Non expensive kit

[santaman2000]

KFC and Ponderosa restaurants among others

I've never eaten at a Ponderosa. But please don't judge them by KFC's. LOL. Theirs aren't bad; but they aren't especially good either. For the chain restaurants, Cracker Barrel makes about the best I've had.

 

[BlueTrain]

Woe! Too much Americana.

To Mr. Macaroon, what were you describing in post #159? Bannock bread or scones? I've made both at home (to eat, which is the whole point).

I'm not happy with the way my biscuits turn out. It's probably because I use cooking oil instead of lard or Crisco like Dolly Parton says to. But I like my bannock. My wife won't eat either one. I have had no expert instruction in either case.

Boiling water without putting a pot on the fire is very much an Indian lore sort of thing to do. But where does the paper bag come from? The Hudson Bay trading post?

 

[Macaroon]

Woe! Too much Americana.

To Mr. Macaroon, what were you describing in post #159? Bannock bread or scones? I've made both at home (to eat, which is the whole point).

I'm not happy with the way my biscuits turn out. It's probably because I use cooking oil instead of lard or Crisco like Dolly Parton says to. But I like my bannock. My wife won't eat either one. I have had no expert instruction in either case.

Boiling water without putting a pot on the fire is very much an Indian lore sort of thing to do. But where does the paper bag come from? The Hudson Bay trading post?

They just used the paper bag as it stunned us to see it was possible at that age, but you can use almost anything to do it as long as the heat goes to the water and not the vessel.

I was describing the basic principle of my bannock making, the interaction of the milk acid and the sodium bicarbonate to make your dough rise a little. Nobody we knew ate wheat bread when I was a youngster, all the
bread was made with all sorts of flours from potatoe flour, oatmeal, cornflour, sweet chestnut flour and all stops in between depending on what you could afford to buy or else forage and process yourself at home.
All breads did, as I recall, at least a little wheat flour but that was always wholemeal.

I guess the difference between scones, biscuits and flatbreads and the like would be the shape and size of them, along with what you seasoned or sweetened with.

 

[santaman2000]

I think he's asking you to describe Irish Soda Bread. It's not very common here and TBH I'm not sure how genuine what I can get is.

 

[BlueTrain]

One hears the term "scone" around here fairly often but I don't think the word is used with any rigid definition. Ordinary speech doesn't exactly lend itself to rigid use anyway. I tend to think of a scone as a sort of "drop biscuit," but that doesn't mean anyone else think of them like that. They'll show up at gathering for Burn's night, Hogmanay, St. Andrew's Day and the like.

Where I live, one can find just about every imaginable kind of bread there is, because people come here from everywhere. For instance, there's a little bakery a few blocks from home that produces several varieties of German breads. It's called the Swiss Bakery and they have all sorts of mainly Swiss food products. Another shop called the German Gourmet carries an incredible variety of German wines, beers (but not Hasen-breau!) and other things you won't find anywhere else. The most unusual bread I've ever eaten was Afghani, from an Afghan restaurant. But we, as "plain whitebread" Americans, have taken to eating tortillas fairly often, although they're wheat, not corn, and therefore not "authentic."

Now I'm hungry.

 

[santaman2000]

.....But we, as "plain whitebread" Americans, have taken to eating tortillas fairly often, although they're wheat, not corn, and therefore not "authentic." ......

We get both wheat and corn tortillas. The hard fried ones (usually used in tacos) are corn whereas the soft ones used in roll-ups or served as a side bread are usually wheat. We always ask for the corn ones though.

 

[Tristar777]

The cheap kit ain't got the right labels on for some to consider buying it, sounds harsh but I suspect its the case for some.

I have to agree. I like the kit list on Paul Kirtleys site that shows you don't have to spend lots to get out there and enjoy yourself!

 

[BlueTrain]

"Cheap" and "inexpensive" are not necessarily the same thing, no matter what label it has. It's also easy to find people who will complain that they don't make them the way they used to, when speaking of fairly well-known brands. But perhaps we place too much faith in brand names. I guess the trick is in deciding what something is actually worth, no matter what it costs. And it follows that "expensive" and "worth it" are only loosely connected. All of this is true of food, too, I imagine.

I think I have some things that were expensive and worth it but are "too good" to actually take out and use. Maybe that's why so many things I see in photographs on blogs and forums look so good. The stuff hardly gets used at all. It's the reason you wear your old clothes most of the time and save your best for the occasional moment when appearance counts more than utility. Of course the appearance of something is a certain kind of utility, too. One of my wife's relatives, who at the time owned a little sailing vessel and lived on a little cove off the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, said half the pleasure of ownership was just looking out the window at it.

 

[Folcwigga]

Oh and yes, I've boiled water in a paper bag; it was one of the rights of passage in the Scouts when I was an anklebiter

I'm guessing it was flash boiled with a hot stone wrapped in something to stop it burning the bag? I can't imagine paper holding out too well over an open fire.

 

[Macaroon]

I'm guessing it was flash boiled with a hot stone wrapped in something to stop it burning the bag? I can't imagine paper holding out too well over an open fire.

Ah but it holds up very well as the bag is wet, and all the heat goes into the water

 

[Bishop]

Lurking amongst the tinned fruit section of my local supermarket I found these wide necked plastic containers with a watertight screw top.
Seems sturdy enough and costs around a third of what a simliar sized Nalgene bottle does, plus of course you get the edible contents.

 

[Andy_K]

One hears the term "scone" around here fairly often but I don't think the word is used with any rigid definition. Ordinary speech doesn't exactly lend itself to rigid use anyway. I tend to think of a scone as a sort of "drop biscuit," but that doesn't mean anyone else think of them like that. They'll show up at gathering for Burn's night, Hogmanay, St. Andrew's Day and the like.

Funny you should mention scones. I was at my local bakery the other day and couldn't make my mind up over which cakes I was going to have a binge upon. The lady behind the counter suggested their scones. I took one look at them and had to politely decline. My problem was that they look nothing like the ones my mother used to make when I was a kid. I'm also like it with a lot of other stuff she or my father might bake. All that said, the bakery in question makes the best doughnuts I have ever had and the ones sold in supermarkets etc simply don't look, taste or feel anything like the ones from the bakery, so I wont buy them either. They also tend to cost a shed load more, than the bakery's do too

 

[BlueTrain]

Although I do have a number of army issue water bottles/canteens, I find that ordinary soda bottles pretty much work just as well, along with various other plastic bottles that other drinks come in. I have a hoard of various sizes to fit the various sized places in my differently sized packs. Army issue water bottles are sturdy and inexpensive but empty soft drink bottles are free. The surplus Swedish army field flasks (love that term) are not so good, however. The clip-on device is next to useless and the cap leaks. The first requirement of a water bottle is that it not leak.

 

[bopdude]

Lurking amongst the tinned fruit section of my local supermarket I found these wide necked plastic containers with a watertight screw top.
Seems sturdy enough and costs around a third of what a simliar sized Nalgene bottle does, plus of course you get the edible contents.

Thanks for the info and pm, just got one, they aren't bad at all, I'm gonna road test this tonight as a hot water bottle, just to see.

 

[bopdude]

OOPS, just tested mine prior to use, mine isn't watertight

 

[Wayland]

I posted this up elsewhere but someone's comment prompted me to repost it here.

For some time now I have been using a square cotton tarp, set up on the diagonal, to build a simple lean to shelter for Winter use when I'm not using a hammock. This works well and has been dubbed by some as the Adirondack pitch, due to it's resemblance to the public shelters built along the famous trail there.

When using this shelter in snow conditions, I tend to attach a small extra tarp sheet on one side of the front to form an annex and reduce the spindrift that enters from that side. This also works well, but requires careful attachment to make a good seal and is prone to coming apart in strong wind.

The first time I travelled to the Norwegian Arctic in Winter I was hit by repeated thaw/freeze conditions which effectively turned this cotton tarp into a stiff unmanageable sheet of ice and canvas and adding considerably to the flight weight on the return journey.

This prompted me to use a poly builders tarp on my next trip which was so cheap that I didn't even bother flying back with it, donating it to a local camping centre in Jokkmokk instead.

The background was set then for me starting to think about ways to improve this basic set up and after experimenting with some scissors, a sheet of paper and a roll of Sellotape I was ready to make this extended version of my Winter shelter that I tried out for the first time at a small meet in the Peak District.

The construction is made from an 18'x12' poly tarp which is a fairly standard size and requires a 6'x6' section to be cut from one corner. This section is then re-attached onto another edge to form an additional awning that can be folded down to cover the front opening if necessary, much like a traditional Baker tent.

The raw cut edges where the section was removed are taped together, leaving a small hole for a ridge line or pole at the top. This forms a much stronger version of the walled annex that I found so useful by adding a second sheet in snow conditions.

The seams are joined using waterproof gaffa tape, which is again cheap and easy to obtain. This is also used to re-enforce any raw cut edges, the guying and support points to reduce the risk of the tarp tearing in windy conditions.

It had a fairly good testing for this weakness on the Peak District meet as I set myself up on an exposed ridge with the back of the shelter facing into the prevailing wind.

Somewhat predictably, the poly tarp was a bit noisy in the wind, hail and rain that we had that weekend but the structure remained standing and the tarp suffered no damage.

I filled in the gaps along the bottom edges with loose leaves much as I would use snow in the Arctic and this made it cosy and draft free to the extent that Rob dubbed it the “Wayland Shed”

As an idea of costs the tarp was delivered for about £17 and I used a £2 roll of gaffa tape in the construction. All the cordage was stuff I had lying around and though I took the poles with me on this occasion, in most Boreal forests, finding poles suitable for the supports would not be a significant problem.

All in all, a cosy, secure shelter for around £20 can't be that bad and is easily repairable on site with a bit of gaffa tape on hand.

For trips abroad, where I often return with more than I left with, it's also not the end of the world if I do not fly home with it. There is always someone who can find a use for a spare builders tarp.

 

[BlueTrain]

I like the results of your efforts to create a temporary shelter here in this thread. That has been one of my projects that really hasn't gone anywhere (meaning I'm not there yet). I wanted something like this for two reasons.

One reason is because one of my favorite places up in the hills happens to be quite windy. To sit and have lunch or just to rest, you need a good windbreak. The other reason is for when there's precipitation. I don't know why I thought you didn't need shelter when it snows but on one of my outings to a place not too far from that windy ridge, it snowed. There was snow on the ground when I got there but I wasn't expecting snow. It snowed anyway. But I remember when I was in the army, stationed in Germany, having a stand-by vehicle inspection in the motor pool with my Jeep's hood up and it snowing.

Anyhow, I've tried using a Zeltbahn, which wasn't bad but it wasn't that good, either. My poncho, otherwise adequate for a walk in the rain (it you want it to rain, go for a hike), is too small for a shelter and also too flimsy. I don't have a full-size army poncho. I've almost decided to just bring along my tent, except I don't want something with a floor. And besides, as soon as I put up the tent some ranger is bound to happen along and ask to see my camping permit, which has happened.

 

[Bishop]

Milicamp 5 Piece Cook Set (pans x 2, lids x 2 and a pot grabber)
Ridiculously cheap and lends itself well to be being modified into a pair of hanging pots,
plus the woodgas stove from Wildstoves will nest inside the smallest one.

 

[Blundstoned Love]

I'll start by apologising for introducing this link.

If you are like me you will spend a long time perusing all the stuff and finding lots of "that would be useful" type items (ie stuff you don't really need).

I was looking for some mini stanley type blades and a member helped me out. Shortly after I found them on this site.

It is very cheap, but the postage is not, so you have to buy quite a lot of things to even that out - which you can use as an excuse for buying lots of "that would be useful" items.

Anyway, there is some good, but cheap (in both senses) stuff here.

https://www.buysend.com/

 

[Blundstoned Love]

Oh and here's a 10% off code - BUYSEND10