For President's Day I wanted to cook bacon and a steak on the charcoal grill. I had two forms of fuel I wanted to try: canned fuel, and old chestnuts & packing materials I had kept and thought to burn. If you note the date, I used the grill on Saturday, because Monday was forecast to be very rainy.
I put the canned fuel in the charcoal grill so it would be at a height a person in a wheelchair (myself) could reach, also so that it could be in a controlled situation for safety. I tried some old matchbook matches and some little strike-on-the-box matches I'd been given. I got them to work, but I think an easier means to light the can would be the long matches I have. Yet I'm too frugal to just toss out the old matches.
It all worked alright for cooking the bacon, though I found you can't just leave it to cook . . . it would burn the middle and not cook the rest: I had the bacon laid out on a piece of foil (for easy dish duty/disposal). It just takes keeping an eye on it and moving the bacon around to cook more evenly. When you're done cooking you put the lid back on the can to use the rest of the fuel another day. Be careful taking the hot bacon grease off the grill. I adjusted the shape of the foil to remove it more safely.
Of course I could have cooked the steak over the canned heat, but I thought it not the best method . . . I didn't want to just burn a hole through the middle of my steak. And, I had these old inedible chestnuts I'd been given, as well as packing material I'd saved for fire building. I had old charcoals leftover in the grill, so I put them in the cardboard packing along with the chestnuts.
I crumpled up packing paper I'd saved, and ended up pouring the bacon grease from the canned heat experiment to be absorbed by the cardboard. The grill helps a bit with controlling the paper ashes from flying all over.
A little smokey, but the steak came out very well. I was a little impatient to wait for the coals to really heat optimally. I had covered the grill with the lid to maximize the heat, and set the air intake and outlets fully open.
When my food was finished, I covered the grill with its lid and closed all the venting so the fire would die from lack of oxygen, thinking to preserve whatever might be left of the charcoals for another time.
Thus, taking the time to experiment with various options helps prepare for when we might have to adjust to what's available. It's the practice with problem solving that is most useful.
Emergency Prep--some ideas and options 