Ready Blog

We lose power here for lots of reasons in the Gulf Coast area. Among other inconveniences, it often makes food preparation a little troublesome. I came home from work the other day to a temporary power outage in my nieghborhood. I had some great leftovers of soup and I was a little under the weather from fighting off a cold. Since I knew the outage was temporary, I didn’t really want to go to the trouble of pulling out the grill or making a big fuss, but the yummy soup just wasn’t going to have the restorative properties I wanted while it was cold. Yuck.

I had recently purchased an overstock Brunton Optimus multi-fuel stove from REI, and these are readily available from other sources. It is not the absolute cheapest stove on the market, but considering it’s functions… it may be the best value.

Brunton has since released a newer model that is still muti-fuel, but nearly twice the price. This little jewel includes:

With that little jewel, I was quickly and without much frustration able to heat up my soup and I am convinced I did not succumb to the lurking cold because of some fantastic chicken soup going into my body and warming me from the inside out. The power did come back on later that night, but I was well fed and rested by that time.

Besides my little story about chicken soup, having an effiicent and alternative way to heat food in the is the most critical lesson. Many people store food or have available many resources, but don’t think through all the necessary ways to heat and prepare in case of an emergency. Do you have an electric stove and microwave? Gas stove to the house? better… but not during long storms, hurricaines or floods. That won’t work. Outdoor Grill? very inefficient and how do you refill propane tanks or gather fuel in a long-term situation? These small camping stoves are efficient and easy to work with after a little practice. Fuel is cheap and easy to store. Purchase a few spare parts at the same time, and you will be set for most emergencies.