In this video, we're going to show you
how to keep feeding your household when
the power goes out without wasting fuel,
battery power, or water. By the end,
you'll know what to eat first, when you
actually need to cook, and which backup
methods fit your home. We're going to
start with no-cook options, then move to
hot water, stored electricity, outdoor
propane, and apartment-safe choices.
Then we'll cook the same meal two ways,
one normally and the other using a heat
retention trick to save energy. We're
going to measure the power used, compare
the foods, and see whether retained heat
actually saves energy. For a printable
copy of the recipes and methods, visit
cityprepping.com/cooking.
No cooking.
When the lights go out, the first
question isn't what stove should I use?
It's what food should I use first?
If your refrigerator's still cold, start
here. Eat the foods that are already
prepared and most likely to spoil first.
That might be leftovers, deli meat and
cheese, yogurt, fruit, or anything else
you can safely eat without heating. And
if canned food is part of your emergency
supply, keep a manual can opener with
it. It's an easy thing to overlook until
the power's already out. If the
refrigerator's still 40° or below, use
the most perishable food first,
especially leftovers, meat, dairy, and
other foods that depend on
refrigeration. An unopened refrigerator
will usually stay safely cold for about
4 hours, but once perishable food has
been above 40° for roughly 2 hours, it
should be thrown out.
Preserved foods like pickles,
condiments, and many whole fruits and
vegetables, they may still be usable,
but once that safe window closes, move
your meals towards shelf-stable food
instead. Every meal you can make without
heat leaves your propane, battery power,
and other cooking resources untouched
for later. It can also mean less clean
up, which matters if the outage is
affecting your water supply, too.
So, this is level zero, no heat.
Boil water.
If the meal does not need heat, start
with the smallest job, boiling water.
Here we've got a freeze-dried meal. It
doesn't need a burner running for 20
minutes. It needs a measured amount of
boiling water.
You could heat that water on a hot plate
powered by battery or outside on a camp
stove or propane barbecue. Some gas
cooktops can also be manually lit during
a simple power outage if the
manufacturer allows it. But after an
earthquake or other disaster, never
assume the gas system is safe if there
may be line damage or leak.
I'm only heating the amount the meal
calls for and I'm putting a lid on the
pot while it heats. Once the water is
boiling, you can shut off the heat
source and the food can cook and
rehydrate on its own.
That's level one, just being able to
boil water. That gives us a simple
cooking ladder for the rest of the
outage.
Zero level is no heat. Level one is
being able to quickly bring heat up
enough to boil water.
Level two is short active cooking on one
burner. Level three is sustained cooking
for full meal.
Level four is a meal that keeps a burner
or heat source running for an extended
time such as food that needs a long
simmer. This is typical for many meals.
These meals can use far more fuel or
battery power. So later in this video,
I'll show you way to cut the active
cooking time.
The rule is simple. Use the least amount
of active heat you need to safely
prepare the food. A meal that normally
takes a long time to finish may still
need only a few minutes of burner time
if retained heat can do the rest.
Stored power.
If the outage lasts through dinner, the
next step may be making a familiar meal
without grid power.
One of the simplest options is stored
electricity.
Here we're using a Jackery Home Power
3600 Plus with a rated capacity of 3600
Wh and a maximum continuous output of
3600 W
connected to this hot plate.
If watt hours isn't a number you
normally think about, here's a simple
version. It tells us how much energy the
battery can store or how much energy an
appliance uses over time. During an
outage, that lets us translate a battery
into something much more useful, meals.
That number is much more useful than
simply knowing the hot plate turns on.
Your results will be different. A large
pan, longer cook time, higher
temperatures, different food, or
different appliance can all change how
much energy a meal takes.
Test the setup you actually plan to use
before an outage and write the result
down.
If you have solar panels, they may give
you a way to put some energy back into
the battery when conditions allow. We're
not turning this into a solar lesson,
though. The important point is that
stored electricity is still inventory.
If the outage continues, you need to
know how quickly cooking is using it.
Apartment options.
For someone in an apartment or rental,
this electric option can become even
more important.
You may have a yard. Your building may
restrict grills or open flames on a
balcony. A generator may not be an
option at all.
And if you do have access to one, a fuel
generator never belongs inside your
home, garage, or another enclosed space.
That puts more weight on ready-to-eat
food, meals that only need boiling
water, stored electric power, and
appliances that are appropriate to use
indoors. It also makes the battery test
more valuable. Instead of thinking I
have a power station, so I can cook, you
know approximately how many meals your
particular setup gives you before you
need another way to recharge it.
Outdoor propane.
If you have safe outdoor space, propane
gives you another cooking method without
draining the battery.
I'm using this two-burner propane stove
outside to make a simple meal.
This is not a stove comparison. We only
need to know whether it gives us a
dependable second way to cook. If I can
make dinner on propane, I can preserve
stored electricity for lighting,
communications, refrigeration, charging,
medical needs, or another meal later.
We're still trying to cook efficiently.
Use a lid when it helps, control the
flame, and shut the burner off when the
food is done.
Most importantly, the stove stays
outdoors, and it is used according to
the manufacturer's instructions. If
you're using a cooking method you don't
use every day, take safety seriously.
Carbon monoxide is invisible and
dangerous, so make sure your home has
working carbon monoxide alarms. A carbon
monoxide alarm is an extra layer of
protection, not permission to bring
outdoor cooking equipment inside. And
whenever you're cooking in in unfamiliar
way, keep an appropriate fire
extinguisher accessible and know how to
use it.
Retained heat.
Long cooking meals can burn through fuel
or battery power quickly. Retained heat
gives us another option. For this meal,
we're going to bring the pot to a boil,
give it a short period of active
cooking, shut off the heat, and insulate
the pot so the trapped heat can continue
the cooking process. I'll show you here
by making the Sam Ham and Pea Penne two
different ways using the same amount of
pasta, ham, peas, milk, butter, flour,
and pepper. For the retained heat
version, we'll add an additional half
cup of water that stays in the pot. The
traditionally cooked version will drain
and discard the water when the pasta is
cooked. The first pot is our retained
heat version. Instead of boiling the
pasta in water and draining it, we're
using a measured amount of water plus an
additional half cup water and our milk
that stays with the pasta.
As the pasta cooks, it absorbs that
liquid and the starch it releases helps
thicken the sauce.
Once that pot reaches a boil, we'll let
it actively cook for about 2 minutes. In
the final couple of minutes, we'll leave
the lid on top to trap the heat and
raise the internal temperature.
Then, shut the hot plate off and move
this into the Wonder Bag.
A Wonder Bag is basically a heavily
insulated container. It slows how
quickly the pot loses heat, allowing the
food to keep cooking without the burner
running.
You don't need this particular product
to use the idea. A covered pot wrapped
securely in a thick comforter, several
beach towels, or a blanket works on the
same principle. And a thermal cooker
like this one does essentially the same
thing.
We'll leave this pot insulated for about
25 minutes while I make the second pot
in a traditional manner. By traditional,
I mean I'll boil the pasta in extra
water, drain it when done, then add all
my final ingredients to the pot,
bringing them up to temperature. Later
in this video, I'll compare the finished
meals and share the results.
This is not a laboratory test where
everything about the cooking method is
identical. We're comparing two practical
ways of making the same meal. We'll
measure the active cooking time and
electricity each method uses, then
compare the pasta, the sauce, and the
finished result. While that cooks, the
question changes.
By day three, it's no longer just can I
make dinner, it's how many meals do my
remaining fuel, battery power, and water
represent. Long cooking meals use more
of those limited resources.
Stretch resources.
Because you don't know how long the
outage will last, favor shorter cook
times and use retained heat while it can
safely finish the job. If one meal takes
40 minutes and another 10, make the
faster one while you still have choices.
Put a lid on the pot while it helps hold
heat in.
Heat only the water you need instead of
filling a pot by habit. Cut foods into
smaller pieces to reduce cooking time.
Use one-pot meals when you can. If a
food can be soaked ahead of time to
reduce active cooking, that may help.
And if you have a safe way to store
leftovers, batch cooking may make sense.
If you're already using the fuel or
electricity to cook one meal, making
enough for another meal can keep you
from starting the whole process again
later.
Use a pot that fits the burner. A pot
that's too small can waste heat, and one
that's too large can heat more slowly
and unevenly.
Fuel is not your only limit. Every extra
pot can cause stored water to clean, so
favor meals that use less cooking water
and create less cleanup. Here are two
meals. One uses several pots, a pan, and
multiple utensils. One uses a single
pot. Under normal conditions, the
difference is mostly annoying cleanup.
During a water outage, every dirty pan
creates another demand on stored water.
So, the better outage meal is not always
the meal with the fewest ingredients.
Sometimes it's the one that gives us a
useful amount of food with less cooking
and less cleanup. During a longer
outage, like cooking smells, smoke,
generator noise, or visible equipment
can advertise activity. Keep outdoor
cooking controlled and brief. Put gear
away and limit unnecessary light and
noise after dark. That's basic
discretion, not paranoia. Disasters can
make some people desperate, so don't
leave your resources outside. Make sure
your propane tank is off and locked
down. Also, bring in any camp stoves or
outdoor equipment once it has cooled.
Test results. The retained heat pot
needed 9 minutes on the hot plate, 7
minutes to reach a boil, followed by 2
minutes with the lid on before going
into the Wonder Bag. It used
approximately 140 Wh of battery energy.
The traditional pot needed 28 minutes on
the burner and used approximately 390
Wh. That's about 250 Wh saved or roughly
64% less battery energy. Based on the
battery percentage used in these tests,
that works out to roughly 25 retained
heat meals versus nine traditional meals
per full charge. Saving energy only
matters if the food is properly cooked.
As for the two meals, here is a
side-by-side comparison. I thought the
retention heat pasta would still be a
little al dente, but I was wrong.
Cooking it slowly in the milk and water
actually resulted in a creamier,
perfectly cooked noodle.
The traditional method, which used more
energy, was slightly more al dente and
overall a little drier. I can probably
overcome the dryness in the traditional
cooking method by just cooking the
noodles in water and adding the milk
after the noodles are drained and the
other ingredients are added. I'm sure of
that, but that doesn't change the fact
that the retention heat method produced
better quality food with far less energy
used.
Both generally tasted the same, but
that's not the point. I'll take the
slightly better retention heat method
and 25 possible meals over just nine and
the slightly chewier, drier version.
Build in layers.
Build your cooking setup in layers. For
the first 24 hours, have no cooked food,
a low cleanup option, and a way to boil
water. For 3 days, add a dependable
cooking method, enough fuel or stored
power for your meals, and a backup. For
2 weeks, add multiple cooking methods,
more fuel, rechargeable stored power if
practical, efficient cookware, retained
heat where it works, and meals that use
less fuel and water.
Those first layers still matter later
because every efficient meal preserves
resources for the next one.
Test your setup tonight. If the stove
and microwave were out, what would you
eat tomorrow and 3 days from now? If you
can't answer, start with one no-cook
meal, one way to boil water, and one
backup way to cook a full meal. Then
test all three. If you'd like a
printable copy of these recipes and
cooking methods, visit
cityprepping.com/cooking.
And if you want to take your overall
preparedness further, you can also
download our free starting preparing
guide. I'll put that link in the
comments and description section below
this video. If you want to keep
learning, watch how to easily build a
21-day emergency food supply or two
ingredients to keep you alive after
SHTF. I'll put both videos on the screen
here and also below. As always, stay
safe out there.