Improvised Cook-spots

[Mortblanc]

We did a lot of cooking in the ammo cans.

Take the lid off and dump in a chicken or any other of the fixin's.

Cover with water, hopefully water that did not smell like an open sewer. (most swamp water does)

Dig a little trench about 10mm wide and deep, about a foot long.

Slice off a chunk of C-4 about an inch wide, place it in the trench and light it. We stayed on "fire discipline" most of the time so burning wood was not an option. C-4 burned smokeless and without light.

Sit the ammo can on top and cook until done.

Also works in reduced form using canteen cup, tin can or any other utensil. Even works with a steel pot but those are not around any more.

I was once caught in a 4 day deluge at a reenactment camp that soaked everything for miles around. We had plenty of food and no way to cook.

I jammed holes in the sides of a 3# coffee tin, dumped in 1/4 of an artificial fire log, one made from sawdust and wax. I sat a Dutch oven on top and cooked a big beef roast with the can for a stove.

Some of our kitchens at reenactment camps got really fancy. 6" long fire pits with ironwork hangers, grates and cranes with Dutch oven pits at each end.

Of course they were all outside, which would work well for long term applications even in suburbia. Even in cold weather cooking outside is an option.

You can even carry the coals from outside to indoors using any fireproof vessel as a brazier. A couple of concrete blocks on the floor will act as a fireproof hearth.