THE SHAKEDOWN – 06: STOVES
April 01, 2019
A trusted mug, pot, or spoon can be favorite pieces of gear in a backpacker’s kit. Despite discoloration from flames, dents, dings, and permanently burned-in food, a good piece of cookware is often retirement-proof. In the realms of ultralight, a good item should be able to serve a few roles. Can it be used for eating food and your morning magic motion potion? Can it serve as a container for your stove and utensils when not in use? And how will this kitchen be carried? The selection of these essential bits can be easy to obsess over because at the end of a long day, few things in your pack will bring you as much joy.
MIKE ST. PIERRE
HYPERLITE MOUNTAIN GEAR // CO-FOUNDER + CEO
Spoon: A Long-Handle Titanium Spoon or Spork is the only way to go. Lexan spoons will break, and the small handle titanium spoons or sporks are too short to scoop into a dehydrated meal package, resulting in dirty, messy fingers. Anything else is just too heavy.
Storage: Pods work great for storing food in your pack. On big trips of a week or more, I’ll carry four pods for food. One for breakfast, one for lunch, one for dinners, and one for snacks. This makes it really easy and convenient when mealtime comes. Grab the appropriate pod, find the meal you feel like eating and dig in.
Mug: I use our unconventional but highly effective “mug” the REpack. I repackage all of my dehydrated food in freezer bags to save weight, space, and reduce the packaging garbage I don’t need or want to take with me. I put the freezer bag in the REpack, pour in hot water, close the clasp, and let everything rehydrate. This handy little pouch traps heat, so when it comes time to chow down, my meal is still warm and tasty. I also use it to store other kitchen essentials and or my canister stove if that’s what I’m bringing for my trip. Head over to our blog to learn more.
Fire Kit: All I need here is a mini Bic lighter. I usually carry two.
BETHANY "FIDGIT" HUGHES
THRU HIKER // WORLD TRAVELER //
MATT MORELLI
THRU HIKER // PHOTOGRAPHER //
KRYSTIAN "SNAP" REPOLONA
THRU HIKER // PHOTOGRAPHER // @HIKES.CAMERA.ADVENTURE
NICK "CLICK" REICHARD
THRU HIKER // PHOTOGRAPHER // @NICHOLASREICHARD
JESSICA KELLEY
BIKEPACKER // PACKRAFTER //
LIZ "HANDSTAND" KIDDER
THRU HIKER // WORLD TRAVELER //
Since I didn’t carry a stove on the Appalachian Trail I ended up buying a — it has a watertight screw-top lid so I could cold-soak things with it, OR, I could use it as a pot to cook on a fire. It’s titanium/lightweight, the perfect size, has measurement guidelines, and it has a foldaway handle! I’d usually store my rock bag/line inside of it during the day, or my jar of Nutella so I saved on space. I also had a titanium spork – necessary for Nutella consumption.
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