Backpacking pots, pans, lids & lifters

This is about backpacking pots, pans, lid and lifters that can be make backpacking cooking effective and enjoyable without needing to spend much.

Introduction

There are many pots that can be used for cooking on a blower stove. While most will do the job if they are suitably large enough to cover the top of the Ring Stove opening or fit snugly into it. There are many other specific features such as close nesting of multiple pots, without fixed handles, that make some better than others for ultralight bushwalking cooking.

I should also point out that I insist on having lids for all pots to keep ash insects and smoke smells out, even if some of these are very light and flimsy. However, I do accept having no lid for frying pans and I am also happy to use a frying pan as a lid. I also avoid using pots with protruding rims, as these can compromise the close placement of pots ‘side-by-side’ in their cooking positions.

With a series of nesting pots, I like the outer pot to have backpacking strength and benign edges.  A well-fitted lid with an internal or external fitting flange can provide both features. A suitably strong frying pan/lid can also suffice. In either case, the lid must stay in place while backpacking to be effective.  

Primary cook pots

I design both my small and large roll-up stoves around two cheap’ off the shelf’ pots. These are a large Stainless Steel (SS) coffee mug & lid and a squat anodized aluminium pot & lid shown below.

Pot fit and functionality

For the C-Ring Stove to function correctly, the primary cooking pot needs to fit closely into the top of the stove ring to seal this zone of the burn chamber (“it becomes part of the burn chamber”). This is required for good burner function and to control the heat and tongue of flame flows out under the second pot position and also away from the; sensitive stove components, pot grips, cooks hands and the walls of cooking pots. If a larger pot is to be fitted on top of the burner a substantially larger pot diameter is needed to make the pot physically stable and seal the burn chamber. This is particularly so if the pot has substantial rounding between the wall and the bottom of the pot (as many spun pots do).

Pot Height

The height between the pot and the inside top of the lid or cover also needs to be tall enough to contain the rolled-up stove for backpacking. Both the primary pots above can just meet this criterion. Some quite similar looking attractive pots do not.

More nesting pots

Second pot for the small stove

Nesting progressively larger pot around the primary pot is efficient for backpacking. To keep the backpacked load resistant to crushing, I like the outermost pot in the ‘nest’ to have a strong closely fitted lid.

A quality anodized aluminium pot (shown below), that is commonly available, fits nicely over; the coffee mug, lid and red knob. This pot has a small frying pan for a lid and this makes a good cooking combination for one or two people (hence the name ‘Share Stove’ and it gets even better if you both like pancakes for supper).

Second Pots For Large Stove

For the large stove, I can not find a suitable second ‘off the shelf’ pot that is a compact fit with the primary pot. Consequently, I have resorted to making custom pots from SS kitchenware. These are handcrafted and the time to make them makes them a bit expensive. However, they are light, durable, easy to clean and are a quality item for the long term. Just by chance, they are a perfect fit with the primary aluminium pot. The smaller pot fits inside and the other fit outside. “There is little space to spare and there is no room for fixed handles”. When combined with a non-stick anodized aluminium frying pan this becomes my large Expedition Stove.

Custom Lids

As well as fitting the pots the lids must fit; within, on or under the nested pots for efficient backpacking. This is not easy when there are more than two pots. Fortunately, my custom SS pots are born without lids so I can fashion appropriate lids to fit the package. I make compact & light lids out of thick aluminium foil, and use the anodized frying pan as a lid. I also use modified opportunity shop saucepan lids and aluminium sponge ‘tins’  for lids.

Independent Pots

An independently packed large pot, such as a ‘Trangia’ dinner pot can be used as the second or third extra cooking pot. I find it is easy to get someone else to carry this pot (filled with their own supplies) in their backpack. They do it willingly, knowing that there will be an unlimited supply of boiling water forthcoming when we set up camp. However, I find that similar aluminium pot or SS cake ‘tins’ from the opportunity shop can be very much lighter, cheaper and just as effective.

It is also important to note that while the stove is designed to work with the primary pot inserted into the top of the burn chamber (as described above). However, substantially larger pots can also be put on top of the burn chamber and they will heat quite quickly, even if a little slower than the custom pots.

Pot Grips

The primary pot preferably should have no fixed handle if it is to be fitted into another pot. For lifting, stabilizing pots while stirring and flipping pancakes I use modified aluminium pot grips. I make the grip handle short enough to fit in the smallest pot. I also adjust the grip jaws to hold thin, shiny and rimless SS pots securely.

Keeping it all together

To safely carry the stoves in a backpack, usually, the outermost pot must have a secure lid to hold the contents in and protect the pot opening from crushing or damage. Also, some of the ‘light foil lids\ may need to be stored on the outside of the outer pot and will need to be held close to the pot for protection. I have found that an undersized stretch bag, with a drawcord, meet these requirements.  Having stretch also means that the basic stove kit with more or fewer pots and pans can be held together in the same bag for different trip requirements.

Keeping it clean

Although the blower stove burns cleanly it does leave some soot and tar on pots. To avoid mess and the requirement to clean the tar off after every meal I do the following. Pack the outer pot of the stove kit in a ‘tough plastic bag’ (“The postal bags that are very tough and usually black on the inside are good for this.”) This helps to; keep the cloth bag clean, reduces soot and tar smells in the backpack, can cover the pot where there is incomplete closure of the cloth bag and can be used to flatten the lay flat lid handle while packing into the cloth bag. The plastic bag can be washed and reused many times.

Optimising stove packing

Another aspect of the stove packing is that some pots don’t have enough depth to cover the protruding keen edges of the rolled-up stove. Also, my custom SS large pots have a keen edge around their rims. “Despite my grinding and sanding efforts, these edges, without protection, will cut through other things with the relentless rubbing during days of backpacking. Both the above lack of height and keen edge problems can be resolved by inverting the outer pot or using a suitable frying pan/lid as the protective cover of stove edges and pot rims.

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“Hopefully the photos below will explain this better than my words.”

Addendum 1. Above I have focused on pots that fit neatly in the ring stove opening or over the top of it. Recently on an extended bushwalk, a friend put his trusty billy can of water in the stove. It rested on top of a couple of stout fuel sticks so that the billy bottom was above the air port nozzle. It boiled a load of water very quickly and demonstrated yet another way of using a blower stove. Out of curiosity, I tried boiling the billy when sat on a bed of charcoal and this also worked well. 

Addendum 1. An alternative removable lay-flat handle is described in a separate post (REMOVABLE LAY-FLAT HANDLE)

Tim