How to Cook Without Power

Plan to need less cooking

Most canned food is already cooked and safe to eat cold. Building your emergency pantry around ready-to-eat food means you only need a stove for coffee, hot meals and boiling water.

Outdoor cooking options

• Propane camp stove: the easiest choice. Two-burner stoves handle a family's meals and use small, widely available cylinders.
• Butane stove: compact and simple, though butane performs poorly in cold weather.
• Gas or charcoal grill: works well if you already own one. Keep extra propane or charcoal.
• Rocket stove: burns small sticks and scrap wood efficiently, useful when fuel runs out.
• Solar oven: cooks with sunlight alone and needs no fuel, but only on sunny days.

Safety rules

• Use all of these outdoors only, never in the house, garage or on an enclosed porch.
• Keep them away from walls, overhangs and anything flammable.
• Store fuel cylinders outdoors or in a detached shed.
• Keep a fire extinguisher nearby.

Boiling water

If you need to make water safe, a rolling boil for 1 minute (3 minutes above 6,500 feet) kills germs. A kettle on a camp stove is the fastest way. See our water purification guide.

How much fuel to store

Fuel use varies widely by stove, weather and what you cook. A practical approach is to time how long one small propane cylinder lasts with your stove, then keep enough for at least two meals a day for your planned timeline, plus a margin.