A widow who lives in a small apartment needs an inexpensive way to cook / heat foods. If I get her some sterno cans what is available to to place over the fire to cook in? Would she need to leave a window cracked?

-- Sylvia (bluebirdms@aol.com), December 18, 1999

Answers

Sylvia,

Hello! Yes, please leave your window cracked just a little, but don't put the sterno too close to it, or any flammable materials (like curtains, etc...).

What to hold the pan with? Well, you can go to a camping store, or over to a Wal-Mart to see if they've got an upright grill (has legs) that is tall enough to go over the can of sterno by a few inches, OR, if money is really tight, get a few tall cans (no ones with chemicals, perhaps just cans of food or juice cans) and place these cans around the sterno, but close enough that the edges of the pan can still rest on the cans... (Hope I didn't garble the explanation.)

Hope this helps.

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), December 18, 1999.

I had the same dilemma. I then got the 'ole thinking cap on and here are some ideas, most can be purchased at a thrift store for $1 or under:

1. Fondue cooker (comes with pan and raised heat area)

2. 4 bricks set on sides and a makeshift grill across it

3. Same as two but make it tall enough for your oil lamp (sans glass) to go under it and have a flame adjuster to boot!

4. Colendar type pan (metal) upside down with fuel underneath.

Go visit all your nearby thrift stores and let your imagination do the work! It's inexpensive and fun - the goal is dual purpose for everything, and then you win ;-)

-- Sammie (sammiex0@hotmail.com), December 18, 1999.

If you can run out to HomeDepot or any garden center and see if you can get a thin piece of slate or Marble or any stone type material.

Its heavy but its the best thing to put between your cooker and your table. Heat disipates well and wont burn at any temp.

Clean, chip-and-dust free marble can also be used as a surface for rolling dough.

-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), December 18, 1999.

A camping store should have the special Sterno "stove," a collapsible metal stand for Sterno and pot. I believe the Campmor catalogue carries them. For years I've used a cheap, tinny drug-store BBQ grill, with the Sterno in the pan and the pot on the grill part. The small BBQs fit nicely atop a regular stove for safety, as does the Sterno stove (which I bought at a yard sale, brand-new for $3). Fondue pots also work well and are almost de rigeur yard and garage sale and thrift shop items.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), December 18, 1999.

Don't use shelves from fridge for make shift grill, when heated something in the coating becomes very toxic. Oven shelves are fine. A tub out of and old washing machine makes a great OUT SIDE fire box. A weber size grill fits fine. Don't use the tubs with weights on them. Most appliance repair shops are glad to get rid of them.

-- && (&&@&&.&), December 18, 1999.

Hi. I have used the "sterno stove" purchased at Galyan's sporting goods store here in the Midwest. It supported my large frying pan to make scrambled (powdered) eggs and pancakes. I have also thought about using my wire cooling racks as extra "stoves". Support them on a brick or two? I did not do any special venting. But then my home is not sealed up very well.

-- mwerks3 (mwerks3@yahoo.com), December 18, 1999.

The very best way to do it is take your over grill out of the oven. Place 2 stacks of books on the table and put the grill on it and the sterno underneath the pan. Simple!!!!

-- bbb (bbb@bbb.com), December 18, 1999.

You can make a sterno stove from an old 39 oz. coffee can. Just use the punch-out type can opener to punch several holes around the top of the can sides for baffling. Set the can on an iron trivet or the burner of your stove and set the sterno can inside. Raise it on smaller upside-down cans inside the coffee can if the flame needs to be nearer the top. You'll have some pans that can set right on it, and it can even be set in your dry sink to cook. Improvise!

I also have a cheap little table-top covered grill, and am going to try using a couple of cans of sterno in that for higher temp needs or covered baking.

-- Scat (sgcatique@webtv.net), December 19, 1999.

I've found mine at Wally World.

Mikey2k

-- Mikey2k (mikey2k@he.wont.eat.it), December 19, 1999.

WIDOW DEAR!! HOLD ON. I HATE TO SEE YOU PAY ALOT FOR STERNO (I USE MINE IN AN OLD FASHIONED CHAFING DISH). GO TO PRICE COSTCO OR SOMEPLACE LIKE THAT (SEE IF YOUR FRIENDS HAVE A MEMBERSHIP IF YOU DON'T) AND THEY HAVE 24 LARGE CANS OF RESTAURANT "STERNO" FOR $10!!!! yes friends $10. don't waste your money at WalMart on the stuff.

-- tt (cuddluppy@nowhere.com), December 20, 1999.

Put a cookie cooling rack on 4 glasses or something like that. Bricks are great.

Ditto on the restaurant-sterno advice. A 1-gallon can costs $9. Buty ONE set of 3 little cans, use them up, and from then on you refill from the big can. Too late or order now, but Walton has AlcoBrite, which is 16 ounce cans and same price per ounce as the 1-gallon cans. AlcoBrite sells a snap-on stove thingy that fits the can.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), December 20, 1999.