How to Make An Emergency Survival Kit Cooking Candle

A warm meal can be a great way to improve spirits and keep hope alive when disaster strikes. An emergency cooking candle will allow you to warm or cook a simple meal even when the weather is snowy or wet and dry wood cannot be found. These candles are compact and are made from mostly recycled materials.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• washed out tuna can
• corrugated cardboard
• candle, gulf or beeswax
• primed candle wick
• small sauce pan
• old heatproof glass jar
• hot pads
• stove
• scissors or sharp knife
• pencil
• water

1. 
    

   Using your scissors or knife, cut strips of the corrugated cardboard that are the same height as the tuna can. It is beneficial for one or two strips to be slightly taller than the rest to make the candle easier to light after the first time it is used.

2. 
    

   Roll a cardboard strip around the pencil. While keeping the cardboard coiled up, slide it off of the pencil.

3. Place the coiled cardboard into the tuna can, and allow it to uncoil. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the whole can is filled and and the cardboard strips are fairly snug against each other.

4. 
    

   Cut a piece of candle wick that is about 1/2 inch taller than the tuna can. Place the wick in the hole at the center of the cardboard coils.

5. 
    

   Fill the small sauce pan half way with water and put it on the stove over medium heat. Place the wax into the jar and put the jar in the water. The water will slowly begin to boil and will melt the wax in the jar.

6. 
    

   When the wax is melted, use the hot pads to remove the jar from the water. Pour the melted wax into the tuna can filled with the cardboard coils. Start at the center near the candle wick and work toward the outer edges. Fill just to the top edge of the can. Do not over fill the can or it will spill all over when the candle is lit.

7. 
    

   Allow the cooking candle to cool completely. Store in a Ziploc bag with waterproof candles and tuck the bag into your emergency survival kit or 72 hour kit.

Tips & Warnings

• Once the candle is burning, you will need a metal pan lid or something comparable to put the flame out. Blowing will not work since the flame will be too big.
• To relight the candle, simply hold a lit match to one of the raised coils and it should slowly reignite.
• ALWAYS make sure you have adequate ventilation, so that dangerous fumes and smoke don't build up while burning the candle.
• Do not burn near flammable objects.
• Burn candle on a heatproof surface.