Emergency Preparedness and Self-Reliant Living: Dutch Oven Cooking:

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Dutch Oven Cooking:

In my effort to half-way "go back to the old days" theme, I am interested in how to do as many things as possible without electricity. In case of emergency. Electricity is fine by me in all other cases. I am not an extremist. So, anyway, I have decided to learn how to cook in dutch ovens this summer.

Last year, I bought these cast iron dutch ovens and griddle at Bi-Mart. They were unseasoned, and I got them in the camping department. It is much cheaper to season them yourself. (The seasoned cast iron is in the housewares department and costs $15.00 to $20.00 more per item.) Seasoning is not difficult, I just slathered them inside and out with shortening and baked them in the oven on low for several hours. You might want to do this on a nice day so that you can open the windows if things get a little smokey or smelly.

This is the griddle (you flip it over and it is a grill) and the smaller cast iron dutch oven that I have. I will not be able to use these on my stove, but I can use them in my oven. I guess when you have a flat-top stove top using these will wreck the burners, and we can't have that.

This is the grill side of the griddle. This large dutch oven has legs on it, so I could use this on the stove if I want to. However, I already have my favorite pots and pans, and the stove requires electricity, which kind of defeats my purpose here.

I figure that I have several of choices on using my cast iron. On the propane BBQ, on the propane stove in the travel trailer, with charcoal, and with fire. I think that I can figure out the BBQ and trailer stove, so I want to learn how to cook with charcoal.

I have learned so far that there is a real science to cooking with charcoal: so many pieces of charcoal on the lid and so many underneath equals 325*, for example. I bought a bunch of charcoal last year at Costco. Charcoal is kind of expensive, come to find out. If you get a good deal on it, go for it. You can always store it in a new, clean plastic garbage can lined with a garbage sack to keep it fresh and dry.

Also, I am printing out recipes and making a notebook on all of this stuff, because if you don't have electricity, you may not have computer access either.

Below are some links to dutch oven cooking. When I actually do some of, I'll give you a step-by-step photo tutorial of what happens. I know you are on edge waiting for that post. I just hope my first meal turns out better than that dang rock candy!

"Seven Secrets of Dutch Oven Cooking"

by Roger L. Beattie

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/beattie47.html

Byron's Dutch Oven Cooking Page
http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/~papadutch/

Dutch Oven Dude
http://www.dutchovendude.com/

U.S. Scouts Website:
http://www.usscouts.org/cooking/cook_05.asp

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Tips:

* When a wind or snow storm is on the way and you live in the country, fill up the bathtub with water. That way, you can fill up a bucket with water and use it to flush the toilet if the electricity goes out and the pump quits working. You can also use the water from your hot tub if you have one.

* Keep an old phone (with a cord) around the house to use in case the power goes out - for when your cordless phone will not work. For other reasons, your cell phone may not work either in case of a disaster. Make sure to have a list of phone numbers written down (in addition to having them stored on speed dials).

* Stock up! Some people strive for 3 days worth of food and water, others 3 months, others 2 years. Remember, you may be asked to share with others, so start preparing now.

* Have kerosene oil lamps and lamp oil on hand. They look pretty in the home, and give good lighting when the power goes out.

* Make cheap and easy lanterns by filling a canning jar halfway up with sand and placing an emergency candle in it. You can put a lid on it for easy storage in the cupboard until it is needed.

* Keep a couple of those long lighters (used for BBQ's) in your home for lighting candles and lanterns.

* Have the number of the electric company in an easy location. Call as soon as your power goes out (using your old phone or your cell phone)... don't assume that somebody else already has. I have been the first one to call several times, and after one really bad windstorm I had to call again the next day because they thought that everybody had been taken care of, but we were not.

* If you experience a "brown-out", where the lights dim, unplug your refrigerator and freezer! We had the motor burn out of our fridge one time due to a brown-out and had to buy a whole new fridge.

* Learn about cooking with cast iron dutch ovens and how to use charcoal as a heat sorce for them. There is a link on the bottom of this page with information about this.

* Buy boxed soy and rice milk to have with your extra food supplies. They stay good for quite a while and you are not stuck with only powdered milk.

* If you have a baby in diapers, have a several dozen cloth
diapers on hand, along with diaper pins, plastic pants or diaper wraps. If you can't go to the store to buy more disposables, you can always wash and reuse the cloth ones.

* Just think about what your grandparents or great-grandparents must have done or used when thinking about emergency preparedness ... make it fun when it is not an emergency. Get creative! Share your ideas with friends, and email them to me so that I can put them on here. Thanks!