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[BlueHeron]

How to use 'em, keep 'em well-maintained, etc. while you're rewilding.

Also how to cook without an oven, stovetop, electricity, etc.

[grog]

I really want to learn to slow cook in a stone lined grass & sedge sealed earth covered pit!

The Buckeyes are placed in the conventional stone lined baking pit which has first been made hot with a fire; they are then covered over with earth and allowed to steam for several hours,until the nuts have acquired the consistency of boiled potatoes. They may then either be sliced placed in a basket and soaked in running water for from two to five days ( depending on the thinness of the slices), or mashed and rubbed up with water into a paste (the thin skin being incidentally separated by this process) and afterwards soaked from one two ten hours in a sand filter, the water as it drains away conveying with it the noxious principle.  It was customary to eat the resultant mass cold and without salt."

The use of the phrase "conventional stone lined baking pit" reminds me most primitives knew how to use this and cooked the vast majority of there meat that way plus other hard to digest items like nuts and camas.

[BlueHeron]

You could cook a lot of things this way (even things that you don't need to cook but which taste good that way, like roasted veggies).

[heyvictor]

Big bags of beans and rice. Forget about almost all of the exotic (expensive)natural food store stuff. People all over the world who live on next to nothing, eat beans and rice, and strength and endurance wise could kick the ass of most any N. American.
As far as untensiles, get a pressure cooker for your beans and they won't take forever to cook.

[Fenriswolfr]

Yeah, I've got a lifetime supply of beans and rice, beans take so long to cook tho -_- (don't have a pressure cooker)

[Andrew Jensen]

For cooking, you want 2 things for sure: a cast iron skillet and a cast iron dutch oven. Not the aluminum ones they sell in the stores now, it needs to be cast iron. First of all, those things are solid hunks of metal that would probably deflect bullets. Once seasoned over a fire, they're practically indestructable: real heirloom material. In Korea and Veitnam they're still using the thousands that were left behind by American troops 50 years ago. We're using some in my family that are older than any of us. Keep them washed and they won't rust.

Cast Iron also heats pretty evenly and holds the heat longer, though it takes longer to heat up (this is comparing to aluminum). Overall that means it cooks better. And it does add small amounts of iron to the food, which is actually good for you.

Anything you might need an oven for, a dutch oven will serve, though it does restrict your bread to biscuit shapes. Spare the lid and you can also use it as a regular pot for stews or washing. The cast iron skillet serves for all other cooking. 

The drawback on both is weight. These are not backpacking gear, and so they need to be left at base camp. (this is why so many were left by GIs in Asia.) Though miniature "one person" versions exist, good luck finding them.

So where do you get these? Well, you can usually find the real ones at army surplus stores (remember, accept no aluminium substitutes). But you can get them used at garage sales and thrift stores, and not only is it cheaper, it saves you from having to season them yourself. 

[grog]

All shapes and sizes of cast iron are not hard to find around here (SC). We just bought a new round griddle. They take a while to season properly. The oil has to soak in deeply so use good lard or suet or palm or some other high temperature oil like black walnut  oil or hickory nut oil.

Our big heirlooms are enamel coated cast iron. We rarely use them but will when the "coming simpler times"  finally arrive. In other words we will take only the toughest most useful stuff with us when our house is foerclosed and we  are forced to "live like a refugee". I've been daydreaming of something like that for decades. You might call it "constructive fantasy" or "rewilding the mind".


have anvil will travel

[puuku]

On cooking beans. Soak them overnight, Change the water, cook at low heat try not to get above a simmer and stir very little this keeps the beans intact. When there done take them out and dry them on a screen or in a dehydrator. Instant beans. This is how Native Americans made them for travel food.

[Jordan]

On cooking beans. Soak them overnight, Change the water, cook at low heat try not to get above a simmer and stir very little this keeps the beans intact. When there done take them out and dry them on a screen or in a dehydrator. Instant beans. This is how Native Americans made them for travel food.

How do you know when they are done?

[heyvictor]

Beans are done when they are soft.  If they have any crunch in them at all they will be harder to digest and make you fart.

[BlueHeron]

On cooking beans. Soak them overnight, Change the water, cook at low heat try not to get above a simmer and stir very little this keeps the beans intact. When there done take them out and dry them on a screen or in a dehydrator. Instant beans. This is how Native Americans made them for travel food.

Is this good for all beans?

[puuku]

I've only tried it with Pintos, Black, and Beans. It should work with similar beans. I don't know if it would work well with Lima or Fava beans. Let me know if you experiment how it turns out. Also I like to salt the water when I cook for storage.

[BlueHeron]

I have cooked chickpeas and lentils before; that's about it.  Other kinds of beans (black, kidney, fava, etc.) I buy canned (generally to save time), though I suppose there are situations where I'd want dried beans, like camping or bulk storage.

Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) definitely abide by your instructions.    Soak them about 12 hours, then simmer for 2.5 hours (or otherwise until they are "done").

Lentils are very different.  You don't have to soak them, but you do have to rinse them very well.  They are boiled for anywhere between 25-45 minutes (depending on the type of lentil).  But maybe lentils don't really count as a bean, being a legume.

[BlueHeron]

From the Repurposing Dead Cars thread (with jhereg's compliments):


solar oven: lay a tire flat on the ground, put a dish w/ food in the center, lay glass on top. do it in the morning when clear weather is expected.

[Daveopithecus]

Revivification, inspired by this post:

From the Repurposing Dead Cars thread (with jhereg's compliments):


solar oven: lay a tire flat on the ground, put a dish w/ food in the center, lay glass on top. do it in the morning when clear weather is expected.

This idea got me thinking...mainly about never wanting to taste tire (again). But also how to build a natural/earth/cob/whatever solar oven. Sort of a synthesis between a wood-fired traditional oven and a solar box cooker. Basically, you'd mound up some sort of clay mixture as you might an oven, but instead of enclosing it just make it so a piece of glass caps it. You could make it as insulated -- on the sides anyway -- as you wanted, perhaps mix some carbon black to darken the mixture for better heat absorption.

I wonder if it would get hot enough to cook without extra solar collectors. Probably not, but it might be fun to experiment with this summer.