I live in an area that gets prolonged power outages as a result of severe wind storms. So, I speak from experience when I tell you why these large round floating wicks belong in your emergency kit. During a recent outage, I wanted some hot tea and hot food. This is how I met that need:
I put some water into a soup bowl and added about a half inch of oil to the top. I floated 6 wicks on the oil and set the bowl into a pot with walls a couple of inches deeper than the bowl.
Then I lit the wicks and placed a roasting rack across the top of the pan. This allowed a couple of inches between the base of the flame and the bottom of the cooking utensil.
I put a cup of water in a small pot and placed it on the flame.
CAUTION
I usually use vegetable oil for my candles — partly because that gives me a much calmer flame. But since I wasn’t going for ambience here — and wanted my water to get hot as soon as possible — I opted for using lamp oil as my fuel. DON’T DO THAT HERE. The water was hot enough for tea in about 5 minutes, but about 30 seconds later was when the fire started. I didn’t get a picture of the fire because I had other priorities. But here is a picture of the blistered discs.
Patience is called for here. Using olive oil or safflower oil will give a less vigorous flame — but a safer one!!! Hey, the power is out. What else were you planning to do?
I ended up cooking a couple of eggs and some vegetables. I also was able to get that cup of hot tea I so wanted.
One could use other candles for this purpose. You would need 5 or 6 of them at the same height. I prefer to use the floating wicks for the benefits they offer.
Low price
You can easily purchase the makings for 100 candles for ten dollars as of this writing. That would get you through quite a few emergencies.
Require little storage space
The discs and wicks come in a small box that easily tucks onto a shelf in the pantry. You already have cooking oil in the kitchen, so all you need are the containers and you are good to go.
Safe *
They are safe if you exercise proper precautions!! Never leave open flame unattended. Keep small children away from the flames. And by all means don’t use a dangerous fuel!