Survival Skills: Cooking Without a Pan Using Flatrock, Clay, Mud and Hot Coals

Your set of survival skills should include a wide range cooking methods, as there are a wide range of survival situations and conditions. If you are ever trapped in the wilderness or in some other type of survival situation, you will need to know different ways to cook your food. There is the good possibility you won’t have access to modern cooking implements, such as a pot, pan or an oven, so knowing a few tricks to cooking using fire and other primitive methods can make a big difference in your level of comfort, or even your chances for survival.

Hot Coals

People have been using hot coals to cook their food for thousands of years. In some less modern societies, this method might still be used. If you are cooking a thicker piece if meat, or a fish, root vegetables like potatoes or carrots, or other foods that can take a while to cook, you can set them on or bury them in hot coals at the edge of your fire. You will want to scoot some hot, but not burning, coals to the edge of the fire with a stick or other implement. Wrap the food in foil, mud, clay, or even wet edible leaves, and either set the package onto the coals directly, or bury them under a layer of hot coals.

Using Mud or Clay

If you are using mud or clay, it will harden and break off. This is a good method to use with fish or fowl, so the skin will be pulled off when you crack the clay. You can also wrap the food with a layer of leaves first, then a layer of mud or clay, although the mud won’t ruin your food. Give your food a good couple of hours, adding more coals if they begin to cool down. You can add a layer of dirt over the coals for extra insulation if it is cold out, or you are leaving your food to cook over night.

Flat Rock Cooking

Another way to cook your food in a survival situation without the use of modern cooking tools is to use the flat rock method. There are a few ways to cook using flat rocks. One way is to take a large flat rock that is relatively thin, no more than a few inches thick, and use it as a sort of a grilling pan. Prop it up, lying flat, over a small fire. You can place it directly on the fire , or use several smaller rocks to hold it up. The rock will get hot enough to fry fish or other thin slices of meat. You can also cook other foods, like slices of potatoes or other vegetables this way.

Another method is to heat up the flat rock, and then prop it up facing the fire. Since the rock is hot, you can simply stick thin slices of meat onto the rock. They won’t fall off if you angle the rock slightly, plus the heat will help hold it on.

These are just a few simple methods for cooking food in a survival situation. You can even have fun practicing your survival skills while camping or hiking, and no one will know the difference, and you will be gaining skills for if you ever really need to use them.