Your waste, my treasure

I was chatting with a friend about my outdoor stove and told her I was going to write a short story about it. I jokingly created a few funny titles and then she suddenly said "Your waste, my treasure". Wow, I like that title! 😂 So I asked her if she doesn't mind, I will use that title, she said that's fine😂. 

In Singapore, there are people going round looking for items you want to throw or bin, they will shout "karang guni !karang guni ! meaning gunny sack which the men would haul the heavy sacks on their backs to do the collections from door to door at the housing flat, now they have trolley to do the job 😂. In UK, they shouted, " Rango! Rango " something like that.  And here, Malaysia, around my garden home area, a lorry will drive round shouting, Besi buruk! Besi buruk! meaning old metal, to collect unwanted metal or anything they can find useful to recycle into something else.

Anyway my topic here is actually a DIY outdoor stove. Because I have created something using most of the stuff/items I considered as extras or "waste".  To make this DIY outdoor stove, I only had to buy the Styrofoam and a stove stand, that's all. The rest of the ingredients used are left overs from my previous works, such as cement and sand, even the wire mesh was from my previous chicken coop. I decided to use a steamer rack as the fire place(where woods or charcoal are placed) since I have a few from my kitchen. It saved time and the hassle of measuring and cutting metal rods. 

On 23th July 2019, I had written an almost similar story about an outdoor stove using bricks, calling it "Rocket stove". Comparing to these two different stoves, I prefer this current one, because it's easier to move around with it. As for the rocket stove, you need to dismantle the whole stove for a change of location in cooking.

Among all the DIY stove in the YouTube, I liked to watched this👆and used the method with some modifications.  

So on the 3rd Nov, 2021, I began my "experiment" using the above model as a guideline to create my DIY outdoor stove.😂

Items required

Steamer rack ( I have a few so I could afford to use one of them😁 )

Wire mesh - I cut a piece from my previous chicken coop

Then further cut into this shape, as shown in YouTube which will be buried with the cement mixture.

Styrofoam - I bought it for less than Rm20 and then cut it into 4 round pieces and stuck them together with the bamboo stick. This is to create a tunnel/ chimney in the stove.

Stove/pot stand to allow the pot or wok to stand securely on top of the stove. Bought it for Rm11.50

Empty drinking bottle- instead of throwing away the bottles, I used it as a mold for my outdoor stove,

Cut the upper part of the bottle as shown

Cement and sand . I used ratio 1:1

Method:

I put some sand at the bottom of this bottle because the base was not even.

I mixed sand and cement with water, bit by bit

Put the prepared Styrofoam on top of the sand as shown

I filled the space with cement mixture, leaving the middle untouched.

If possible , don't cover the Styrofoam like mine. I put too much😅, but no worries, can remove easily later.

Place in the steamer rack tightly against the cement mixture

Get ready to create the tunnel/chimney with the prepared Styrofoam

like this

surround the wire mesh as seen

Fill up the space with cement

place the stove stand on top and turn round slightly to form a mold, then remove

That's all for now, I let it dry overnight 😜

I was so excited when I woke up in the morning because I wanted to see how it turned out.

 Morning comes.....

What do you think? 😅 It's ugly but serves the purpose, i.e. a stove made by me 😁. If this stove lasts, at least there is a story to tell to my younger generations when I leave 😇. "Grandma or Great Grand ma's silly ideas!😅😂

Fire place for charcoal or firewood or twigs to start the fire😂

Before letting it out to sun and dry further,  I did a bit of touch up to complete the work.

short video - Bottom view of stove

Short Video - Top view of the stove 

 Firewood is mainly for stir frying or boiling water but with charcoal as fuel, it's like a slow cooker to cook soup in a  clay pot. Reminds me of those days when our grand parents and parents did the same. Actually the taste is still better than the slow cooker we have nowadays. The outcome of the soup with this kind of stove was so delicious that words cannot describe. Those who had tasted such soup before, is a privilege.😍

1st trial of my outdoor stove began......😬

Open ceremony with my DIY stove by starting the 1st fire. 

French Toast - bread, sugar and egg. This is how my mom did it . very simply. Those who wants a proper recipe can follow here.

French Toast for breakfast 

Waffles for tea

 I found the above recipe at inspiredtaste.net  Do give a try. It really work and it's crispy👍

Chocolate waffle with Neopolitan ice cream - Mmm....Yummy

I copied this recipe from Allrecipes. Those who crazy for chocolate can give it a try.

Steam boat

Steam boat for lunch 

Children and grand children came for a visit, so steam boat is ideal. 

My aluminum old fashioned, charcoal steam pot. Have anyone seen this before in your life?

Bought it around 1982. It was on offer 50% discount price in a supermarket about 4 decades away😄

I tried and compared the 2 pots - a stainless steel and my "ancient" aluminum pot. As expected the stainless steel one cooks faster but the soup in the aluminum one taste better. What is your opinion? The aluminum type cook like the slow cooker we had in our modern day. The meat is so soft , can melt in your mouth. Is that how people describe it? 

That's my short story trials😂😁

For this work I gave myself 6/7 out of 10. What do you think? 🤔

Reference

Karang guni

Outdoor stove

Rocket Stove

Chocolate Waffles

Waffles

French Toast