In almost any disaster those services providing heat and light are among the first to be interrupted. Life can become distressing without light and very uncomfortable and even dangerous without heat. Plans should therefore be made for alternative methods of heating and cooking. Stoves, fires, cooking in the rough, fuels, are subjects of interest.

Stoves
Many kinds of stoves can be thought of as emergency gear. Wood and coal stoves, propane stoves, small camping stoves, kerosene heaters, and other miscellaneous units all have potential usefulness.

Wood and Coal Stoves
The efficient metal stoves that became popular several years ago are excellent auxiliary and emergency heating and cooking devices. They are made to utilize coal, wood, pellets and combinations of these fuels. The really good stoves are expensive ($400-$3,500). Small cast-iron or steel stoves of acceptable quality and low prices are now hard to find, although they can be found in want ads occasionally. A stove can even be made from a 55 gallon oil-drum (kits $80), but EPA regulations
now largely preclude using all but the most efficient stoves.

There are also some small, fold-up, light-gauge, portable metal stoves, made to burn wood that are very effective for short-term heating and cooking. Among them are the Pyromid, the Raemco and the Sims. These units weigh around twenty-five to fifty pounds and fold up to a few inches thick by less than two feet square. They have accessories such as ovens and various venting (chimney) options, and most come with carrying cases. Some surplus outlets carry military tent stove that has a cast iron grate; they sell for a little over a hundred dollars and make a good back up heater.
Anyone interested in buying a wood/coal stove should look around and see what is available, and this look has to include a Lehmans catalog. Lehmans sells to the Amish and looking through this catalog helps in understanding the possibilities. A Fireplace can also serve for heating and cooking. Cooking with a fireplace requires a "hanger" or some type of grate to hold pans.

Small Camping Stoves
White gas camping stoves and good backpacking stoves are very effective cooking units. Many people worldwide cook on small white gas stoves resembling the camping stoves. Fuel is relatively expensive, however, and although most types do contain stabilizers and may be stored safely for a few years, it is generally not recommended for extended long-term storage.
The surging interest in camping and backpacking over the past few years has promoted the development of a flock of wonderful, light weight, efficient stoves. Many will operate on almost any standard liquid fuel. MSR, Coleman, Sigg and others make some great products.

Prices range from less than fifty dollars to over a hundred. If cared for in a reasonable manner they will last for many years. The stoves using canned butane fuel are the most convenient and easy to use. However, for bottom-line long-term preparedness it may be better to buy one that will operate on multiple liquid fuels, including kerosene. The great thing about these little stoves is that they are so light and compact and yet put out the heat of a large one. For simplicity I recommend any Coleman 1 piece stove like the one above. (No parts to attach or lose.) The MSR model XGK weighs about a pound; will run on kerosene, diesel, white gas, gasoline, and other similar fuels; and it will boil water in three minutes.

Recommendations:
For simplicity and no-hassle use the Coleman Peak1 or exponent. (anything dual fuel)

Cooking in The Rough
Cooking and baking may need to be done on a stove or over an open fire. A covered dutch oven or other heat-conductive, covered pot can be used as an oven by placing it on top of the stove. Flour sprinkled on the bottom of an oven will slowly brown at 350 degrees to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Bread can be baked in such an oven or in an integral oven on a stove if necessary, by placing the loaf directly on the bottom without bread pans. A sprinkle of coarse flour or cornmeal underneath the loaf will prevent sticking. In some parts of the world people still bake in square five gallon cans that have an opening in the side and a grate fitted to the inside. The device is set on a stove or near a fire.

A cast iron dutch oven can be placed on the glowing embers of a fire and some other hot coals placed on top of it to do the cooking, or the oven can be simply placed in the hot fire bed if there is sufficient grease or water in the container. If you are baking some type of bread in a dutch oven you need to do some cooking from the bottom, but it should be done mostly from the top. This is done by removing the oven from the coals in the fire bed after some cooking time and then setting it on the ground and placing hot coals on the lid of the oven. The Volcano stove is a popular cooking device using charcoal briquettes.
Cooking and heating with an open fire can be a "finger-warming" experience for the unprepared. Here again, a small fire is usually as effective as a large one. The hot coals from a fire are usually easiest to use for cooking. Generally, the flames do well for boiling and baking, and coals are good for frying and broiling. Cast iron is king when it comes to cooking on a fire, but other types of cookware are also usable and considerably lighter.

If no cookware is available, cooking can still be done. A green willow or branch (be sure to use a nontoxic wood—some woods such as oleander are very poisonous) can serve as a roasting stick similar to what would be used to roast a hot dog. Roots, meat, breads, and much else, can be cooked on a stick. An appropriately-shaped rock can also be placed near the fire and used for a cooking surface. (Warning: Never place wet rocks, such as one from a stream bed or from wet ground, in or near a fire. They can violently break apart or explode.) Also, water may be made to boil by adding very hot stones from a fire to the cooking container. Add food and cover the container until the food is done. Any pot of food brought to a boil may be surrounded with insulative material such as crumpled newspapers and kept sufficiently hot to do a lot of cooking after the heat is removed.

Food may be steamed under a fire by lining a shallow pit with leaves, grass or other green vegetation, placing food in the vegetation-lined pit, covering it with more leaves, covering that with one-fourth to one-half inch of dirt or sand, and then building the fire directly on top. Pull the fire away and retrieve the food when it is done. This process usually takes at least an hour— depending on what is being cooked, the size of the fire, and so on. Some foods can be cooked by simply wrapping them with leaves and placing them in the coals of the fire. Vegetables and some other food items may be coated with mud or clay and cooked in the coals or the flames.

Lighting Up
Making fires can become rather difficult without matches. It is essential to store a good supply of matches in a solid, waterproof, preferably metal container in at least two locations around the house. Matches can be waterproofed at home by dipping them in melted paraffin. Lighters may, of course, be substituted for at least some of the matches. The disposable butane lighters are quite inexpensive but do not have an indefinite storage life. When building an outdoor fire the most important thing to do to preserve matches is to prepare the fire bed adequately before lighting the match. Gather a copious supply of fine, dry, combustible material as well as larger-size material. Fine branches, shredded bark (light bark such as sagebrush or cedar are very good for this), dry moss, dry shredded grass, deserted birds' nests, and so forth will help get things going.

Some methods of lighting up without matches are flint and steel, steel wool and batteries, and a bow drill. With these methods, as with matches, preparation of the fire bed is essential to success. It may seem a bit harsh to say that the flint and steel and bow-drill routines are not for the novice, but experience has shown it to be true. It is not easy to make fires by these methods unless you have made it a matter of substantial practice.

Flint and steel can produce sparks, but making a fire from the sparks is difficult and when it is cold and damp, it borders on the "not-likely" category. To produce the spark a piece of "flint" (agate, quartz, etc.) is struck with the back of a solid hunting knife, the back of a closed blade of a pocket knife, or other piece of steel. It takes practice to make good sparks. Catch the spark in a well-prepared tinder bundle of the most flammable materials you can find, close the material around the spark, hold it up and gently blow it to a flame.

The absence of light can do strange things to people. An emergency source of light is essential. Flashlights, candles, lamps and lanterns, light sticks and electrical generators are all reasonably good auxiliary sources of light

Flashlights:
Most households own at least one flashlight. (The problem is that when it's not lost, the batteries are usually dead or dying). It is a good idea to have a flashlight in every vehicle and also one in a bed stand or under your bed for night time emergencies. Alkaline batteries are more expensive than carbon-zinc, but their shelf-life is longer and they last about five times as long in use. Keep the poles of stored batteries covered with nonconductive material to prevent discharge, and store them in the refrigerator or freezer for added shelf-life. Good batteries and a low-watt globe can allow a flashlight to give ten hours or more of continuous light. Krypton Star bulbs are among the brightest, longest living, and best on the market.

A solar charger and rechargeable batteries are a great idea.
Lights and lanterns employing the larger six-volt batteries last much longer than ordinary flashlights The fluorescent lanterns are also long lasting and give good light. Flashlights attached to headbands are wonderful for hands-free operation. Some lights are powered by a squeezable generator or "dynamo;" they are labor-intensive but nice. Another option is the Forever Light that can be stored for many years and then activated by the addition of water for a few hours of continuous light. There are also some new offerings that have a built in solar charger that seem to work well.

Recommendations:
For home & car the Maglite® 3 or 4 D cell
For camping & light weight + extra bright the Pelican MightyLight® or PeliLight®

Candles:
Candles are easy to use and handy. For safety, a good holder should be part of the gear.' old-fashioned kind like Scrooge used work nicely. A three-fourth inch diameter candle will burn about one-half hour or a little longer per inch of length. An increase in diameter to seven-eight or one inch should give you double the burn time or more. A two inch square candle should burn several hours (five to seven) per inch.
Candles can be made from animal tallow, paraffin, wax, or combinations of them. Beef tallo is especially good. They may be molded in any convenient container: milk cartons, cans, j cups, toilet paper rolls, other cardboard or plastic containers, or anything else that seems suitable.
Wicks should be of cotton string. If you were in a pinch, you could use some dried plant stems. Pithy ones such as the center of mature cattail stems work fairly well.

The quality of wick material can be improved by soaking it (before making the candles) in turpentine 01 solution of one or two tablespoons of saltpeter (potassium nitrate or sodium nitrate) and on half pound of lime in a gallon of water for a few minutes, and then allowing it to dry.
Tallow should be rendered and cleaned before making candles. Cut the tallow into small pieces and heat it over low heat until it is all melted. (Odors may make it desirable to do this outdoors if possible, but it is not necessary.) Strain the melted fat through a cloth (save the piece of cooked meat to eat or feed to animals) and then put it back into the cleaned pot or kettle with some water. Boil it for a few minutes, then cool it and remove the clean tallow from the top Allow it to dry and then make it into candles by melting it over low heat or in a double boiler and either molding it in containers or dipping.

Dipping candles is done by dipping the wicks into the melted fat and allowing them to cool. When the initial dips cool enough but are not yet hard, roll them between your hands or two boards to develop intimate contact between the wick and tallow. Dip them into the hot tallow again and allow them to cool. (This works very well during cold weather when they can be cooled quickly.) Dip them again and let them cool; and repeat the process until the candle is the desired size. Several can be dipped at one time by tying the wicks to a wire or stick or nailing them to the edge of a board about two or three inches apart for as many as can be dipped into your pot. Commercial 100-hour or 200-hour candles are available that have a liquid fuel in a can with a wick. They work very well.

Recommendations:
100 hour liquid candles burn nice but have the potential to spill or leak.
Try any emergency type candle in a tin container with a lid.

Lamps and Lanterns
Kerosene lamps of varying descriptions were very widely used for many years. They are fairly easy to use and quite efficient. According to my own calculations, ten gallons of kerosene would give a few hours of light per day for a whole year. In his book Family Storage Plan (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, Inc., 1966), Bob Zabriskie estimates that one quart of kerosene will burn forty-five hours in a lamp with a one inch wick. At this rate, a ten gallon supply would burn 1800 hours, or 5 hours per day for 360 days. A supply of spare wicks would also be necessary. Lamps need not be fancy, but it is a good idea to make sure they are not too cheaply built. Some will not turn the wick up and down very well, and the mechanism for doing so is easily broken. Hurricane lamps, railroad lamps, plain lamps, fancy lamps, brass lamps, steel lamps, and glass lamps all give about the same light. The kerosene lamps with a mantle, such as those made by Aladdin, produce a very bright light. However, the mantles break occasionally (when the kids knock the lamps onto the floor), and this makes the process of keeping and using them a bit more complex and expensive. But for a bright light they are the top of the line and very recommendable.

The black char that forms on the top of the wick should be gently pinched off before lighting a kerosene lamp, and the wick may occasionally need to be trimmed with scissors. The chimney should be kept clean inside and out. It can be wiped or washed clean. If it is washed, make sure it is completely dry before being used. One drop of water on it will probably cause it to crack when the lamp is lit. It is a good idea to keep a fire extinguisher or a container of sand or soda handy to extinguish a fire in case the kerosene lamp is broken and a fire starts.

White gas and propane lanterns give excellent light but consume more fuel than wick-type kerosene lamps. A single-mantle gas lantern will give approximately eight to nine hours of light per pint of fuel. A two-mantle lantern gives a little bit more light (about one-fourth to one-fifth more) but uses about one and one-half times as much fuel and is more expensive to buy and maintain. In my opinion the single-mantle is the better choice. A propane lantern will use approximately two-thirds the number of ounces of fuel as a white gas lantern for similar results. Some small backpacking stoves can double as lanterns with the extra lamp attachments.

The ultimate hardware kit would, of course, enable complete self-sufficiency. This may not be possible for everyone, but some hardware items should be part of every able-bodied person. In simplest form, an emergency equipment kit should contain a saw, pliers, ax, hammer, nails, adjustable wrench, screwdrivers, mill file, hacksaw, sharpening stone, knife or knives (at least a sturdy pocketknife), rope or cord, visquene, shovel, pick and a pot and griddle suitable for outdoor cooking. Other gardening tools, hand tools, materials are also desirable

A bow saw is probably the most effective and the least expensive for cutting firewood.
A carpenter's handsaw is also a useful tool and could be very helpful in rebuilding after a disaster. Suitable handsaws can be purchased for ten to twenty dollars each.

Pliers are very useful tools. A pair of plain straight pliers will bend metal, pick a pot out of a fire, cut wire, bend wire, loosen fasteners, and perform many other necessary functions. Poor quality pliers may break in a hard "pinch;" go for quality—not necessarily price.
An ax is useful for trimming and fitting timbers, splitting firewood, chopping firewood, driving stakes (single-bit ax), and so on. The rounded edge of the ax as it comes from the factory is okay for splitting wood, but it is poor for chopping. It may be reshaped with a slow-turning grinder or a file—a fast-turning grinder can overheat the metal and change the temper or hardening.

Be cautious with an ax; many have been injured in a moment of haste. Clear obstructions above and around the target and on the ground before chopping. When the ax handle loosens from the head, as happens to all axes in normal use, small wedges are usually driven into the end of the handle to tighten it or the top few inches of the handle (including the head) may be soaked in oil to cause the wood to swell.

A good solid hammer and a supply of nails are tools of great use. By gaming permission to pick up dropped nails around a construction site, a variety can normally be gleaned in a little time; or a variety of small (such as dry wall nails), medium (8d) and medium-large (16d) nails could be purchased.
An adjustable wrench, and several small and large straight-blade and Phillips' screwdrivers are minimal tools for taking care of many fastening and unfastening chores that are bound to occur and for turning off utilities. Socket sets, end wrenches, and locking pliers such as Vise Grips are also useful.

Mill files eight inches long or longer are good for shaping metal objects, including hoes, shovels, and axes. Store at least two or three. A sharpening stone with coarse and fine sides is necessary to shape and keep a good edge on knives and other tools. A hacksaw is used for cutting metal, and metal shears are used for cutting light-gauge sheet metal.

Knives are very useful, and a pocketknife and a rigid or lock-blade knife are "must have" survival tools for skinning and cleaning game, gathering plant food and fiber, and ten thousand or so other miscellaneous uses. Some think of knives in terms of self-defense, but for most of humanity the probability of using a knife as a self-defense weapon is probably not very great. Yet, a knife is an indispensable tool for survival. They do not have to be fancy in shape or anything else—just good steel and construction, and proper edge. The blade of the rigid or lock-blade knife should be at least four inches long. Features such as hollow-handles storage compartments and serrated back edges for sawing may or may not be desirable. Plain, good quality custom-made knives start at around $100.

Rope and string are useful for lashing, clothesline, tethering animals, and many other purposes. Strong, inexpensive nylon string and a little rope should handle most needs. If you live in a rural area, it should be easy to pick up a few pieces of used baling twine for nothing but the effort. Most farmers are glad to get rid of it.

Wire is one of those forgotten entities that can do wonders in a makeshift situation. Remember the old saying, "We keep most things going with spit and balin' wire." Baling wire or a small roll of form wire (used with concrete forms) is very inexpensive. Pliers are a must for working with wire.

Plastic sheeting can keep you and other things dry, make a solar still, help keep a child's bed dry, or serve any one of many other needs. Rolls of plastic are available at hardware stores and other outlets. An insulation contractor or supplier may be able to save you some money on a whole roll. A four-mil thickness is common and a good all-around weight.

A shovel is an absolutely essential survival tool for every able-bodied person, and more than one would be good for barter or prolonged use. A shovel can help in constructing ditches, wells, reservoirs, shelters, and latrines; cleaning house (when it gets to that point); harvesting crops; and much else.
Absolutely do not buy a cheap shovel if you plan to do much work with it.

A pick and/or a mattock and digging bar are also useful for digging in hard ground. (And most of it is!) They are almost tools of necessity for digging. If your nuclear war survival plans include the possibility of building an expedient shelter, or if you can foresee any other substantial digging project, then acquire at least a pick. Hard or rocky ground is almost impenetrable without one. A mattock has a broad face which can also speed up the digging chores.

A cooking pot and griddle suitable for cooking under adverse conditions are necessities.
Cast iron is unequaled for outdoor cooking. Household wares may be adaptable for this under
necessity, but they may never be the same again after being used over an open fire. Other
important kitchen hardware might include a can opener, kitchen spoons, pancake turner,
dishpan, bowls, and a bucket or two.

Other gardening tools that could be considered are a hoe, a rake, and a mattock or grubbing hoe. A grubbing hoe is, to me, one of the most useful hand gardening tools available. A large-wheel hand cultivator is also a useful gardening item.

Other hand tools useful for construction are a plane (a jack plane or a block plane are good for all-around use in planing wood articles), a chisel (for making holes, cutting, and shaping), a miter box (for cutting true angles), a level, a carpenter's square and a tri-square (for cutting true angles, rafters, and stairways), a brace and bits and/or a hand drill (for boring in wood), a chalk line, a measuring tape, and a carpenter's pencil and chalk or crayon. Some materials that might be added to the list where they are practical to store and might be used could include a sheet or two of plywood, chicken wire (for animal cages), caulking, screws and bolts, and lumber.

NUCLEAR FALLOUT
AND OTHER BIOLOGICAL PLAGUES
treated the Natural Way