Recommendations for an all in one mini cook kit for solo camping

[Tomteifi]

Hi all

I would like to tap the wealth of knowledge here please and ask for recommendations on what cook kit I should obtain for solo lightweight summer wild camping. Just need cup and pot really-I think unless you know different of course!

thanks

Tom

 

[Grotzilla]

For one pot cooking I use a trangia triangle with my crusader mug as unfortunately my alpkit mytimug is slightly too small!

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[bopdude]

It does depend a bit on what your going be cooking on, and what your going to be eating, some of the cheaper kits don't like open flame in that poor fitting lids let in smoke and ash, not nice lol

 

[stone monkey]

Mini trangia, or as i use a fold flat wood burner adapted to fit a trangia burner if required

 

[Tomteifi]

Hi

I've got a few options for the actual cooking from a teensy weensy 1" alcohol stove made from a Dove make deodorant can up to a single burner camping gaz stove plus most things in between. Its more in the way of pots pans cups etc. I want really.

 

[ocean1975]

Alpkit do some good lightweight gas stoves and titanium mugs also you can't go wrong with a zebra billy pot.

 

[Nic Le Becheur]

There's a lot to be said for the Ghillie and Kelly kettles, as they burn just about everything and anything that comes to hand. I've tried the add-on pot and stand that allow you to pot cook on top of the kettle while it's coming to the boil, and the grille that lets you continue to cook on top of the fire bowl afterward, but it takes some practice and deft-handedness to do anything more elegant than warm up the contents of a tin - depends how much of a culinary challenge you like to take on. The pot, lid (also usable as frying pan), grille, pot stand and holder all pack up inside the kettle and hardly add much to the overall weight (about albs. depending on make and size).

 

[copper_head]

My lightweight cook kit comprises of a primus alutech 1l pot with pot cozy and an alpkit mytimug. If I'm going for a couple of nights I use a whitebox style meths stove or for longer trips a fire maple remote feed gas stove. Plus a plastic spork and aluminium foil windshield.

 

[Brynglas]

Depending on what you're doing activity wise, I like my jetboil but I am aware that some people have had problems with them.

I don't have experience of the crusader cookies but I know some people are big fans.

For the last year or so I've been using a Four Dogs Bushcooker Ltii and Mors pot which are fantastic bits of kit. The LT ii burns anything from alcohol/ meths wood, charcoal you name it. The boil time for water is excellent and the pot and stove weigh very little.

 

[Janne]

I have used a Trangia for close to 40 years. The model that has 2 one liter casseroles. I just added a Trangia coffee pot.
Works well with the mets burner and besides a wood fire too.
I never bought the newfangled casseroles with Teflon surface as I do not want it to chip off and get into my food.
( they get dented)

The only modification I did years ago was to the burner, I enlarged a few holes for more heat output. And I carry a couple of spare O rings, as I once burned the only O ring I carried and wasted unburned alcohol!

 

[Quixoticgeek]

Oh the choices, so many choices...

An indecision of pots

I have several cooksets depending on what I am doing.

• Snow Peak Personal Cooker 3 - This is a stainless steel set comprising 2 pots, frying pan, plate, bowl, lid. Together it's over 500g, but I don't take the whole set, usually using just one pot, or the 2 pots plus lids. I don't bother with the bowl. The personal cooker 1 is also available and it's just the pot, lid and bowl from the personal cooker 3. I really like the build quality of the Snow peak stuff and may add one of their Kettle 1 pots.
• Tatonka 1L kettle - Relatively heavy but brilliant over the fire will nest inside the 1.6L pot.
• MSR Alpine cookset - 2 pots and a frying pan/lid. Stainless steel, heavy but durable. I've had this set for over a decade as it was the only set that my MSR stove didn't seem to melt.
• MSR Alpine frying pan - Heavy, but a lovely frying pan for when you can bear to carry that little bit extra, rewarded with bacon for breakfast.
• Alpkit Ali pots - Relatively light non stick ali set - I tend to use just the smaller of the pots, tho I tend to use the snow peak stuff instead now.
• Evernew Appalachian set - Titanium meths/esbit/wood stove plus a 550ml pot. I pair this with a evernew 400ml cup. A really nice little set that is great for boiling water for rehydrating meals as well as tea/coffee. The Meths stove is rather thirsty.
• GSI Glacier cup - Stainless steel 500ml cup, I've got a lid on mine which helps efficiency as well as keeping the coffee warm longer. Great piece of kit, a civilian alternative to the crusader mug.
• Zebra billy can - I actually got rid of this in the end as it was so damn heavy, and being tall you needed a long spoon to be able to stir the contents. Replaced it with the tatonka pot above.

So which would I recommend? Depends on what you're doing. If it's just boiling water for dehydrated meals or for tea/coffee, the Evernew Appalachian set is brilliant. If I'm using my Primus Omnilite and expect to cook actual food, I tend to take the snow peak pots or one of the alipots from alpkit. If I'm taking the MSR Whisperlite stove it means I've got a vehicle, and so will take the MSR pots too.

Put another way:

• Titanium - boil water only, if you try to cook food you'll just burn it. But the lightest weight.
• Aluminium - Mid weight, tends to come as Hard Anodised, not as durable as Stainless steel, don't use metal utensils, don't scour it with metal or sand.
• Stainless Steel - Strong, durable, can be heavy. Some pots save weight by being a bit thinner, which can make it easier to burn food. You can clean stubborn bits of food of with a metal scourer or sand without worrying. My preference if I can justify the weight.

Hopefully some of that proves useful.

J

 

[TarHeelBrit]

A couple of my cook kits, don't know if they'll be of any help but here goes.

British army mess tins. Larger for food cooking, smaller for boiling water. The BA Hexi cooker works well and stores inside.


A recent gift from my wife, the Crusader Mk1 cook kit. I've since added a shoulder strap to the Crusader for carrying.