Cooking on Tour

2023 Camp Kitchen:

tempImagenIYkrh.jpg


Clockwise from the skier dude: Evernew Ti Nonstick cookpot, 500ml. BRS3000T stove, Columbia River Knife Technology locking blade knife, Sea to Summit Deltalight insulated mug, Snow Peak long-handled Ti spork, Sea to Summit X-Seal and Go Container, Large. Not shown: lighter.

My personal feeling is that this kit is kind of overkill, and while I like a few things I will likely change it up a bit.

The Ti Nonstick cookpot is justified because on tour I tend to reheat a lot of stuff out of cans or retort pouches rather than rehydrate meals. I like the stove but also have a Snow Peak stove that is still going strong after 25 years (but the igniter isn't). The mug is cute but kind of a single-use item. I like the spork but it doesn't play well with the nonstick coating on the cookpot. I like the bowl ("container") because (1) it folds flat when empty, and (2) has a tight-fitting screw-on lid for when it isn't. So I can plausibly make tabouli and carry it to camp in my handlebar bag.
 
Sadly, mostly due to age, I've had to give up my bike camping trips. I wish I had seen this excellent post 20 years ago!
These days, I do my cooking in a hotel room while my batteries charge. :(
 
One Cool Thing that is emerging is that some of the newer canister stoves have an improved pressure regulator. This wins for two reasons: the first is that you'll on average get faster boiling times; the second is that you'll have more uniform performance over the life of any given fuel canister. And these two things make even bigger differences at low elevations and low temperatures, two situations where canister stoves traditionally work poorly.

Stoves that Do This (there might be others):

MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe

Fire Maple Polaris Pressure Regulator
 
Mr. Coffee said:
One Cool Thing that is emerging is that some of the newer canister stoves have an improved pressure regulator. This wins for two reasons: the first is that you'll on average get faster boiling times; the second is that you'll have more uniform performance over the life of any given fuel canister. And these two things make even bigger differences at low elevations and low temperatures, two situations where canister stoves traditionally work poorly.

Stoves that Do This (there might be others):

MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe

Fire Maple Polaris Pressure Regulator
Click to expand...
I used a folding Coleman Xpedition Powermax stove for several years on paddling trips for its ease of setup and quick boiling times. The dual burner was especially convenient. But as you mentioned, its performance does tend to lag in colder temps. The cannisters are no longer produced but I hear that you can purchase an adapter to use with the Coleman one pound propane cylinders.

1691684713825.png
 
That is a very heavy stove. At least by my standards, a BSR-3000T weighs 24 grams.

The standard screw-on propane/butane canisters are widely available (often even at Wal-Mart) and can in any event can be surface shipped so you can order them online and have them held at a post office or motel for you. The 220g canisters easily last three nights for one person, and the 445g canisters should cover a 1-week trip for one person. Depending on conditions and what you're cooking those numbers might be low or high.
 
True, it’s a relic and compared to modern lightweight stoves it wouldn’t be a considered good choice for bike packing trips. Its proprietary valve fitting was the stove’s downfall but boy, was it ever handy being able to utilize two burners on multi-day group kayaking trips.
 
Prairie Dog said:
True, it’s a relic and compared to modern lightweight stoves it wouldn’t be a considered good choice for bike packing trips. Its proprietary valve fitting was the stove’s downfall but boy, was it ever handy being able to utilize two burners on multi-day group kayaking trips.
Click to expand...
I have an ancient MSR X-GK that I got in college. It is an awesome stove and can convert a snowbank into a bucket of tea in no time at all. I primarily only haul it out for winter camping and ski expeditions nowadays.
 
Mr. Coffee said:
I have an ancient MSR X-GK that I got in college. It is an awesome stove and can convert a snowbank into a bucket of tea in no time at all. I primarily only haul it out for winter camping and ski expeditions nowadays.
Click to expand...
I have the Dragonfly and many complain about the noise level that it’s a bit too loud but it never bothered me. Though making coffee at 5 am might unintentionally rile a few from their slumber.
 
Well, I'm starting to evaluate the 2023 camp kitchen and figure out what will be new for 2024.

The sea to summit bowl and sippy cup worked fine. In particular the bowl with a tight-fitting screw-on lid is a Big Deal. I got one of the new Pocket Rocket Deluxe pressure regulating stoves and won't be going back. The pressure regulator is a game changer as it lets you get more boils (and in less time) out of one canister. And those last boils take far less time than before. Right now only MSR and Fire Maple sell such stoves, but I suspect that will be the thing going forward.

Speaking of canisters, I'll probably pick up one of these gadgets from Flipfuel so I don't have a pile of nearly empty canisters in my garage:

www.flipfuel.co

Isobutane Backpacking Fuel Management | FlipFuel®

Consolidate & transfer fuel from partially filled isobutane backpacking stove fuel canisters with FlipFuel®. End fuel anxiety, always pack full canisters.
www.flipfuel.co www.flipfuel.co

Now for the thing that didn't work so well. The Evernew Nonstick Ti pot didn't cut it. I'm looking for a nonstick cookpot that I can use to reheat a can of refried beans or chili on that little canister stove burner without it burning very much on the bottom. That didn't happen and the burning also destroyed the nonstick coating, making the whole problem worse. At the moment it is challenging to find an appropriately small nonstick cookpot, and with the pannier rethink I don't have as much volume to play with so a bigger pot is kind of a problem...

My tours are really coming in two flavors right now. One of them is a more traditional bike tour, and I typically can resupply every day so don't carry much food. I'm much more likely to be reheating food out of a can or retort pouch (or from a deli) in those cases, since the weight isn't a big issue if I am only carrying it from the store to camp. The other situation involves wild camping without resupply for two or more nights. In those cases it is better to bring dried food and use the "boil water and stir" approach to camp cooking. While I don't often use freeze dried backpacking foods (largely because they are rarely very nutritious, but also horribly expensive for the price) there are a lot of plausible instant dried foods that you can get in the supermarket that are reasonably nutritious. For the latter case, my normal backpacking cookpot works fine.

Now, I found these three on Amazon. They all appear to come out of the same factory and are very reasonably priced. So reasonable that I'm probably going to buy one and check it out:




Now all I really care about with the above is the cookpot. If anything else appears useful that is just a bonus. And at about $18 the price is hard to beat. Still, the cookpot is larger and bulkier than the old Evernew pot and packing it into those small panniers is going to be a challenge (and it will be impossible to fit into those front drybags under any circumstances).

Now this much more expensive cookset from GSI looks promising, but I again only really care about the cookpot and am skeptical of most of the other stuff (although the stuff sack for the pot looks great). Though this one will be easier to stuff into mini panniers:

gsioutdoors.com

Pinnacle Soloist II, Backcountry Two-person Cookset | GSI Outdoors

The GSI Outdoors Pinnacle Soloist II Cookset includes everything you need to cook and eat those vital carbs while pushing to the extreme. An efficient, ultra-light, and non-stick hard anodized camping cookware set for one person.
gsioutdoors.com gsioutdoors.com

Larger and heavier, but still barely feasible, is this 1.3L pot from MSR. The ceramic nonstick is less likely to poison me too:


So I need to do some more thinking...
 
One advantage if you like pasta (which I do) is that the GSI and MSR cookpots have a built-in strainer in their lids. I've found those work Well Enough for field use.
 
This one would be closer to what I want in terms of size and weight:


As a 2.4L pot is insane overkill for one person. A 1L kettle might work, though. The ability to fold more or less flat is interesting but doesn't buy me as much as you might think. I usually put a lot of stuff in the cookpot: pack towel, sponge piece, dish soap, stove, fuel canister, sippy cup, coffee, and as many RX Bars or Clif Bars as will fit.

The 1L kettles seemed to be around $20-$25.

I'd be concerned about keeping it clean in the field.
 
That is a three to four person bit of kit for a sagwagon that I had, but the silicone sided stuff should be be available in 1 or 2 person sized...cleaning is easy on the sides like any nonstick.

But the stainless steel bottom will probably burn stuff... I had a separate fry pan in the van. But the old kettle could set on a bed of coals or a hot flame without issue.That you linked pot/kettle looks pretty good to me. I'd may give it a shot myself to replace the kettle, but I would still want a stackable pan /lid / something I can fry on (better than a Sierra cup) in the van...
 
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Yah, I suspect all of them will burn on the bottom a bit. Although it might not be too bad to think outside the box a little bit and go for something that isn't nonstick.

This 1.4L pot from Sea to Summit is interesting (but I still think too bulky and heavy):

seatosummit.com

Sea to Summit Camping Cookware, Pots & Pans | Lifetime Guarantee

Our camping pots & pans are designed to make outdoor cooking easier & tastier. Featuring a range of collapsible & lightweight rigid options, our collection of durable camping cookware is a game-changer for hungry hikers.
seatosummit.com seatosummit.com

The 1.3L Kettle from Sea to Summit is a little closer to what I'd want:

seatosummit.com

Sea to Summit Camping Cookware, Pots & Pans | Lifetime Guarantee

Our camping pots & pans are designed to make outdoor cooking easier & tastier. Featuring a range of collapsible & lightweight rigid options, our collection of durable camping cookware is a game-changer for hungry hikers.
seatosummit.com seatosummit.com

I have an assortment of camp nonstick frying pans, they usually get carried for car camping trips and road trips (how many motel kitchenettes have a decent nonstick frying pan?) but rarely for bicycle travel or backpacking.

Just on the numbers, the X-Pot is 7.5x1.5 inches packed, and weighs 10oz. The X-Kettle is 6x1.25 inches packed and weighs 6.5oz. That may not sound like a lot but the X-Kettle has about sixty percent of the volume of the X-Pot.
 
I drink coffee in the morning, wife drinks tea all day when at camp, and we boil water for a thermos and for a slow cooker... the extra inch of diameter matters less than capacity.
 
Art Deco said:
I drink coffee in the morning, wife drinks tea all day when at camp, and we boil water for a thermos and for a slow cooker... the extra inch of diameter matters less than capacity.
Click to expand...
I understand, but I'm thinking in terms of carrying this stuff in tiny panniers and am just cooking and carrying for myself at this point.

When I look at videos for the Sea to Summit X-Pot and X-Kettle it looks like there is storage space inside them even when collapsed. Perhaps even enough to carry a pack towel, a bit of dish soap, a sponge, and the MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe stove in its case. If that is indeed true these look like much more workable options. I'll probably need to go to an REI and look at them in person to see if that would work. If the X-Pot would work that way and the X-Kettle wouldn't I'd probably go for the X-Pot in spite of the larger volume and weight. On the other hand, the X-Kettle would work much better for brewing coffee, so optimum karma would be if the X-Kettle worked best.

I have one of the Sea to Summit collapsible bowls with a lid and that has been a real success story.
 
I backpack more frequently than I bikepack, and as far as canisters go, I’ve been refilling or topping off my 100g canisters before each trip with either isobutane or from 8oz butane cartridges that I find at local Asian markets for $1.50 ea. I’ve turned dozens of people into refilling their canisters over the past few years.
 
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BikerG said:
I backpack more frequently than I bikepack, and as far as canisters go, I’ve been refilling or topping off my 100g canisters before each trip with either isobutane or from 8oz butane cartridges that I find at local Asian markets for $1.50 ea. I’ve turned dozens of people into refilling their canisters over the past few years.
Click to expand...
Well, tell us more I guess ...
 
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