Putting Wilderness Cooking Hacks to the Test
In the wilderness, food can be the thin line between making it through or facing severe challenges. The internet is full of claims about survival food hacks designed to help you not just survive, but potentially thrive. But which of these truly hold up under real-world scrutiny? The video above features wilderness and survival expert Coyote Peterson joining Josh to rigorously test several popular wilderness cooking hacks. Let’s delve deeper into what works, what’s safe, and what you should probably never try in a real survival situation.
Emergency Fire Starters: The Dorito Method
One of the first and most crucial steps in any survival scenario is starting a fire. Fire provides warmth, light, and the means to cook food and boil water. While traditional methods like friction or using a magnifying glass are well-known, the idea of using a bag of Doritos to ignite a flame might sound like a joke. However, the video demonstrates this hack working surprisingly well. The high fat content in the chips makes them surprisingly flammable, acting as an effective tinder.
Beyond its fire-starting capabilities, a Dorito bag itself can be a multi-purpose survival tool. The shiny, reflective interior can be used as a signal mirror to alert rescuers. Its waterproof nature makes it suitable for collecting or holding water, and it can even serve as a makeshift bandage to keep a wound dry and protected from infection. While you might not want to sacrifice your entire snack stash for a fire, knowing this hack exists could be valuable in a pinch.
Improvised Cooking Methods for Survival
Finding food is one thing; cooking it safely and efficiently is another. The video explores several improvised cooking techniques, from basic baking to more ambitious grilling setups.
Baking Bread on a Stick
Imagine finding yourself with a few essential ingredients like flour, water, salt, and baking powder in the wild. The “bread on a stick” hack shows you can mix these in a Ziploc bag, knead the dough, and then wrap it around a clean stick or log. Placed carefully over an open flame and rotated, the dough bakes into a soft, edible loaf within 20 to 30 minutes. This method proves effective and safe, providing much-needed carbohydrates for energy.
While gathering these specific ingredients in a dire survival situation is unlikely, this hack shines as a practical camping skill. It highlights the importance of versatile staples and the ability to cook them with minimal equipment. Consider pre-packaging dry ingredients for such a purpose if you frequently go camping or hiking, transforming it from a mere hack into a useful skill for sustained outdoor living.
The Perilous Chicken “Bucket Oven”
Attempting to cook a whole chicken using an inverted metal bucket surrounded and topped with hot coals sounds ingenious on paper, but the video reveals its significant flaws. Despite 45 minutes of cooking, the chicken remained dangerously undercooked and partially burnt. This method fails due to uneven heat distribution and a lack of proper convection, leading to an unsafe meal that could cause severe illness.
The dangers of consuming undercooked poultry, particularly salmonella, are well-documented. In a wilderness setting, contracting a foodborne illness can quickly escalate into a life-threatening situation. For cooking larger game, safer, albeit more time-consuming, methods like pit cooking or traditional spit roasting would be far more reliable, ensuring thorough cooking and minimizing health risks.
The Dangerous DIY Can Stove
Converting an empty metal can into a makeshift stove by cutting and shaping it might seem like a clever use of resources. However, this hack presents a significant safety hazard. The sharp edges created during the cutting process pose a high risk of deep cuts, which can be devastating in a survival scenario where medical attention is unavailable. The video team experienced immediate smoke and a terrible smell, suggesting inefficient burning and potential toxic fumes.
While the concept of using a can for heating water or soup is sound, simply placing an intact can, with contents, directly into hot coals or beside a fire is a much safer and more effective approach. Boiling water in a metal can is a reliable method for purification, making questionable water sources safe to drink. Prioritizing safety over a convoluted and risky “hack” is always paramount.
A Makeshift Grill for Wilderness Cooking
If you’re lucky enough to have some basic tools and ingredients like hamburger patties, a disposable aluminum sheet pan, a wire rack, and hot coals, a makeshift grill can be surprisingly effective. The video shows this setup working exceptionally well, producing juicy burgers with a perfect Maillard crust. The fat dripping from the burgers even helps sustain the coals, demonstrating a self-feeding mechanism.
This hack bridges the gap between camping convenience and survival ingenuity. While not a “true” survival hack in the sense of finding materials from scratch, it’s a testament to using readily available camping supplies creatively. The principle – creating a stable heat source and a elevated cooking surface – can be adapted using natural materials like flat stones or green wood if no metal components are present, though careful construction is key.
Wilderness Hydration and Foraging
Securing safe drinking water and finding edible plant life are critical components of wilderness survival. Not all internet hacks prove equally useful in these areas.
Boiling Water in a Paper Cup: A Risky Gamble
The idea of boiling water in a paper cup placed directly in a fire is one of the more surprising claims. While it is theoretically possible – the water absorbs enough heat to keep the paper below its ignition temperature – the video proves this method to be incredibly risky. The cup burns around the water line, discolors the water, and introduces unknown chemicals from the paper and ink. This quickly turned into a “thumbs down” for both safety and practicality.
Boiling is one of the most reliable ways to purify water in the wild, killing bacteria, viruses, and parasites. However, using a paper cup introduces unnecessary risks. Always prioritize boiling water in a sturdy, heat-resistant container like a metal pot or can. If no such container is available, solar stills, purification tablets, or even carefully constructed sand filters can offer safer alternatives, though boiling remains the gold standard.
Pine Needle Tea: A Mood Lifter with Benefits
Beyond basic sustenance, maintaining morale and finding comfort in a survival situation is vital. Pine needle tea emerges as a surprisingly positive hack. By steeping fresh pine needles in hot water, you can create a warm beverage packed with vitamin C, which is essential for health. The tea also acts as a mood lifter, offering a calming effect that can aid the human spirit during stressful times.
When making pine needle tea, it’s crucial to use needles from edible pine species, such as white pine, spruce, or cedar, and avoid toxic varieties like Ponderosa pine or Yew. The video suggests that adding more needles after the initial steep can enhance the flavor, making it a more pleasant experience. This hack demonstrates how simple foraging can provide both physical nourishment and psychological comfort.
Prickly Pear Juice: Desert Hydration with a Sock Filter
In a desert survival situation, finding water is paramount. Prickly pear fruit is an excellent source of hydration and nutrients, but its tiny spines (glochids) make it difficult to consume directly. The hack of crushing the fruit inside a clean sock and squeezing out the juice proves to be a highly effective and realistic survival method. The sock acts as a natural filter, removing the irritating spines and providing a safe, sweet, and vital fluid.
This hack underscores the versatility of everyday items like socks in survival scenarios. Beyond filtering, a sock can be used for warmth, as a makeshift bandage, or even for foraging small items. The prickly pear juice offers essential vitamins and hydration, making this an invaluable technique for anyone facing the challenges of a desert environment. Just be sure the sock is clean to avoid any “toe jam” flavor, as joked about in the video!
Questionable Wilderness Hacks to Avoid
Not all hacks deliver on their promises, and some are just plain bad ideas. The video highlights a few that should be given a wide berth.
Cooking an Egg in its Own Shell with a Tiny Fire
This hack, which involves carefully removing the top of an eggshell, adding oil, a paper towel wick, and then trying to cook the egg with a tiny fire inside its own shell, is deemed “clinically insane” in the video. While the fire *did* cook the egg eventually, the taste was “horrible” and the setup was incredibly impractical. The improbability of having all the necessary components (egg, oil, thumbtack, paper towel) in a genuine survival situation makes this hack completely unrealistic and a waste of precious resources and time.
Pringles “Mashed Potatoes”: An Unholy Disaster
Attempting to turn Pringles into mashed potatoes by crushing them and boiling them with water is another hack that fails miserably. While the Pringles technically absorb the water, the result is an “unholy potato” that is gluey, starchy, and has about 50% less flavor than the original chip. As pointed out in the video, why would you waste time and fuel to degrade a perfectly edible snack when you could just eat the Pringles dry for immediate sustenance? This hack is a definite “thumbs down” for its sheer impracticality and poor outcome.
The Failed Animal Fat Camp Light
Using animal fat and steel wool to create a camp light is another hack that, in the video, simply doesn’t work. The wet boar fat and the improvised steel wool wick failed to produce a sustainable flame. While fat lamps are historically significant, the specific method attempted here was ineffective. For emergency lighting, it’s more practical to conserve animal fat for cooking or caloric intake, or use natural pitchwood as a torch if available. Trying to force a complex chemical reaction with imprecise tools is often a recipe for failure in the wilderness.
Ultimately, the world of wilderness cooking hacks is a mixed bag. Some offer genuine utility and surprising effectiveness, while others are dangerous, impractical, or simply a waste of time and resources. Prioritizing safety, understanding basic survival principles, and knowing when to stick to proven methods will always serve you best when venturing into the wild. Remember that the best survival food hacks are often the simplest and most reliable.
Campfire Chat: Your Questions on Wilderness Cooking Hacks
What are wilderness cooking hacks?
Wilderness cooking hacks are clever methods to prepare food and drink outdoors, often using basic items or improvised tools. They are tested to see which ones are safe and effective for survival or camping.
How can I start a fire without traditional fire starters like matches or a lighter?
You can use a bag of Doritos as an emergency fire starter because their high fat content makes them surprisingly flammable and effective tinder. The shiny bag itself can also be used for signaling or collecting water.
What is a simple and effective way to cook food like bread in the wilderness?
Baking “bread on a stick” is a simple method where you mix basic ingredients like flour and water, wrap the dough around a clean stick, and cook it over an open fire. This provides much-needed carbohydrates for energy.
How can I make sure my drinking water is safe to drink in the wilderness?
The most reliable method to purify water in the wild is by boiling it in a sturdy metal pot or can. This process effectively kills bacteria, viruses, and parasites, making the water safe to drink.
