As we start doing planning for our upcoming European tour of 7 weeks my attention turns to our cook kit. It is stainless and has served us well. But I would like to consider reducing weight in this area.
So we welcome suggestions!
Thanks!

Firemaple petrel G3 and either the hornet II or greenpeak stove

I assume two of you?

You did not say if you are locked into whatever you have used for a stove. Do you "cook" or just heat water? My point is that some stoves are great for boiling water (Jetboil or some of the pots with a heat exchanger), but if you are stirring a viscous liquid like a thick soup or stew, you need a different kind of stove that spreads the heat out more so the food does not burn onto that tiny little spot in the middle of the pot.

I do not recall what countries you are going to. It is my understanding that in France you may have difficulty in buying the threaded type butane canisters, but on this forum it was commented a few years ago that Decathlon stores sell the threaded canisters. Photo below, the canister on the left is not threaded, the canister on the right is threaded. If your stove is threaded, make sure you are careful when shopping in Europe.



Imi on this forum is more knowledgeable than I am for where to buy what kind of canisters in Europe.

Photo below is my solo cook kit from a bike tour six years ago.



In the photo above, starting at top left and going to the right, some aluminum foil, just in case it might come in handy. An older Primus stove that has a wide burner head, strainer for draining pasta (hot pad not shown, it is a folded bandana), measuring cut, small titanium mug that I also have used as a small pot for pasta sauce, green plastic bowl that nests in the pot, the plastic jar with a green lid is my instant coffee jar. Underneath the pasta strainer is a folding wind screen. To the right of that is a small fry pan that will nest inside the green bowl, that fry pan had a handled riveted to it which I removed, fry pan in a plastic bag to protect non-stick surface.

Starting at bottom left and going to the right, the white thing is a cheese slicer, the green thing is a spatula that I no longer use, there is a smaller white spatula to the right of that, a small vintage can opener, folding spoon and folding fork, knife with sheath, cork screw, pot gripper, wooden spoon, a coffee can lid which is my cutting board, a one person sized titanium pot, and my double wall coffee mug. The instant coffee jar fits perfectly in my coffee mug for packing.

I do not have a total weight on everything in that photo, but it has worked well for me. That said, I am starting to use stainless instead of the titanium for bike tours, I still use titanium for backpacking where I want the extra light weight. I think that this photo is from my last bike tour where I used the titanium pot instead of stainless. Stainless, it is easier to clean with a scrubby without damaging the surface of it, etc. And I do not worry about using a metal spoon in a stainless pot where I do not want to damage the surface of the titanium pot. Thus, the wood spoon for the titanium pot.

Soap and scrubby not shown. Fuel canisters were bought after I got off the plane, not shown. Food hanging rope and gear not shown.

I doubt that this would be any lighter than what you already use, I am providing this detail in case it lists things you did not think of. I carry a lot more on a bike tour than I do for a backpacking trip. When backpacking it is almost all dehydrated, no need for a fry pan.

If you are packing extraordinarily light and only using the stove to heat water, Gauvins on this forum had a long thread on a cook kit a year or two ago, he was very minimalist.

Stove is a Pocket Rocket. As for fuel I have contacted a few bike shops on Stockholm and they gave me some good leads for fuel canisters.
I will post a pic a bit later of our setup. But water for oatmeal, coffee, tea, soup. Wrdo make a macaroni and tuna casserole.

Here is a pic of our setup

You can lose some weight by going to aluminum or titanium over stainless. Depending on what you are carrying, you could lose about a pound. The question is “is it worth the extra cost?” I would suggest avoiding titanium since titanium’s heat transference is pretty bad compared to aluminum or steel.

Here’s mine for two people



I change out the larger pot set for a much smaller one for solo travel (which I do much more often). The set up includes salt, pepper (in mill), some Italian seasonings and garlic. I use a collapsible measuring cup and an MSR foldable spoon. My cup is a titanium one with a double wall because titanium is do bad at transferring heat.

• large pot: 800g
• tea pot (with sweetener and coffee filters): 480g
• Canister: 380g
• utensils: 290g
• cup: 195g
• coffee filter: 140
• stove: 100g
• small pot: 480g
• Cleaning supplies: 55g

Total for 2: 2450g

Total solo: 2130g

I have a frying pan but I’ve never used it in more than 20 years of using these pots. My meals aren’t all that elaborate on the road. I use mostly boxed pastas and rices with added foil packed chicken for protein. I’ve found that Star Kissed makes a buffalo chicken that is very good with a cheesy pasta. I did find foil packed meatballs on my trip last fall which were surprisingly good. I’ve also found foil packed India meals and rice from Tasty Bits that are really good as well. Even easier to cook and a nice break from pasta.

If I’m off-road bikepacking, I carry freeze-dried and a lot less (the tea pot, coffee stuff, cup, and the spoon/fork set

Is that the stainless version of the Sigg Tourist? Wow, I have not seen one of those for decades. The stainless version is extraordinarily rare.

Quite frankly, I would keep using the stainless setup you have. When I have bike toured with a friend, thus need capacity for two, I used a MSR Alpine two pot cookset that is very similar in size to the Sigg Tourist.

I picked up a titanium two person sized cookset decades ago at a REI Scratch and Dent sale. I have used that on a couple trips for two, but quite frankly it did not reduce the weight much at all when you start adding up everything that you bring. So, I really put minimal value on that amount of lightening on a bike tour. I think the last time I used that was in the photo below, that is the larger of the two pots.

This thread needs some scenery, sun was rising behind me when I finished my hot cerial breakfast and was still working on my coffee on a canoe trip this past October in Northern Minnesota.



Both the coffee cup and the small mug/small pot were in my first post in this thread.

Boundary Waters?

I will always recommend Snow Peak, always good quality stuff. I have used their sporks and titanium mugs for over a decade now and will continue to use them. Their chopsticks are really good as well but I may not always bring them on a bike tour but have been using them lately on a vacation I am on currently. I have used their stove a couple times but I cannot give a good long term review as I generally use a Whisperlite because I do enjoy cooking more but for heating water the SnowPeak Gigapower was quite nice.

You’ve got a few hours to save 25%.

https://www.rei.com/product/170567/m...amic-2-pot-set

And get some Sea to Summit collapsible bowls and cups. 5.3 ounces for the pair.

This adapter is invaluable if heading further south than Germany. It converts easy-clic (non-threaded) to a threaded valve.

Decathlon is the go-to place in Europe to buy canisters, but be warned, sometimes in the stores in the south they might only have non-threaded in stock. In France the “Mr. Bricolage” chain of hardware stores are good too.

Sweden doesn’t have Decathlon, the Biltema stores are my go-to alternative.

The plastic valve-cap colour denotes the type of valve:

Red = threaded (Lindal Valve)
Green = non-threaded (Easy-Clic)

Orange is I believe only for Coleman brand stoves. Can anyone confirm?

I have read that non-threaded canisters are no longer distributed in N.America, so that’s probably why the Jeebel adapter is not available on amazon.com

On a side note, due to Decathlon’s increasing monopoly in camping gear, canisters can be hard to find elsewhere, though the huge supermarkets may have them. I have experienced Decathlon being totally out of stock of one or even both kinds of canisters.

Decathlon usually has brand name canisters (Campingaz etc) and their own brand “Forclaz” which are the same, just cheaper:

Did I mention “get an adapter”? 😁

Yup.

It has been decades since the Ezy Clic non-threaded canisters were sold in USA, I can't comment on Canada. I have seen photos of that adapter but have never actually seen one.

I have had a couple of those non-threaded canisters sitting on the shelf for years, finally decided on a trip last fall to get rid of my last one. So, the Bluet stove might not get used again unless I take a trip to Europe.



Did I forget to mention, bring a plastic wine glass, you do not want to break a glass one.

Above from a canoe trip where I pack even heavier than I do on bike tours. On those trips I usually bring a liquid fuel stove, but I really wanted to get rid of my last non-threaded canister. So brought butane instead.

hey there Mr TT, like you I have an old set of MSR stainless steel pots, and I too wanted to reduce weight, so ended up finding a used aluminium pot and if need be, also use the smaller aluminum pot that came with a Trangia Mini kit I got a bunch of years ago. I don't recall how much weight was saved in grams, but between using an alu pot and then when I got a titanium mug (about 800ml) it did save probably what cycoo say, about a pound.
Even when traveling with my wife in Europe, we tend to hit a grocery store at end of day and go with easy prepared foods, especially in hot weather, so generally use the stove for boiling water for coffee or soup, but the alu pot can still heat up basic meals.

For me, it was worth the weight saving, but I'm okay with simple meals.
When alone, using the titanium "tea pot/large mug/small pot" (I think of it as all three, its a bit too small, but useful for a minimum setup) with the trangia nestled inside, makes for a much more compact setup that I like when not using panniers in bikepacking mode.

oh--should add that alcohol fuel does tend to take up more room/weight for a given heat output, plus a trangia is slower, plus often when you have to buy more alcohol, you end up carrying more than you need due to the bottle size, so weight there....

You might be able to find some used alum pots and see how they compare to your stainless steel setup, I'm sure they are inexpensive, even if new.

That looks pretty minimalist and light already. If you replaced everything with titanium your might save a fistful of ounces. Your wallet will be considerably lighter though.

what mugs or cups are you bringing? There can be quite a difference in weight just with those.
I guess in the end, you'll see how all your trip stuff packs up volume and weight wise, and given you'll be away 7 weeks, it seems reasonable to put an emphasis on enjoyment for some things to be a bit heavier or bulkier, if your panniers aren't overflowing.

Ive always found it handy to have extra room in panniers anyway for grocery store runs at the end of a day, just making it easier throwing stuff in for the shortish ride to a campsite or hotel or whatever.

My cook kit has a built in lighter.

As for cups we have been using some blueish plastic cups that nest. They seem to work well.

Motorcycle camping at the moment and am using my 900ml titanium pot. I hate it - hot spots where the flame hits the pot and very little heat distribution. I think I'd be willing to haul around a slightly heavier pot if it distributed the heat better.

Anyone know of such a pot?

I'm sure a lot of us have some of those kicking around in our camping stuff
Yup, they work and are light.

I can't convince my wife to forego the bowls and eat out the pan!

I have this set. It’s nice. Just used it last weekend.

https://www.rei.com/product/170567/m...amic-2-pot-set

I often use stainless steel pots for that exact reason instead of my titanium ones. I have used MSR and some Evernew pots, but I think Evernew stopped making stainless pots a couple decades ago.

MSR makes individual pots with a locking lid that are sold individually. I have used some of these but not recently, I left for a trip and forgot my cooking pots at home, had to buy what I could in a store and got one of the Stow Away pots at that time. The locking lid mechanism is only used for storage, that is the pot handle so you do not lock the lid on when cooking. These are thicker and have better head distribution than the really ultra light backpacking pots.
https://cascadedesigns.com/products/...-stowaway-pots

Some of the MSR deep plates and bowl nest with their pots, either inside or outside. But that would mean that you do not have two of the same exact ones as they do not nest as pairs. I have some of their plates, but they are too wide to work well for soup, have not used for several years.
https://cascadedesigns.com/collectio...tchen-utensils

This is the MSR bowl. It nests inside some of my my pots.



Or a large mug? The smaller one shown here is on the small side, but worked ok for a hot freeze dried breakfast.



The one above is titanium and I have used it also as a small pot to make pasta sauce. There are taller ones made of aluminum or stainless that also work well as a bowl/mug.

But if you had two such mugs, they do not nest with each other.