Best cook set

[Drybones]

I'm currious as to the favorite stove and cook set used on the trail. I used a Foster can and a stove made from the bottom of a spray can this spring but may try something different when I return to the trail. The set up I used worked well... pot, stove, wind screen, and sack all weighed only 3oz but it was pretty ugly by the time I reached Dennis Cove but it was still working fine. It would be nice if there was a way of setting up a poll to get actual useage numbers for the different products.

[bear bag hanger]

I've used just about everything. Gas - it was the only thing available when I started hiking, but always seemed like it was ready to explode every time I used it. Canister stoves - use to use these all the time, but during a recent hike someone managed to get one to explode. Always knew it was possible, but never quite visualized just how much damage these things can do. Quite frankly, I'm a little scared of the things now. Alcohol - it's what I use now. Have used soda can stoves, but they don't seem to last very long. Plus, it you step on one, it's pretty much useless, but it's easy to make a new one. Right now I use a Trangia stove. They're a little heavy compared to the rest, but they won't die. The Trangia wind screen/burner holder seems a little too heavy and bulky, so use a old 1 liter titanium cook pot and some titanium foil for a wind screen. It all nest together quite nicely. The only problem is it burns through alcohol fairly quickly. The little top that is supposed to slow down the burn rate doesn't seem to help with my present setup. The Trangia wind screen/burner holder burns much more efficiently, but it's still too bulky. Still looking for a holder that will keep the fire in check while using it, but isn't quite so big as the Trangia burner holder.

[Don H]

I use a MSR Pocket Rocket stove, 600ml Snowpeake Ti mug with foil lid, and a plastic spoon. Does what it needs to do, boil 1 to 2 cups of water.

[Tuckahoe]

I use a Snow Peak giga power stove and an Imusa mug.

[cabbagehead]

Nothing beats Titanium for a pot. I don't have one, but they're probably more warp and dent resistant than aluminum.
For a stove, you want something efficient, and rugged like my stoves (bottlestoves.com).
For a windscreen, you want something that fits your pot the best. I recommend a caldera cone shaped windscreen.

[bamboo bob]

I love my jetboil, can't understand why anybody uses anything else.

[Another Kevin]

To a clueless weekender, it doesn't much matter. Something to boil water in (I use the pot from a GSI cookset) and something to heat it with (I use a Whisperlite if I might have to melt snow, a pop can stove otherwise.) If your Foster's can started to look a little tired, why not just toss it and cut down another? (Pass the contents off on someone else, life's too short to drink Foster's!)

I carry the GSI pot for three reasons. (1) More often than not, I go with my daughter, and we're cooking for two (but sharing some gear, so it's a net saving in weight over going solo!). (2) It fits the flame pattern of my stove. With a different pot I'd need to build a different stove. (3) I also spend half an ounce and carry a Fauxbaker. It's nice having the occasional muffin.

If I weren't a clueless weekender, I'd probably have to give up on (2) and (3) to save weight.

[Tuckahoe]

Nothing beats Titanium for a pot. I don't have one, but they're probably more warp and dent resistant than aluminum.



I dont think I'd agree with that statement. For myself personally I dont find the weight advantage that significant over my Imusa pot, especially when factoring in the cost of titanium over that of aluminum. I dont find the warp or dent resistance all that important either. I've never even come close to destroying any aluminum cook where. And aluminum is a better cooking surface.

[Tinker]

While aluminum is the king of even heating and is the standard for the most efficient alcohol stoves for this reason, it is more porus than titanium and scratches more easily, which gives bacteria more nooks and crannies to hide in. In reality, though, your cookware is sterilized every time you boil water in it, so, having used aluminum, stainless, and titanium, I can say that I prefer titanium for weight savings (and quick cooling around the rim - I can lift it off my stove almost as soon as the stove goes out after boiling water with just a bandanna). Aluminum is a great material for more serious cooking where you might want to simmer a sauce without burning it or make pancakes or cook burgers or bacon, but things like to stick to bare aluminum, and the coatings that are used on coated pans (including anodizing, Teflon, and ceramics) are likely to be consumed if they are scraped or flake off during use, and I have no idea how bad they might be for the body. Stainless steel is good in that things don't stick to it as easily as bare aluminum, and it's much less expensive than titanium, but the heating isn't as even as aluminum (the reason that professional quality kitchen cookware made of stainless often has a thick aluminum base bonded to it).
If you're looking for name brands, I would rather talk physical properties than trademarks - hype sells but doesn't always work.

[Tinker]

One more thing (separate from the material issue). I've used pots with concave (indented) bottoms and have found that they are not good for frying anything. The oil goes to the lower part of the pot around the outside of the bottom and whatever you attempt to fry (popcorn was my lesson here) will burn in the middle of the pot where there is no oil.

[theinfamousj]

I have three different pots and stoves, depending on what I'm up to. I have a SnowPeak 700 (Titanium) mug pot thing with its matching caldera cone windscreen (just upgraded to titanium!!) and the stove that comes with that wind screen. I have the AntiGravityGear caldera caddy and cozy. So, this is my most multi fuel (alcohol, esbit, or wood), multi bowl (the caddy cozy breaks apart into an insulated mug and a bowl) set up and I love it so. However, it is heavier than ...

Heineken Keg Pot that I made by sticking the boyfriend with a keg can of Heineken and telling him to drink it all and then safety-cutting the lid off, mixed with one of Zelph's FanceeFeast stoves. I take this set up when I have little need of multiple cooking containers. I have an Orikaso mug that usually sits in my pack's frame sheet that comes along with this stove so that I can sip something (warm, alcoholic, etc.) while I have my food in the pot.

And then, because I was at the REI garage sale to be an additional pair of scouting eyes for a friend, I did pick up a JetBoil. It came on the Art Loeb Trail trip for which I have photos in my photo gallery (though none of the JetBoil). In a group of four of us, I was one of two people who brought a stove. I figured that since it was new gear and since I was heating water for more than myself, that it should come. Mostly, though, I use this stove when on road trips or attending Dragon Boat races (my non-hiking sport).

[Velvet Gooch]

Ursa Design Clikstand S-2 (T-2 windscreen)
Trangia burner (screw-on lid and simmer ring)
MSR Quick 1 Pot
GSI Outdoors Piranha Foon (x2)

:::WINTER:::
+Snow Peak Kettle No. 1
+USGI 10 oz melamine cup (The ugly, indestructible brown ones.)

[Hairbear]

i use a cat food tin with two rows of 16 holes in the side.i used to use a army canteen pot/cup till i stole the coffee pot idea from rain man its 8 cup stainless it has a lid and ive found nothing easier for making hobo stews and hot drinks at the same time. excelent for purifying water or heating bath water.. a little heavy but to me its worth it if you like to wash your galded parts at the end of the day.just heat the water then add hot water to the water already in my pack cover as a sink.cleanliness is next to flylessness

[redfox1939]

If you want some list of best cook set for your hiking trail,you can visit this site http://www.backcountrygear.com/camping-and-hiking/kitchen/cookware.html and http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/497593.You can use foil packs and f
or base camping, get a good Lodge dutch oven - if your campsite allows open flames, just make a bed of coals, place the oven over them, lay more on the top over the oven, and cook away. I'd also invest in a nice Lodge cast iron griddle. Its amazing what you can do with those two - the Dutch oven covers a main course at dinner, the griddle most of breakfast.