You're caught away from home and it's getting hungry out. You can only eat what's handy for so long and now it's time to cook something that's comfort food. Cooking over an open fire works for really fast meals, but suppose your are going to stick it out for a little while and want something a little better to eat.
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Especially if you are feeding several people there is nothing that compares to baked goods coming out of an oven. You can cook larger quantities and much more kinds of food, and it's safer to go off and leave it cooking if it's in an oven.
I'm sure you have seen ovens built for backyard pizza cooking, and they are beautiful pieces of work. But what if you just want a quick and dirty project that you can build in a day and start baking off some good recipes. That could make a survival situation seem much more like a getaway campout.
In order to build this project you will need to find some specific kinds of material, but in any environment you'll probably be able to come up with something that will work. Here's a list:
- Clay – is found in most areas in some form. In the Ozarks it's found just below the black dirt layer in most of the ground around here. Dig down and you'll find a layer that is either red, gray or yellow and sticky or hard. That's clay.
- Sand – is just rocks ground down to a granular size. Look around streams or dry washes for deposits of sand where the water has left it. Sand is suspended in flowing water, until it slows down and then it drops to the bottom and leaves a sand bar of sorts.
- Straw – can be any kind of grassy material that is dry but not decomposed. Grab your knife and go out in the sunny spots to harvest some long, dry grass.
- Water – will be needed to make a grout mixture out of the sand, clay and straw.
- Small supple sticks to build your framework. These sticks should be about the size around of your thumb and should bend pretty sharply without breaking.
Mix the sand, straw and clay together and moisten with water until you can make a ball that will stick together, and yet break apart when pulled. This is a good consistency to work into your oven walls. Lay down a layer for the oven floor and then make a framework for the walls out of your supple sticks.
Now begin packing the clay mixture onto the wooden frame and build up your walls and oven top, a round back and leave a nice size door in the front to work out of.
Firing Your New Oven
Once you have the oven built it's up to you as to how soon you fire it. If you need an oven quickly then go ahead and start a small fire, letting it dry over a several hour period. Keep in mind that the quicker you try to dry the oven, the more chance you have of cracking it.
If you have time it's good to let the oven sun dry for several days before firing it up. At any rate, start with a small fire and build it up slowly. Let the heat from the coals bring the oven up to temperature. When the oven is hot inside you can rake out most of the coals, put in your food and let it bake.
Adding or removing coals is the best way to maintain temperature in your oven. Keep a small fire burning close that will produce the coals you need for baking your recipe.
Using Rocks In Your Oven
Many tutorials show the use of rocks to absorb heat and do the baking, or make your oven's heat last longer. But then there's the part about rocks exploding and putting out someone's eye. So what is safe when it comes to using rocks for your oven or campfire ring?
What makes rocks explode when heated is water trapped inside, making steam when heated and causing the rock to crack or explode. You wouldn't think a rock could absorb water like a sponge, but in fact they can. That's why you don't want to go down by the creek to gather rocks for your fire.
The harder the rock the more chance it will work well in your fire, but if you aren't sure you can build a fire on top of some rocks and get them hot in a safer situation, then let the law of “survival of the fittest” help you choose which rocks are safe to use.
Chances are if a rock cracks or explodes it won't hurt anyone. After years of experience with Boy Scouts throwing things in the fire to intentionally explode, I'm kind of jaded to the dangers of exploding campfires. But, you sure don't want anyone hurt, so caution is best here.
Making A Bad Situation A Little Better
Nothing makes you feel OK more than a good meal. If you can cook the foods you have, or what you will scavenge then you can maintain your position indefinitely – until it's safe to move on. Knowing these skills is not only important for you, but for any of those you may find yourself responsible for.
