil are good as it creates a lubricant between the spindle and the socket.

Make your bow. The bow should be about as long as your arm. Use a flexible piece of wood that has a slight curve. The string of the bow can be anything. A shoelace, rope, or strip of rawhide works great. Just find something that won’t break. String up your bow and you’re ready to go.

Prepare the fireboard. Cut a v-shaped notch and create a depression adjacent to it in the fireboard. Underneath the notch, place your tinder.

String up the spindle. Catch the spindle in a loop of the bow string. Place one end of the spindle in the fireboard and apply pressure on the other end with your socket.

Start sawing. Using your bow, start sawing back and forth. You’ve basically created a rudimentary mechanical drill. The spindle should be rotating quickly. Keep sawing until you create an ember.

Make the fire. Drop the ember into the tinder nest and blow on it gently. You have yourself a fire.


* The Hand Drill, The Fire Plough and The Bow Drill are all Friction Based Fire Making.

Friction Based Fire Making is not for the faint of heart. It’s probably the most difficult of all the non-match based methods. There are different techniques you can use to make a fire with friction, but the most important aspect is the type of wood you use for the fire board and spindle.

The spindle is the stick you’ll use to spin in order to create the friction between it and the fireboard. If you create enough friction between the spindle and the fireboard, you can create an ember that can be used to create a fire. Cottonwood, juniper, aspen, willow, cedar, cypress, and walnut make the best fire board and spindle sets.

Before you can use wood to start a friction based fire, the wood must be bone dry. If the wood isn’t dry, you’ll have to dry it out first.

4. Flint and Steel

This is an old standby. It’s always a good idea to carry around a good flint and steel set with you on a camping trip. Matches can get wet and be become pretty much useless, but you can still get a spark from putting steel to a good piece of flint. Sweedish Firesteel-Army model is a good set to use.

If you’re caught without a flint and steel set, you can always improvise by using quartzite and the steel blade of your pocket knife (You are carrying your pocket knife, aren’t you?). You’ll also need char. Char is cloth that has been turned into charcoal. Char catches a spark and keeps it smoldering without bursting into flames. If you don’t’ have char, a piece of fungus or birch will do.

Grip the rock and char cloth. Take hold of the piece of rock between your thumb and forefinger. Make sure an edge is hanging out about 2 or 3 inches. Grasp the char between your thumb and the flint.

Strike! Grasp the back of the steel striker or use the back of your knife blade. Strike the steel against the flint several times. Sparks from the steel will fly off and land on the char cloth, causing a glow.

Start a fire. Fold up your char cloth into the tinder nest and gently blow on it to start a flame


Lens Based Methods: Using a lens to start a fire is an easy matchless method. Any boy who has melted green plastic army men with a magnifying glass will know how to do this. If you have by chance never melted green plastic army men, here’s how to do it.


5. Traditional Lenses

To create a fire, all you need is some sort of lens in order to focus sunlight on a specific spot. A magnifying glass, eyeglasses, or binocular lenses all work. If you add some water to the lens, you can intensify the beam. Angle the lens towards the sun in order to focus the beam into as small an area as possible. Put your tinder nest under this spot and you’ll soon have yourself a fire.

The only drawback to the lens based method is that it only works when you have sun. So if it’s night time or overcast, you won’t have any luck.

In addition to the typical lens method, there are three odd but effective lens based methods to start a fire as well.


6. Balloons and Condoms

By filling a balloon or condom with water, you can transform these ordinary objects into fire creating lenses.

Fill the condom or balloon with water and tie off the end. You’ll want to make it as spherical as possible. Don’t make the inflated balloon or condom too big or it will distort the sunlight’s focal point. Squeeze the balloon to find a shape that gives you a sharp circle of light. Try squeezing the condom in the middle to form two smaller lenses.

Condoms and balloons both have a shorter focal length than an ordinary lens. Hold them 1 to 2 inches from your tinder.


7. Fire from ice

Fire from ice isn’t just some dumb cliché used for high school prom themes. You can actually make fire from a piece of ice. All you need to do is form the ice into a lens shape and then use it as you would when starting a fire with any other lens. This method can be particularly handy for wintertime camping.

Get clear water. For this to work, the ice must be clear. If it’s cloudy or has other impurities, it’s not going to work. The best way to get a clear ice block is to fill up a bowl, cup, or a container made out of foil with clear lake or pond water or melted snow. Let it freeze until it forms ice. Your block should be about 2 inches thick for this to work.

Form your lens. Use your knife to shape the ice into a lens. Remember a lens shape is thicker in the middle and narrower near the edges.

Polish your lens. After you get the rough shape of a lens, finish the shaping of it by polishing it with your hands. The heat from your hands will melt the ice enough so you get a nice smooth surface.

Start a fire. Angle your ice lens towards the sun just as you would any other lens. Focus the light on your tinder nest and watch as you make a once stupid cliché come to life.


8. The Coke Can and Chocolate Bar

All you need is a soda can, a bar of chocolate, and a sunny day.

Polish the bottom of the soda can with the chocolate. Open up your bar of chocolate and start rubbing it on the bottom of the soda can. The chocolate acts as a polish and will make the bottom of the can shine like a mirror. If you don’t have chocolate with you, toothpaste also works.

Make your fire. After polishing the bottom of your can, what you have is essentially a parabolic mirror. Sunlight will reflect off the bottom of the can, forming a single focal point. It’s kind of like how a mirror telescope works.

Point the bottom of the can towards the sun. You’ll have created a highly focused ray of light aimed directly at your tinder. Place the tinder about an inch from the reflecting light’s focal point. In a few seconds you should have a flame.

While I can’t think of any time that I would be in the middle of nowhere with a can of Coke and chocolate bar, this method is still pretty cool.


9. Batteries and Steel Wool

Like the chocolate and soda can method, it’s hard to imagine a situation where you won’t have matches, but you will have some batteries and some steel wool. But hey, you never know. And it’s quite easy and fun to try at home.

Stretch out the Steel Wool. You want it to be about 6 inches long and a ½ inch wide.

Rub the battery on the steel wool. Hold the steel wool in one hand and the battery in the other. Any battery will do, but 9 volt batteries work best. Rub the side of the battery with the “contacts” on the wool. The wool will begin to glow and burn. Gently blow on it.

Transfer the burning wool to your tinder nest. The wool’s flame will extinguish quickly, so don’t waste any time.

http://artofmanliness.com/2008/04/29/9-ways-to-start-a-fire-without-matches/


PS: Save your Lint from your Dryer to use as Tinder!
 
Last edited:

Publius

TB Fanatic
Have most if not all the stuff listed and enough matches and lighters to last many years, :idea: Got Toilet Paper and Camp Toilet? :fl2:
 

Marthanoir

TB Fanatic
uuuuhhhhhh.....
In stupid American units ('Cuz I are one....stupid American and a unit)....

Pound of flour and pint of buttermilk???

Yup pound of flour & a pint of butter milk is right , we'll make a Euro-Peon of you yet ;)
You guys have teaspoons over there right :lol:

All this talk of Soda Bread made me hungry so I just threw a loaf together
 

Tckaija

One generation behind...
Don't have a rolling pin, it may be used against me. LOL I can't ever remember needing one.

Besides pies & cookies you need a rolling pin to roll out home made Noodles & other flat pastas... even the 'noodle machines' break eventually!
 

Laurie the Mom

Senior Member
Hmm, I was going to make bread to go with the stew tonight. Think I'm gonna have to try this one instead.

Thanks for the recipe!

Laurie
 

Double_A

TB Fanatic
...You want to survive if the power goes out for an extended time? Find someone who grew up without power. My wife grew up in the Philippines and her family did not have electricity. They know what is required to cook and live without power. And most of the items in that list they did not have.

Share your wisdom please.
 

mg

Member
I have a great second hand store/antique store near me. They have all sorts of hand beaters and whisks. I have a few now. Have you tried looking at an antique shop?

I love shopping for old kitchen stuff too. You can find them at yard sales as well as antique stores.

mg
 

Christian for Israel

Knight of Jerusalem
There is no such thing as a sharpening steel. A steel only hones, does not sharpen. You need a good set of knives and a sharpening stone. Plus mineral oil to wet the stone. After sharpening use the steel to take off the burrs. A sharp knife is a safe knife.

thats funny because i've been using sharpening steel rods to put edges on knives for almost 30 years. in fact, i never use stones. if the knife is REALLY dull i'll use a file to put a proper shape on the edge and then use my rods to give the knife a razors edge. and everyone of my knives will shave hair...without applying pressure.

for in the field emergencies the edge of a car window (tempered side windows) will put a nice edge on a knife.
 

seraphima

Veteran Member
I would add:
an old-fashioned toasting fork for making toast over a fire,
a flame tamer or two to step down the heat under a pot you want to simmer,
metal steamers for veggies,
seed sprouters
a garlic press, hand held
mechanical timers
Variety of thin cotton cloths for putting over rising dough
Lots of pitchers- for water, washing, cooking, etc. I like plastic because they are not so heavy and don't break.
Washable rubber-backed rugs. Helps me not get so tired when standing and cooking!
 

Marthanoir

TB Fanatic
Whiskey Marmalade

Ingredients
1½ kg Seville oranges
3l water
juice 2 lemons
3kg preserving sugar
2 rounded tbsp treacle or molasses
5 tbsp Irish whiskey

Wash the oranges and put in a large pan with the water and lemon juice. Bring to the boil, partly cover and simmer for 21/2 hours, until the oranges are very soft. Remove from the heat and scoop the oranges out into a large bowl. When they are cool enough to handle, cut them in half and scoop the flesh and seeds back into the pan using a dessertspoon. Bring back to the boil and simmer uncovered for 30 mins.
Meanwhile cut the orange peel into strips(either using a sharp knife or knife and fork for a chunkier style). Press the contents of the pan through a sieve into a preserving pan, pressing though as much pulp as possible. Add the peel, sugar and treacle or molasses to the pan. Put a couple of saucers in the freezer.
Bring slowly to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then raise the heat and boil rapidly until setting point is reached. This should take around 6-10 mins. To test this turn off the heat under the marmalade, take a saucer out of the freezer and spoon on a little blob of marmalade. Leave for a moment, then push the marmalade with your finger. If the surface wrinkles it is ready, if not boil for a few more minutes and test again.
Stir the whiskey into the marmalade, then leave it to cool for 10 mins. Give it a stir to distribute the peel, then spoon into clean warm jars(put them through the dishwasher and leave to dry or wash and drain, then wash well, then warm in the oven for 10 mins) cover and label
 
Top