FiveStar’s Updated Kitchen

Some changes, depending upon the style of cooking for a particular trip

I’ve taken a few trips since my last post about MY kitchen, and I’ve made some minor changes.

The title picture shows pretty much everything that I bring on a COOKING hike, i.e. one where I prepare fancier meals. This kit consists of my 0.6L Evernew pot (3.2 oz.), 0.9L Evernew pot (3.8 oz.), pot cozy for the larger pot (approx. 1 oz.), Soto WindMaster stove with 4-support attachment (3.0 oz.), 8 oz. MSR IsoPro fuel canister or equivalent (gas weighs 8 oz. and is marked as a consumable on LighterPack, the empty canister weighs 5.1 oz.), spoon (0.4 oz.), lighter (0.2 oz.) and Little Vickie paring knife (0.8 oz.). I no longer bring the measuring cup now that I’ve marked a SmartWater bottle in 2 oz. increments. I’ve also dropped the mini scrubbie, having found that sand and gravel work just fine. And I usually leave behind the Fozzils bowl/cutting board; the inside of a pot lid works ok for dicing and mincing. Total for this setup (not counting gas) is around 17.5 oz. That’s not a great deal of luxury weight.

I bring 2 pots because I’m usually cooking pasta, rice or couscous in one, and the rest of the meal in the other. I don’t have many 1 pot recipes unfortunately. The Soto WindMaster is just an amazing stove. Not only light, but very efficient in wind, AND has excellent simmer control, which is crucial to how I cook. I bring 8 oz. of gas on these trips because I’m usually cooking for 10-20 minutes (mostly simmering); I find that one of these canisters is usually sufficient for a week. The paring knife is something I actually kinda need. Trying to slice and dice onions with the tiny blade of a Victorinox just sucks.

Now, on some of my upcoming hikes I’m trying to go faster and lighter, OR I’m going to be in a desert and don’t want to waste water cleaning a dirty pot. On these hikes I will be freezer bag cooking. The changes with this set-up are: leave the 0.6L pot and paring knife at home, and switch to a 4 oz. fuel canister. The total weight of this set-up (excluding gas but counting the empty canister) is 11.7 oz. I keep the pot cozy; when I add boiling water to the freezer bag, I then place it in the pot with cozy and cover it with the lid. Once rehydrated, I fold the edges of the freezer bag over the pot and eat out of it like a bowl. I will be employing this method on my Pictured Rocks hike next month.

Note that a tiny dropper bottle of soap is part of my sundries kit, and that I use my bandana (worn) as a towel when needed.