How Will You Cook?

Now that we have all of these nice meals, how are we going to prepare them on the trail? There seems to be some kind of idyllic cast-iron-on-a-campfire picture that most people think of when camp cooking is mentioned. To put this at bay, we will not be starting fires (leave no trace! if there's no need to make a fire to stay warm or cook, don't do it). Since most all of our meals cook in boiling water, we really have a rather limited need for an extensive cookset. Plus stoves/pots/etc. can quickly get pretty heavy. Here's what we've got:

1: Stove



This is made from old beer cans. You can see the plans here. I made a bunch in case this one breaks. It burns several types of alcohol, which are readily available for a number of uses.

2: Pot Stand



This keeps the pot the right distance from the stove. It's made from bike spokes and an old TV antenna (though any small, light, and hollow metal tube will do). I based it on this plan.

3: Windscreen



This is made from two pieces of 4" aluminum vent stuck together. It provides good protection from gusts, is very light, and comes apart to nest inside the cookpot.

4: Cook Pot



It's an Evernew Titanium pot. We have 2, but are only bringing the 1.3L one, as all we need to do is boil water.

5: Pot Cozy



It's made from Reflctix Foil Insulation and tape. It weighs next to nothing, but keeps things warm (or hot) for substantially longer than just the pot (Titanium transfers heat very well, so it warms up quick, but it also cools off very rapidly). It was inspired by the cozies available from Anti Gravity Gear.

Essentially, we'll boil some water, cook any pasta or rice, add in the dehydrated goods, and put it in the cozy for 5 minutes or so to reach the original consistency. Here's a shot of the whole mess in action:



And here's everything all nested together. All together (without fuel) this weighs only 11.5 oz. With the scrubber, sporks, matches and lighter it's up to 14.5 oz.