How big does your cooking pot really need to be. I just made one for my son out of a coffee can and although its quite light I couldn't help but wonder if it needs to be so big. Its roughly 4 cups in size and I'd like to get him started with the freezer bag meals and I honestly think I could get away with a cup n a half sized cooking pot. Do you think this would be too limiting? I think I could cook plenty of meals with a mere cup of water. doesn't seem like it would take very long to boil a second cup if needed. What are some of your thought on reducing cooking gear. We live in an area where we are allowed to burn wood that we find but they sometimes have burn bans the first part of the hiking season. I have a cat food can stove that I like to bring with me for those occasions but I don't believe they allow those for the boy scouts. Probably because it would hurt their sales on the bsa website for packable stoves.