Wednesday, July 1, 2009

How to Improvise - Coffee for Survival

In other words, my coffee pot died! I'm a coffee fanatic. Not the fancy 5 buck a cup stuff, just normal stuff, but lots of it! I can drink coffee hot, warm or iced. I need caffeine and nicotine! I can go without food for a long time, but I need coffee!

A few weeks ago, my coffee maker started getting slow, I mean really slow! An hour per pot is WAY too slow for me! I put a new coffee maker on my list of stuff to buy, when and where the budget allows, not really a priority, yet. Till today...I wake up at 5 or so, start my coffee, and after an hour it made half a cup! Arizona has naturally hard water and my coffee pot is at least 5 years old, so I got my money out of it. I did all the vinegar and CLR stuff, it just delayed the end.

But it's 5 am and I need coffee! I could dash up to the convenience store every 10 minutes, or dig thru the attic boxes of prep stuff and find my camping coffee pot....yeah, right. Like I recall where it is! What to do?

A coffee maker is nothing more than a water boiler dumping over the coffee. So, I took the filter setup, found a small saucepan to fit it. Then I boiled water in another pan and poured it over the filter setup! It was slow and cumbersome, but I got coffee! Guess what I have packed for my prep stuff now! The filter basket and filters! Not only can it be used for coffee but to filter water!

With a little thought and effort and imagination, almost anything can be reused, recycled or whipped up. Let's see how everyone has cobbled stuff up in a pinch!

I'd like to thank RW for letting me ramble on a bit more.

Special Note: Dean may actually like coffee more than his dehydrator!LOL


Dean in Arizona

13 comments:

Home on the Range said...

I never factored in coffee. I enjoy it thoroughly, but you're right. I need to have a set up just in case.

Thanks for the great idea.

vlad said...

Thermos Nissan French Press
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/cafemaison/nistherfrenp.html

I read the instructions, and made coffee. There were enough grounds in the coffee that it was necessary to pour the coffee through a sieve.
This morning I
-preheated the pot
-put coffee grounds into the pot
-poured the pot over half full of hot water
-installed the top/plunger/filter assembly
-and poured hot water into the pot up to the indicated level.
-let it steep for five minutes, then
-slowly pressed the plunger to the bottom.
There are no grounds in the coffee.
We are going to be happy with our TNFP.

Anonymous said...

RW:
Would dehydrated coffee be instant? And can I dehydrate beer and whiskey?

Brigid:
I have one of those old fashioned blue speckled percolator type that I use for camping,but I'll keep this setup too.

Vlad;
I've heard those are nice,but too much work for me that early!

Dean in az

Anonymous said...

get a pot, fill with water, boil, dump coffee in and wait about 5 min. tap the side of the pot with some kind of utensil and all the coffee should drop the the bottom and you can pour off a cup with no coffee grinds.

dont drink the last mouthful of your cup.

no need for fancypants coffee makers.

Anonymous said...

I've camped using a sock(clean) of grounds and boiling in a pot. Sock keeps the grounds from getting into the coffee.
YeOldFurt

Anonymous said...

My Father, who was married 6 times, used to say that grounds in his coffee was grounds for divorce.
Break down and get you some of the cup size bags of instant coffee (just add boiling water)for emergency use. I use them when out and about camping, a simple expedient in the morning, and a good excuse to stir the last nights coals up and sit and relax at the fire a bit in the morning.

Anonymous said...

A old style perculator with basket makes a fine batch of cowboy coffee. I won't go into details, as there are plenty of good recipes out there, and I'm pretty easy on what I think makes good coffee. I'm not one of those people who will list a long line of needs for my coffee - make it plain ol' dog butt Columbian, hot and in a cup that doesn't burn my fingers and I'm good. Black, with one packet of sweetener, cause my memory is bad enough as it is.

When I was much younger, I used to make 'coffee cups' in a small foil packet for the deer blind that wouldn't need ANY prep. Just put 1/2 a teaspoon of instant in foil, fold up and put in pocket. When in blind, put contents in mouth and just let it marinate. Just occasionaly bite down on grains and grind them down.

Sounds pretty gross, right? Well, to be honest, it WAS pretty harsh, lol, but it got the job done. As my uncle put it, puts hair on your saddle horn.

Nowadays, I just use Ferrera Pan Atomic Fireball candy when in the blind - gets the job done while waiting for Mossyhorns to show up.

Anonymous said...

Anon 7;43;
A buddy of mine swear's the best coffee he ever had was in the army. Made a big stew pot of boiling water,dump in a can of coffee,let boil for 5 min. Turn off heat for a minute,then a can full of cold water.Guess it made the ground's sink.
Dean in az

riverwalker said...

My grandfather just dropped a pinch of salt in his coffee to settle the grounds. Said he didn't want to waste money on a filter.

I'm pretty sure instant coffee is actually dehydrated because you only need to add it to water.

RW

riverwalker said...

Forgot to mention that it would probably be a good idea to keep some decaf handy also. There are quite a few people out there who enjoy coffee but don't tolerate caffeine very well.

RW

Anonymous said...

My coffee maker bit the dust about a month ago. Luckily we had a french press that my wife got on sale. Makes decent enough coffee in a pinch. We also started making cold brew coffee in it. Filled it with 2 parts cold water to one part coffee grounds, and let sit overnight. Makes coffee concentrate, add water to taste, and it's ready when you wake up!

riverwalker said...

To: anonymous 1:10

Coffee concentrate...great idea!
Thanks

RW

Anonymous said...

I seem to recall year's ago that they made a coffee thingy like a big teabag,no filter needed.Just drop it in the basket and use the coffee maker as normal.Those would be great for camping or a bugout.Maybe time for an old idea to come back!
Dean in az

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