I thought I would start a discussion on the camp kitchen as I've always enjoyed the outdoor cooking while on a bike trip.
Unlike some I find cooking (and eating) a good meal before going to bed a good way to wind down. I don't mind putting in a bit more effort to make a nicer meal and enjoy thinking about what I will make for dinner. Some of my recent trips have been to areas where services are rare and I can't expect to stock up on anything but basic food 1-3 weeks apart. I thought I'd share my setup and hopefully get some other people commenting and sharing theirs.
I'm looking to change my setup a bit as my next trip is going to be the Colorado trail where services are more regular and predictable but the terrain demands a more minimalist setup. I am looking to lighten the load but am apprehensive about losing cooking function. I've done my weights in grams, apologies to anyone from Samoa or that other country that still uses the imperial system.
The gear I've settled on for remote area trips includes: - Hard Anodised Pot with frying pan lid (just under 1L pot if solo, ~250-300g)
- Insulated (vacuum) flask - wide mouth (~500ml if solo, 335g)
- Various stoves (Bushbuddy woodburning stove for trips with long stretches without services (~150g, wood for fuel scavenged not carried)
- Other items include an Opinel Knife, small plastic flexible cuttingboard and a spoon/fork.
The flask seems like a bit of a luxury item outside of winter but it is really a multipurpose item. I use it to:
- As a 500ml water bottle that can keep water cold on a hot day or tea hot on a cold day.
- Make real coffee - Pour boiling water over the grounds in the flask, shake and let the grounds settle for 15+ mins resulting in very good black coffee. My preference is to ride for a bit before stopping for a nice coffee and stretch.
- It has a screw on cup to drink the hot coffee, tea or beer if you manage to have some stashed away
- Cooking dried beans/lentils - Dried beans or lentils can cook in the flask during the day while you are riding. With the right spices and stock you can do a pretty good dahl, mexicanish blackbeans and rice, soup or add them to anything else to provide some protein instead of relying on carbs, fats and sugars for your calories. Due to this point I think that on big stretches between services the flask may save packed weight as dried legumes are filling energy dense and leave you feeling very full. Also they have fibre in them. Don't go weeks without fibre unless you have packed a lot of toilet paper...
- Cooking a good casserole. Similarly to cooking the dried beans all day I've done casseroles in the flask by browning things in the pot and transferring to the flask once they've come to the boil for a few minutes. It stays at cooking temperature and cooks as you ride. This doesn't really work for backcountry stuff though as you don't usually have sources of fresh meat.
I like the
hard anodised aluminium pot set. I like to make real food not dehydrate so I like using a pot as opposed to a tall narrow cup. I am reluctant to spend money on a Titanium pot as there isn't much weight savings and the hot spots on the titanium make it harder to cook some things (oat meal, eggs, frying). The fry pan lid is useful when making things like pasta as you can cook the sauce in the fry pan then boil the water for the noodles using the still full frypan as the lid insulating the boiling water and keeping the sauce hot.
The
bushbuddy (same/original design to the solo stove) is great at minimising weight when you have a long time between services or when you don't know what fuels are available. I cooked on it for 3 months in Siberian boonies. The problem is it is labour intensive. On a nice day it takes a bit of extra time. If it has been raining all day, week or more you spend much too much time looking for the driest wood and using the knife to peel back the bark and wet outside to find the dry inner. If you've been riding all day in the persistent rain you don't feel like doing this just to get your dinner. It does force you to learn some good survival/fire skills. On a good day it makes for a nice way to cook dinner as if you are cooking on an open fire, but if you are having a bad day due to the weather the bushbuddy can make it worse. Having a pepsi can stove and a small amount of alcohol fuel as a backup is not a bad idea and weighs very little.
Planned Cooking Setup for the Colorado TrailI'm reviewing my kitchen for the Colorado Trail to reduce weight and volume and have the following ideas.
- Making a thin lid for the pot instead of the frypan lid. (saving about 100g and a bit of pack space) This would make make the lid less durable and could be bent in packing/use. I would also be hesitant to use a thin lid to drain something like pasta but I could limit myself to one pot pasta without too much issue. I may have an old pot lid that would fit and be strong but save less weight.
- Ditching the thermos would save 335g. Dried beans are difficult to buy in small quantities and aren't needed when resupplies are regular. Coffee is an issue but it could be left to settle in the pot. I'd need something to drink hot drinks from and having a solid bottle is pretty useful so it would probably be replaced by a 500ml nalgene bottle at minimum (100g). Ultimately ditching the thermos could save up to 235g.
- Going all UL and using a tiny titanium cup/pot for all my cooking and drinking. saving around 350-500g. I don't expect to go this far.
- I'll probably be using an isobutane stove as it seems alcohol stoves and wood burning stoves are often banned if the fire danger is an issue. It's probably heavier but will be quicker to cook with.
I'll be going pretty close to UL for most other gear decisions but I can't seem to pry myself away from my beloved comforts of cooking and enjoying a good meal in a nice place.
What do other people's camp kitchens look like? How does it change with different trips?
