Best Cook Set

Posted by: Mero

Best Cook Set - 08/09/13 12:12 PM

Searched the forum and was surprised to find very little on the subject of actual cook ware (pots and pans). Lots of stuff about food and stoves however.

Anyway, whats a great cook set you guys would recommend for two people that plan on doing the basic stuff?
Posted by: DTape

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/09/13 12:44 PM

As with most gear, it always depends on the trip and the people. In general, when I go with a buddy we usually fend for ourselves when eating so we have our own system. I use a single 700 mL pot and he uses a smaller pot and cup system. Both of us use our own dehydrated meals with these setups.

With another friend, on our canoe trips we cook and eat together. For this we bring one 700 mL pot, one 900mL and one small skillet. We also each have our own stove. With this setup we can do quite a bit. For example on our last trip we had sausage, french toast and coffee for breakfast 1. Dinner 1 was cheeseburger-vegetable mac and cheese and skillet cookies for dessert.

In the end, the best is what works for you and your style. I have found that i can do quite a lot with few pots and pans and the cleanup is minimal too. YMMV
Posted by: OregonMouse

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/09/13 01:58 PM

Most of us just boil water to rehydrate freeze-dried or home-dehydrated food, so we don't need a cook set, just a single pot.

Mine is a Firelight 0.5 liter titanium pot I bought from Backpacking Light back when they were selling gear. I also have a 1.3 liter Ti pot to use when I take the grandkids. I do take a separate frying pan when fishing (in case I catch anything), but normally I just bring water to a boil and pour it over my dried foot food (which is in a freezer bag), stir and let it sit in a cozy 15 minutes. I then eat it out of the freezer bag. The only thing I need to wash is my spoon.

For the budget-conscious, try the famous grease pot. Ditch the inner filter and replace the wooden knob on the lid with a small piece of wire. I use the pliers on my Leatherman Micra as a pot lifter. Some like to drill a couple of holes and add a wire bail. Yes, the grease pot will get pretty battered after a couple of years, but you can buy a lot of them for the price of one titanium pot!

If you're going to do real cooking instead of just boiling water, get anodized aluminum rather than titanium. Ti doesn't spread the heat, so you'll have burned food over the flame and raw elsewhere.
Posted by: finallyME

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/09/13 02:55 PM

The best cookset is a single pot with a utensil. Currently I use a snowpeak titanium bowl with a lightmyfire titanium spork. The rule for me is, use the lightest pot that meets your needs, with the eating utensil of your choice.

Many times my scouts will bring a full mess kit. I usually advise against it, but I let them decide for themselves. The only thing that gets used is the pot. I also tell them to go to the thrift store and buy a fork or spoon. That way their mom doesn't get mad when they lose it (they always do).
Posted by: Mero

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/09/13 06:28 PM

You guys are great, thanks for all the feedback.

Ive heard bad things about the durability and longevity of titanium but you guys seem to like your titanium pots.

I think 1x800ml and pan/cover should be fine for our needs-boiling water for coffee, oatmeal, dried food/milk etc and the pan for torts and pancakes (lots of blueberries up in the boundary waters).

Snow Peak and MSR are companies Im familiar with that make quality products.

Still leaning towards steel though...
Posted by: DTape

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/09/13 07:56 PM

My Ti pot is made by evernew. The abuse it has gone through has demonstrated to me the durability and longevity of at least that brand of Ti products. My pot was even used when I got it. My Al pots have been thoroughly abused too. They might be dented, covered in soot, scratched up but they are still perfectly functional. Haven't used steel in many many years. It has its place though depending on how and what you are cooking, but there is no need to choose steel because of durability issues with either Al or Ti.
Posted by: Gershon

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/09/13 10:41 PM

I use the 2 cup pot on top of my Svea 123 stove and a spork.
Posted by: OregonMouse

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/10/13 12:38 AM

As I previously mentioned, if you're going to cook pancakes, your fry pan should be aluminum, not titanium. You need a metal that will conduct the heat well so it's more even, and titanium doesn't do that. Anodized aluminum is best.

As with all backpacking gear, try it out at home first!
Posted by: lori

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/10/13 11:01 AM

I have so many cook kits, it is quite possible I could outfit a boy scout troop. But they would all have a different stove and size/shape of pot.

Narrow flame, narrow bottom pot. Wide flame pattern, wide pot. Wider pots are actually slightly quicker to boil and more effective due to the flame having a wider metal surface to cover, instead of concentrating all the heat on a single point. Wider burners are better for cooking - so matching the stove to the purpose is also important.

Aluminum beer can pots, hard anodized tea kettle, ti .9 liter Evernew, Snow Peak ti Hybrid kit with silicon bowl and lid, grease pot - all of 'em do just fine at boiling water, so if that's your method, you can take your pick of whatever you prefer and do well.

I do have one frying pan - an MSR 10" for which I need to carry a pot lifter. No handle makes it easier to stabilize on a backpacking stove. Handles can overbalance a very light pan.
Posted by: JPete

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/13/13 02:45 PM

Mero,

I use an old (actually very old) Boy Scout cook kit aluminum pot. I carry in it a titanium wing stove for my Esbit tablet, a foil windscreen, a little patch of foil to put on the ground under the stove, a folding titanium spark, and a plastic cup with volume marks. Oh, and I have a very light home-made bag for it, and in the bottom of the bag I carry a small round of plastic scouring pad. I rarely use it, but it weighs virtually nothing, and once in a while the bottom of the pot gets gunked up a bit. I rarely ever use the markings on the cup either, but again, they weigh nothing. Also I carry a tiny pocket knife. That's it for me.

best, jcp
Posted by: BZH

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/14/13 05:53 PM

Originally Posted By OregonMouse
.... pour it over my dried foot (which is in a freezer bag), ...


You keep a dried foot in a freezer bag??? You learn something new about people every day....
Posted by: balzaccom

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/15/13 12:26 AM

And we used an old aluminum pot that we bought for $1 at thrift shop for years--until we found a nicer one abandoned at a campsite in the Hoover Wilderness. Now we use it!
Posted by: Glenn Roberts

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/16/13 09:10 PM

My lightest cookset is a Snow Peak Trek 700 titanium pot, and an Antigravity Gear food cozy. I boil water in my pot, pour it into the dried food in a heavy-duty freezer bag (though, as pointed out elsewhere, Mouse prefers dried foot), and place the bag in the cozy to rehydrate. Food is oatmeal in the morning, and some kind of rice-and-meat dish in the evening. I prefer the bags my outfitter sells, which are the same kind Enertia uses to package its food; no worries about holes or hot water melting them.

If I want a cup of hot tea, I make it in the pot (depending on how much water the food takes, that may mean a second fill-and-boil, or just using what's left from the first boil.)

If, for some reason, I don't want to use the freezer bags (such as, I get tired of getting food all over my fingers dipping my spoon into the bag), I take the Jetboil Sol kit, and cook in the pot or make oatmeal in the little measuring cup. Hot tea has to wait till I'm done eating, though.

Lately, the 700 pot and food cozy seem to be going most often.
Posted by: wandering_daisy

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/27/13 11:28 AM

I have also found that a wider based pot boils water faster than a narrow based pot. I have a titanium solo "pot/cup" that I do not use much anymore because for the little extra weight, I use less fuel, over the long run. In addition, I like to use my pot as a wash basin, and the solo cup is not suitable for that! I also have steam-fried fish in the 1-L pot. The only time I use the solo pot now is when I simply do not have room for the larger pot (weekend trips where I use my daypack and forego the tent). The most important thing for me in considering a pot, is the lid. You need a tight fitting lid to steam fish. I also need to have a pot that fits inside my bear canister and one that my titanium cup fits within. I had to squish the handle of my cup to get it to fit within the solo pot.

I have not had problems with burning food using titanium, even when frying. My stove is really good at simmering on a low flame. I find that when simmering, the fuel can seems to build pressure so I have to constantly turn down the flow to keep the same simmering flame.

I use a spork. A spork can be drippy if meals are soupy. My husband hates sporkes, and has a spoon and fork set. Lately, in my more addled mind and poor eyesight of old age, I may switch to a plastic spoon, just because they come in bright colors. I seem to always forget where I laid down my titanium spork just when I needed it!
Posted by: Blue_Ridge_Ninja

Re: Best Cook Set - 11/11/13 10:15 AM

While I've been happy with my JetBoil set, I'm thinking about picking up one of these from Stanley: http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-Adventure-..._pr_product_top

Yes, it's... *gasp*... stainless steel, but I have read/heard literally nothing but positives.
Posted by: OregonMouse

Re: Best Cook Set - 11/11/13 04:47 PM

OK, I fixed that. As I get older, my typing gets worse…. blush
Posted by: bpackengneer

Re: Best Cook Set - 12/14/13 06:29 PM

Well, for me basic means just that. My wife and I eat basic on the trail. As such, we use an Evernew 1 L pot and 2 sporks. Done :-)

Backpacking Engineer
Posted by: jimmyb

Re: Best Cook Set - 12/14/13 11:37 PM

We have an old MSR Black lite set from years ago. I take only the small pot BPing (no pot holder) and the rest of the set when flying away. That little set is great, I wish they still made them. The small pot is as light as most ti pots and I like the coated aluminum. I realize that companies introduce new product lines to get us to want the latest model gear but I wish they would continue making some of the classic pieces of gear that just plain work.

jimmyb
Posted by: TomD

Re: Best Cook Set - 12/15/13 12:54 AM

I just have an old uncoated aluminum kit, Mirro, I think, and a small Primus pot I carry when day hiking for making hot chocolate or soup. The pot will hold a small gas canister and Primus stove. I also have an old school Svea 123 stove and the Sigg Tourist cook kit I got years ago (like 30) which is great if weight isn't a big factor.
Posted by: mrnic3guy

Re: Best Cook Set - 03/01/14 08:47 AM

I took mine from a large mess kit that my grandmother had. This thing was huge like 4 liters it consisted of a large pot with a smaller pot inside 4 coffee cups four plates and a pan lid and the only peice I carried from it was a 1.3 liter coffe pot with a strainer built into the spout and detachable handle. When I was kid and my uncle would tell me stories of him and his friends going BP in the Allegheny NF I would imagine taking the whole cook set and making like idk big bowls of chilli for everyone lol. Now yesterday my GSI Pinnacle Soloist arrived from amazon and it is really cool the only thing I dont like is the lid is plastic but it comes with a telescoping spork an insulated bowl/cup and the lid has a spout on side strainer on the other also it comes with a nice little bag for your stove. I can fit my stove and gas all inside this nifty little thing.
Posted by: haan9953

Re: Best Cook Set - 04/20/20 07:39 AM

GSI Outdoors Pinnacle Camper... it is the best
Posted by: 4evrplan

Re: Best Cook Set - 04/20/20 10:11 AM

In what way is it the "best" to you? There are a lot of different criteria, and people have different priorities. For example, you may be looking for the must rugged or the most complete set, but those criteria work better for car camping, whereas lightweight is more important for backpacking.
Posted by: poolneo

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/15/21 11:17 AM

The Toaks 550ml pot is pretty nice. It weighs 3.46oz with the lid, 2.76oz without. Some people have smaller pots and some bigger. For me, 550ml is more than enough to boil water for a cook-in-a-bag freeze dried meal with hot water left over for a hot drink, just using the 550 as the mug. A small stove canister nests inside the 550 perfectly too which is nice. Sometimes it just seems way too big so I'm on the lookout for a smaller pot.
Posted by: DustinV

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/23/21 10:41 AM

The best cookset is the one you're willing bring and use. Whatever gets you out there enjoying your time.

I would hate it if someone told me what the ultimate cookset is. Over the years, I have collected a pretty wide array of pots and cups of various sizes and shapes (usually on deep discount) and each of them seems optimized for a specific purpose. Therefore, I tend to decide what I want to bring for any given trip depending on what I'm going to be heating in it, but you can make nearly any set work. IMHO, the differences are pretty minor. I just enjoy tweaking my kit because it's fun for me to think about this stuff and learn what works marginally better for my purposes.
Posted by: Arizona

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/24/21 09:27 PM

For consideration I’ll submit the Snow Peak 1400 titanium cook set in conjunction with the Snow Peak titanium Trek bowl that nests in the top of the pot. It is easy to bake a cake that will feed 3 or 4 people. Pot de Creme (French chocolate custard) with real cream, baking chocolate and an egg is super delicious and comes out perfect every time. Steamed coconut milk beverages are amazing. Of course it will do soups, stews and tea too. The setup works perfectly with a Trangia alcohol stove, all canister stoves we have and our Emberlit wood stove too. We have several other pots but this setup beats them all for versatility. I bought a lightweight lid for the 1400 pot that also fits the bowl from fourdogs. He makes lids for several cups and pots, good stuff. We are lightweight gourmets and like to live it up in the backcountry.
Posted by: DustinV

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/25/21 10:41 AM

Clearly, I am hanging out with the wrong crowd. That sounds delicious.
The fanciest I get is rehydrating cheesecake-like substance and passing it around with the packet of graham cracker crumbs.
Do you use the simmer ring on the Trangia for all this?
Posted by: Arizona

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/25/21 04:14 PM

Oh yeah, I use the simmer ring on the Trangia big time. It works so well that I really fell in love with that stove. I took the Caldera Cone tri-ti wood burning insert and inverted it to use as a general windscreen with the SP 1400 cook set. Super light and fits tight. The ventilation slots at both top and bottom really makes this an efficient setup. With the ti stakes the pot is 1.5” above the burner, the perfect efficient distance. With the Kovea remote canister stove no stakes are needed, the stove supports do that. The pot fits tight enough to kind of pick up the cone. Not the way Trail Designs intended but works amazingly well.

I’ll simmer for 40 minutes or more at times. The stove easily handles that. I’ve found the stove and simmer ring need to come up to operating heat before closing down the ring to the most constricted extent. Then it’s hard to put out. Even the little hole at the pivot wants to keep a flame. Lol
Posted by: DustinV

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/26/21 12:09 PM

I love using my Trangia, too. I would love to use alcohol stoves again, but that seems like it won't be allowed for the next few years in RMNP. One of the reasons I just ordered a remote-canister stove.

Are you using the SP 1400 mainly for baking? And do you find it's the right size for two people? That's larger than most take for solo use.

Do you have specific sets of stove/pot combos? I think that might help with the OP's questions.
Posted by: Arizona

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/26/21 05:33 PM

We are having a strong monsoon season here and are currently in the second or third wettest on record. So both wood and alcohol stoves are allowed in the wilderness areas.

We are using the Snow Peak 1400 for the two of us. The biggest use is boiling water but we like to cook other recipes like I mentioned. If boiling is all we are going to do then we often take the Evernew 1.3 L ti which is the lightest in the two person category. It has a fairly wide diameter too. If we are traveling with another one or two then we take the Snow Peak 2 L CooknSave ti pot. It is the widest and we have nested the Evernew with it to cook and bake all those things. IMO the SP 1400 is the slickest.

Efficiency depends upon the exact pot, stove and windscreen setup. Generally a wider diameter pot will boil faster but with the right stove and windscreen the times become closer. My White Box alcohol stove has the jets blowing out from the side of the stove so the widest pot is needed there. The Trangia burns upwards so that helps with narrower pots. Specific experimentation and notation will tell. It really depends on what you want to do. For simply boiling water it’s hard to beat the Evernew.9l for solo and the Evernew 1.3l for duos. They work well on all the stoves we have used. If you figure out a good tight windscreen that ventilates the air to the flame then you will have a very efficient system with your remote canister stove. We have found ours to be real fuel misers.

We have had the SP1400 for 20 years and the other two for about 15 years. All have been used extensively with several stoves and windscreens.

Experimenting is half the fun as you already know.
Posted by: Arizona

Re: Best Cook Set - 08/26/21 09:14 PM

I’ll add that a pot that would be considered for a duo has to be capable at the minimum of boiling 1 liter of water. That means it has to have some freeboard so bigger than 1 liter. A tiny demitasse of something hot in the elements won’t cut it for me. Others may have a different opinion.