I have for in and outside. It's really not that hard as long as it's vented.

 

yup, if you are cooking inside with propane, natural gas, iso-butane, etc... just make sure it is vented

if you are cooking with solid fuel like charcoal, wood, pellets, etc, you are going to have smoke... make sure chimney is clear, or just cook outside... people will see/smell the smoke

 

We can do either, several different ways. It all depends on what's going on at the time. Summer outside. Winter inside. Hostile or covert. Whatever we need, we can adjust.

 

Bad shtf i dont plan on sharing, due to this i dont plan on cooking outside.

 

yeah me nether but at this stage i only have outside facilities - i need to fix this, small gasifier outside to supply gas for inside - or a methane gas digester , these work well and i have made them before but i dont really need it before SHTF so i plan on only setting it up then
http://wp.me/p1Ff3c-4f

 

Multiple options are the best best. Have you considered a solar oven? Obviously there is no fuel involved so there is no smoke or visible signs of use. Granted, there are giant reflectors that say "HELLO! Here I Am!" Guess there's a tradeoff to every option.

 

Cook outside in the warmer months as much as possible. My super-insulated cabin gets too hot otherwise. Large steel charcoal grill outside set in concrete.
Gas range inside with the wood cook stove in storage.

 

During the winter I will be cooking inside on my wood stove, during the summer I will start cooking outside then move the food to wonder oven (in the house) so there smells outside to bring the neighbors.

 

A 25 dollar butane stove at the local camping store lets you cook inside and a canister of gas is good for dozens of meals. A supply of canisters is 1000's of meals.

 

I am prepared for both!

Outside of course will be related to:

-Security
-Weather

I realize that outdoors is cooking is idea because the fuel is in abundance (wood). So it seems logical to me to focus on indoor cooking for the above reasons. My two indoor cooking options would be the wood stove and the stove/over (see below)

I can't speak high enough on this stove/oven. It work fantastic and I'm well pleased. I can put both burners on high and run the over at 400 degrees for about 4 hours per pound on gas.

 

I built an all seasons solar cooker- google it. I HIGHLY recommend them, I love mine. They are cheap to build, and they work great outside. You also put your food in a bag or glass container when cooking to retain the solar heat, so the cooking smells don't go too far either, if you're looking for covert, and they take NO fuel to run. If fuel is running low, I'd far, far rather conserve it if at all possible, especially propane and charcoal.

 

It totally depends on air circulation. If you have an open fire and thus a chimney then you can cook on it as long as the chimney is clear and can release any carbonoxide made by the fire. Unless you have this chimney then you shouldn't cook on a fire indoors as the carbonoxide will kill you. Just this summer two families got very sick with some deaths because they used a BBQ inside a tent.Thus unless you have the open fire range then cook outside.


NB This is why Roman villas had high ceilings, so that the carbonoxide could rise away out of harms way and why the windows were so high up the walls.

 

Depends on how bad it is. If it's something short term then it wont matter. If it's long term I will drive the half hour to our house that's in the middle of nowhere on 100 acres with no neighbors within a mile or more so it still will not matter. Guess for me it will just depend on the weather and what I feel like doing at the time.

 

Both for me with the norm being inside during cold weather and outside when its hot. Of course this all changes depending on the situation and how long it's been since the SHTF.

 

I can use alcohol stoves inside right?

 

Sure. Alochol stove are one of the main ways to cook for circumnavigators. (small sailboats that go around the planet) Just make sure to crack open a window or two. And don't spill the alcohol. We have a big stainless steel kitchen 'prep' table that we have used to try the various 'beer can' designs that Britzen comes up with just to see how they would work out. No problem.

 

Dutch oven for outside, BBQ/smoker, regular campfire. Firewood based...

Inside is propane based mostly. Camp stove. Small scale diesel/gasoline/ naptha/ kerosene- multi fuel expidition stove... =)

 

Does the screened porch count as inside or outside? I usually set up a portable grill and camp stove there when the power goes out. There are just a few days of the year here in East Tennessee when it's too cold to cook on the porch.

For those days I guess we can use the dutch oven on the hearth in front of the fireplace.

 

Whether to cook inside or outside is definately situational. It would also depend on what level of SHTF are you talking about. There are many, some very dangerous and some not so.

The season would have a bearing on it also. In the summer we cook a lot outside using a solar reflector oven. On occasion we use a box oven as well as the BBQ, a Campchef 3 burner propane stove, (we even can on it) dutch ovens and a COB 'pizza' oven. We can still use the BBQ, stove and dutchy's in the rain or snow if we needed to. But in winter I would rather have the heat IN the house. For that we have a woodstove. And of course the natural gas stove in the kitchen if there is still gas being delivered.

If thing's were really dicey then we have 'beer can' alcohol stoves in our BOB's and a 'few' gallons of alcohol around. We also have a MSR whisperlite stove that burns ordinary gasoline as an option. I'm leaving out the 2 Snowpeak and the single burner Coleman stove since they use those expensive little gas cylinders so we don't have that many around.

Food wise, we could probably go at least 6 months just using the alcohol stoves and the ultralite titanium cookware. We use our BOB's at least once a month for something or the other so we have that part figured out.

Oh, and we have a 21 foot RV trailer out in the driveway. We actually use the BOB's more than the RV!

It pays to have options.

 

Canned stuff and water for inside.

Plenty of wood and BBQ pits set up for outside.

 

it was over 100degF here for 4 days in a row. if we had no electric to run A/C then cooking just 2 meals a day inside would of made it almost like hell. if its cold out i'll cook inside if its hot out i'll cook outside.

 

I answered both. You didn't really specify if this was meant for a BOL or tent or what type of situation.

Does it matter, to me it does, because if I'm at my BOL I will cook potatoes in the coals of a fire, meat on the grill, leg of deer on a *****, stew in a crock pot, shoot all kinds of things you could cook in a dutch oven, Bits of meat for jerky, I have a small outhouse sized smoker that is used for smoking.

Indoors I have a gas range that I use for allot of winter cooking, plus bread, canning, small dishes for lunches and breakfast. Or when its possible that the smoke from a larger outside fire might give away your position. I also have a wood stove that could be used if need be and time wasn't of the essence.

For tent camping, or when moving to your BOL, ya outside totally. I don't need my tent accidentally catching on fire with me inside of it. SH** happens and when the S has already H the F, I don't need to make things worse by having an accident.

 

I'm still trying to talk the "wife" into a wood burning cookstove for the house.
Problem is, I think it's going to cost me adding another room (sun room) to the back of the house.

 

I'm all for both too. I am a big fan of multi fuel stoves like the Coleman 442. They make a great gasoline lantern too.

Just two things. They exhaust carbon-monoxide and and if you use heavier fuel in the stove, like kerosene or diesel they will set off smoke alarms. So a good draught is essential, just the same as propane.