Ever been camping and wondered why you can’t charge your phone or laptop from the camp fire? No? Well, thanks to American inventors now you can. The ‘PowerpPot’ allows slapdash wranglers to charge household appliances using the heat from their baked beans.

The device, which looks like an ordinary cooking pot, transforms heat from a fire into electricity. The lightweight backpacking pot can produce electricity anywhere, anytime, using any fuel, such as propane, gas, or open wood fires.

The PowerPot uses thermoelectric power like that used in satellites, harnessing heat rather than light and as such can be used at night and indoors.

Its creators say the device is a useful solution for an emergency when on outdoor excursions. Backpackers can replace a typical mess-kit and charge GPS, headlamps, water purifiers, and mobile phones. Those equipped with propane stoves, wood stoves, or fire pits will be able to turn on a dead phone within minutes.

The device could also be essential for people in developing countries that do not have a nearby electricity source.