Preparedness for when

pineapple

sorryImoved wrote: »

Frugalsod

Aluminum is a little faster to boil. Only thing I have heard about stainless vs aluminum is that you don't want to use just the aluminum base to cook directly on as steel has a higher melting point than aluminum. Aluminum is easier to care for. If you are just boiling water for a cup of tea the aluminum trekker is great. If you want to boil water to purify or cook with a larger kettle might be better.

Call me paranoid but I think the jury is still out on whether aluminium in cookware has health risks. So pineapple prefers to avoid it. She has enough damaging habits already! :rotfl:

Possession

You can freeze your glut of eggs if you separate white and yolk.

Perplexed_Pineapple

I love the look of the Kelly kettles but I think they must be less flexible than just a large pot, although good if fuel is short. Since I already have a large billy can to go with the Trangia I'd probably just use that over a campfire if needed. Maybe not on the coals given it's aluminium so a tripod would be good. I found some instructions on making your own tripod here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Camping-tripod-for-cooking-over-fire/
but I'm thinking that in an emergency situation, so long as you had some kind of chain you could improvise the rest of it with any kind of pole for the legs and maybe some wire to hold it all together. Alternatively if you made a couple of A frames with a crossbar to hold the chain you could keep the joins away from the heat of the fire and use any kind of cordage to hold it together. You can never have too much cordage IMO, I know you can make your own from nettles and things but that would definitely be a longer term project for the long winter evenings by the light of your reed-and-tallow lamps :rotfl:

Frugalsod

pineapple wrote: »

Call me paranoid but I think the jury is still out on whether aluminium in cookware has health risks. So pineapple prefers to avoid it. She has enough damaging habits already! :rotfl:

That was one of the reasons why I asked about Steel over Aluminium. I will probably opt for the steel.

I was thinking of getting the cook set at the same time and so could use it to eat as well. Though the base camp would allow me to fill a flask for the day and last thing at night to fill a hot water bottle as well as that late night cocoa.

The smaller trekker would be useful for me on days out just for making coffee, but I think that eventually I would need both.

I am thinking of other cooking systems as well, so the trivet will make sense. I am looking at avoiding open fire systems as they are less efficient overall, plus if there is a nasty SHTF situation you will want to be a lot more stealthy than have an open fire, and you will not want to be looking for loads of firewood in such situations.

[Deleted User]

You can cook over an open flame by setting a shorter Y shaped stick in the ground a short distance from your fire and finding another much longer Y shaped stick to prop in the fork of the smaller one weighed down by a rock at the end touching the ground. You can hang your billy can from a chain/rope tied to the end of the longer stick or just hang the can on the stick itself. Much easier than tying a tripod! Lyn xxx.

Perplexed_Pineapple

Mrs LW that's clearly a good solution if all you want to do is hang a pot over the fire but I think the extra stability you would have with a tripod or similar would be better if you wanted to do any active cooking - I have images of trying to stir a pot with one hand while holding your forked stick to stabilise it. It's good to have a range of ideas in mind though to suit different circumstances. I'm going to have to try this now, I've got enough wood for a campfire (ok, most of it would probably qualify as kindling). Will have to be later though, need to clear some more ground for sowing veggies in

[Deleted User]

PP you can prop the long stick on a flat rock instead of a Y shaped stick which gives it more stability, if you have a flat rock that is, the other way of stabilising your long stick is to tie a rope weighted by a heavy stone a little way behind the Y of the longer stick, this should touch the ground and will keep the stick steady while you stir. Dont tension it too tightly though as the extra weight of the contents of the pan could snap it, Lyn xxx.

Perplexed_Pineapple

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

PP you can prop the long stick on a flat rock instead of a Y shaped stick which gives it more stability, if you have a flat rock that is, the other way of stabilising your long stick is to tie a rope weighted by a heavy stone a little way behind the Y of the longer stick, this should touch the ground and will keep the stick steady while you stir. Dont tension it too tightly though as the extra weight of the contents of the pan could snap it, Lyn xxx.

Sounds more complicated than the tripod :rotfl:
I think the basic message is to have a big knife, small saw, or axe, some cordage and a good imagination and you will be able to improvise something in many circumstances :cool:

jk0

Have any of you noticed this little item on Amazon?:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yellowstone-Mini-Portable-Stove-Blue/dp/B00AOLGN7O/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&qid=1394978104&sr=8-23&keywords=mini+camping+stove

It's an ultra lightweight version of Bedsit Bob's favourite camping stove, but about one third of the weight. I think it would be ideal for hiking etc.

[Deleted User]

Look up 'FIRESPOUT' stove, it's a folding stainless steel portable woodburner, runs on any fuel and weighs around 1KG. You can get a pan support and a damper door for it too, mine is an old style one and actually comes in 4 separate pieces, really easy to use and very easy to transport, Lyn xxx.