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How To Title: Disaster Prep Wednesday: The Useful Sterno Stove When the power goes out and it's cold and icy outside, it's nice to have several cans of denatured and jellied alcohol about. These are most readily available under the Sterno brand name. For about 24 dollars, you can buy a six pack of 7 ounce Sterno cans from Amazon. That's about 12 hours worth of cooking time A single burner Sterno stove will set you back about $9. The cans and the folding stove take up very little space in your emergency bin. The shelf life of unopened Sterno is several years, so you can store it and forget it for the most part, though you might want to check out a can every 2 or 3 years. Replacements can be purchased almost every where - Target, WalMart, hardware stores, camping supply stores, etc. You might need a couple of single burner stoves if you are trying to cook something other than a single dish meal, otherwise you have to cook things in sequence. I have a double burner Sterno stove and you can find them for about $9 - see here. There are other brands of this product available, just Google "canned heat cooking fuel." Of course, if you search for "canned heat" you'll get directed to the blues/boogie band that started up in the mid-1960's. Sterno "Canned Heat" just celebrated its 100th anniversary: One advantage of this product is that you can use it indoors without fear of poisoning your indoor air unlike charcoal, propane and the like. There are some safety precautions - good idea to take the label off when using a can. You may find a pair of needle nose pliers handy for putting the lid back on the can to extinguish the flame - the cans and lid can get hot. Alcohol flame can be hard to see, so be careful if there's an open can in the stove. We had a recent power outage and used our Sterno stove to make coffee and hot soup for some of our elderly neighbors who were less than prepared for bad weather. If things had stayed bad, I also had my propane camping stove and the large propane grill to fall back on. But for a short event when it was nasty outside, the Sterno did just fine. The Boy Scout cook set is an excellent idea and you can find a stainless steel version here. Make sure you have matches or a butane lighter available, too. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 3. #1. To: nativist nationalist (#0) I first started using Sterno stoves back in the 60's,when I was in the army. They weight virtually nothing,and there is no such thing as not having enough room in your rucksack for one. Plus they are smokeless in operation and using one to heat your food or instant coffee won't give your position away. I even used on after getting out of the army,when I was living in the back of my truck or in a car. Just being able to heat up a can of beans and a cup of instant coffee can make life seem promising.
#3. To: sneakypete (#1) I first started using Sterno stoves back in the 60's,when I was in the army. They weight virtually nothing,and there is no such thing as not having enough room in your rucksack for one. I remember being able to buy something like Sterno, it came in packs sort of like Lifesavers candy, they were maybe about as big around as a quarter, but several times thicker. They were white, and you could use them in really small stoves, but also to power small hobby steam engines. They were commonly sold in surplus stores and places that supplied camping equipment, when I was a teenager a Coleman stove would have been an unknown luxury, and we either cooked with fire or used a small stove with the little tablets. Seemed to be pretty common back then, but I never see them know. Sort of like calcium carbide canons, saw them everywhere when I was young but now I never see them.
Replies to Comment # 3. #4. To: nativist nationalist (#3) Seemed to be pretty common back then, but I never see them know. IIRC,I bought the one I have now at Wal-Mart in the 80's. It was in their sporting goods/camping section,along with the fuel.
#5. To: nativist nationalist (#3) I think they use a kind of wood-pellet with some chemicals added. They have alcohol- and candle- and even solar-powered models too.
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