Having only recently entered the world of light-weight backpacking I of course wanted to do a little research about gear. Something that I thought would be kind of fun to work on would be assembling a cook kit. Initially when I first started backpacking I had bought one of those top burner stoves that uses the small canisters of the isoprobutan or whatever it's called, and that didn't last long. They're heavy, the fuel canisters are expensive, and there are many moving parts that could break. Now I know these stoves have there place, winter for example when you need the fuel capacity to melt snow and such, or you really cook gourmet. For summer I typically don't have to melt snow, at least not yet who knows with the crazy weather, so I didn't need that type of stove. I was looking for something light, easy, and cheap above all else. Enter, the famous cat stove.
Cat Stove
Popularized by Andrew Skurka the ultimate hiker, the humble can of cat food has been transformed by many a hiker into a simple stove for boiling water. I will not go into too much detail about this stove since there are plenty of plans on the internet. But strictly speaking it's a two step process, open the can to empty the cat food, and use a paper hole punch to make the "jets". The stove itself then acts at the pot stand so it's multifunctional in that sense. The stove itself weighs just a few grams, hardly noticeable in a pack, and because the can of cat food costs less than a dollar, it wouldn't be the end of the world if you broke it. I will say this however, be sure to practice using this stove, they are really tricky when you first use them so you need to PRACTICE. I made the mistake of not trying this stove out at home the first time I used it, I had used penny stoves from pop cans before which are similar, but different enough that I couldn't get it to work properly. Mainly due to my windscreen being too tight around my pot resulting in poor air supply which just snuffed the stove out.
Cooking Pot
This part of the kit has been a little bit more for me personally. There are a few pieces to this puzzle; weight of the pot, the versatility, performance, durability, and again the cost. The very first pot I had ever gotten was a GSI soloist, good piece of gear which I do recommend for a cooking pot. However, it's a little bulky and heavy for a solo light-weight trip. That being said, I wanted something that was lighter weight than that piece, and smaller in volume. Here is where I had to get creative. I hopped in my car, drove to Wal-Mart, aimlessly wandered through the isles of merchandise, and found myself in the camping section. This is where I found it, a simple stainless steel cup with a folding handle. It can hold around 16oz or so, which is two cups and plenty to rehydrate a freeze-dried meal, and if you like coffee, there ya go. It was something like $5, but since going back into the store I couldn't find it, so I hope it was just sold out. Otherwise there are mugs like that made from titanium, which if you have the money go for it, but I sure don't.
The Kit
Now having the stove and the pot are vitally important in putting together a solid kit, but I felt like I could add more than that. Youtube being the wonderful place it is, lead me to an interesting video by wawhiker in which he demonstrates a canister system he put together out of two plastic food containers connected by their lids. I am not taking credit for originality of the design to this kit, however I have modified it in such a way that I believe makes it unique and more versatile. The hard-sided containers will prevent crushing your stove and windscreen, and since they are water proof if your fuel bottle for some reason were to leak it wouldn't ruin your gear.
-Ziplock canister
-Cozy
-Fuel bottle
-Cat stove
-Fish Mouth spreader(Bail)
-Pot
-Lid for pot
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| This photo just shows a closer view of the pot itself, which again is just a stainless steel cup with folding handles from Wal-Mart. |
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| Fish mouth spreader as bail, drilling two holes parallel to the handle is essential. |
Making your own-
Materials:
-The canisters(watch the wawhiker video he explains what brand to use, I bought them from Hyvee)
-Cat food can (Or bean dip, found in the check out lanes of Wal-Mart)
-Fish mouth Spreader Six inch
-Small plastic water bottle
-Stainless steel cup from Wal-Mart
-One quart paint can lid
-Reflectix material and some special reflective metal tape (Hardware store)
Construction
It's fairly intuitive, just glue the lids together, thankfully the lids are the same size for both containers. I would say this has been the easiest construction I have had the pleasure of completing, gathering the right materials took the most time, and in all honesty it was the most fun part looking for pieces to add. Total cost was probably around $15, I had some of the things already so if you need to buy the tape and reflectix that will make it cost more, but it's useful around the house anyway.
Video Demonstrations
Wawhiker cooking kit
Pot Cozy Construction
Cat stove demo
Conclusion
This is a compact light weight kit that has served me well, as far as weight goes, as is pictured above it weighs 11.4oz. I will need to include my spork, alcohol fuel, a lighter/matches, soap, a bandana, a windscreen, and maybe some other odds and ends. My cook kit prior to this weighed around 18oz, and it included much less than this as well, and I didn't include the stove or canister fuel weight in there either, which I always seemed to carry too much of anyways... I hope this "guide" helps, please if you have any questions leave a comment and I will be sure to get back to you as soon as possible, the videos I have linked should provide the information I left out. Thank you very much for reading.
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