Backpacking Dinner for Two Cooking Kits

[UKYanky]

Hi all,

I'm after some advice, my wife and I prefer to cook on a camp fire. However we have aspirations to go wild camping on't dales and moors. What would be a good light weight cooking solution that will do two of us. At the moment Im using issue hexamine burners but wonder if there are better options.

Duration 1 (possibly 2) night camping typically and i dont want to limit ourselves to just rehydrated pot noodles lol.

Any ideas would be great.

 

[SGL70]

A Trangia 27 is a good choice.

SIGG Tourist with a SVEA 123 is a good setup too. If anyone wants to part from their - let me know...

My 2 cents,
Greger

 

[peaks]

Trangia set ups (meths or gas) do give a decent level of control and allow proper cooking......but I'm sure others will have other suggestions too.

 

[woodstock]

Gasification stoves are light, robust and all you need is dry twigs and tinder which you can gather on the way, for a brew or some boiling water I use the small ghillie kettle which uses the same principle twigs and small bits of wood and brings a lt of water to the boil in minutes.

 

[Wander]

Depends on how much money you want to pour into it and what you want from the experience.
Are you after an 'authentic' wilderness experience or just the chance to enjoy the countryside and peace together?
Are you walking a long way? Is size and weight an issue?
You could use something as simple as a gas burner with a screw-on gas cylinder. Or maybe two, depending on what you want to cook. They are quick and simple. For something a bit more involved what about a petrol stove?
If wood is your thing then maybe something like a Honey Stove would do it?
For food then what we do is when making things like bolognese, chilli, or stews we make a large batch and then freeze the excess in individual portions - plastic takeaway trays are ideal.
Then when you go camping you can take these with you - proper food made with proper ingredients. One-pot meals are always preferable for camping since it makes cooking and cleaning a lot easier. A half-bottle of wine as well, and the two of you can dine in style with good food and drink, prepared in the manner of your choosing.

 

[Big G]

+ 1 for a Trangia.

Was the first stove i bought when starting out.

Simple to use.. nowt much go wrong with them

 

[Barney Rubble]

I echo the comments about the trangia.

I use the trangia burner in conjunction with the trangia triangle and have yet to find fault with it. It's compact, lightweight, affordable and works well with all sorts of different pots and pans so that it can suit your needs. I typically use mine with the smaller of the two trangia kettles as well as an MSR Pan and/or a small frying pan.

 

[jakunen]

I'd also echo the Trangia - lightweight, several pots included, lid/frying pan, windshield - everything you need. Gas conversion gives better cooking time than meths and easier to control.

 

[didicoy]

During our hot/dry summers. Even cooking fires are prohibited on many moorlands.

 

[cmarkod]

I'd go with Trangia too. Gas is more controllable but meths is more fun! I got a bargain at TK Maxx on my Trangia set. I think it cost me £25 for the 27 with gas burner and I already had the meths burner so good flexibility. If you got that route, I'd suggest buying the set with gas burner and then buying meths burner separately as the meths burner is around a tenner but the gas conversion is anything from 30-60 quid!

 

[UKYanky]

Depends on how much money you want to pour into it and what you want from the experience.
Are you after an 'authentic' wilderness experience or just the chance to enjoy the countryside and peace together?
Are you walking a long way? Is size and weight an issue?
You could use something as simple as a gas burner with a screw-on gas cylinder. Or maybe two, depending on what you want to cook. They are quick and simple. For something a bit more involved what about a petrol stove?
If wood is your thing then maybe something like a Honey Stove would do it?
For food then what we do is when making things like bolognese, chilli, or stews we make a large batch and then freeze the excess in individual portions - plastic takeaway trays are ideal.
Then when you go camping you can take these with you - proper food made with proper ingredients. One-pot meals are always preferable for camping since it makes cooking and cleaning a lot easier. A half-bottle of wine as well, and the two of you can dine in style with good food and drink, prepared in the manner of your choosing.

Thanks for the replies.

In the woods we want the wilderness experience and when on the hills where natural fuel is a bit more barren I think we just want a cooking solution that still enables a little flexibility in the food we can cook.
The overwhelming responses point towards Triangia equipment. So my searches will begin their I think

Once again thanks all for the advice.

 

[barbourdurham]

A homemade meths cooker. Following equipment required:

A metal tin. I used an empty hair wax tin with a lid.

A bit of loft insulation which fills the tin.

A flour seive. Cut to +1in bigger diameter of your tin.

A bottle of meths.

A lighter.

Put loft insulation in tin. Trap it in with the seive cutting. Pour in your meths. Light. Easy, cheap and very lightweight.

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

 

[Mick721]

I've got a whole load of stoves. Gas, wood gas, solid fuel, etc. But I always find myself taking my homemade coke can meths stove. It's solid as a rock, great on fuel and ultra light. An extra wouldn't be noticeable so these or a trangia would be a great choice.

 

[bilmo-p5]

This is a good cook kit for two. AKA Clas Ohlsen Asaklit or Optimus Purple Flame. Lighter than a Tran 27 and with bigger pans (but no kettle although a mod wit a couple of tent pegs enables a T27 kettle to be used) Sustantially cheaper than the T27, too.

 

[Nice65]

This is a good cook kit for two. AKA Clas Ohlsen Asaklit or Optimus Purple Flame. Lighter than a Tran 27 and with bigger pans (but no kettle although a mod wit a couple of tent pegs enables a T27 kettle to be used) Sustantially cheaper than the T27, too.

Glad someone mentioned pan size. The pans on the 27 aren't very big, and the frying pan is too small for two people. For me it's a sausage/bacon egg pan for one. Then one pan for beans, and one for water. The pots will do two for a side serving and cuppa, and there's no way you'll not be able to feed two from the set, but it can be a bit fiddly.

Ive got the Litech kettle and frying pan, and use them on a Primus ETA Spider.

https://www.alpinetrek.co.uk/primus-eta-spider-storm-proof-stove/?aid=7a8bd6c3c5b388dd887d15c033d1ac5f&pid=10004&cpkey=fJdeUwRjz-wSRRVNEdf5GyBwuROzxoWmUnJWHwY8srA&_$ja=tsid:60797%7Ccid:254044867%7Cagid:25884866587%7Ctid:aud-153485732227la-147009101347%7Ccrid:104604046507%7Cnw:g%7Crnd:770620018565608305%7Cdvc:t%7Cadp:1o1&gclid=CO6zhMKC8NECFYkp0wodjqwF7Q

The insulated bag allows you to keep food hot while cooking the next bit, or claims to cook on partially cooked rice or spuds.

The price in the link is pretty good. The downside of this kit is weight, and adding pans. But, I sold my non stick Trangia with its gas conversion for the simple reason it was fairly bulky for one person carry and feeding. I don't need all the pans just for me, and as I usually go out with friends or the missus, it just didn't fit anymore.

You could look at something small and stable like an Alpkit Koro or Vango folding stove and add a windbreak and your own pans?

 

[Nice65]

Link went a bit weird, but it does work. No idea what happened there, I tried to correct it, but no joy.

 

[UKYanky]

Good points made about the triangia, Im a bit concerned about size of pots but then again I dont want to hiking with too much bulk.

I was thinking this...

Triangia 27 cook set with the pots/ frying pan combo (with gas burner as advised in this thread)
+
A stand alone light weight burner (possibly just another Triangia burner)

My reasoning is that the pots and burners can be spilt between the two of us and we then have two burners on the go at one time to cook something up. I feel that compromises in one way or another are inevitable? So with that in mind I was thinking thats a pretty good versatility to weight and bulk ratio.

At this point i think the advice of gas burner is the better option as it gives better control...until I gain experience then I can maybe move towards the meth burners to lighten the load further.

This weekend, and during the Friday night storm my wife and I hoped to be cooking by the fire...looks like maybe a dakota fire pit might be in order or if its too bad I think I'll be busting out the hexi burners lol.
(or ill just might hide in my sleeping bag with a bottle of red )

 

[UKYanky]

Link went a bit weird, but it does work. No idea what happened there, I tried to correct it, but no joy.

I will be checking out your suggestions tonight for sure, my work tinters is ****e.

 

[gonzo_the_great]

I have tried all sorts of cook kits over the years. And I always seem to end up coming back to the Trangia 27.
Interesting that no-one has mentioned the Trangia 25. It's slightly bigger than the 27, but otherwise they look identical. I've never used one of these, so does anyone have a view (pft, silly question!) on whether one kit would be big enough for two people???

For a laugh, a couple of us decided that we should take trangia 27's to a music festival and cook up a three course meal each day, whilst sat in the crowd. On two 27 cook kits running on meths, it was easy. One of the days we had an additional wok and did a stir fry. Possibly a bit heavy for hiking, but I've used it loads of times and is good fun when car camping.

OK, here goes... At the risk of starting a heated (pun) debate...
Nice though the trangia gas burner is, once you have added the extra weight of the burner and the gas cart, I wonder if the extra weight of the trangia wind shield is worth the benefit it gives.
The trangia wind shield really works well to get the most out of the meths burner. But if taking a gas rig, it may be as well to just use a stand alone gas burner with a light foil windshield. And any loss of efficiency, just take up bu carrying a bit more gas. As a little extra gas is not going to be that heavy. Certainly for a couple of days trip.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Personally, I don't quite understand why you'd need the trangia gas burner. The meths burner is perfectly fine as it is.

Quick tip for using the meths burner in the cold winter months....Meths can be a bit stubborn to light when it's cold. When I wake up in the morning, I typically put the meths in my pocket for 10-15mins to warm it up a bit and then it lights up with no bother. Alternatively you can wrap the meths (bottle/burner) in something warm such as a spare item of clothing before you go to bed.