whats in your cooking kit

[brucepanther]

I'm just wondering what people are carrying in they're packs for cooking, such as pot, pans, billys.
Just trying to figure out a set up that isn't too heavy but can cook a variety of foods.
Thanks

[Ichneumon]

I have everything from a dutch oven through to a titanium cookset, with a lot of other stuff in between. It depends on what you will be doing and what your personal preferences are. None of the many sets I have are perfect in all circumstances, there really isn't a one-size-fits-all.

There are many cheap aluminium sets on the market, some even come with a burner. You can cook many things with these but none to Michelin 3 star standard. If the set will fry and boil you have the basics covered. A four or five piece set should do enough for most people.

[FishyFolk]

One of my favourite themes :-)

Mine has been ever developing and it varies a bit what, and how much I bring depending on the trip. But for an overnight I have
an alu frying pan with a collapsible handle (makes for space saving). I like fried food so a frying pan makes sense for me.
Then I need some kind of pot for everything else. I do not like billy cans. They have a use, as they are easy to hang over a fire...but for me that's where their usefullness ends.
Can be difficult to pour from. But okay for a stew...

But mostly I need a pot for boiling stuff in, either just for tea water, or an isnatnt soup, or other freeze dried food. So my preffered wepon of choice these days is a
1 litre tea pot with a big suze lid, like GSI stainless steel tea kettle. Superb to boil water in, can be hanged over the fire, the handle does not get hot, has a spout so easy to pour from,
the big lid can be used as a plate, and makes for easy cleaining if I use it to heat a stew or make porridge in it.
If I have company I also bring a STainless steel cooking pot, or if the whole familly is out, the Trangia 27 kit.

Else for a short solo trip I only bring the tea pot.

[FishyFolk]

I have everything from a dutch oven

Thats what my dad gets for christmass...in the vain hope he will not like to use it, and fling it back at me later, ha ha.
But knowing the cunning old man, he'll stick to it, and use it every second day for the rest of his life...*grumbles*

[Ichneumon]

Thats what my dad gets for christmass...in the vain hope he will not like to use it, and fling it back at me later, ha ha.

That had me laughing! I fear you will never see it again Rune.

[FishyFolk]

That had me laughing! I fear you will never see it again Rune.

Well, well...then I just have to do the second best thing...show up hungry whenever he is using it, lol

[brucepanther]

I love my Dutch pot but I fear it's a bit of a beast to be carrying around in my kit bag that I'm trying to assemble

[Ichneumon]

It would help us to help you if you told us what you plan DO.

A question that runs like: I plan to be an engineer, which tool should I buy? Is almost impossible to answer. I shall be removing spark plugs from my car, what tool do I need? That is easy to answer.

See what I mean?

[OakAshandThorn]

First I used vintage aluminum mess tins from a cookset along with an old kettle, both of which were hand-me-downs from my brother's godfather. After that I switched to a Zebra 12 cm, but the heftiness wasn't too appealing for me. So I found an instructional video from Sintax77 on how to make a DIY ultralight cook pot - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzWxP_b3dZM. Works fine for boiling water, but because of the shape of the can, cooking soups (not the instant mixes) can be tricky without scorching. But for boil-'n-bag meals or a pot for a day trip, this is what I favour. Aside from that I have an Olicamp 1 qt stainless steel cookset which consists of a pot with a frying pan that doubles as a lid. It is almost a clone to the Tatonka Kettle you brits have. Really like that kit...still a bit hefty because it's stainless steel, but the shape of the pot is ideal for slow cooking and even baking. Plus, you can cook two meals or two parts of a meal simultaneously...eggs and ham in the pan and oatmeal in the pot . I reserve the Olicamp for multi-day outings, though sometimes I cannot resist taking it along for an overnighter.

[ChrisCraft]

my whole kit is just a single billy can.

frying stuff in it is a little annoying, as its deep, you need something long to get down in there, but it does pretty much everything. turn it on its side, and it can become an oven, to bake in too.

i take a knife, fork, a spoon too, proper solid kitchen ones, i dont piss around with the kids size, fold-in-half, flimsy type. useless those things.