Low Budget Equipment 2019

[Erbswurst]

Please let's write a beginners equipment list together with extremely inexpensive stuff that is made in a good quality.

The stuff should be currently available, so please don't talk about stuff which nobody offers.

I would like to see here active links to traders!

(But please write down the products in here too, so that this thread keeps its value for longer times than the links are active.)

 

[Erbswurst]

What's about this here?

Looks good in my opinion.

Does anybody know it?

Polish army puma camo rucksack, £ 7,50

https://www.militarymart.co.uk/polish-puma-camo-rucksack/

It's spark resistant cotton. If you use a large bin bag as rucksack liner and throw the poncho over yourself and the rucksack when it starts to rain, your stuff will stay dry.

You have to give the rucksack an inner structure by using the luggage. You have to fill it well and you have to put soft stuff to your back. But that isn't very complicated and it keeps the rucksack relatively light for such a tough rucksack.

 

[Erbswurst]

Does any body know that
Czech mess tins set?

£ 6,- used

https://www.militarymart.co.uk/czech-mess-tins/

If you put the pot over a wood fire, just put it on two thick branches or three stones around the fire. In between you have the amber.

Use a several times folded simple cotton handkerchief as pot holder.

Cou can also drill two little holes in the pot and attach the wire from a coat hanger from the dry cleaner as an additional handle to hang the pot under a tripod. Drill one of the both holes next to the handle. So you better can drink from this Billy can when it became a bit colder.

You should carry your food in the pot, because it is a mouse secure container, and you can just stand it next to you during the night without fear, that a mouse could bite through your rucksack. Mice can destroy equipment!

I would use only the larger pot on a solo hike and take the second pot with me, if a friend comes with me.

You can easily make such a beer can stove from an aluminium can, which is labelled with AL not FE and not magnetic.
Beer cans usually are made from aluminium (AL), Coke cans sometimes are made from iron (FE).

You can put the pot on three stones, two branches or directly on the stove.

Don't use your new pocket knife to make the beer can stove, just use an old knife!

In Germany I pay round about 1 € for 1 liter of spiritus in the supermarket. That lasts very long and is the cheapest fuel (after wood) that I can use. You can carry it in a small plastic bottle from the supermarket, for short hikes a very small alcohol plastik flask is the best, 0,1 litres or whatever you need. I mean the little bottles alcoholics carry around all the time.

 

[Erbswurst]

The (western) German army poncho is usually sold in nearly unused conditions for round about £ 20.

210cm x 165 cm, round about 700g

It can be used as rain coat or as a non breathing emergency bivvy bag.

In combination with a real bivvy bag it's large enough to be used as a small tarp.

https://forcesuniformandkit.co.uk/products/german-army-poncho


The set up looks more or less like this here.

 

[Erbswurst]

British Army bivvy bag, Goretex
800g

£ 36,- Grade 1 should be bought.

A hole in a bivvy bag is really unpleasant.

http://www.endicotts.co.uk/content/british-mvp-x-t-bivi-bag-olive

I usually carry the sleeping bag in the bivvy bag, so I am faster in and out.

You can put it without compression bag in your rucksack, just let the entrance hole on top to allow the air to leave the bivvy bag and put the other few things on top of it. Compress it with the straps of the rucksack and it's fine.
That's the lightest and easiest way to do it.

On top of that all comes the poncho of course, because you want to reach it fast.

 

[Janne]

Knife made in Mora, Sweden

https://www.flobyoverskottslager.se/

You need to change language, then navigate.



( they have other useful and cheap stuff.
Cheap but high quality)

 

[Erbswurst]

The Opinel No 7 Carbone is a really good all round knife, very easy to sharpen, very light in rucksack and pocket, the first choice of many experienced hikers and bushcrafters.

Even a beginner is able to get it razor sharp with a simple water stone.

For 7 £ it's a very good offer!

If you take a bit of the tip away to shorten it and if you lock it in closed position and open it with pliers, the locking ring will fly away and so it becomes legal to carry in the UK.

(You can easily press the ring back in position without any tools.)

This here is an interesting option regarding the British law:

They offer a good and cheap pocket sharpening stone too for 7 €:

https://www.opinel.com/accessoires/affutage/pierre-naturelle-10-cm


A stainless steel spoon you can take from your kitchen or buy it for some pennies at the flea market. It's unnecessary to buy a special camping cutlery kit. A fork you don't need in the forest.

Take a Bic Mini Lighter with you and a normal match box. Learn to use the matches and keep the cigarette lighter for emergencies!

 

[Erbswurst]

If the hike becomes a bit longer, You need a washing kit.

You need
a folding toothbrush
a 20 ml tooth paste tube
a 40 ml shower gel or shampoo
an orange Wilkinson one way razor

and a fast drying
micro fibre towel like the Nabaji in size S.
(42 x 55cm)

3 £ is a good price for that.

It's large enough and you can easily attach it outside at the rucksack to dry it.

You can put it all in a 1 litre zipp lock freezer bag or every other little bag you can find for free somewhere. It should be as small and light as possible.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/microfibre-towel-grey-s-id_8542768.html

 

[Erbswurst]

The Quechua stainless steel 0,4 litres camping mug is totally OK.

3,50 £ new

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/mh150-stainless-steel-mug-id_8492721.html

 

[Erbswurst]

The Forclaz 50 trekking head lamp is made in a good quality and bright enough if you use it mainly in the camp and from time to time for hiking in the night in flat country.

4 £ is a good offer for that quality.

(It isn't bright enough to use it in the mountains to surch for the way, but that a beginner shouldn't do anyway.)

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/onnight-50-headlamp-id_8364416.html

 

[Janne]

Erbsie, you know that you do not need a lamp....
If you wake up in ghe night, and need to ‘go’, you have a superb night vision, and will only destroy it by using a light.
Saves money, saves weight.

 

[Erbswurst]

I used a short candle for many years and left the torch in the first aid kit.

In Germany and France sometimes it's totally black in the night. Very different to Scandinavia. No idea how it is in Britain.

Some drips from the candle are very helpfull as fire starter by the way.



The Geonaute compact 50 snap hook compass should be ok for the beginning.
If you can't see the sun that helps a bit.

4 £ is an intelligent investment here.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/compact-50-snap-hook-compass-id_8397810.html

Good quality compasses cost some money. But usually we stay in the beginning on the ways and do not walk through the Scandinavic tundra. So this small thing should be ok. The quality isn't bad. Later it can be used as a back up.

Take the blue one, so you can find it if it falls down. Unfortunately they don't offer it in orange or red what would be better.

If you go hiking, take a hiking map with you!

 

[Erbswurst]

2 Volvic ice tea 1 litre bottles from the super market, I mean the ones with the wider closure, are as good as any expensive bottle.

You don't need paracord, every relatively light but strong cordage is OK.

Don't forget to take half a roll of toilet paper in a plastic bag or better in a freezer zipp lock bag with you! Before you use it you have to dig a hole with a stick.

Freezer zipp lock bags (1 litre is the right size) are very good to store food in it.
But you should hang it with a line in a plastic bag in a tree during the night or store it in your mess tins outside the rucksack.
If not, sooner or later mice will destroy your rucksack when they try to reach the food!

Plastic bags are as good as expensive dry bags in most conditions. Put your spare clothing in it and the mess tins in another one, because they will be black outside after you used them.

You can make nice bags from the legs of old trousers for the mess tins or as a pillow including your spare clothing.

You can look up at You Tube how to make a beer can stove. A small plastic bottle from the supermarket is OK to transport spiritus.

Hatchet and saw you don't need in the summer. Try to go only with the knife, that's possible without any doubt. Just learn to break fire wood carefully with the boots!

It doesn't help the survivalist if he trains with everything the internet offers. It's far better to learn to avoid all that stuff.

In summer times you don't need a sleeping mat. Just put your fleece jacket under yourself in the bivvy bag and if necessary additional some thin twigs in cold conditions under the bivvy bag!

I went decades without a sleeping mat, in winter times I used an old woolen blanket or an old woolen coat instead of a sleeping mat, what is especially very comfortable if we sit around the fire. You can get it in every charity shop for 10 £. That's the old school way to do it.
And old school is the right way to learn it!

 

[Erbswurst]

Aldi and Lidl offer every april or mai very cheap sleeping bags. They cost round about 15 £ and are OK for the money.

They are as warm as expensive bags, but last only round about 300 nights of use.

The packing volume is bigger than if you would buy an expensive sleeping bag, but that doesn't really matter in the beginning.

Such a cheap sleeping bag allowes you to invest in the other quality stuff I wrote about. And there it is more important to get satisfying good quality stuff.

The sleeping bag you can replace later.

I recommend to take a bag that is recommended for round about 0*C. If you wear your clothing in it that will even be warm enough until round about -3*C.

They usually offer an olive green version too. Take the mummy shape bag, not the bulky blanket shape bag!

Don't forget the option to sleep next to the fire under a lean to poncho shelter how you can see it in the video in the beginning of this thread.

That really makes a difference! Just store some spare fire wood next to your head and put it on the fire during the night!

If possible avoid pine trees and similar wood, because sparks could jump out of the fire and burn holes in your bivvy bag.

If your sleeping kit is out of the rucksack you should burn hard wood which holds an amber.

That's the old properly way to do it.

But attention about forest fires!
No fire in dry conditions!


If you read this thread later in the year and missed the Supermarket offers you can buy this sleeping bag here for example:

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/atlas-250-id_8539626.html

It's ok for the beginning too, especially during the summer. Or you have a look at the Snugpak homepage, they are a bit more expensive but offer a very good quality. There you get inexpensive long lasting sleeping bags.

Most of them are inside and outside olive green. That's perfect for stealth camping!

 

[Erbswurst]

With that kit list a beginner would be very well equipped for the first steps in the woods and most of it will last for decades.

Of course you can use in the beginning the clothing you find in your wardrobe.

It's always a good idea to look in charity shops, because they usually offer a lot of outdoor clothing very cheap.
Civil woolen clothing is a good choice for bushcraft, and I always look what they offer, if I come along. Usually I can get the stuff nearly for free.

But if someone is interested in good quality clothing in nature colours, that is made especially for outdoor life I really can recommend to the beginner not only original field uniforms, if they are available in the right sizes.
I recommend Decathlon hunting clothing which offers an outstanding high value for incredible low prices.

In the last years I tested a lot of this stuff, and I am totally convinced about it.
The quality is nearly as high as the military surplus, but it looks civil. It's no problem to wear it in town.

I recommend to choose the Decathlon hunting clothing mainly in brown if they offer it, because some they offer only in olive green, and later the beginner will find other clothing, which is only offered in oliv green. The combination of this brown clothing and other oliv green clothing is as good as invisible in the British nature all over the year, but it looks civil, and that's far better for hiking and stealth camping than a camouflage battle suit.

Most of the following clothing I tested for minimum 300 days of use and a lot of it even longer.
That's really good quality stuff.

 

[Erbswurst]

Merino underwear isn't necessary in the beginning. I use it only in frosty conditions.

But if you buy clothing in the Decathlon shop you should pay attention that this base layers fit in your layering system!

The other clothing should fit over it, but you don't need to buy the merino underwear in the beginning!

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/techwoo...-base-layer-black-long-sleeve-id_8316088.html

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/techwool-190-mens-merino-wool-leggings-black-id_8316087.html

 

[Erbswurst]

On longer hikes you need one T-shirt on the person and one T-shirt as spare clothing.

If I change the underwear or socks I usually wash and dry it immediatly outside at the rucksack. I don't change, if I can't wash. If I can wash, I change.

I recommend to take one in brown and one in green, because that fits better with the rest I will recommend here.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/100-ss-t-shirt-brown-id_8494359.html#

 

[Erbswurst]

This shirt you should choose 1 or better 2 sizes larger than you normally would choose a white shirt for civil use.

It has to fit over the fleece jacket to protect it against sparks and fire and you can wear it over the fleece jacket in dry but relatively cold and windy conditions as a light wind stopper jacket.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/shirt-100-ls-brown-id_8394389.html

For trekking that's far better than a heavy military smok!

 

[Erbswurst]

This fleece jacket is used under a breathing waterproof jacket good until round about 0*C.
In the summer you can use it mainly as insulation mat or pillow. But a warm layer you should usually take with you.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/100-fleece-brown-id_8340825.html

That here is warmer and better looking, but it's made to use it under a rain proof jacket between 5*C and -5*C or even lower temperatures.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/300-fleece-brown-id_8281239.html

For the beginning the lighter and cheaper first one is surely the better option.

 

[Erbswurst]

In hot conditions I often wear swimming breefs under the shorts.
If you don't wear them, they belong as spare breefs in the rucksack, because often you need them if you want to wash yourself in a lake or a public swimming hall at your hiking tours.

Attention:
I wear all the upper clothing in size XL, this swimming breefs in XL but the following trousers in size L. !!!

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/brasse-100-swimming-trunks-grey-id_8215793.html