Re: Camping Cookware Opinions / Experiences / Cautions Needed
Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2019 7:39 am
If all you ever do is boil water - which has advantages - namely, no washing up required, and no lingering smells on the cookware for critters to develop an interest in - you don't need a set, just a single pot. Which is lighter as well. This is what I do. Rehydrating meals is the way to go for those of us who don't want to put soap all over the wilderness, spend a lot of time with kitchen chores, or risk burning food in the pot.
If you are a chef, the GSI seem to be the cheaper of the options. I can't really give a lot of advice on cook sets specifically, as I am a big fan (after scorching and destroying a few things over the backpacking stove) of very very very simple things on the trail. The less there is that can go wrong, the happier I am, because things then go as expected.
The stove is a big part of the equation. Most backpacking stoves are like bunsen burners. On, off, not much in between -- simmering is difficult. Burners are often a single point instead of a wide flame pattern that you need for even heat dispersion. Anything you add to help with that will add weight and complexity to the system.
Cooking also means that you need to carry a lot of fuel - I can get through five days with a 3 oz fuel can, boiling once in the morning and once in the evening. If I cooked every meal, I would need a lot more than that. Indeed, on fishing trips where we cannot built fires, I carry the skillet and my fishing buddy brings a second full canister just for frying fish. I have to hold the pan up off the stove a little and move it around a lot to get evenly cooked fish.
So - my lightest kit is a small alcohol stove (several grams), a small titanium pot that holds 2 cups water (4 oz), a cozy (less than an ounce), pot stand (half an ounce) and windscreen (half an ounce). About five ounces of fuel would be five boils.
My heaviest kit is a Primus remote canister outfit with a windscreen, the jetboil-style pot with all the business on the bottom to conserve heat and be fuel efficient, and lots of packaging -- bags for all the individual components. Weighs in at about a pound and a half.
For rehydrating, I take a titanium cup and cozy, and a spork to eat with.
When just rehydrating I take no soap -- rinse out the cup I eat in, sometimes use a little sand, disperse the water far from the water source.
If I happen to be with a group that insists on pancakes and whatnot -- get a bucket of water, walk farrrrrrr away from the water, use just a tiny drop of soap, get out the scrub sponge, clean, disperse, do it again....
You have to decide on what to cook, how you want to cook it, and how much you want to carry. Things that you cook will also weigh more than a bunch of dehydrated meals in ziplock bags -- they will also take much more real estate in the bear canister, resulting in your being unable to take the very small canister that's also lighter in the pack. You will have to carry the kind of canister that I typically take for a week long trip, just for a 2-3 day outing.
All of this to say - study first the different ways to eat on the trail and decide on a method. Just add water meals, or taking food from home. Visit trailcooking.com and read recipes and blog entries. Don't make this decision until you know what you really want. It is much lighter for a lot of reasons to use freeze dried or home dehydrated foods -- storage and prep work changes your needs for cookware. If you truly want light, you have to sacrifice complexity. Obviously the more you take the heavier it is, the more work you end up doing.
I use meals from Packit Gourmet, home made foods, and some ingredients from sources like Valley Food Storage. I eat very well, on trail crew and otherwise. I do not spend big bucks on things like Mountain House - I eat what I eat at home, throw leftovers on the dehydrator in the weeks before a big trip, and keep things both light and simple, because we use bear canisters all the time.
If you are a chef, the GSI seem to be the cheaper of the options. I can't really give a lot of advice on cook sets specifically, as I am a big fan (after scorching and destroying a few things over the backpacking stove) of very very very simple things on the trail. The less there is that can go wrong, the happier I am, because things then go as expected.
The stove is a big part of the equation. Most backpacking stoves are like bunsen burners. On, off, not much in between -- simmering is difficult. Burners are often a single point instead of a wide flame pattern that you need for even heat dispersion. Anything you add to help with that will add weight and complexity to the system.
Cooking also means that you need to carry a lot of fuel - I can get through five days with a 3 oz fuel can, boiling once in the morning and once in the evening. If I cooked every meal, I would need a lot more than that. Indeed, on fishing trips where we cannot built fires, I carry the skillet and my fishing buddy brings a second full canister just for frying fish. I have to hold the pan up off the stove a little and move it around a lot to get evenly cooked fish.
So - my lightest kit is a small alcohol stove (several grams), a small titanium pot that holds 2 cups water (4 oz), a cozy (less than an ounce), pot stand (half an ounce) and windscreen (half an ounce). About five ounces of fuel would be five boils.
My heaviest kit is a Primus remote canister outfit with a windscreen, the jetboil-style pot with all the business on the bottom to conserve heat and be fuel efficient, and lots of packaging -- bags for all the individual components. Weighs in at about a pound and a half.
For rehydrating, I take a titanium cup and cozy, and a spork to eat with.
When just rehydrating I take no soap -- rinse out the cup I eat in, sometimes use a little sand, disperse the water far from the water source.
If I happen to be with a group that insists on pancakes and whatnot -- get a bucket of water, walk farrrrrrr away from the water, use just a tiny drop of soap, get out the scrub sponge, clean, disperse, do it again....
You have to decide on what to cook, how you want to cook it, and how much you want to carry. Things that you cook will also weigh more than a bunch of dehydrated meals in ziplock bags -- they will also take much more real estate in the bear canister, resulting in your being unable to take the very small canister that's also lighter in the pack. You will have to carry the kind of canister that I typically take for a week long trip, just for a 2-3 day outing.
All of this to say - study first the different ways to eat on the trail and decide on a method. Just add water meals, or taking food from home. Visit trailcooking.com and read recipes and blog entries. Don't make this decision until you know what you really want. It is much lighter for a lot of reasons to use freeze dried or home dehydrated foods -- storage and prep work changes your needs for cookware. If you truly want light, you have to sacrifice complexity. Obviously the more you take the heavier it is, the more work you end up doing.
I use meals from Packit Gourmet, home made foods, and some ingredients from sources like Valley Food Storage. I eat very well, on trail crew and otherwise. I do not spend big bucks on things like Mountain House - I eat what I eat at home, throw leftovers on the dehydrator in the weeks before a big trip, and keep things both light and simple, because we use bear canisters all the time.