Aluminum vs Steel Pots

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Apr 8, 2009
1,165
144
Ashdown Forest
No real danger as far as i'm concerened. i believe there has been some research which draw links from aluminium and Altzheimers, but that is very prolonged use, but at the same time, probably best not scrape away at the base of your pan with a steel spoon when you are cooking. I own both aluminuium pots and ss (zebra pots)- aluminium is far easier to clean the fite black off with a pot scrub, and of course lighter. Due to the weight, i always use an aluminium mug instead of a crusader type mug- the weight difference is bonkers.

Never had a problem with melting in fires. apart from a dramatic baking exeperiment i did a few years back in a pair of aluminium mess tins!
 

SimonM

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 7, 2007
4,015
6
East Lancashire
www.wood-sage.co.uk
I don't think the link between aluminium and altzheimers was every proven.

IIRC it is just one of the semi scientific arguments that just seems to keep going!

I still use my ali Trangia pots ... when I can remember where I put them:rolleyes:

Simon
 

Still Waters

Nomad
Dec 20, 2007
459
0
North yorkshire
I use ally pots as there lighter and easier to knock back into shape should they get dented.
My brew mug is titanium as i couldent find an alloy cup with folding handles although £17 for a mug is expensive it should outlast me.
 

Sainty

Nomad
Jan 19, 2009
388
1
St Austell
Have you ever used aluminium cooking foil? I suspect that you do and have done ever since you were very young whether you know it or not. Ever had a take away meal served in an aluminium container? More than likely!

Aluminium cookware has been commonplace for years. Even if there was an outside chance of a problem with this material, the amount of use you would get on the handful of days most of us cook with camping gear I can't believe the risk to health is anything greater than minuscule.

I would have thought that there was more risk to health from the carcinogens in the woodsmoke from the fire used to cook on than from the pots used to cook in.

Not an expert but hopefully have a modicum of common sense. :)

Martin
 

sdf234

Member
Apr 18, 2009
31
0
Dixie
Even though a link with alzheimers and aluminium may have not been proven, I am still wary of using it. I don't even drink beverages from aluminium cans anymore. I certainly never use aluminium mess kits for cooking or boiling since that would result in increased leaching into the meal I am fixing.

Even if I knew aluminium exposure didn't cause any health problems I still would not use it-I think it has more cons. than pros.

Pros.
- Lighter weight than steel.
- Better heat transfer, so I hear- I can't say from experience

Cons. (aside from possible health risks)
- Can leave an unpleasant taste in the food
- Harder to clean
- Cannot cook acidic foods in Al.
- Less durable than steel
 

sapper1

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 3, 2008
2,572
1
swansea
I just bought a trangia duossal set .The pots are aluminium on the outside and stainless on the inside.They have the strength and durability of stainlees and almost the lightness of aluminium.
 

antwerpman

Member
Apr 29, 2006
38
0
73
belgium
I have the duossal pots for about 7 years and am very happy with them. I think they are not into production anymore, instead they use some kind of hardened aluminium. I wouldn't use pure aluminium to cook in it , because it is a very reactive metal, so if you put anything acid in it like tomatos or wine for instance the metal will dissolve a bit and your sauce will become greyish. I don' know about health problems but as long as they are not sure I'd rather avoid this
 

Gill

Full Member
Jun 29, 2004
3,479
11
57
SCOTLAND
i dont use aluminium at all either,i have also seen the greyish sludge coming off pots and kelly,s kettles ,and it does not look very appetising to me. The first kk i bought i could not get rid of the grey sludge even after boiling a few times , so i sold it .evrybody said it was fine :eek: ,they said i must have had a bad one. so i bought another a couple of years later and guess what , the same. so not for me , why eat from something that there could be possible health risks when you dont have to. :confused: kk have got a stainless version now ,so that will be good.
 

stevee

Member
Apr 24, 2009
12
0
Kent
I wouldn't worry to much about the affects of cooking in aluminium, just consider all the other toxins we are all exposed to on a daily basis. And I'm assuming your pots at home aren't aluminium, so cooking in aluminium mess tins once a month isn't gonna harm you! Also years ago I used to have steel mess tins and they weighed a ton compared to aluminium ones.
 

RAPPLEBY2000

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Dec 2, 2003
3,195
14
51
England
A number of environmental factors have been put forward as possible contributory causes of Alzheimer's disease in some people. Among these is aluminium. There is circumstantial evidence linking this metal with Alzheimer's disease, but no causal relationship has yet been proved. As evidence for other causes continues to grow, a possible link with aluminium seems increasingly unlikely.

doesn't sound dangerous to me!:)

I reckon there are enough things to worry about already, if it was an issue it would not be available.
 

Bravo4

Nomad
Apr 14, 2009
473
0
54
New Mexico, USA
I'm reading how when chemicals migrate from cookware to food the chemical becomes known as a "food additive" and the US Food&Drug Administration may or may not get involved, which by their involvement alone seems to confirm the hazy unconfirmable nature of this subject.
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/consumer/con00036.html

I assume I am collecting all sorts of nasties in my body on a daily basis anyway so I want to avoid the odd extra dose of Aluminum when I can. I think it is the overall accumulation of various metals and pollutants throughout a lifetime which are a concern.

I just gotta think that if you can wipe a 'grey film' off your cookware, this can't be good. I like stainless but is kinda heavy if I have to tote everything myself. I like Titanium but it's expensive and I recently read a thing about "When the revolution comes, they are gonna eat us with our titanium sporks" which sorta stopped me in my tracks. I've got my Ti, don't get me wrong, just made me consider what am I about.

'Hard Anodized' seems to be the thing for Aluminum these days. I'm testing out a model from Optimus which is my first Aluminum cookware in years. I started out with aluminum pots cause they were cheap, now I'm interested again because I am cheap.;)
 

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