Week 18 - Use Your Box Oven, #10 Can Stove and Oven. Fire Starter and #10 Can Cooking Ideas

Week 18 - March 31

Practice cooking with your tin can stove, tin can oven, and box oven.

Home food Storage: Purchase your favorite canned item

Fire Starters 
Fill toilet paper rolls with dryer lint (do not pack). 
Fill cardboard egg carton sections with dryer lint and pour melted wax over each section of lint until filled. Tear off each section as needed to start a fire. Coat cotton balls (not cosmetic puffs) with Vaseline.  Pack into a pill bottle for pocket or 72 hour kit. Add a toothpick to the bottle to help remove the cotton balls.  Put loosely into a resealable bag for other uses.  Use one for each fire.
Cut a cotton cord into 1″ lengths and soak in melted wax. Let dry and store in empty film container or resealable bag.
Soak a piece of charcoal in lighter fluid. Coat with wax.
Use cotton string about 3-4″ long, put in wax paper bathroom cup with about an inch hanging over the edge.
Fill cup nearly to the top with saw dust and pour melted wax into the cup. The extra string length is a wick to light.
Keep a plastic “twister” type of pencil sharpener handy. It’s great for shaving kindling (especially if wood is damp).
Newspaper cut into strips (3″ to 4″ wide). Roll up and tie with string. Cover with melted wax.
Use pine cones plain or covered with wax.

#10 Can Cooking

Can stoves were used for cooking during the Depression.  They were called Hobo Cookers or Depression Cookers.  They were made from various can sizes and shapes.  The basic design is still the same.
Sticks were used for cooking with.  Instead of using a buddy burner with a foil damper you can use sticks and adjust the door on your stove to control the temperature.

Save the lid you removed from the can for a baking tray.

Bacon, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches, hamburgers, and other small portions of meat can be cooked directly on the can.
Dry foods like cakes, bread, and biscuits should be placed in a clean greased tuna can and set on 3 small rocks about 1/2 inch high in a triangle formation on top of the stove to allow better air circulation in the oven and prevent the bottom of the food from burning.  Lining the inside edge of the can with foil or parchment paper will make removal of the item easier.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Grease the inside of a tuna can.  Line the inside edge of the can with parchment paper or foil.  Place 1 pineapple ring in the can.  Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp of brown sugar.  Add 1 Tbsp of pineapple juice.  Fill the can about two thirds full of cake batter.  Bake in oven about 20 minutes. 

Baked Apples or Applesauce

Cut apples in half and core.  Peal for applesauce.  Place apple half in a clean tuna can.  Add 2 Tbsp water.  Sprinkle apple with cinnamon and sugar.  Cover with foil and bake until soft.  Mash for applesauce.  Use a larger can for larger quantities.  For 4 to 6 servings use 4 to 6 apples, 1/2 cup water, 1/3 cup sugar, 2 teas cinnamon.  Place in a larger can, cover with foil and bake about 20 minutes. 

Orange Muffins

4 medium to large oranges, 1 egg, 1/4 oil, 1 3/4 cups flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 2 teas baking powder.  Cut oranges in half.  Carefully scoop out the insides and place in a resealable bag.  Try not to break or tear the peels.  Set peels aside.  Carefully squeeze bag of orange to make juice.  In another resealable bag add egg, oil, flour sugar, baking powder, and 3/4 cup of orange juice.  Seal bag and squeeze until thoroughly mixed.  Pour muffin batter into 4 orange peel halves about 2/3 full.  Place in a container on top of rocks and bake in tin can oven about 30 minutes or until golden brown.