I`m going to ramble a bit about a new kitchen experiment. If you aren`t sure what my point is, don`t worry- I`m not quite sure either

Since most of my trips are only a few days, and often with few or no services enroute, I normally carry most or all of my food right from the start. It`s just easier that way. My tried and true kitchen is good for boiling water, but the pot has a seam along the bottom which would be impossible to clean, so I never cook in it. Along with the pot, I carry a small Rubbermaid container with cap that serves as soaker as well as bowl.

The problem is that I occasionally take longer trips (a week is long by my standards), where it makes more sense to shop along the way. Shopping for a boil only diet is kind of tough, so I changed a few things to make simple cooking feasible. The main change was from my 1.5 cup (350ml) home made pot to a GSI 0.6l (2+ cups) pot that`s 65g heavier. But I can eat directly from the pot, so get most of that back (62g) by leaving the sealed bowl. In addition to the pot change, I added a small cutting board (1/8 plexiglass, roughly 4" x 5.5"), knife with 3" folding blade, and a P-38. I tried this new method on a recent one week tour around the Puget Sound and pretty much liked it, but it has drawbacks. I think I`ll continue to use my "old" kitchen for most weekends and keep working at a cook-friendly setup for anything thre-days and up. This time, I carried some of my old standard boiled water stuff (oatmeal, Necafe, instant rice, instant taters) and stopped daily for fresh veggies, usually adding lentils and chicken stock to make soups. I also bought a can of raviolis one day, which I normally wouldn`t do even though I could.

My observations: Obviously a little more weight for the cooking setup, volume as pretty much a wash. Nice to add variety- three days worth of my old method is all I can take. Cooking lentils takes a lot of fuel. I did a boil-soak-boil thing and still probably used 2 to 3 times more fuel than I would have with my old method. Next time I`ll be thinking more about pastas than lentils. I missed the separate bowl because I couldn`t heat for coffee or tea while the pot was otherwise in use and because I have to use a glove to hold it while eating if it`s still hot. For a REALLY long trip (like 3 weeks!), maybe add a light bowl/lid (sour cream container) for soaking? I wouldn`t trust it in my bag, but it should do the trick in camp. The particular season and area where I was riding was perfect for daily dose of fresh and tasty goodies- I won`t be able to count on convenient roadside stands everywhere, will have to resort to supermarkets and general stores. For a mega tour (month or more), how the heck do I get pasta, lentils, chicken stock, instant coffee without having to buy a week or wore worth at a time anyway? Will have to wait and see if I ever ride that kind of trip, I guess.

Total weight of my boil kitchen (not including fuel) is 262g/9.2 oz
Total for cook kitchen (no fuel) is 351g/12.4oz

Breakdown, in grams:
small "boil only" pot + windscreen; 109
Rubbermaid bowl; 62

GSI pot + larger windscreen; 174
Opinel #6 knife; 27
cutting board; 53
P-38 (wrapped in paper sheath); 6

Then the stuff that goes with either kitchen:
Catfood stove + fuel measure: 11
plastic cup; 39
plastic spoon; 11
cotton glove (pot handling duty); 30 (wow!)