Useful Stuff to Know » article » Emergency Stove made from Cardboard, Tuna, and Oil » Nov 17, 04:35 PM

Emergency Stove made from Cardboard, Tuna, and Oil

You can use old cooking oil to boil water and cook food. Doesn’t matter whether the oil is fresh, gone rancid in storage, or used too many times for deep frying.

You’ll need:

  • 1 can of tuna
  • corrugated cardboard
  • 1/8 cup of oil
  • cooking vessel
  • stand

Cut cardboard into 1 inch wide strip(s) and bend into spiral. Place inside empty tuna can.

Add oil over the top and let cardboard fully soak it up. Any extra oil you can pour back, or leave for extended cooking time.

Place can inside stand, light on fire with a lighter or match, and place cooking vessel on top. Will boil 2 cups of water within 15 minutes. It will be an orange flame and the vessel will get sooty, but it will work. Do this outdoors away from anything flammable.

For the stand, this folding stove on Amazon is ideal. But you can just as well use a larger tin can with top and bottom cut out and then a single cut up the sides so you can splay it out a bit.

The cardboard acts as a wick so it’s mostly the oil that burns. You’ll likely have 3/4 of your cardboard left after you blow it out, so you can fill a bit of oil and cook again using the same cardboard.