If the power goes out, any cooking equipment that uses electricity – to heat coils or ignite gas – is all but worthless.

Fortunately, there are many options, including using a wood stove, which is the most dependable and you do not have to be out in the elements to cook your food or heat water.

Cookware

Start with some cast iron cookware. I recommend everyone having a couple of cast iron frying pans and at least one flat bottom dutch oven. Cast iron has a better heat tolerance and is kinder on heat distribution than other cookware, but if stainless is all you have you can cook with stainless steel frying pans and pots on your wood stove too. Another option is enamel cookware. Enamel cookware has a good heat tolerance, a great reputation for easy campfire cooking and cleaning.

A trivet is a great tool to have to help regulate the cooking temperatures, however in a pinch, a stone tile can also be used for this purpose.

Stove

We have a two-step Englander free-standing wood stove. This gives me two different temperature surfaces. The top surface works better for slower cooking and the bottom surface works better for things that require more heat such as frying, boiling water, or cooking popcorn. It is a very large wood stove rated to heat 3200 square feet, it often drives us to open windows in the in the middle of the winter.

The Fire

Wood stove cooking is best done on a wood stove when there is an established fire in the fire-box. When a fire is newly lit initially the stove will be too cold for cooking and then can heat up and become too hot very quickly, therefore a slower more controlled fire is usually best. To maintain a nice fire for cooking add a piece of wood or two every so often throughout the day instead of letting it burn down, and then filling the fire-box full of wood again. I have found that the ideal flue temperature for cooking is around 200-250 degrees F for our stove. Depending on the stove design, size and fuel being burned, each stove will be different on how it will cook.

Here is an easy recipe to try on your wood stove. Other easy things you can try on a wood stove include stews, beans, pancakes, French toast, soups, and popping popcorn!

Wood Stove Dutch Oven Beef Roast (serves 4)

• I use a 4 or5 quart flat bottom dutch oven for my wood stove slow cooking.
• 4-5 lb Beef Roast (we used a chuck roast), the size of your dutch oven will dictate the size of roast you can use.
• Your favorite dry rub spices (seasoning salt, pepper, garlic powder, etc…)
• 1 TBS of olive oil
• 1 Small onion
• 2 – 3 Dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 Can of beer
• 1/2 Cup of beef stock
• 1/2 Package of bacon (or whatever is left in the fridge)

Instructions

In the bottom of the oven place the trivet, onion, olive oil, beer, Worcestershire sauce, and beef stock.

Place the beef roast in your oven sitting in those liquids on top of the trivet. Top the roast with chunks of raw bacon. Add the Dutch oven lid and closely monitor how the roast begins to cook. If it seems a little too hot add a trivet or stone tile under the Dutch oven, if it’s too cold remove the stone tile or trivet, if it is still too cold, move the oven to the lower cooking surface if you have one.

Slow cook the beef roast on the stove for 6-8 hours. Think ‘crock-pot’ cooking. Occasionally rotate your Dutch oven to insure even cooking, try to avoid removing the lid too much. Using a meat thermometer check the temperature of the roast before declaring it done, it should read between 150-160 degrees F.

Cooking with a wood stove requires practice,; there is no getting around it. Every wood stove is unique and has its own idiosyncrasies that you will have to learn to address.

But in a survival situation, the wood stove is a dependable way of cooking with a plentiful fuel source that once you know how to cook on it can provide you with what you need to cook in almost any situation.

To learn more about wood stove cooking, please visit the American Preppers Network.