Where's the gas?

In a disaster situation you may find that your gas and or electic may not be working as well as you might like.  Or at all. 

So how are you going to cook all that prepped food you have squirreled away?  You could eat it raw, your body would probably absorb quite a lot of nutrients out of it before it passes through.  But are you going to be happy doing it?

Unlikely.

You could fire up the ol' propane stove.  Oh wait did you remember to keep a full tank around?

What about the charcoal stove?  Even if you forgot to get charcoal there's always wood from the wood pile.  You don't have a wood pile?  Then maybe some random wood. Just make sure it's not treated with anything because otherwise you could end up dead from chemical poisoning.

And in some situations while you might enjoy the company of your neighbors and stranger passerbies who smell your burgers cooking on the barbie, in some situations you may not wish to advertise you have food to burn...

In these cases solar ovens may be something you might have never considered.  And you should.  In the right areas and the right time of the year you can do a lot with a solar oven up to and including baking bread in it.   Almost year round in most areas as long as the sun's shining you can at the very least cook some soups or soup like meals and pasteurize water to kill all the little things swimming it that are just aching to give you a case of the trots.

And in a disaster situation, a bad case of Montezuma's revenge can potentially be life threatening and easily put the lives of your family at risk if you're the one they're depending on for their survival.

You can find all kinds of cool inforamation online about solar cookers and make most of them at home for next to nothing.  There are also some good folding, portable ones available for sale.

Some links -
Solar Cooking Plans - Homemade.
All Season Solar Cooker - Homemade.
Solar Water Disinfection - Homemade.

Vides -

Making bread - Homemade
Making Bread - Commercial oven