Pots and pans

[randomblue]

Hi all!

I'm buying kit right now in preperation for my tour this summer so I have time to play and get used to everything in advance but I'm a bit stumped on pots/pans!

I'm being given a gas camping cooker thing that folds down into an orange case the size of a pack of cards, which uses little gas cylinders. As far as I can tell from the info I've been given the top of the stove has three fins with flat edges at the top, which fan out to support the pan. I already have plate/bowl/cutlery, I just need to get the pans! I remember reading something on here a few months ago about making a case for a pan for pasta cooking where you just boil the water and then pop in in the heat containing thing and leave the pasta to cook while you whip up the main. I assume this means taking 2 pots and perhaps a small frying pan? I'm only taking 2 panniers and a rack pack so want to go small/light if possible! Any suggestions or ideas on how to make the case thing for the pans greatly appreciated!

[zonc]

I use the combination of a titanium mug with lid like the SNOWPEAK one and an old but reliable MSR ALPINE FRY PAN - both picked up in the USA when touring the west coast in 1995 and they are both still going strong.
I remember they being v expensive then but divide the cost between 19 years of hard use then the price is pretty good. The 'mug' has a lid - so has the advantage of being a pot too. I have used it on meths burners and open fires but my cooker of choice is an old old MRS dragonfly.I will be using them next weekend with my son on a wee saddlebag 'raid' to the Peak District. Probably best to do your own websearch - lots of choice nowadays. Have fun.

[foxyrider]

Just take a kettle. I'm using an Esbit 0.6l heats enough water for pasta which you could cook in it - i use dried packets with sauce - much easier than mucking about. If you are careful you can heat beans, soup etc in their tins direct on the stove - i use a sock as an oven mitt! end result - minimal cooking kit - the stove lives inside the kettle, minimal weight, washing up kept to a minimum.

[John-D]

To me, cooking a decent meal is an important part of touring so I have a nest of 3 pans and a kettle. They're a bit bulky but fairly light. Occasionally, when I'm on my own I take the 2 smaller pans and when there are 2 of us the 2 larger pans but as it only makes a few grams difference I now normally take all 3. I've had the same very cheap pans for at least 18 years and I've never considered their weight or bulk to be an issue.

[Vorpal]

It's possible to pack things inside pots & pans, so unless you buy a nested set, or something they don't take up that much space.

[Neilo]

You will get as many different answers as you would with the "should I wear a helmet" question.
Lots of people will rave about Titanium. It will depend of whether you are going to cook a meal, or just boil water to rehydrate something.
Words of experience, don't cook porridge in a titanium pan, unless you have a chisel to clean it.
Titanium is light, and expensive, but not a good conductor of heat. The heat is concentrated on the bottom of the pan where the flames are touching it, and will easily burn the food.
Copper is a good conductor of heat. Copper bottom pans have been used for centuries, they disipate the heat quickly over the bottom of the pan, cooking the food evenly. But copper is heavy
Stainless steel is much like titanium, but heavier.
Aluminium is a good conductor.
I would recomend trangia pans and lid, you can buy them seperately from the cooker and they nest together, you can put your stove and bits and pieces inside the pan nest to maximise space.
A flexible thick foil fold up / roll up windshield will reduce fuel usage, boiling and cooking times.

Neil

[willem jongman]

+1 for Trangia pots and pans. Get them from the Trangia 27 series if it is for solo use. Consider a teflon one for the frying pan, or if you want something more durable, a hard anodized one. They are not as non stick as teflon, but lighter and harder wearing, and more non stick than the ordinary ones. For such a long period. investing in a proper Trangia 27 may be financially worth it (gas is expensive compared to meths).
Willem

[Edwards]

I have Trangia, Vango (copper bottom stainless) Mess Tins some Titanium and a set from Aldi.

I now pick the Aldi ones to use with the gas stove, they are light and easy to clean. The handle is not that good but it works.
Just wait for the Aldi Lidl camping specials.

[tripwire]

I remember reading something on here a few months ago about making a case for a pan for pasta cooking where you just boil the water and then pop in in the heat containing thing and leave the pasta to cook while you whip up the main.

That would be a "pot cosy". They're great because they let you save fuel and allow you to cook with more pans than will fit on your stove at the same time. They also protect your pot from getting damaged and keep any soot away from the contents of your panniers. Finally, if you're just cooking for yourself a cozy makes it easy to eat straight from the pot - that means you can leave your plate/bowl at home

They're commonly made from thermawrap insulation (bubble wrap coated with aluminium on both sides) stuck together with self-adhesive aluminium tape. I got the insulation by cutting up a car windscreen sun-shade from a pound shop. It provided enough insulation to make a double-layer cosy for my 0.9l pan. Basically you just need to cut out a strip to go around the pan, a circle for the bottom and tape together. Full instructions for making one are here: http://blackwoodspress.com/blog/6582/ul ... g-pot-cozy

Don't make it too tight a fit or it'll be tricky to get the pan in and out without burning your fingers or causing spillage! Also don't forget to remove it if you return the pan to the stove (I've done that a few times...)

If your pan has a lid you can also use the cosy's lid while the pan is on the stove. It helps stop the heat from escaping up through the lid, so reduces boil times a bit.

[randomblue]

Thank you for all your replies and suggestions! I'll definitely look at picking up a car windscreen sun-shade and will be popping into the camping shop next time I'm near one to choose some pans!!

Am I right with trangia's that the pan clips onto the top of the stove? That's one thing I'm a little worried about with the one I currently have because the burner just screws onto the top of the cannister and then you balance the pan on top of that... not totally confident in it's balancing abilities! I used trangias on a trip before but it was quite a long time ago and I don't relaly remember how they work! Possibly willing o sacrifice some space/weight in exchange for reducing the chances of knocking the whole set up over all the time!

[eezypeazy]

Being on a budget, my cooking kit consisted of mess tins. After a while I realised that I was mainly boiling water for hot drinks and rehydrated food, and decided a kettle would be best, so bought this inexpensive cookset. I can eat from mess tins, or the frying pan that doubles as a plate and a pot lid.

I found searching around for stove, matches, kettle, etc., in panniers a pain, so I pack it all into an old insulated lunch bag from a supermarket. This also doubles as a pot cosy when needed. I make my hot drinks in a simple plastic mug from home. Before a trip, I plan a menu so that I don't take more kit than I need. Result: total cooking kit around a tenner (plus stove and fuel). I cook using bioethanol gel, so there's no soot on any pots and pans.

[Neilo]

I use a home made version of this
http://www.spiritburner.com/fusion/printpost.php?tid/8964/

It will burn gas, paraffin, meths, unleaded / white gas. and it all fits in the trangia, exept for the fuel bottle, which you would be carring anyway if you were using the meths trangia.
I love it.

Neil

[foxyrider]

Am I right with trangia's that the pan clips onto the top of the stove? That's one thing I'm a little worried about with the one I currently have because the burner just screws onto the top of the cannister and then you balance the pan on top of that... not totally confident in it's balancing abilities! I used trangias on a trip before but it was quite a long time ago and I don't relaly remember how they work! Possibly willing o sacrifice some space/weight in exchange for reducing the chances of knocking the whole set up over all the time!

There are several variations of this sort of thing http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keyw ... rfld5vae_e that help keep things steady although a standard gas canister is generally pretty stable. The actually arms on the stove will be okay for most pots up to @ 6" a fry pan up to 8" should be okay but make sure you cook in a clear space to minimise the chance of catching anything. Never leave a pot untended on the stove and always take off the stove when not cooking. Simple precautions but they'll keep you safe. I've been using a Pocket Rocket for 10 years without any spillage/topple issues, the dodgiest bit of use is always lighting the gas!

[profpointy]

Others have already covered some of this, but it's important to remember what's important in a pan, as opposed to a bike component.
For a pan, you want excellent heat conduction, if carrying it on a bike wants to be lightweight. Needs to be strong enough - which in this case isn't actually very strong. Answer = aluminium. Titanium is light & very strong, but very expensive and a poor heat conductor, hence a stupid material to make a pan out of. Stainless is cheap, also needlessly strong, but again a poor conductor of heat. Poor heat conduction means you burn stuff on the hot spots, rather than even heating.

For the house, copper is best - great heat conduction, but heavy and very very expensive - nice though - but I'd not want to carry them on the bike

Trangia pans take some beating, as does the trangia handle - even if you don't use the trangia stove itself.
I've got the plain ones, but would probably go for non-stick if buying them again - though can't see the point in a non-stick kettle, as I've yet to see water stick in a kettle ! Someone mentioned anodized - this might be even better than Teflon non-stick, but I didn't know if there's a trangia variant with this.

[randomblue]

Thanks for the link to that support thing! I think I'm going to give the set up a try out on a weekend tour when the weather perks up a bit and decide then if extra support is necessary =) My dad who is supplying the cooker thing said it's self lighting so hopefully that should't be a prblem andhe suggested just digging an inch deep hold if necessary to offer some extra support.

Burning water into a kettle made me laugh! I guess it's more useful if you make soup in it or dried packet foods as was suggested in the first reply? Thanks for the break down of pros and cons though! I think non-stick is definitely the way to go fromthe sounds of it to make cleaning quicker and easier!

On a bit of a tangent but how do you all do your cleaning? Does anyone use the collapsible kitchen sink contraptions or just wipe things with some grass/leaves or wait until you cross paths with a stream?