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.

[NorthernRaider]

Oh I like this subject, quality cooking AND reducing fuel usage, good post tell us more please.

[Jace]

Did this every time we went camping with the scouts as a kid. From memory we boiled up meat etc for use in a stew first thing in the morning, then stuck teh pot in the hay box and it was nicely cooked when we came back in the evening.

[preservefreak]

It's mostly useful for long cooking wet meals like stew. Make the stew as you normally would and put it in your pot/casserole. You will want the pot to be pretty full as lots of air space in the pot will reduce the effectiveness. Then instead of leaving it in the oven or on the stove to cook for a few hours you put the lid on and bring the food to a boil. Let it boil fiercely for a couple of minutes and then then put it in your haybox.

Just a wooden box filled with straw, hay or towels will work great. I've even seen someone make one out of a plastic tub and sheets of polystyrene with a pot shaped hole cut out. When the food has had it's 2 minutes boiling move the covered pot into the box wrapping it in insulation on all sides. You can then leave it for anywhere from 2 to 8 hours. It allows you to make an evening meal in the morning and then go off to your day without using up loads of fuel.

If you use a thermos as I do you can make porridge and rice in it as well as speed soak beans. The trick to cooking with a thermos though is to preheat it with boiling water before any ingredients go in. For porridge for instance fill the thermos with hot water to preheat, then get oats, sugar and milk powder in a bowl. Discard the hot water and then put you ingredients in the empty but hot thermos. Cover them with boiling water and seal. I do this every night before I go to bed so I wake up next to a hot breakfast.

[Straight Shooter]

This is what I intend to make......1 steel bucket , into which l will place a cast iron pot, I will set this pot...and cover below the top of the bucket about 2 ins and centre the pot , I will hang the pot..... when I am happy......I will remove the pot ...cut some card wrap it around the pot grease the card ....reset the pot into bucket ....place a weight in the pot, with can of expanding foam fill the void .....make a lid out of ply ....tight to the top of bucket ...screw a nice handle to that and then repeat the process .....this ensures a tight fit for that pot and can be stored inside......grab and go ......or you could do the job out of all ply.....the bucket idea is you have handle and easy to hook onto something or carry plus .....if you wanted....line the bucket with card grease that.......you have a spare bucket to boil up your dirty grits.t

[CharlesHarris]

A variation on the rock boil.

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If you haven’t planned ahead to bring a canteen cup or other metal cooking pot, one of the best improvised cooking methods is the “rock boil.”

Scrape a depression in the ground. Line it, flesh-up, with the hide of an animal you have snared and plan to eat.
Put your stew ingredients in the hide with water to cover. Carefully add one or two hot rocks you have heated in your came fire. As one rock cools down and stops simmering, fork it out with a stick, put it back in the fire, then replace it with another hot rock. Primitive peoples who do this a lot keep a dozen or so chicken egg-sized rocks for this purpose and use them in continuous rotation.

To poach small palm-sized fish or boned fillets takes three to four egg or lemon-sized rocks to a quart of water in mild shirt-sleeve weather. Double that cooking time for chilly weather and for red meats. Cutting game meat into smaller 2cm bite-sized pieces speeds cooking time. Smash the bones and marrow into a paste and put that into your cooking skin too.

Punch holes at 2 inch intervals around the edges of the cooking skin, and thread with cordage, so that you can gather up any leftovers into the bag and hoist high enough into a tree to protect your stash from predators. If on the move this enables you to carry your food with you.

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Search also for "Wonder Oven" http://preparednessadvice.com/cooking/wo...must-have/

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http://preparednessadvice.com/recipes/wo...ng-grains/