How to Make a Tin Can Grill

 

Hoe to Make a Tin Can Grill
Buy at Amazon

Here is an idea for a tin can grill that I got from pinterest.  Basically, it is a small homemade grill made from a can, some foil, and a round charcoal grate.

I think this is optimized for a #10 can, but like most of my projects, once you have the concept you can feel free to experiment based upon your needs and materials at hand.

If you need a charcoal starter – I have one made from a second #10 can

Construction is simple:

  • Mark the top of the can into 10 equally wide segments.
  • Using tin snips cut along these marks until you have 10 strips that are 2/3 as long as the depth of the can (this leaves the bottom 1/3 in one piece to keep the round shape.
  • Bend these strips out so they radiate outwards. Do not press them all the way down, they should form a dish.
  • Place aluminum foil over the can, so that it forms a bowl supported by the 10 strips.
  • Insert charcoal into bowl, and light – take care not to use so much that the mound of fuel rises above the top of the bowl.
  • Place grate on grill, so that it is supported by the metal strips.
  • Grill food and enjoy.
How to Make Campfire Roasted Starburst

How to Make Campfire Roasted Starburst

 

52 Unique Techniques for Stocking Food for Prepper
Buy at Amazon

We went camping the other day so we could begin the process of learning our land so we could make good decisions on land use – and after a long day of running up and down the raw acres we sat down and enjoyed the campfire.

My wife had never been camping before, so we had to make s’mores – but I wanted to try something new.

I had read about roasting starburst few candy over a fire, but I had never tried it.  Now, I don’t really have a sweet tooth (except for vanilla ice-cream and snickers). but this was good.

I was surprised at how good it was.

Once, I put it over the flame the candy started to bubble and then I let it cool.

It formed a hard shell, and the candy inside almost liquified – it was really good – next time you go camping – you really ought to try it.

I hesitate to show this post on roasted starburst for fear of giving the wrong impression, because I am fat and people may think I eat too much candy.  But the truth is, I don’t eat a lot of candy – I eat a lot of cheese and mayonnaise and have a desk job.  But really I got fat after I got out of the Marines and stopped running – now I don’t really eat a lot (not nearly what my videos would suggest) – I just can’t seem to get the weight off.

4 Ways to Cook Bacon

52 Unique Techniques for Stocking Food for Prepper
Buy at Amazon

I love learning new ways of doing things, and sometimes I even find better ways of doing things. As I have been making a lot of bacon lately, so I figured I would look up new ways of cooking it.  Today we show 4 ways to cook bacon

But really that’s just intro fluff – what you need to know is that it is a post about BACON

We use:

  • A microwave
    An Oven
    Water in a Skillet
    A George Foreman Grill

AND as a bonus, we weave some bacon and fry it so that when we make sandwiches we can get bacon on every inch.

Microwave

  • On a microwave safe dish, we placed a doubled paper towel, the bacon, and then covered it with a paper towel.
  • Our instructions said cook it for 5 minutes, flip and cook 5 more. We found 5 minutes total did a good job.
  • The microwave bacon shrunk more than the other methods, and it tended to stick a little to the paper, but it was the crispest of the methods.

Oven

  • On a cookie sheet we laid out some parchment paper (the first time we did not use any, but it works MUCH better with), and then covered with bacon.
  • We preheated the oven to 375 and baked for 15 minutes.
  • We have read that some put the bacon in a cold oven and then set the temp to 400, and by the time the oven reaches temp the bacon is mostly cooked, but the 375 preheated oven did a very nice job.

Foreman Grill

  • So simple is defies explanation, we set the bacon on the grill, cooked for about 4 minutes, and flipped it.
  • Very easy and it cooked up very nice.
  • A tip is to look at the grease as it runs off – as the bacon is cooked the fat will become clearer and thinner.

Skillet

Historically I normally just throw my bacon in a medium hot skillet and flip it around with a fork until I take it out and eat it.

  • In this method you take a cold skillet, put in your bacon, and then pour in enough water to cover the bacon.
  • Put on the heat and cook.
  • The water will parboil the bacon as it boils – which cooks the bacon without the need for turning or flipping or a lot of oversight. As the water boils away the bacon will start to sputter. This signals you that the cooking is almost done and you will need to start paying attention. Basically once the water boils away you only need to cook the bacon to your desired level of brownness.
  • This technique is good for fancy breakfasts where you have a lot going on and cannot devote all your attention to the frying bacon.

Three neat things that may be useful:

  • Bacon curls from uneven heating – so the parboiled bacon and oven bacon curl less because they are heated more evenly.
  • When frying bacon, the oil bubbles get smaller as the bacon cooks
  • Bacon crisps as it cools, so if you cook it to desired crispiness, then it will be over cooked and more brittle than you desire – so pull it out when almost done.

By he way, if you want high quality bacon, in bulk, for a good price, try Zaycon Foods – I have always been very happy with their products

Homemade Taco Shells

52 Unique Techniques for Stocking Food for Prepper
Buy at Amazon

Tacos are a very easy meal to make, and they can be pretty inexpensive also. In today’s article we will show how easy it is to make your own Homemade Taco Shells.

In the video below we use store bought corn tortillas, but we have done articles in the past about how to make your own tortillas for an even cheaper meal.

You can also buy all sorts of tools to make this easier, the Norpro press we link to at the bottom of this article is very useful, but all you really need is a set of metal tongs or a metal spatula.

Simply use high smoke point oil, get it hot, and then lay a tortilla into the hot oil.

Next, press down in the center of the tortilla with your tongs or spatula; the sides will float, causing the tortilla to take on the familiar taco shell shape.

If your tortillas do not become crisp, then most likely you are not using hot enough oil, and/or not cooking long enough.

Remove, let drain, and then enjoy truly fresh tacos. This is a really fun project to do, and it makes for a special taco night at home.

Gear Review: Survival Still Grill

Gear Review: Survival Still Grill
Buy at Amazon

One of the things I love about the survival still is how versatile it is. In today’s video we use it on a charcoal grill and tried to test how much we could get, unfortunately it began raining and messed up our semi-almost scientific test.

I know a lot of people complain about the Survival Still – some don’t like the inventor, others say that the design is too simple to justify the cost, and some just don’t want to spend close to $300 for a water still.

I have no opinion of the inventor’s personality as I only met him once and he seemed okay to me but I do agree that it is a lot of money, and that the design is simple.

I do not think that those two things make it a rip-off – first I look at the value – what the device provides – which is a virtually inexhaustible method of making pure drinking water from almost any type of contaminated water.

That can be priceless as no other system has the potential to clean up radiological, chemical and biologically polluted waters.  It costs less than a Glock which I also use to protect my family, so to me what it does is worth the money.

Second – a simple design is to be valued rather than diminished.  It takes time, effort, and understanding to design something so simple.  I am not saying I could not have designed the survival still, but I didn’t and I am not envious of the man that did.  To my mind, he deserves to charge what he wants to for the things he creates.