Make a Shelter Plan #3-Do you have a way to safely cook it?

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ReadyMom

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This probably has to be carefully considered. If you are going to be in a sealed up room, for 14-21 days. What are safe options for that scenario? Are there any?
 
Being in an enclosed space, you might be concerned by oxygen consumption of a burning flame of a stove. I would consider a small propane camp or a butane stove. In a situation like this, I would only want to do minimal cooking, such as opening a can of soup and heating it up. Heating water for beverages such as coffee, tea, hot chocolate would be another consideration. This might be a situation for MREs, or fairly instant food. I would consider having instant food like boxed milk, cereal, crackers, peanut butter, tuna.
 
You will need an air exchange of some kind anyway. I have thought about this and decided on a system based on convection. Kind of like an oil lamp chimney. Hot air is going to go up, and out....If it has somewhere to go freely. I do have some pictures of a system.....somewhere. I will try to find them.
Heat sources are abundant. Bunsen burners, alcohol and propane, hurricane lamps with the cook top(one of my favorites), Sterno, single burner camp stoves, An oil lamp with the glass chimney replaced with a metal pipe, etc.
 
I have a 2 burner propane stove (both 1 lb cylinders and a bulk hose), a dual fuel(Coleman/gas) single burner stove, and the Deitz oil lantern cooker. MRE's have heater packs. After that, it gets pretty catch as catch can :)
 
My assumption is that this is for a nuclear event. I have a Coleman propane camp stove.

You must have an air supply. You can't hide in a plastic bubble and breathe the same air for an extended period. Some bunkers have an NBC filtered air supply but those require a power source or more likely someone working a hand crank on a fan all the time.

The air is not the problem you can breathe the air as it does not become radioactive to any significant degree. The particles in the air are something else. The larger particles fall out fairly early. Smaller dust particles can carry along for an extended distance, these are your primary concern. If you are in a basement and your primary source of fresh air is from the inside of the home then you are pretty well covered. Most particles will be kept outside. Those that get inside will settle out before moving downstairs.
 
If you are in a basement and your primary source of fresh air is from the inside of the home then you are pretty well covered. Most particles will be kept outside. Those that get inside will settle out before moving downstairs.
So ... go down into your basement, for a few days, using JUST that air, and then allow air to come into your basement from the rest of the house after a few days?
 
Or, put a sheet over the basement door. You might put sheets up over any opening windows also rather than plastic. I had a much longer post prepared but it is somewhere with that other sock.
 
Or, put a sheet over the basement door. You might put sheets up over any opening windows also rather than plastic. I had a much longer post prepared but it is somewhere with that other sock.

I hope you find that other post. (I could look in my bucket of 'odd socks' to see if it's in there, with ours).

Do the sheets act as a 'filter' for particulates?
 
Do the sheets act as a 'filter' for particulates?
That's a good question.

I apologize and realize your question is not direct to me, but... I'd also like to know because, it was either chemistry class or a movie, that I remember a sheet being used as a filter.
It was said that with large particulates the sheet doesn't need to be wet.
But with small particulates, they would be small enough to get thru the fabric, so by wetting the fabric, it's hard for the small particulates to get thru.

Just wondering if this is true as i remember it?

Thanks.
 
Plastic sheeting is used to seal windows and doors. It is not permeable and cannot be used as a filter. A woven sheet can be a filter but it will not stop fine dust that can be fallout.
A good sealed room is best with two air vents. One going out and one that is filtered as an inlet. There are a number of pumps than can be used intermittently to supply fresh air. No pump has to be operated continuously. A 10x10 room will hold breathable air for four for several hours even if you are active.
 
A sealed room with an exhaust and an inlet with an NBC filter is best. I don't have that and I'm unlikely to ever acquire anything near that. If you truly seal the room then you have limited your oxygen supply. I'm just throwing the sheet idea out there as better than nothing. When people used to close up their summer homes for the season they would cover the furniture with old sheets to keep the dust off.

I'd have to have a lot of water before I kept a sheet wet for three weeks. I would also worry about mold well before three weeks.
 
A home made shelter underground or in a basement is fairly easy to build. Place a car heater fan in the exhaust vent and another vent with a stack of automotive filters built into a small trash can buried at ground level with good drainage around it is all you need. If the shelter is in the basement make the roof strong enough to stack two layers of sandbags on top. Pack sand bags around it too. If it is in the ground be sure to have at least two feet of dirt over the top. More is better but two feet gives 50% protection.
 
http://preparedldsfamily.blogspot.com/2012/12/30-disaster-menus-what-to-eat-without.html

"December 14, 2012
Disaster Menus, Emergency Cooking, Food Storage

Natural disasters strike anytime, anywhere. So with that in mind, I worked on 30 Disaster Menus for my family including the cooking method if we were without power. A great resource for choosing my dinner menus was the book "100-Day Pantry" by Jan Jackson. This book has easy recipes using pantry items I can grab off the shelf, and should have been titled, "Grab A Can-And A Pot-Have A Meal."

These recipes use the can juice from the ingredients you cook with, so you don't have to add extra water. Brilliant! And ingredients like canned chicken or beef, canned fruits and vegetables, dried spices and vegetables, dry milk, canned soups, and grains, pasta and canned potatoes. I have not tried all of these recipes, but the gears are turning in my head, and I think this is a good foundation. I wouldn't stock up on an unusual ingredient until a recipe becomes a family favorite first.

I went through the 125 recipes in this book mumbling to myself, "Yes, I store that. And my family would eat it prepared that way about x number of times per month." Most of the dinner recipes I chose serve 4 people and need only be simmered in a pot. Love that! If you are without power, this book would be a lifesaver. And the ingredients can be used in your everyday recipes as well.

My breakfast menus are simple too. And the lunch menus assume you have access to bread for sandwiches for at least a week. I keep at least 8 loaves in my freezer all the time. Wherever I list fruit/veg that means a fruit or a vegetable - canned or whatever you have at the moment. Sorry, but I am not going to list all of the ingredients for my family. You have to do your own homework.

30 Disaster Menus: What to Eat Without Power.pdf

BREAKFAST MENUS COOKING METHOD
13 Oatmeal, raisins, dry milk, water Camp/Butane Stove
3 Pancakes from mix, syrup, Tang Camp/Butane Stove
8 Cold cereal, powdered milk, water Bowl
3 Wheat waffles, syrup, powdered milk Cast Iron Waffle iron
3 Muffins from mix, water Dutch Oven/Solar Oven
30
LUNCH MENUS COOKING METHOD
7 PB & J or Honey sandwich, fruit/veg, Tang Prep area
9 Tuna on Crackers baked beans, water Prep area
2 Macaroni & Cheese, fruit/veg, V8 juice Camp/Butane Stove
3 Soup, crackers, dried fruit, water Camp/Butane Stove
3 Canned Pasta, banana chips, water Camp/Butane Stove
3 Chili w/beans, crackers, water Camp/Butane Stove
3 Canned Stew, crackers, cocoa Camp/Butane Stove
30
DINNER MENUS COOKING METHOD
2 BBQ Chicken With Fruit #13 Camp/Butane Stove
2 Chicken a la King #19 Camp/Butane Stove
2 Chicken Noodle Soup #35 Camp/Butane Stove
2 Chicken Taco Soup #40 Camp/Butane Stove
2 Chicken Tetrazzini #41 Camp/Butane Stove
2 Sweet & Sour Chicken #53 Camp/Butane Stove
2 Minestrone #65 Camp/Butane Stove
2 BBQ Beef Stew #76 Camp/Butane Stove
2 Broccoli Beef Soup #83 Camp/Butane Stove
2 Chili #84 Camp/Butane Stove
2 Macaroni Beef #103 Camp/Butane Stove
2 Simply Stew #112 Camp/Butane Stove
2 Quickie Clam Chowder #132 Camp/Butane Stove
2 Tuna a la King #136 Camp/Butane Stove
2 Corn Chowder #145 Camp/Butane Stove
30
SNACK/DESSERT MENUS COOKING METHOD
10 Popcorn Camp Stove/Campfire
6 Food bar n/a
2 Pretzels n/a
2 Graham crackers n/a
2 Tortilla Chips, salsa n/a
2 Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Dutch Oven/Solar Oven
2 Brownies from mix Dutch Oven/Solar Oven
2 Dump Cobbler Dutch Oven/Solar Oven
2 M&M's n/a
30
# = page you can find recipes from "100-Day Pantry"
 
A butane stove is interesting. You buy the fuel in canisters, the size of spray cans, such as spray paint. They are a little more than $1 each. I have one with some of the canisters in a back pack. I also have a coleman camp oven that can be used on a stove for baking. Butane stoves start at around $20 and go up from there. There are some really nice ones for around $75.
 
A butane stove is interesting. You buy the fuel in canisters, the size of spray cans, such as spray paint. They are a little more than $1 each. I have one with some of the canisters in a back pack. I also have a coleman camp oven that can be used on a stove for baking. Butane stoves start at around $20 and go up from there. There are some really nice ones for around $75.

So ... my question is: "Would the small butane stove be safe to use in an underground shelter?" I need to get one of these! Here's a video I found:
 
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