People ask me all the time, What Is The Best Emergency Fuel To Store? I realize we all have different budgets, cooking devices and heating options. Some of us have small homes, medium sized and large homes. Of course, then we have to evaluate the land we live on. Some of us have apartments or mobile homes with limited space for fuel storage. We also to have to think about the storage life of good fuel to store. There are also safety issues, and how much can we really store where we live. We need to store the best emergency fuel that fits our home and budget.
Well, my husband plays golf and he mentioned that the golf course has tons of FREE pine cones everywhere on the ground. I love the word FREE and so my husband and I went over to the golf course one day to gather some pine cones. Of course, the weather said it was going to snow that day. If you haven’t been to Southern Utah to see the beautiful red mountains then you probably have not seen the red dirt either. Yes, it is red and it stains everything. It’s also like clay, so it’s sticky sort of, meaning it sticks to everything. I did not want my shoes covered with wet red dirt so we hightailed it over to the golf course. The wind was blowing like crazy so the weather felt freezing to me! You will see below how we gathered them with a black bag.
FREE PINE CONES ARE ONE OF THE BEST EMERGENCY FUEL SOURCES
I took a collapsible garbage can and put a large black bag inside of it to golf course. I wasn’t sure how much sap the pine cones would still have on them. Now, you might be wondering, Linda why would you call pine cones one of the best emergency fuels. Well, here’s the deal, I am not a good fire starter. Yes, I have tried so many gadgets to light a fire, but I still need tinder or FREE pine cones. Don’t get me wrong, these pine cones are good for more than just starting the fire, they just burn faster. I can use these in my Kelly Kettle-It’s a great cooking device. I can use them in my Volcano Stove or fire pit (I am still saving for the fire pit of my dreams for under $200.00). I am hoping to get one at the end of the season. I call this patience….waiting 6 months for it to hopefully still be inventory when they put them on clearance. I can’t store wood because of the termites here in Southern Utah. Plus, mine are insect free and the sap is gone from “baking” them.
BAKING THE PINE CONES
My friend, Lisa mentioned to me to bake the pine cones on some aluminum foil. If there is a lot of sap you will have no clean up after baking them. It worked. I baked the pine cones at 200 degrees for 2 hours. The first batch I was a bit nervous because I have never baked pine cones. No problems with baking them. I made sure that I had zero pine cones hanging over the cookie sheet because I did not want any drips of sap in my oven.
READY TO STORE
I must admit, I am a bit of an organized fanatic. I might even have a little OCD, I don’t know for sure. I ordered these black buckets from my favorite bucket and Gamma distributor. It’s the only place I can get the colored five gallon buckets with matching lids. Weird to some people, but it’s who I am. I store my wheat with red Gamma lids. My pasta with yellow Gamma lids. My emergency washing machines with green lids. I store my Kingsfords charcoal in blue buckets with blue Gamma Lids. Now I store my fire starter/best emergency fuel pine cones in black buckets with black Gamma lids. I order all my buckets and Gamma Lids from this group: Pleasant Hill Grains. It looks like they only sell wheat grinders, Bosch bread makers, etc., but they do sell buckets and Gamma Lids. They also sell so much more. They just changed their website, so if it looks different to you, it’s because they have a new look.
BLACK BUCKETS ARE NOT BPA FREE OR SAFE TO STORE FOOD
After removing the pinecones from the oven I did let them cool before placing them in the black buckets. I must note here that these black buckets are not safe for food or water storage for human consumption. Pleasant Hill Grains actually called me to let me know something about these black buckets. Only the black buckets are not BPA and therefore not safe to store food. All the other colors of buckets are safe to store food and are BPA FREE. Can you see the BIG gold writing on the side of the buckets below? That’s the warning not to use these for food. I am not storing a lot of these, but I also don’t want to have to go scrounge for pine cones when everyone else wants some too.
STORY BEHIND THE NAME OF KINGSFORD CHARCOAL
I really have to tell you this story about Kingsford Charcoal. I picked up two bags of this charcoal to complete my blue buckets with blue Gamma lids. I wanted them all full and ready for when I might need them. Please picture this at my local grocery store. I ran to get my husband’s weekly allotment of bananas for his morning breakfast cereal. While I was there I picked up some Kingsford charcoal without the chemicals. Please note charcoal without the lighter fluid chemicals will store indefinitely if kept in a waterproof/airtight container. I store my oak hardwood lump charcoal in red buckets with red Gamma lids. I want several types of fuel types for different reasons.
When I am ready to pay at the checkout counter the clerk (about 60ish) asked me if I knew why Kingsford charcoal was called Kingsford. I said no I did not. So he proceeded to show me on the bag that tells a little story behind the name. Oh my gosh! I couldn’t stop smiling because I had never heard the story. I certainly had not seen part of the story on the bag. We have a gas barbecue and about the only time I buy charcoal is for a party up in the mountains.
I wonder if the Boy Scouts new about this story? Or their leaders. Just thinking out loud about the name of the charcoal. This statement is straight off the Kingsford bag and I quote “The History Of The Original Charcoal: Back in 1920, Kingsford Charcoal repurposed wood scraps from the production of Ford Model T’s into charcoal briquets. Made in the USA. Today, Kingsford remains the leading manufacturer of charcoal in the U.S., annually turning 1 million tons of of real wood scraps into the authentic charcoal briquets America loves. ” End of quote.
I really want you to get a feel for the best emergency fuels, like propane. It lasts indefinitely, as long as the containers remain rust free. Remember to turn off the valves after each use with stoves or barbecues. Here is some more information on propane: .Buying Propane Tanks.
LUMP CHARCOAL-ANOTHER ONE OF THE BEST EMERGENCY FUEL SOURCES:
BUTANE WITH A BUTANE STOVE:
Butane You Can Cook Inside. I still open my window to let a bit of fresh air in just to be safe. I used to use these stoves in classes where I would teach food storage type classes, or emergency cooking classes. I also used this stove for six weeks along with my solar Sun Oven when I was waiting for my gas stove to be installed in the kitchen, replacing my glass top electric stove. It’s been fun cooking with gas again. Once the harvest season is here later this year we’ll be talking about proper canning techniques and how to make the most of the fruit and vegetable crops in our local areas. The gas stove makes it possible to can and pressure cook, where I couldn’t with the old glass top.
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