Day 20: #10 Can Stove (15 Minute Prepping Projects)

Welcome to DAY 20 of our 15 Minute Prepping Projects series. Today we will be making a simple emergency stove that can use a number of the fuels that we were talking about yesterday!

Every day for the month of September we will celebrate National Preparedness Month by undertaking a small task to help us get more prepared. Do as few or as many days as you want. Jump in at any time. Do them out of order, or more than one in a day. And feel free to share what you are doing!

Click here and scroll to the bottom of the post to view all the past days’ projects.

A #10 can stove is a cheap and easy way to cook using a variety of fuels and is also a great way to use up empty #10 cans instead of just recycling them. Here is how to put together this simple outdoor stove.

Clean and dry an empty #10 can (after removing the label)
Drill large holes every few inches around the bottom and top of the
can for ventilation about 1 inch from the ends (a 5/16 drill bit
works great for this)
Drill 4 smaller holes about halfway up the can (2 holes about 2 inches
apart on opposite sides of the can)
Unbend a wire clothes hanger and thread it through the holes in the middle of the can. This becomes the surface that your pot/can sits on to cook. Snip the ends of the hanger or wrap them up the sides to create handles to carry your can.

When you are ready to use your can stove, place your fuel of choice in the bottom of the can (InstaFire, sterno cans, charcoal, wood, etc.). Light the fuel and then place your cooking tool inside the can sitting on top of the clothes hanger. I use a pantry-sized can for this but any pot or metal container without handles would work. You can also place a sterno can on top of the clothes hanger and set a larger pot or frying pan directly on top of the #10 can.

You can store your fuel and matches inside the #10 can and/or inside the smaller pantry can which can also be stored inside the #10 can. To see how to put this all together into a cute gift idea with printable labels check out this blog post.

Share Your Results

Did you make a stove today? Share a picture to show it off! Here are some ways you can share:

Instagram: Use #15minuteprep and tag @jodi_foodstoragemadeeasy on any post or story you do featuring your project. You can follow the hashtag to see everyone’s projects and if you tag me I will repost in my stories throughout the day (if your account is public).

Facebook: Comment on the PINNED posts in my Facebook Group (If you are not a member yet I will try to get you added within 24 hours so you can play along). The most recent day should show up at the top and you can scroll to the right to see past days. I will try to share some of these to Facebook stories as well (no names will be used, don’t worry!)

Text me: If you are not already signed up to get the daily challenges via text just text 15minuteprep to 717-788-3663. You can always reply to the daily text with your “report” so I can check in on you.