Thread: cutting back

One good trick I've tried for frugal cooking is to use a 'Sabbath hay-box'. It's simply a cardboard box, lined on all sides with good insulating material - I used 1/2" polystyrene sheets. You heat up a stew or casserole to a rolling boil on the stove, then put it in the box. Fill up any air-space with an old fleece, put another sheet of polystyrene on top, and close the box. The stew will continue to cook for hours if the insulation is done properly, it won't boil dry or burn, and you use no more fuel.

Interesting! I had a friend who drove commercial trucks over the road and would put cans of stew/soup on top of the engine while he was driving. He would stop 20, 30 mins later and have a hot lunch.

Matt, i will definately have to show that to my wife, let her see that so she can figure out what she would need, thanks for the tip

for cutting back on meat costs... find a butcher where you can buy whole or half animal and have them cut up for you to order.. you just need freezer space... cows, pigs and sheep are much cheaper this way. as for chicken buy whole ones and cut them up at home then freeze the parts.

books i have found with other 'getting back to self-suffiency' ideas are "possum living" by dolly freed and carla evans "the encyclopedia of country living"

Originally Posted by Link8382

Interesting! I had a friend who drove commercial trucks over the road and would put cans of stew/soup on top of the engine while he was driving. He would stop 20, 30 mins later and have a hot lunch.

seems like a good way to get chemical poisoning from the layers inside the can. Isn't that how the hobos used to get killed?

ALso, what is your point with going from gas to wood? Economy, or carbon footprint? If it is economy, then you have to lay out the time spent getting wood versus making money doing something else, or the cost of getting the wood... Gas, time, price to cut.. Howmany cords it takes to get you though the months. Or if it is carbon footprint then wood is not necessarily the way to go either. If it is fo rhte "simplier" way of life, then.... That is why they made propane... To make life simplier..

I am not sure about that, possibly. I have never tried the manifold style of cooking, but I have cooked stew, beans, and soup in the can when camping. Can is open and applied directly to the stove, labels removed. I am not sure if that is bad for you either but I never got sick from it.

Originally Posted by Link8382

I am not sure about that, possibly. I have never tried the manifold style of cooking, but I have cooked stew, beans, and soup in the can when camping. Can is open and applied directly to the stove, labels removed. I am not sure if that is bad for you either but I never got sick from it.

As long as the can isn't galvanised you should be fine.

This sounds a bit crazy but I've also heard of cooking an egg in the shell by placing it in a pile of freshly cut grass for 20 or so minutes. You can supposedly get a hard boiled egg without the boiling while you do your yardwork. I'm not sure why anyone would want to but it apparently works. Perhaps thats one for the myth busters?

Originally Posted by Matt69

One good trick I've tried for frugal cooking is to use a 'Sabbath hay-box'. It's simply a cardboard box, lined on all sides with good insulating material - I used 1/2" polystyrene sheets. You heat up a stew or casserole to a rolling boil on the stove, then put it in the box. Fill up any air-space with an old fleece, put another sheet of polystyrene on top, and close the box. The stew will continue to cook for hours if the insulation is done properly, it won't boil dry or burn, and you use no more fuel.

sounds more like a recipe for food poisoning. once that stew gets down below 140 degrees, and stays there for 4 hours, it's garbage, not linguini. i'd be real careful with this method. the money you save on cooking fuel will be more than offset by the trip to the er to have an iv started to rehydrate the temple that is your body from all the puking and diarrhea.

Here's a link to the above mentioned cooking box;

cooking on the cheap - Bushcraftliving.com Discussion Forum

No idea how safe it is, back in the day people were probably made of sterner stuff. Plus one on the manifold cooking, there's a whole cook book dedicated to it. I had a friend that ran heavy machinery and did this year round on 12 hour shifts eating like a king once he got the hang of it.