Cooking with Candles on a Tin Can Stove
One focus of Winter Lake Research Center has been in the area of living research for emergency situations. On question was: What are the minimum requirements for cooking under emergency conditions? To answer this question, a series of experiments was performed. A large variety of field expedient stoves were tried. All worked to some extent. All had drawbacks against regular in-the-house commercial stoves. Other papers will detail some of the most successful of these emergency cookstoves. The ones of concern here are the two smallest that cooked with the least amount of fuel.
It was found that the smallest cookstove that would cook anything of any use consisted of only a single tealight candle and a tomato paste can . This tin can stove will cook very small portions of eggs, flatbreads such as pancakes, thinly sliced meats, or other thinly sliced foods. The main drawback of this stove is the small amount of cooking surface it has. This small surface limits the cooking to a single person and much time is spent preparing a meal.
The smallest practical cook stove consisted of a single tin can of the 29 ounce fruit can variety and three tealight candles. This can has a diameter of just under four inches. You can see a drawing of it here and here. Any can of four inches diameter will work, however.
This stove is made by first cutting the can down to a height of three inches (see fig. 2). Three arches of two inches depth and approximately two and one half inches in width are cut into the bottom of the can. These three arches allow oxygen to be supplied to all three of the tea light candles. If any of these arches are omitted, the tealight that the omitted arch would have supplied with air will not burn. The arches need to be higher than the candle and at least one third of the full flame.
The tealights used in this stove are of the type that are in little metal cups. The cup is necessary to keep the hot wax from flowing all over. To use the stove, three tea lights are set together in a triangle and all three are lit. The stove is set on the candles and the end of the can is used for cooking. The tin can end has a small raised ridge that will keep eggs and pancake batter from running off before they are cooked. The egg or batter must be added carefully to avoid running over. This stove will cook any thinly sliced foods. This stove is barely adequate for two people, but it will suffice in an emergency.
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