BicycleCrazy

What sort of cooking gear and utensils do you use?
We will be camping the majority of the way.

striknein

Tin cup, titanium spork, and an Esbit stove (if flying solo).

Alternately, MSR Pocket Rocket, Ketalist, large plastic spork, and a ceramic paring knife (if cooking for two).

Also also, Texsport Scout, MSR Pocket Rocket/campground grill, large plastic spork, filet knife (for groups of 4+).

moleman76

What do you think will be on your menu? What will your sources for carbs, protein, fat and water be? What do you like to eat? What stays down? Will you snack during the day, or make sandwiches to eat for lunch?

Ages ago, I fueled my riding with pancakes (from mix) for breakfast, oranges and ice cream bars for lunch (from small grocery stores), and Dinty Moore beef stew, reheated from the can, for dinner. Somehow I lived.

I'd take a look for "one pot cooking" recipes and figure out the ways you can do pasta and sauce with some flavor and additive variations. Oatmeal for breakfast, a couple of quick-cooking packages?

When I backpack, my first dinner is semi-scratch, after that the freeze-dried, or cooked/dried/"freezer bag" comes out. But you're more likely to be shopping every day or two, and having a few staples to carry day in and day out.

Utensils, etc. that I would recommend:
+ A white-gas or multi-fuel stove. One of the MSR ones which uses the fuel container as the tank, would be my choice; semi-foolproof, heats fast, not dependent on finding fuel (like the Esbit, or propane, or alcohol) (though you may need to hunt for a small can of Coleman fuel!). If you have places for three bottles on your bike, the fuel bottle hangs below the down tube. You'll need to figure out a way to store the rest of the stove so its fumes don't get into the rest of your gear.
+ A pasta-sized pot and a smaller one; a lid for each; a dinky tea kettle if you wish. If the lid can also serve to cook in (potlifter helps), then as the pasta boils you can be heating the topping on it.
+ A thin, flexible plastic cutting board. When the time comes to cut things up, you probably don't want the food to be in direct contact with the campground table.
+ Mug and shallow bowl to eat from. Fork, spoon and knife, to eat like a normal person with
+ A good sharp knife for cutting food up with. A stirring / serving spoon. maybe a spatula. a little rounded-corner dish scraper-outer.
+ Salt and pepper shaker. A mini cheese grater (2"x3", they're out there) You can get a little piece of parmesan to use up in two days.
+ maybe a little folding fabric-type cooler so that you can get the food from the store to your camp without as much food poisoning risk.
+ scratch pad, dish soap and a mini-towel. You don't want to get sick, you do need to be active about cleaning your cooking gear (and bike water bottles).
+ the mini-grille would be nice for variety at dinner.

Cook a couple meals at home with only the gear you plan to take. Add, subtract, rethink.
Enjoy!

Erick L

I use a GSI Soloist and a lexan spoon, Swiss Army knife with blade and can opener, salt, pepper and spices in film capsule, bandana, lighter and matches.

Bekologist

i'd say just get a Trangia cookset, bring a cup and spoon per person, a sharp folding knife, and call it good. Add a bowl and a plate each if you're feeling fancy.

I like cups that can go on the stove to heat thing up in.

dishsoap, bandana, and a thin cutting board ( i use a trimmed down lid from a gallon of icecream) also near necessities.

BenzFanatic

I might add a collapsible water bucket, but it's not a necessity. They do come in handy though. I always bring a little free-standing grate when camping(haven't toured yet), which will save you fuel when you can make a fire. one of these .

fietsbob

Msr dragonfly is a gasoline stove you can actually make nice stuff to eat on,
because it has a needle valve on the burner to throttle back to a simmer.
lower flame

rodar y rodar

My utensils are one of the few things (maybe the only thing?) that I don`t adjust from trip to trip.

2 cup aluminum pot with lid
plastic bowl with lid
plastic cup
plastic spoon

raybo

You don't describe your eating and cooking habits. I always eat vegetarian while on tour. I wrote an article about what utensils I take, the spices I pack and the kinds of meals I eat. You can read the article here.

I strongly urge you to cook with you gear before hitting the road so that you can ensure that the meals you plan to make can be cooked with the gear you are taking.

MichaelW

Weekened trips and short tours can be done with simple Just Add water meals. For extended touring over many weeks you need to good decent meals with whatever cheap, local food you buy.
My extended solo cookset is:
Trangia 27 (inc 2 pots, kettle and lid/frying pan)
1 sharp paring knife-Khun Rikon bright yellow with plastic sheath. (folding knives are hard to clean)
1 v small wooden cooks spoon. For eating, cooking, scraping
1 flexible cutting board: a clean surface that you can even balance on your rear luggage rack.
1 box of herbs and spices inc small pepper grinder.
1 plastic shallow bowl.
1 large mug , big enough to use for packing protection for soft fruit (apple/pear)
2 sporks.
1 small container detergent. Camping suds just wont shift grease.
1 scouring net cloth which also wraps around trangia.


I need leatherman pliers to manipulate the simmer ring.

irwin7638

I use a Coleman Exponent 2 burner stove with Powermax fuel,
A stainless steel, copper clad mess kit with 2 pots, 2pans (which double as lids),
two ss plates
an SOS pad for cleaning
a folding plastic "spork"
Victorionox knife
and (most important)Bodum Coffee Press and cup.

Marc

andrewclaus

A plastic cup and a spoon. I prefer not to cook any more when camping, and I camp a lot. I got tired of the warm, salty glop I'd usually produce, and then cleaning up the mess. I'm not much of a camp cook.

Now I eat wraps, sandwiches, cold leftovers from town, cracker with hummus, cheese or peanut butter, muesli and powdered milk, bagels and cream cheese, nuts, fresh salads, etc. Instant mashed potatoes and dehydrated refried beans reconstitute in cold water, and the beans taste great with corn chips. Ramen are already cooked and can be eaten as a large cracker.

I use less water when camping, and it's easier to eat in harsh conditions.

This is not for caffeine addicts.

BigBlueToe

I like to cook. I like hot coffee. I don't want to have to find food when I get to a campsite.

I like stoves that can burn unleaded gasoline, simply because it's so easy to find unleaded gas. They don't burn the best and they can be stinky, but they work. I have an MSR Whisperlite International and a Coleman 442. The Coleman is more convenient. The MSR probably weighs a little less.

Last summer I toured with a guy with a Jetboil system. That looked like a good thing. The only problem was finding cannisters. He carried three and they lasted the entire 11-day tour and he still had plenty of fuel. I'd rather not carry more than one at a time, and would worry about finding a new one when the first got low on fuel.

staehpj1

For solo touring I take the following:
Stove - Pop can stove (with windscreen and pot stand)
Pot - REI Ti Pot 1.7 liter
Utensils - Guyot Designs MicroBites
Lighter - Bic
Can opener - P38
Cup - Sea to Summit X-Mug

The whole works weighs a bit more than 11 ounces. I have gone without the cup to save a couple ounces. When there were two or three of us we took a slightly larger pot and each took a plate or bowl, a cup, and our own utensils.

Bekologist

every gas station that sells unleaded will generally have fuel for alcohol stoves as well, in the little yellow HEET bottles. every drugstore, big box store, and hardware store will have alcohol for spirit burner stoves.... i think there are, therefore, MORE places to find alcohol for alcohol stoves than gasoline IMO.

BenzFanatic

Oh yea one thing I don't think anyone has mentioned, some aluminum foil. You get to camp after a hard ride, cut up a potato and part of an onion, maybe a little butter or OO, some veggies if you have 'em, wrap it in some foil, and plop it on the edge of the fire for maybe 30 minutes. Simple, filling, and tasty. And virtually no cleanup.

staehpj1

We did that a couple times on the TA. We didn't carry the foil from home. We were able to bum a few sheets from the deli of the store where we bought the food we wanted to cook in it.

Carbonfiberboy 

Optimus Nova multi-fuel stove with windbreak. 2 qt. aluminum pot. Fuel bottle. Aluminum foil.

Igo

MSR Pocket Rocket and REI nestled Titanium cook pot but I only bring the smaller pot. Titanium cup and Pocket Rocket sit inside the pot. Spork and cheap plastic bowl. All sit on pot. First Need water purifier.

Ekdog

I cook on a Bushbuddy wood-burning stove, which I love, but I need to find something else for touring during fire season. I've been thinking about getting a Jetboil Flash. Do any of you have one? Thoughts?

Igo

People who use them swear by them but as a backpacker, I think they are too bulky.

BenzFanatic

I'm thinking about picking up a couple of these since they're so cheap. I'm sure they'd crap out in cold weather... and you can make your own support for a pot pretty easily. But $15 for a 4 oz stove the size of a pack or 2 of cigs. Psh. https://www.amazon.com/Ultralight-Bac...=IP3PX9YSLZ5CL

Igo

To complicated. To many moving parts.
Try this: https://www.rei.com/product/660163/ms...kpacking-stove

Carbonfiberboy 

The problem with canister stoves is . . . the canister. Otherwise they're great.

Igo

Well since I've been backpacking for 35 years, tell me the issue with canister stoves. Maybe I've missed something.