Looking around our home and outside on our homestead, we have nine different ways of cooking. None of them require electricity! I recently counted them all when I was getting ready to write this article and I was surprised at the number. Wow! Most of them use wood (readily available on our wooded homestead property). A couple use the energy from the sun. And our kitchen stove uses propane. All of them require absolutely no connection to the electrical grid.I recently read a comment from a viewer that made me smile. She was watching our canning beans video and simply wondered if I ever cook on the propane stove I have in my kitchen. Her question made me happy because it validated what I have been trying to do in learning to be self-sufficient. Propane is an excellent cooking fuel for off grid living because it is so easy to cook with and of course does not require any connection to the electrical grid! Because of this, I use my propane stove frequently. Its one drawback is that we have to purchase propane! For this reason, I try to cook with our homestead resources as much as possible. Self-sufficiency is one of our primary homesteading goals, so you will often find me cooking with many of our other cooking sources. I have a lot to choose from.

1. Hotpointe Propane Stove

We purchased this stove for the sole purpose that it requires no electricity to operate. Most gas stoves have additional electric parts like clocks, timers, and digital thermometers. This stove has no fancy stuff, but it does what you expect a stove to do: cook! The spark to ignite the burners and oven flame is provided by a 9-volt battery. It requires absolutely no electrical connection.

2. Wood Pizza Oven

My husband and father built this impressive structure last summer. As its name suggests, it is designed specifically for cooking pizza. If you have never tasted authentic wood fired pizza, you are missing out! It is the most delicious pizza you will ever eat. We have used the oven several times for pizza, but we also use it for baking other things. Recently, we roasted three of our homestead raised chickens. The drawback to using this oven is that it takes some planning ahead. The fire needs to be started about two hours before cooking time and fed periodically. Thankfully, my husband takes on