Originally Posted by Camel

If you have time before you leave, check out how I make a "cozy" (see thread). These save fuel by allowing pasta/rice/oatmeal to continue to "cook" off the flame, or just to keep hot meals and drinks hot. With a "cozy", my morning coffee(in a nalgene) and oatmeal(in a bowl) are still nice and toasty while I let them sit+break down+clean up camp-then eat. In fact my coffee is usually still too hot to drink. These are really easy to make (litterally minutes with scissors), once you can get the insulation. They are also pretty durable, I still have one that I used for a month long backpack trip 3 summers ago. One got a bit randy from food spillage-so I simply tossed it when I got home.

Disclaimer/credits: I picked up the "cozy" idea from one of the lightweight backpacking sites alla Ray Jardine etc.