Campfire Cooking for Preppers
There’s nothing like a good campfire meal when you’re “roughing it”. It’s a great way to enjoy the great outdoors, but there may come a time when campfire cooking for preppers takes on a whole new meaning. After TEOTWAWKI, building a campfire will get deadly serious as it is a necessary survival skill that you must learn. Fire is critical to your shelter arrangement, purifying water and cooking. With respect to campfire cooking, there are two factors to consider: Portability and Concealment. If you are bugging out, a campfire will draw unnecessary attention to you and the members of your Prepper group. A big roaring fire like the one shown below may not be the best idea.
In addition to learning campfire basics, we will suggest cooking techniques which will do the job plus maintain your concealment. Once you have arrived at your final Bug Out destination, your options are expanded. In days gone by, cooking over an open fire was the rule rather than the exception. Today, our weekend warriors fire up the grill, douse the store bought charcoal with lighter fluid and light it up! The non-warriors use a propane gas grill! Even those who want to try campfire cooking old school can’t seem to get away from modern conveniences. I submit Exhibit “A” …The Weenie Roast:
Let’s get down to business. Here are a few important considerations regarding campfires:
Wood – Campfire cooking requires a clean-burning, hot fire. This is only achieved with dry, seasoned wood. Stripping trees of green wood is a mistake – your fire will be smoky, will burn poorly and create unnecessary pollution. If dry wood is not available, look for tinder alternatives. Use pine needles, bark chips, leaves or moss. Dry wood alternatives will include anything that will burn, including pine cones.
Fire location – Pay close attention to the ground before preparing any fire. Try to create a fire pit on bare soil surrounded by rocks. The rocks will contain the fire and radiate heat. In circumstances where building your fire around rocks is not possible, one should ensure that the base of the fire is on bare dirt. A fire that is burning all evening has lots of time to burn through the organic layer of the soil and will not be put out with a simple bucket of water. Don’t piss off Smokey Bear.
Wind – Any medium to strong wind is hazardous. The danger of sparks getting away can ignite a forest fire. Also, the coals will reduce more quickly and provide much less cooking time. If substantial wind shelter is unavailable, any outdoor fire is out of the question. Look for the leeward side of an embankment or rock outcropping. This will also help shield your fire from view.
The method below can be used either while bugging out, or at your bug out location. The object is to have all the wood turn into coals at the same time. This gives an even fire with no flames reaching up to burn your food or blacken your cookware. It also yields the longest cooking time from the coals.
Prepare the site
– Select a fire site at least 8′ from bushes or any combustibles. Be sure no tree branches overhang the site.
– Make a U-shaped perimeter using large rocks or green logs. If using logs, they’ll need to be wet down from time to time. If breezy, have back of fire pit face the wind.
– Put a large flat rock at the rear of the fire pit to act as a chimney. The “chimney rock” will help direct the smoke up and away.
Lay the kindling
– Fill the fire area with tinder or tinder alternatives.
– Lay kindling over tinder in layers, alternating direction with each layer. Use thin splits of wood or small dead branches. Do not put kindling down “teepee style”. The whole fire area should be covered with the kindling stack.
– Set a bucket of water near the fire area. Safety first my friends. Light the tinder to start your fire.
Build the fire, grade the coals
– When kindling is ablaze, add firewood. The wood should be all the same size, as much as possible. Use hardwood or hardwood branches if available. Distribute wood evenly over fire bed.
– As soon as the last flames die down leaving mostly white coals, use a stick to push the coals into a higher level at the back end and lower level at the front. This will give you the equivalent of ‘Hi’, ‘Med’ and ‘Lo’ cook settings. Or, level the coals to your preference.
Cooking Method
To cook, set the grill on rocks or wetted green logs. Put food directly on grill or in cookware and prepare your meal. If cooking directly on the grill, a small spray bottle or squirt gun is handy for shooting down any rogue flames, usually caused by food drippings. If you don’t have cookware or a grill, this is why we consider heavy duty aluminum foil as an important addition to your bug out bag. Place your food in the aluminum foil, wrap tightly and wait until the food is thoroughly cooked. Here is an excellent infographic entitled:
campfire cooking without a grill
As the fire diminishes, bank the coals to get the most heat from them.
After cooking, add wood for your evening campfire. Before retiring, extinguish thoroughly and soak with water. Turn rocks in on fire bed. It will be easy to reassemble the next. It will be easier to reassemble the next day if required.
Here is an informative infographic on how to build a campfire that you can print for reference:
how to build a campfire infographic
Cookware
When it comes to cookware, cast iron is king, especially when cooking off the grid over a campfire. Cast iron will last a lifetime whereas your regular cookware is not even safe for campfire cooking. There’s something comforting about cooking in an old cast iron skillet.
This is one of the most often overlooked preps in my opinion. Most folks don’t use cast iron and are not willing to make the investment necessary to hold it for after SHTF. But the good news is that cast iron is becoming more affordable and can be snatched up at yard sales and restored. There will be a future article on restoring, seasoning and maintaining cast iron.
For now, may I suggest this inexpensive three piece cast iron set to get you started:
Happy Prepping my Happy Campers!
Because you never know when the day before … is the day before. Prepare for tomorrow.
~ by Bobby Akart
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About the Author: Bobby Akart
Bobby Akart is a three-time Amazon Top 5 Author for Science Fiction and Religious Fiction. He is also the author of eleven #1 Best Sellers in both fiction (Blackout Series and Boston Brahmin Series) and non-fiction (Prepping for Tomorrow Series) genres. Bobby has been a frequent contributor to the American Preppers Network over the years and has hosted the Prepping for Tomorrow program on the Prepper Broadcasting Network. His preparedness website, www.FreedomPreppers.com , has a wealth of information on prepping and survival topics. Bobby has provided his readers a diverse range of topics which are both informative and entertaining. His attention to detail and impeccable research has allowed him to write bestselling books in several fiction and non-fiction genres which were described by one Amazon Top 100 Reviewer, and Vine Voice as "interesting and original. Ripped from the headlines doesn't begin to describe the excellence in this post apocalyptic fiction series." SIGN UP FOR EMAIL UPDATES and receive free advanced reading copies, updates on new releases, special offers, and bonus content by visiting his website at www.BobbyAkart.comSubscribe
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Don’t use pine needles or leaves for a fire. It creates too much smoke. Try using small twigs and branches for the fire, they will burn hot with a lot less smoke. The indians call this squaw wood because the women and children would collect this fallen wood for cooking. I heat up water for my coffee every morning on a small brick and steel grill campfire using squaw wood and save the pine needles or leaves for a bonfire.
Hi Tim and thanks for visiting American Preppers Network.
You are absolutely correct, dry wood or “squaw wood” as you referenced, is best. But when dry wood is unavailable, you may have to use some of the tinder alternatives I referenced.
Prepare for tomorrow.
Thanks again for reading!
Hi Bobby, great article.
I used to cook on a wood campfire all the time when i lived in AZ but moving to OH has kind of put a stop to that. However, I do still get a chance to demonstrate my campfire cooking skills once in a while.
My neighbor heats his home with wood and has a large supply of elm, oak, maple and sycamore that he cuts for his families needs. He also has a 8 ft security fence around his huge backyard that keeps the other neighbors prying eyes from seeing his rock lined fire pit ( the law forbids fire pits but is OK with elevated wood burners ) and so the first grade A holes in the ‘hood can’t see the firepit and call the cops as long as it’s a sedate kind of gathering.
A couple of weeks back, we got to talking about doing a cook out and I volunteered to cook the meats if they cooked the potatoes. I also brought out my new tripod and 4 quart dutch oven. The ladies put together a wicked good creamy potato based soup and once the fire was building some good coals we put the Dutch oven to use.
While the fire began to make nice hot coals the neighbor and i constructed a very similar ‘U’ shaped rock configuration similar to your illustration that opened up next to the fire pit so I could take small shovel scoops to maintain the heat to cook the meat by putting more coals under the grill as required.
The Dutch oven went over the main fire on the tripod. That for me, was more tricky because I’ve never cooked in a Dutch oven but was interested in finding out more about that type of cooking. it turned out OK but I think we need to perhaps parboil the taters.
The main thing I’ve learned over the years Bobby is to have a constant temp while campfire cooking. It’s much easier than most people think…….I go by the 1, 2, 3 rule. If I can hold my hand for a total of three seconds over the grill at three inches before it begins to get painful then I’m in the right temperature range for most outdoor cooking.
Another newbie issue to cooking on a campfire is forcing all kinds of trash wood or sticks that generate a super hot fire then reduces to ash in short order. Trash wood makes your food taste crappy and cooking over open flame burns your food. Take time to let the wood develop into dark black yet red glowing coals with a little gray ash on the wood you are using. That type of coal gives you much more control and uniformity of heat to your cooking.
Our cook out turned out very well and my neighbor’s relatives ( live across the street ) were a little surprised that a campfire could put out such tasty food vs. a BBQ.
I still have a lot to learn about cooking in a Dutch oven!
BTW, one last tip for any man or woman who likes to BBQ on campfires or anything else. I like to use a easy system taught to me by a Chef on how to determine if the meat you are cooking is to your liking.
Take your index finger and thumb and put them together. Take your opposite hand index finger and poke the pad of your thumb ( the soft part below the last knuckle of the thumb ). That texture indicates a rare cut of meat and of course you have to poke the fillet and compare. For medium well put your middle finger and thumb together and repeat. For well done meat, use the thumb and your 3rd finger to determine how done it is.
If you are using your 4th finger and thumb to probe the done-ness of your pork, chicken or beef then i’d suggest either strapping the food on your feet for sandals or making a stew in a Dutch oven which I’m still working on!!! Hopefully not meat sandals!! 🙂
I hope this has helped,
Merry Christmas to all my Prepper friends!
Snake Plisken
Greetings Snake and Merry Christmas to you and your family from everyone at APN!
Love the insight on campfire cooking from your past experiences. I agree with you that one of the biggest challenges is to maintain a relatively constant cooking temperature. The temptation is to create a nice big roaring campfire and the next thing you know the meal is scorched. If the fire isn’t hot enough, the meal is not cooked thoroughly which results in other potential problems. The 1, 2, 3 rule you referenced is a good one but the learning curve can be brutal on your hands!
Your comments have been a fabulous edition to my article and I thank you for that!
Again, Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Prepare for tomorrow!