Heat retention cooking or haybox cooking

[preservefreak]

I know I have talked about this before but it's been several years since so I thought I'd mention it again.

Heat retention cooking is a big part of my preps as at this point I can't have a big wood burning stove or an Aga put in The plan is to have small means of boiling water or food ie a camping stove or ethanol stove which can then be added to a heat retention system of some sort. Simply bring the food/water to a boil for a couple of minutes, add to the heat retention cooker of your choice and wait 4+ hours depending on the food. Obviously with this kind of system you need to practice to work out how long to leave food cooking. This method is ideal for wet foods such as soups, stews, and such.

There are 3 kinds which are easy to get:

1 - a thermos of some sort, we use a 1 litre food flask per person (I get them from B&M bargains for £4 or see here - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/THERMO-INSULAT...2337b65fba

2 - a hay box or bag, instructions to make a wonderbag here - http://www.iwillprepare.com/cooking_fil ... er_Box.htm

3 - an improvised system made up of a box stuffed with towels which the pot nestles in to with a covering of more towels.

If for some reason the gas goes off and you have to use emergency cooking fuel this kind of cooking system will stretch those supplies. Also according to 1940s food scientists cooking food using this long slow method preserves much of a foods nutritional content. Not all that useful to folks who will have a wood burner going all day anyway but for folks in the city or small places it works well.