A POT COZY

Contributed byHopeful, 5/10/02


  I have made a pot cozy (overcoat for my cook pot) for my Walmart grease pot. Its function is to reduce the fuel needed to cook my meals.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

1)closed cell foam sleep pad,
2) contact cement,
3) aluminum foil.

I got a cheapy sleep pad at KMart for about $5.00 and contact cement at Ace Hardware for about $2.79.

TOOLS REQUIRED:

1) scissors,
2) felt marker,
3) straight edge,
4) tape measure.

The pot cozy is made of 3 parts, a circular top, a circular bottom and a rectangle which is bent around to form a tube. Step one: To determine the dimensions of the foam tube start by measuring the maximum circumference of your cook pot.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Take into consideration the lid and folding handles, if your pot has them. Next determine the maximum height of your cook pot with the lid. Add half an inch (12 mm) to the height.

Use these 2 measurement to cut out a rectangle of foam. When the foam is bent it should form a tube that will easily slide over your pot, but have a close fit.

Apply contact cement to the short ends of the rectangle and join these ends.

Step 2: Now use the foam tube to draw a circle on the another piece of the closed cell foam pad. The diameter of this circle should be the same of the outside of the tube made in step one. Cut this circle out and use contact cement to attach it to one end of the tube. It should now look like a cylinder.

Step 3: Use your cook pot to draw a circle on another piece of foam. This circle will become the bottom and should fit snuggly inside the foam tube. Next use the pot to draw a circle on the aluminum foil. I used a pie pan left over from Christmas instead of aluminum foil. Cut out this circle and use contact cement to attach it to the foam bottom. The purpose of the foil is to prevent the cook pot from sticking to the foam when it is hot. When finished, the cook pot should fit on the foil covered side of the bottom and the tube should slide down over the pot, covering it and the bottom foam completely.

I use the cozy to reduce the amount of fuel I need for cooking. I will bring the pot to a complete boil and then remove it from my stove. I sit the pot (with the lid on) on the foil and slide the tube over it. If the cooking instruction say to cook for 5 minutes, I leave the pot in the cozy for 5 minutes. For a meal calling for 10 minutes of cooking time, I leave the cozy on for 10 minutes. Because almost all the heat is retained by the cozy, my food continues to cook after it is removed from the stove.

My "soda can" stove, windscreen, pot stand, spoon and pot lifter are packed inside my cook pot. The cook pot is packed inside the cozy which makes for a compact arrangement with a total weight of about 9.5 ounces. I estimate that I use about half the fuel I needed before employing the cozy.

 

Hopeful, 5/10/02


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