Tiki Prepping

At this time of year, all kinds of spring/summer “yard entertaining” products surface to snag those pesky excess dollars from your wallet.

One such item is the venerable Tiki torch. Tiki torches came into vogue when Hawaii became a state and ushered in “Hawaiian cool” to the back yards of many.

I love everything about Tiki kitsch, but it occurred to me that having a few Tiki torches around could be a great preparedness move.

Mine were three dollars a piece, but serviceable ones are often available at places like Dollar Tree for—you guessed it—one dollar.

You’ll also need Tiki torch fuel, but that is plentiful and cheap because it’s in season as well.

There is nothing particularly difficult about storing Tiki torch fuel. Use common sense. I keep my bottle of torch fuel in a cupboard in the laundry room. The room is inside the house so it is climate controlled.

During winter, I would move the fuel to the garage, which is finished off but not insulated. Thus from October to May it’s perfect for storing dried good, but from May until the end of September, temperatures above 100 degrees is pretty much the norm.

During summer, all food and fuel has to come inside because the garage heats up. I installed an air conditioner in the window when it was my Tiki “manspace” in my pre-divorce revelry. Running the air conditioner to protect food would be idiotic.

Buy some torches.

Buy some fuel.

They could come in handy.