Cooking Solutions

T

Temper

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Oct 30, 2002
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After a 2 day backpacking trip a friend I and took last week we decided we really needed to come up with a cheap and efficient way to heat water for that all important coffee and to a lesser extent food :)

We were going light so only had a cup, pot and spoon each (in fact we shared my cup) When we were cooking though, positioning stuff on the coals so that it was getting good heat and not starving the area of air was a problem. Afterreturning and a bit of thought I welded up three 'T' shaped stakes that I will arange in a tri angle and sit the pot/cup/kettle on that. I figure this will make maximum use of the available heat without starving any of it of air.

What do you guys do to heat a container of water over a fire if weight and space are an isssue?
 
I am addicted to coffee... There, I said it. Furthermore, I have absolutely no intention of quitting.

I only use two cooking “pots” in the bush. A steel US Army canteen cup and a 5-inch diameter x 3-inch deep round, aluminum pot with a snap-on lid.

If I am low impact camping I use a small, butane stove with either and it works great, especially if I stow the stove in my daughters pack. No muss, no fuss, quit complaining kid or you get the tent too.

I also have the stove sleeve that fits around the canteen cup and press fits onto the base of the cup. Placed directly over the fire it does a real good job of not smothering the coals beneath. It does collect a thick coating of tar.

It’s designed to use the trioxene fuel bars. They will heat water but normally don’t get it to a solid boil. I usually shove little twigs, pine needles etc in on top of the triox bar to actually boil the water.

Birch bark curls are a stand-alone fuel source with the stove sleeve. If there are birch trees around there is usually a good supply of dead curled up bark. I light a few of these and place the cup/stove combo over top and feed bark into the opening.

I like the “T” shaped bars idea but they don’t need to be large to get the job done. You could make them out of heavy gauge wire with a simple “L” bend at the top like a tent stake and get the same effect.

Rocks work as well. Depending on the rocks I have used one, two, or three dropped into the coals. Large chunks of firewood work in the same way.

If I’m just going to heat water for coffee I normally just place the canteen cup on the up-wind side with the handle facing away from the fire. Since the cup is only half full the unfilled portion gets very hot. When the water has little bubbles forming I remove it and tip the cup. The water makes contact with the hot part of the cup and boils furiously where it touches. This gets it hot enough for coffee. Mac
 
Thanks for the great reply. Yes, coffee is the only thing that kep me going up hill that week :)

I thought of a thick wire but I had a bunch of bar hanging around thats about 5mm so it should be OK. Rocks are a no no in that particular area, you can see they just want an excuse to explode :D

We have another, longer trip planned before the rainy season kicks in here. I guess we will give the "T" Pegs a decent field test.
 
I have a little alcohol stove made out of two cat food cans, a tomato sauce can, and some fiberglass insulation. It sits on a cylinder of hardware cloth (as a pot rest) that gets surrounded by some aluminum foil as a windscreen. The whole outfit cost next to nothing to build, weighs next to nothing, and fits inside an aluminum pot I favor. No moving parts. No soot. No noise. No smoke. Ecco fuel.

An 8 oz plastic bottle of alcohol (auto fuel addative or chaffing dish fuel) makes soup/coffee all weekend with some to spare. (Coffee fanatics may need to test their requirements in advance. A tbsp of fuel makes a cup of coffee.)

There must be hundreds of variations of the stove, some made of pop cans, on the Internet. Search "stove" plus "alcohol."
 
I usuall do about the same as Pict When jeep camping, however, I can either put the coffee pot on a grill set on stones over the cooking pit, or arrange 3 stones of about even height and fill the area underneath with coals. If all else fails a drip coffee maker on the propane coleman stove works well (I'm gettin' civilised in my dotage).
Enjoy!
 
I have built the little can stove before and actually did a little mod that I thought was pretty cool. I managed to build in a fuel vaporizer from copper tube about 2mm and a couple of copper coins. The problem here though that 500cc of the right Alc costs $10.00 I know, I know :confused:

Anyhow, the place we go has absolutely tons of fallen birch which as you know burns very clean, hot and bright so we are just using that. We hike in and out so weight is an issue, especially as the first thing on the egenda is 2.6KM of stair like climbing :( . I agree that in terms of time and simplicity a little Alc or gas stove is probably the best solution. But being outside in the middle of nowhere, your legs aching pleasantly, you plonk yourself down and lean on your pack. If you dont have a fire, the site somehow feels incomplete :)
 
Once again, I am with Pict here.
The US "Cup, Canteen, Steel" has been around for about 50 years, and for very good reason, it is the best there is.
Don't buy cheap or knockoff versions, they are useless.

If you need a stove or stand for your cup in a fire or with a heat tab, cut the sides of an empty can top and bottom 180 degrees, push the cut side over and use as a base for your cup.
Stones are fine also, 2 for the base, 1 for the handle. (Remember your lessons about the types of rocks that explode in fire as well)
 
teh whisperlite stove is small, light, and easy...when cooking over a fire, I use my tent stakes as pot stands set up over some glowing coals.
 
Thanks again for the input guys. I was concerned with the temperatures in the fires that we had. I have seen a lot of almost tangerine colour and know that is pretty hot. Would regular tent pegs be able to hold a couple of pounds of weight under those temps or would they bend? Another question is regarding glavanising. I heard in the makers section that gasses produced from heating glavanized steel are very dangerous. Are the temps from a fire sufficient to burn off the gal and possibly cause a problem?
 
Get Titanium tent pegs, they handle heat pretty good and are strong for their weight.

Personally, I love a wood campfire for the nostalgia, but I'd much rather cook with a
dragonfly.jpg

It simmers better than any campfire and starts up much faster when the weather turns ugly. 'course, if you're into that minimalist sharing coffee cup because two would be too much... I can't help ya. Have you guys weighed a Ti cup? 1.9 oz. I'd take two.
 
I love my coffee so much I take a ceramic cup with me :D Its jsut not the same from a metal one.
 
pict said:
I am addicted to coffee... There, I said it. Furthermore, I have absolutely no intention of quitting.
Click to expand...
I used to be a heavy coffee drinker, as in pots per day, not by the cup. A few years back someone mentioned it off hand as an addiction, I of course replied it wasn't, so they said, ok fine then don't drink it for a week.

I got severe headaches, motivation went way down, overall did not feel happy. It is easy to check, just go without it for a week and see if you get withdrawls, if you don't then you are fine. If you do it is something to think about.

From a survival standpoint for example the consequences of not having it, which is likely, isn't pleasant.

-Cliff
 
I drink about 2L a day, most of it in the first couple of hours after I get up and am dealing with clients and work :) I have a push press about 1.2L I finish that before my wife gets up then make another for her but end up drinking most of it myself.

There is no way I am giving it up, its my only vice since I got on a healthier diet (The Scotch and Soda dont count ;)

I know its bad for the CNS but you have to treat yourself to something you like and as per, whatever you like, is never good for you. :rolleyes:
 
I go out for many days at a time and the only cooking/eating utinsil I take with me any more is a stainless steel cup tha I bought at Walmart for 4 bucks, you can cook every thing in it you can't put a stick in and roast. I take instant coffee with me so that I can just heat the water, Folgers seems to have the best flavor...

Russ.
 
I have used the canteen cup and Natick stove for years and like them. I have recently gotten a Snow Peak titanium cup, and have been heating water in it with a Trangia burner, and yellow bottle HEET.

Snow Peak is lighter and may be better than my old canteen cup.
 
simplest way is usually the best. when I was in Iraq for the first part of the war. Coffee was a blessing and the time to make it even more valueable.
here's a laugh, find wood in the desert............
I'd usually just dig a trough with my Cammilus about 4 in deep, 2 in across and 8 in long. With wood it works better, but I just set the canteen cup over the trough and used the papers from MRE and whatever else I could findto keep a flame going , sometimes we came by the wooden ordinance crates. for pot just make the trough bigger and use some of the coals from your camp fire, then when your done, cover it up and voila. no evidence and a nice cup of joe.
there's my stand point, but do whatever works for you.
 
Cliff,

My coffee habit is a matter of timing. I get up at 5:30 every day and I have one large, 12 oz cup of strong coffee. If I don't have it I feel like I don't get rolling until after lunch. I have done without but when in the bush I always seem to manage a solid cup in the morning. I like the coffee singles for this purpose, four to a 3/4 full canteen cup.

My dad has it really bad. He even sets a cup of coffee next to his bed so when he wakes up at night he can drink a cup of coffee and go back to sleep. I'm not makng that up. He probably actually died a few years ago but the coffee hasn't worn off yet. Mac
 
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