Living off Wood?

[notbutanapron]

Hey-o! I was just thinking about it because it's possible-ish at the new place or, anyway, a place where I can randomly save money.

The house we're getting in March has a potbelly fireplace. Those small but sturdy cast iron ones. I figure at the worst, the most I can make on top of that is a stew in a good cast-iron stockpot. Then I got to thinking - I could do more than that, right? Like, heat, light and cook for my entire home and maybe go a few weeks without using an electric light.. just for fun... ['fun' being 'I hate paying for electricity']. The property has enough fallen wood, apparently. The owner says that's where they get theirs and they'll show me the exact spots when we move in.

What are some good methods to utilize my potbelly stove-ette to save on electricity? What other foods could I could on/in it?

[Fire-Man]

If you got enough room to set a pot on top, and it if it gets pretty hot you can also use a frying pan just like it was a electric stove and cook alot of things in it. You can also get you a dutch oven(pot) and use it on top to bake all kind of things in it, even pies. Perk coffee. Heat water for baths and dishes. Let the fire die down some then open the door and roast marshmellows, hot dog weiners etc. Hang and dry clothes in the room. You can do alot with a good wood heater.

[notbutanapron]

Your name and your advice are most appropriate, sir. Didn't even occur to me that would be a good way to dry my clothes.

[greg_n_ga]

We use to make popcorn when I was a child !! I need to put finding one of those poppers on my list of things to do !!

[haypoint]

Originally Posted by greg_n_ga

We use to make popcorn when I was a child !! I need to put finding one of those poppers on my list of things to do !!

http://non-electric.lehmans.com/sear...orn?apelog=yes

[JohnP]

Dehydrate foods, Same method as clothes.

[haypoint]

Back in the mid 1970s, US had an oil shortage. Lots of folks went to wood heat. China shipped us a bunch of cast iron heating stoves that were nearly useless. Thin , ill fitting castings. I recall a small pot belly stove with an opening about 6 inches square. Far too small an opening and the wood box was too small, too.
Before you set out to heat and cook on a stove, you need to know if the stove is up to the job. When you say pot belly stove, I picture that junky Chinese piece. However, there are some very nice larger heavier pot belly stoves that could serve you well. I heated and cooked using wood for 30 years, soon to return to it.
Good Luck.

[StephanieH]

Okay, I have a question...how will you light the house with that stove? We have a potbelly stove in our barn for cooking our sap down to syrup. We have an earthstove with a glass front in the house as our only heat source. It sort of lights the room it is in. Not really enough to read. I cook, bake, and dry clothes using the heat from the stove. I have a coleman camp oven that I sit on top of the stove to bake bread in. I have also used a dutch oven to bake in. I have to flip over my bread when it was half way done when using the dutch oven. We also have one of the crank popcorn poppers. I tell people all of the time that I love having a woodstove. You can do so much with them!
Our old stove had a larger surface area and my camp oven fit better on it. Here is some bread I made over the holiday on it.

[notbutanapron]

Oooh fun. I had no idea how I was gonna light the house. Blind faith? I realized my error after my husband pointed and laughed at me. That camp oven looks brilliant. I am excited about a lovely day at home making a batch of marshmallows to roast. And cuddles.

[Cabin Fever]

Originally Posted by StephanieH

....I have also used a dutch oven to bake in. I have to flip over my bread when it was half way done when using the dutch oven....

Steph, if you let the fire inside the woodstove burn down to coals, you can use your dutch oven inside the firebox of the stove to bake. In other words, the interior of you woodstove becomes an oven.

[MichaelK!]

I have the same stove-top Coleman oven, but on my stove the temperature never reached higher than 200F. Now that I've finally gotten my real woodburning cookstove installed in the kitchen, I don't worry about it any more.

NBAA, if the potbelly turns out to be inadequate, you can just find a bigger stove on Craigslist. Last year I swapped out my little Federal Airtight for a stove twice as large, handling wood twice as long. That new stove can handle three or four pots on top at the same time.

Since your chimney pipe is already plumbed through the roof, swapping stoves should be only a 20 minute job for you. You might find something nice for just 200-300$. Still, work with what you've got, and I bet you still get good use out of the potbelly.

[StephanieH]

Originally Posted by Cabin Fever

Steph, if you let the fire inside the woodstove burn down to coals, you can use your dutch oven inside the firebox of the stove to bake. In other words, the interior of you woodstove becomes an oven.

Six years of heating with wood and I never thought of this!!! Haha! You learn something new everyday!

[willow_girl]

I have a coleman camp oven that I sit on top of the stove to bake bread in.

We have one exactly like it. Before we got a 'real' stove, DBF used to make cornbread on the woodstove.

[ronbre]

there is a lot of good information about cooking on that type of stove..i did it for years..had a pot belly and a woodburning cookstove in my first house..

potbellies are not very efficient heaters but can be used for sure..you can do pretty much all of your cooking on it..

http://www.cd3wd.com/cd3wd_40/cd3wd/index.htm
this link has several books and pamphlets on wood stoves wood cooking and wood heating..go nearly to the end and read the titles..bookmark it as there are other good books, near the end are some great canninig books you can download and some great gardening books as well..some good rodale ones..from the 1970's

[Rita]

We roast foil-wrapped potatoes in ours and I put steaks in a folding thingy with long handles and I can cook them on one side, flip the gadget over and cook the other side.

[ronbre]

as in my above post here is a download from that sight on cooking on top of wood stove

http://www.cd3wd.com/cd3wd_40/JF/JF_...e%20Burris.pdf

[mooman]

Cabin Fever
I have just begun using a pre EPA fireplace insert for supplimental heat. I have a question on cooking in it using a dutch oven. I have trouble getting a good bed of coals to even form in my insert. I use the metal grates that came with it and the wood seems to burn up pretty quick and never form coals (i know part of this is due to the fact it is pre EPA). This also makes it hard to relight if I let it die down to much.

Should I be building the fire directly on the floor of the stove? Adjust the dampers some how? Or am i just not loading it up enough? Thanks

[LonelyNorthwind]

There is always a pot of hot water on my woodstove for washing up, dishes etc. I rarely turn on the hot water faucet 'cept for showers. Other than pressure canning, cookie sheets or really big items that need a bigger oven nearly everything gets cooked on the woodstove. Pies, cakes, bisquits, stews etc. come out perfect in my big dutch oven. Cranking up the heat a bit and it's just right for frying, it keeps my bucket of honey from crystalizing, keeps my fermenting beer & wine warm, my cast iron dry and rust-free, a folding dryer rack placed near the front dries my clothes as fast as any electric dryer would. .... and it keeps me warm too. a couple Alladin lamps light the whole room.

[vicki in NW OH]

I also heat water and dry clothes and apples and mittens and what not in addition to cooking. Oh, I forgot, it heats the cats.

There's a cookbook called American Wood Heat Cookery by Margaret Byrd Adams that has lots of recipes, and you can get a good idea of what can be cooked on a wood stove.

[Cabin Fever]

Originally Posted by mooman

Cabin Fever
I have just begun using a pre EPA fireplace insert for supplimental heat. I have a question on cooking in it using a dutch oven. I have trouble getting a good bed of coals to even form in my insert. I use the metal grates that came with it and the wood seems to burn up pretty quick and never form coals (i know part of this is due to the fact it is pre EPA). This also makes it hard to relight if I let it die down to much.

Should I be building the fire directly on the floor of the stove? Adjust the dampers some how? Or am i just not loading it up enough? Thanks

I've never heard of using a grate in a woodburning stove. All of the "air-tight" woodburning stoves I've ever seen - including the Fisher and Lopi stoves I've owned - never have had grates. The fires are always made right on the firebrick floor of the stove. (Actually, you show always leave at least 1" of ash on the firebrick)

Another issue could be the type of wood you're burning. We burn almost 100% oak which always leaves a good bed of coals. If you burn softwood, you're not going to get much for coals.