Alternate Lighting and Cooking Sources and How Long Each Lasts

Information you need to determine what, and how much, you need to store for an emergency.

The following Emergency Preparedness Information was prepared by Jennie Smith

Candles and their Burning Times
Household emergency candle- 5" tall x .74" burns - 5 hours and 30 minutes
3/4" diameter X 4" - 2 hours and 20 minutes
7/8" diameter x 4" tall - 5 hours
2" square - 7 hours per inch (4" tall will burn 28 hours; 9" tall will burn 63 hours)

Life of Flashlight Batteries in a 2-battery light
Well-known brands of batteries were used for testing.
New batteries ran continuously for 7 hours
Batteries that were seven months old ran continuously for 5 hours

Fuel Consumption in Lanterns and Stoves
Coleman, two mantle gas lantern was used for testing. Burning at the rate of 5 hours per day, the following amounts of white gas would be used:
Per day - 5/12 of a quart Per month - 3-1/8 gallons
Per week - 2-1/2 quarts Per year - 38 gallons

Kerosene Lantern with a 1" wick was used for testing. Dietz Lantern information states that this device will burn 45 hours on one quart. Burning at the rate of 5 hours per day, the following amount of kerosene would be used:
Per day -    1/9 of a quart Per month - 3-1/13 quarts
Per week - 7/9 of a quart Per year - 10 gallons


Coleman two-plate gas burner was used for testing. With both burners burning for 4 hours per day, the following amount of white gas would be used:
Per day -    1 quart Per month - 7-1/2 gallons
Per week - 7 quarts Per year - 91 gallons

It's Simply, Gail, inserting herself here to add an important note regarding canned fuel for stoves, etc.  Not all camp stoves and fuel containers are created equally...or at least compatibly.  Be sure the fuel containers you buy fit your stove. The "connectors" between different brands are often not compatible. Some of our family members learned that the hard way earlier this summer after hiking, with all their gear, six arduous hours to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to  Havasupai Falls.

CAUTION: DO NOT STORE WHITE GAS, KEROSENE, AND SIMILAR FUELS IN  THE HOUSE OR WITHIN THE REACH OF CHILDREN!

Consult distributors of fuel, or government agencies that would have information on the proper storage of fuels.

Since this page of information is from another source I did not want to infringe on it, but feel it is very important to let you know that OLIVE OIL AND CANOLA OIL WILL NOT BURN BY THEMSELVES, even if accidentally tipped over, ---A GREAT SAFETY FEATURE. 


Upon learning this, Dave and I experimented and confirmed  that we could not light a puddle of either oil. We also learned they both produce very little, if any, odor or smoke. During this initial experimentation, after keeping three different sizes of  jars/wicks burning steadily for 7 hours and 45 minutes, each had only consumed 1/4 inch of oil! We now keep these jar lights in our home ----at the ready.

There are a variety of sites that show you how to make a variety of oil lights. Watch for the Creative Cheapskate post on what we found was the easiest and most effective.