See them now - says stainless steel mix, what are they like to clean? I'm such a mucksy pup
I have no idea what "stainless steel mix" is supposed to mean. It could mean that parts are stainless and parts aren't. That would certainly describe mine, but while the handles are stainless the pans are aluminium.
I would really like a stainless steel mess tin, Found
this BCB one on fleabay, being BCB it has credit and looks good.
I'd always be wary of believing an eBay advert -- ever since I drove 140 miles to see a truck described as "will start first time every time". It actually caught fire first time, so I drove the 140 miles back home.
Also found
this one, a lot cheaper and more pots which are supposed to all fold together into a carry-bag ... any comments?
I carry that one in the tail pack on my motor-bike when I'm going fast and light. It's perfectly adequate, but a bit on the small side for my apetite. Being light it's thin so you have to take care heating things or they'll burn. Otherwise no complaints at all, a bargain at the price whuch is about what I paid several years ago. SWMBO made me a couple of extra bags to hold the pans separately so that when they're all nested together in their bags on the bike they don't rattle around against each other.
Further suggestions welcomed.
It really depends on the sort of thing you want, I use one of these
stainless steel Swedish army Trangias a lot, but it's not everyone's, er, cup of tea. Cheap enough, bombproof, efficient, thicker stainless than your average camping shop kit therefore heavy. I carry a stainless scourer in mine. You can get them with or without the burner and the outer aluminium sleeve which holds the burner and pan when in use. I have both the aluminium and the stainless versions of the original two-pan rectangular mess tins, and I have to say that there are better options out there. My biggest criticism is that the folding handles make it very easy to tip the food onto the ground. There's a square stainless pan that fits nicely on the British Army No2 and similar stoves, and the Optimus 111 stoves fit in it very neatly so I keep one of those in the Jeep with a 111B inside it.
This might be the one but I'm not sure this one is stainless. You can cook in the
Crusader mug of course, it's plenty big enough for one of my snacks.
I seem to recall hearing there's "stainless steel" and "stainless steel", ie some can be better stuff than others.
Saying "stainless steel" is a bit like saying "cake". Modern steels are all alloys. Even the simplest 'mild' steel will have a bit of carbon, traces of metals, sulphur, silicon, manganese and whatnot. The manufacturers go to great lengths to keep some impurities out, but others can actually improve the characteristics so they might leave them in. There are all sorts of different alloys, or 'grades' as they're sometimes called. The use of the word grade is a bit unfortunate because it doesn't necessarily mean that one grade is better than another. It depends on the application.
Typically stainless steels for vessels in the kitchen will be
grade 304. It's sometimes known as 18/8, which is just the percentages of chromium and nickel in the steel -- 18% and 8% respectively. The rest of the steel is mostly iron. Chromium and nickel are very expensive compared with iron, which is why stainless steels are very expensive compared to (most) carbon steels. I've heard of stainless from the far east which is supposed to be 304 but isn't. Doesn't surprise me at all knowing that lot, so caveat emptor if you want to
take a punt.
You can make table knives from 304 but you'll never get a decent cutting edge on it. To make a 'stainless' alloy which has good properties for cutting edges and wear resistance generally means sacrificing some of the corrosion resistance, and the quest to improve both is ongoing. The modern alloys can be staggeringly expensive.
