super compact cook kit

[jdupre']

I've been experimenting with shrinking and lightening my camping and paddling gear. My regular cook kit is pretty darn compact and light already, but I enjoy trying to make it lighter and smaller. My latest kit is super compact. I can almost get it in the pocket of a pair of cargo pants. Check out the size in relation to my regular kit . The can of Vienna is just there for size comparison.........never eat the stuff. :lol:

These are the contents spread out.

The stove (?) is the bottom of a tin of Gamo Match pellets. It can boil 2 cups of water with 2/3 oz of alcohol in about 6 minutes. One cup of water for cooking a bag meal and one cup for coffee. Clothes pin does double duty as lid handle and a coffee bag holder. The thing in the lower right hand corner on top of the coffee filters is a spoon I hammered out of a piece of aluminum siding just for kicks. To use, just bend it out straight. :roll:

This kit will do fine for day trips and probably the odd overnighter.



Joey

 

[Wannabe]

Now that's getting down to the bare minimum. Pretty neat.
Viennas is one of the main ingreadients in Redneck Sushi.
Bob

 

[Kayak Jack]

<SNIP> This kit will do fine for day trips and probably the odd overnighter.

Speaking of an odd overnighter........ :wink:
Sorry, Joey; you pitched that slow ball right over hte plate. I couldn't resist it.

I Like your ideas there, especially the spoon. I like using a plastic spork that has a serrated edge along one fork tine that serves as a knife. I just bought a new cook kit that is a 105 liter cook pot, a nesting cup & bowl inside, and I can slip my Svea 123 (thanks for recommending it, Piper San) down inside, Getting a bit smaller. Now, next time I just have to remember to take along the bag with my kitchen gear inside. :roll:

 

[islandpiper]

Jack, i think i have 2-3 Sveas now, and one Primus which is nearly the same. Great stoves. Spoons are OK, but honestly, since moving here and being adopted as a "cousin" of the Wong Family I have taken to chop-sticks in a big way. Applesauce, yogurt, etc.....no problem. Anything you can pick up with a fork or fingers will work with sticks and they are great cooking tools (Stand around in a Chinese Restaurant kitchen and see). and, if you need a spoon for something, then you can tip the container and drink it just as easy.

Don't worry Joey . I'll still carry the frozen chicken, pork roasts, cast iron dutch oven, bread dough, extra grill, shovel, and your favorite crank up stereo .......recliner camp chairs, aluminum table, hand-wrought iron dinner bell and patio fan. No problem.

piper

 

[jdupre']

Don't worry Joey . I'll still carry the frozen chicken, pork roasts, cast iron dutch oven, bread dough, extra grill, shovel, and your favorite crank up stereo .......recliner camp chairs, aluminum table, hand-wrought iron dinner bell and patio fan. No problem.

piper

Piper...........he's the best-est camping partner a guy could have. :mrgreen: No worries, piper, I'll bring the salt AND the pepper next time. Got to do my share, ya know.

Joey

 

[islandpiper]

Still laughing. your dry wit has started my morning out better than most. piper

 

[jdupre']

What wit??? I was serious. :wink:

 

[Kayak Jack]

Wit? You were half right, Piper San :roll:

 

[jdupre']

Heeeeeyyyyy, I resemble that remark. :?

 

[Kayak Jack]

We all do, Joey. We all do. Just part of being a geezer.

 

[jdupre']

These little alcohol stoves continue to amaze me. I've made some slightly complex ones and some stupid simple ones. They all work and will boil 2 cups of water in from 5 to 8 minutes. I might have to test this, but I think you could fold up a small container from aluminum foil, fill it with alcohol, and it would work. Hmmmmmmmm. Be right back! :idea:

Joey

 

[Kayak Jack]

I think I'd want a heavy washer or nut in the bottom to keep wind from blowing a flaming container away across your lap or table?

 

[jdupre']

I'm back.........with data. Folded up aluminum foil into a container to hold about 1 oz of alcohol. 2 cups cold water. Time to boil .... 5 and 1/2 minutes. No discoloration or distortion of foil container.

Click on picture for video.




Joey

 

[jdupre']

Jack, I'll be using a windscreen to block the wind and contain the heat. That should protect the stove.

Joey

 

[Kayak Jack]

Good idea - it kills two birds with one stone. (You're beginning to think like a normal; person, Joey. I'm getting a bit worried. :wink: )

What kind of wire did you use for the little wire stand to hold a pot? Coat hanger wouldn't hack it. #9 clothes wire?

 

[jdupre']

It's a piece of welding rod with the flux removed. it takes the heat pretty well.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Thanks, I wondered if that was it. You bent it very nicely.

 

[oldsparkey]

I have been doing some surfing on the back channels over the summer , mostly the ones about camping and backpacking.
The one item that seams to be growing in interest a lot with the hikers are the alcohol stoves and different set ups for them.
It seams like almost every backpacking web site has a section about the alcohol stoves and all the different ones. Heck even Tom Hennessy and his hammock web site has the alcohol stoves for sale to go along with his hammocks for lightweight camping.

:lol: It appears that as folks hike along some trail they discover lighter ways to do things and one of them is the alcohol stove for heating there chow. Most backpacking chow is heat and eat , either the normal food or the dehydrated , add water stuff.

Why use a stove that weighs a couple of pounds when one that weighs a few ounces can do the same thing. It's the old saying about the weight of something when carrying it...... An ounce in the morning is a pound at night.

 

[Kayak Jack]

<SNIP> It's the old saying about the weight of something when carrying it...... An ounce in the morning is a pound at night.

I once read a formula for figuring relative energy to carry a pound in various places. It seems to me, that a pound on you back (placed high, between your shoulder blades) was the standard, as I remember. A pound on your feet felt like like 5 or 10 pounds, etc. Some backpackers on here my be more familiar with what I'm trying to recall?

 

[islandpiper]

Joey, you always motivate me to go one more step. After seeing how you trimmed your cook kit I decided to do the same. Between the first of the month and last Friday I trimmed over 2000 pounds off my camping kitchen. The old one was 26 feet long and the new one is a mere 19 feet, and over 2000 pounds lighter. Thanks for the inspiration. Piper