Small, nonstick, light, aluminum? frying pan

I can't come up with any threads where this has been discussed here, after doing a search. I was online last night, searching for a new, nonstick frying pan. I came up with a mini fry pan with the egg on the handle and other accessories. It was all I could come up with, but I found some comments where folks said the handle got hot and it was so small, you couldn't turn over the egg. Some had quality problems. Anyway, forget that. I need an aluminum, nonstick pan. I think I have read that titanium doesn't transfer the heat very well, and I will be making pancakes with the frying pan. I just returned my MSR nonstick frying pan at REI today and all they had in stock was another one and some heavy ones you could use at home or car camping. What choices do we have, besides the few other brands, sizes? All I need is a 6" or so, nonstick, frying pan, maybe with low sides like a griddle, just for pancakes. I know the bp pans only weigh 5.4 ozs. and the titanium one weighs 4.9. Big deal. Anything out there, flying under the radar? I don't need it right away, maybe later for snowcamping. Do I need to buy a set, to get what I need? I already have a titanium Olicamp pot for heating water.

I have a GSI hard annodized extreme mess kit. Has a 'pot' and a 'fry pan' which each doubles as a lid for the other. The pot is very shallow and I don't even use the bowl/cup. Just basically have it for a frying pan incase I go floating/fishing. It's nice, may want to check out what else GSI has to offer and browse their site.

anywho this is what i have http://www.gsioutdoors.com/detail.aspx?c...2%3d66&

The lid on that works well as a frypan, I will second that. And cheap as well!

The mini Trangia stove has a great fry pan. Also called the Trangia 28.

The fry pan is just a shade under 6" or 15 cm.

http://www.trangia.se/english/2924.mini_trangia.html

Thank you, just need to get my metric calculator out now to see where I stand. 240 g. and 20cm.

FYI
MINI-TRANGIA POT 3.2
MINI-TRANGIA SKILLET 2.9
MINI-TRANGIA POT SUPPORT 1.8
MINI-TRANGIA BURNER 3.8
MINI-TRANGIA POT LIFTER 0.7

Thank you. Onward and upward. I was thinking of the GSI stuff, that is about all you see and the MSR pots, whatever if offered at REI and other outlets. An online search doesn't turn up much. I like the weight of the Trangia stuff, I don't need anything fancy. I could replace my Olicamp pot for the Trangia pot and loose some weight, and bring the frying pan for pancakes or shortened fish and not gain much weight. Another item on my want list.

I found a lightweight non-stick fry pan with a folding handle at Wal-Mart of all places. In the camping section. It's probably 8 or 9 inches in diameter. It's not superlight, by any definition, but then I'm not sure ultralighters carry frying pans anyway. (They eat bark and grubs <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />) I've used it car camping and I think for one backpacking trip to make pancakes with freshly picked blueberries. Mmmmm. Worth the weight then.

I have one of that style I retired to home use. A few ounces here and there got my pack weight way down. Now if you could pry my dead, cold hands off my chair. Wait a minute that's my guns.

hikerduane,

I have got the tool to pry your chair from you warm and comfortable hands..... a hammock. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

the lid from a trangia mini 28 is the best i've ever had. it fits a kmart grease pot perfectly. i also use the trangia stove-can't seem to find a better one no matter how hard i try. 28.00 for the kit at rei.

Thank you food and rootball. Two of you recommending the same thing.

food, I want to look at where I camp to see if a hammock could be hung where I camp. I was out a couple weeks ago and just now remember that I should have paid attention more. Hanging a hammock anywhere, wouldn't matter where the sun was unless lounging in it during the day. Now that sounds good, I could catch up on my sleep that I don't get at night. The chair is easier on my back to a certain extent and my butt also. Although, I have to get up every now and then to give my butt a break.

Bad time of the year to buy stuff for me. I have insurance due on two vehicles, registration due on the newer one and just got my property tax statement, due in early Dec. And no overtime at work.

And of course, "we're not in a recession." So that couldn't possibly make all big bills even rougher. I feel your pain.

Try the hammock, oh so comfy!

I helped the economy as much as I could this Spring and Summer, my checking account shows it. Lots of improvements to my garage this year, but at least everything is paid for, just the credit card payment every month from charging gas and an item here and there. No car payment or mortgage.

I work for a thrift, at least we haven't been in the news.

One bicycle trip, I forgot to pack the aluminum fry pan. I stopped at a dollar store and they had a light, thin and coated fry pan for $4.00. I removed the plastic handle and used my potholder for a handle.

It worked well and weighed about 5 Oz, or so.

A pan big enough for group pancakes would probably weigh much more, besides being a pain to pack.

the small MSR blacklite frypan is another option. i dont know its exact weight offhand but it cooks evenly. i did eggs, hashbrowns, and sausage on my last trip. though I carried everything on a kayak including an icechest <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I guess I didn't hit submit on my reply. The MSR pan is what I returned. First pancake would stick, even with oil. Not much better after that. I had retired my Teflon/Silverstone pan w/folding handle for the much lighter MSR Blacklite. I may have gotten a bad pan, wasn't happy with it. My retired pan is used at home and works better still, than the best day the MSR pan ever saw. The MSR Blacklite weighs 5.4 oz. I'll give the Trangia 28 set a try when things look up or if someone posts something new. I have still been looking for other pans, everything else comes in too large of a set. I only need one, small, stinking pan.

I've had no problems with any type of food sticking on the blacklite. Do you burn toast frequently at home <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I guess the better question is what type of stove are you using?

Pocket Rocket, same fuel almost as at home. Yes, as a matter of fact I do burn toast once in awhile.:) I am still working on burning water.

I use an Evernew (now REI) titanium teflon coated fry pan with folding handles. It is big enough in diameter to flip pancakes eggs, etc. My stove is a Snow Peak isobutane stove, similar to the pocket rocket. It burned the center on pancakes, eggs etc until I made 2 changes:

1. I put a backpackers pantry scorch buster between the stove and the fry pan- this helped, but it still got too hot in the middle of the pan. The scorch buster is available as an accessory to the Outback Oven on the Backpackers pantry web site. A little over $5. I can no longer find it on the REI web site.

2. Then I bent a length of largeish diameter wire (welding rod, I think) into a W shape and put this on top of the scorch buster, below the ti pan. The W is about as big top to bottom as the diameter of the scorch buster

This allows the heat to distribute well under the pan, and my Ti pan now makes great pancakes- The combo does not weigh too much-

Just remember to run the stove at a LOW simmer!!

When you are an expert at boiling water without burning the water, if you fill your fry pan with water you will get an excellent idea on how evenly the pan is heating by noticing where the bubbles come on the bottom of the pan

Happy pancakes!

Ok, is it just me, or is this thought of you need a nonstick frypan for pancakes strike anyone as a little bit whacky? any time I make pancakes I always use a little oil in the pan and I never have any issues whatsoever - even with a raw aluminum round cake pan - (which makes a dandy, and cheep "fry pan"). Sure, nonstick is convenient for doing eggs, but pancakes? like really - ya think the sourdoughs you see hiking the chilkoot in '98 had
nonstick frypans in that load sam steele made 'em carry in?

Me I *hate* having "nonstick" coating on backpacking pots and pans because for me it makes them a bear to clean- because I have to baby them! my regular old anodized or bare aluminum stuff I just scrub out with sand/rocks/whatever and rinse and it's absolutely fine.
If I have nonstick i have to carry a plastic pot scrubber to "gently" clean it.

Nonstick? Humbug!

I have found for me that cooking pancakes on thin frying pans on a canister stove works only if I have both hands free - so I have everything ready to go at once. I usually keep my pan about an inch above the stove (not resting it) on super low flame. It can be worth the effort <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Slight correction to my previous post-

NOT welding rod- I used 3/32 brazing rod. Wire from a old metal coat hanger bent into a W shape would work as well. You just need something to keep the frying pan from directly touching the scorch buster.

I agree with phat- I use butter, oil, margarine etc to keep pancakes from sticking. The teflon is there only because I could not find a pan I liked without it. Even heat distribution is the important issue to avoid pancakes with a burned center.

I looked high and low and found a couple sources of info on a nonstick aluminum frying pan. Seems most experiences with titanium mention poor heat dispersal and efficency, which translates into, too much fiddling and wasted fuel or time spent cooking and leaning over a stove, not that much more time I am sure. My back and hips take exception to that. I was resigned to the fact that to get a frying pan, I was going to have to buy the Trangia 28-T stove kit, just to get a pan, which would add a stove to my other four of none the same, stove collection. I found on Prolite Gear's page, the individual weights for each piece of the set, which showed the weight of the aluminum, fry pan/lid to be 2.60 oz. I still wasn't happy. Seems there had to be somewhere you could buy separate pieces. Struck gold! Moosineer. They sell different camping/bp gear. Under Trangia, they listed all the Trangia stove line and. And. Under Trangia accessories, the frying pans, pots etc. I was able to just buy the frying pan/lid. I had to pay over $12 with shipping, but what the heck, I only got what I needed.

BpackerDon, if I need something to research this weekend while it is trying to rain/snow, I'll research the parts you mentioned. Thank you all.

You can find the scorch buster at:

http://backpackerspantry.com/inventory.asp?itemCategory=Outback%20Oven%20Accessories&cpage=2

Item # 167220
Price $5.90

Brazing rod came from the local hardware store

The Ti frying pan is from REI, called REI Ti ware frying pan. Price has gone up a lot - now $44.95 - but REI has a 20% off coupon for members until 12/24

Happy snow

Thank you Don. Reading Phat's post again, I have never had any luck with bare aluminum, the most miserable stuff I have ever cooked with. Plus, the stainless steel lid that comes with the MSR pots, worthless stuff. Even using oil, pancakes stick pretty bad. I used to buy Vegelene which was very good, you only needed a little to fry fish or pancakes.

Duane-
When I use the "non-stick" Ti pan, I also use a little butter or margarine or oil. Makes the pancakes much less likely to stick, and gives them a nice browning as they cook. The teflon just comes with the pan, but I don't count on it for non-stick. Too much heat will make a mess of the teflon coating.

I am not familiar with Vegelene. Where do you get it??

Now if we could just get some ultralite cast iron pans--

I know about putting oil/shortning in before frying anything, I have been a batchelor a long time. That is why I look for the best thing for clean up.:)

The Vegalene or Vegelene? At one time, I was able to get it from bping stores, but haven't seen it for years. Not a hot item. The concessionaire who operates the cafeteria at work uses a spray version, so some sort of a version must be available somewhere. That stuff was great, better then oil or shortning. My mom uses a small cast iron skillet to do scrambled eggs in and for frying. If seasoned, they clean up pretty easy and the coating doesn't wear off to the point you throw out the skillet.

With technology the way it is, we should be able to have a satellite cooker in space and only have to set a container with what we are cooking in a spot with a homing device so it can be sapped, like something from Star Trek.

Hey thanks for the link... When I purchased my whisperlite int. on ebay, that was sent to me as well and I had no idea what it was. : )
Well now I know.