easy ways to start fires free prepping supplies instafire SHTF hi it's
AlaskaGranny Alaska Prepper I'm out of Granny Camp which is my Alaska off-grid cabin and I
like to cook over a campfire out here so today I thought I would share some of the ways that I
use to start fires easy fire starters prepping a lot of them are free and easy a few fire starters
are things you can buy and some fire starters you may want in your Bug Out Bag your Get Home
Bag your 72 hour emergency kit or even backyard fire pit wood stove or fireplace before you light
a fire you need to have some kindling fuel you can't just use your fire starter you have to have
something to start you want some sticks that are teeny tiny smaller than your finger to begin with
then you want some sticks about the size of your finger
and after that you can add sticks that are larger you go a little bit bigger a little bit bigger
and as your fire gets larger and gets going better then you can add bigger sticks and logs
a great fire starter for your bug out bag that's going to light no matter the weather
is Insta-fire it is fantastic stuff you sprinkle it out and it will light and it will stay lit even
in a wet environment so if you're looking for a simple bag of fire starter to keep with your
emergency gear I recommend the Instafire it's only a few dollars for the bag very lightweight
for your Bug Out Bag are Zippo wax tinder sticks there are several of them in the package
they work great and they're very lightweight take up no space and are great for emergencies
another fire starter I like to use at Granny Camp or in my Weber charcoal grill are the Lightning
Nuggets they're little wax covered sawdust fire starters they're hemisphere half circle or little
bowl you set them right in the fire light them up and they will burn hot for a long time it's
best to use something like a utility lighter or a long fireplace match something that you can hold
the flame on it for a little bit longer than a match just hold the lighter on it in one place
allow the lightning nugget to burn for 30 seconds before you add any more wood to it
place the lightening nugget with the curved side down the flat side up just light it
along one edge and wait about 30 seconds for it to get started before you add anything else
these Lightning Nuggets fire nuggets burn for about 22 minutes and the flames can get up to
eight inches tall so even if you're using it in a fire pit or in your fireplace or your wood stove
if your wood is wet Lightning Nuggets go a long way towards getting that fire going whether you're
using a Lightning Nugget or any other fire starter to light your charcoal the hardest thing is
waiting for it to catch fire and be ready but be patient let charcoal heat up for 15 to 20 minutes
an important step to lighting your fire is having something to actually light whatever your tinder
is get a big box of matches a little box of matches look for strike on the box or Strike
Anywhere matches i also found long fireplace matches at the Dollar Tree and these are great
because look how long they are I like Dollar Tree utility lighters and regular lighters and
if you want any of the kind of prepping supplies survival gear and you want to have that most of us
on a day-to-day basis we just want to use some of these supplies what are some free DIY basic simple
fire starters that you can make yourself and include in your supplies of emergency gear number
one start with a sheet of foil you want to put foil down on the ground then no matter what you're
using as fire starters if it melts or doesn't stay together it will collect on the foil and not
go into the ground or separate and you'll be far more likely to be successful lighting your fire I
always keep a sheet of aluminum foil with my fire starting kit the easiest fire starter ever that
works the greatest is cotton balls with petroleum jelly you can just dab the petroleum jelly right
onto the cotton ball and then it is going to light and stay lit that's especially important that you
light it on the aluminum foil because petroleum jelly can melt and you don't want it to run
out of your fire you want it to help fuel your fire I like to make little packs of fire starters
I dab the cotton into petroleum jelly stick it right into a ziploc bag fire starter is ready to
use in prepping supplies survival gear even out to your backyard fire pit if you don't have petroleum
jelly reach for a chapstick it works great too just rub it onto the cotton don't just look
for cotton balls look for cotton rounds these are great cotton rounds are sturdy and you can really
dab them into the petroleum jelly my favorite fire starter with cotton rounds is to make char cloth
I buy a can of the pirouette cookies at the dollar tree and after you eat the cookies you make a hole
in the lid you fill the can with your cotton rounds and set it right into your barbecue grill
and then it will char all of the cotton rounds and you will have char cloth you can see that
they come out as little black ready to go fire starters they're kind of messy so you want to
make sure that you store them in something so that they don't disintegrate or make a big mess
in your bag or your pocket empty cardboard tubes and dryer lint are also a great way to start a
fire you can use either of them alone or stuff the dryer lint into your tube and then you have
more of it together and you can light this and it'll burn for a long long time you can also rub
petroleum jelly onto your dryer lint just like you can onto a cotton ball wax paper is also
great it's waxy and it's paper so it's going to be perfect you can just tear off a sheet crumble
it up and it's ready to go in your fire or take your toilet paper tube that has the lint inside
roll wax paper around and tuck it in it's even easier to light and it'll burn even longer if
it's raining the wax paper can help keep your fire starter tinder dry you can get an easier
start to your fire when you're out hiking look for dried pine cones you can use them in your fire
or take them home dip them in wax and set them aside and then they're going to work great
use an egg carton there's all kinds of ways that you can heat up old candles pour the wax over
make fire starters out of simple things you can find in the yard or in the trash
stale corn chips fritos tortilla chips they're covered in oil guess what they are a great
fire starter tea light candles are also a way to start a fire you can put one right down under your
kindling and it'll stay lit for quite a while so while it's great to have tea light candles not
only for the candle light you can use them to heat food but you can also use them to start a fire
there are so many uses for tea light candles you should be buying them in big packs
hand sanitizer has finally come down in price add some hand sanitizer onto a cotton ball a cotton
round some dryer lint it's alcohol based and it's going to light right up it was so expensive for a
while at the beginning of the pandemic there's no way we would have used hand sanitizer to start a
fire but now that you can find it for practically nothing it's great to put into your fire starting
kit again cotton string and jute twine are great cordage to have with your emergency supplies and
your Dollar Tree crafting supplies did you know both of these are great fire starters cut off a
section pull on it so that it unwinds a little bit and you can light it on fire and it'll burn enough
to help you get a fire started when you buy jute twine and cotton string pull some of it off and
add it to your fire starting kit do you ever see a tree with peeling bark it's likely a birch tree
and the birch bark is a fantastic natural fire starter you can take a little bit of the loose
birch bark but don't damage the tree don't ever harm the tree and try to cut it off just pull
off the loose part and you have some natural fire starters that work fantastic a project I've been
working on at Granny Camp is to take some strike anywhere matches and put them down in the little
holes layers in the corrugated cardboard then I can cut these apart and I have a ready to go fire
starter you can strike the matches across a rock and they're going to light and continue to burn
down the cardboard I suppose if you dip them in wax they'd last even longer you can even use
shoe polish to start a fire dab a cotton ball into the polish and light it it's ready to go
Teddy don't take my fire starter that's not your Lightning Nugget
those are not for you those are not for you no they're not for you there are so many ways that
you can put together things that you have around the house that you can find in your recycling or
your garbage and you can turn into fire starters so don't be fretting if it's cold winter night you
can't get your wood stove to light your fireplace or it's summertime and you're trying to figure out
how to light your fire pit or your barbecue grill there are all kinds of ways to light
fires think about all of the items that you have and how you could put them together to solve a
problem that you have use what you have to make what you need that's what prepping is all about
being creative and using the things that you have to make the best of whatever your situation is
leave a comment below on different kind of fire starters that you like to make or bring along and
how successful they are for you if you enjoyed my video I hope you'll share it with someone
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