Moto Camping - Cooking Gear

[ontic]

I absolutely love my old Svea 123. It is tough, simple, charming and works very well from a hot steak sizzling burn to a pretty decent gentle simmer.
Runs very well on shellite and very important for me it runs perfectly OK on petrol. Mostly I take a bottle of shellite at the start of a trip and finish on petrol if the trip is long enough.
In side by side use, coffee to coffee, steak to steak, etc, with a friends 'Gaz' cylinder cooker (sort of visible in the background below) I calculated the cost difference between the two systems and even using shellite (instead of the much cheaper petrol) it was a factor over 1000%.

Lighting or 'priming' requires basically dousing the top in a cap full of fuel and torching the thing, which is fun, not advisable inside a tent, and easy to get the hang of. At a particular setting of the 'throttle' I can get it purring along and sounding just like an airhead boxer

If you don't know the stove it is worth a google- I was weighing up between the variety of modern MSR type multi fuel stoves, lightweight (typically pretty fragile) and runs on a variety of fuels, and then I found the reviews on this old Svea stove and like just about every other user I very happy with my choice. Old school and practical at the same time is very much my thing though.



Of course, nothing beats a camp fire and cast iron hotplate.

[dunno_where]

Originally Posted by Storm Shadow

I always use to use this ww2 Remake mess kit, metho stove, works well, boils slow though.

Now i just upraded to this fancy elcheapo propain canister cooker, its got a pizo ignition, a few bucks on ebay, boils quickly, after seeing a mate on my last bikeathon camping. i have some square alu mess pans, or just use the pans from the old one. yet, to test it out properly yet.

but i have been looking at buying something like this, as i like the idea of just a kettle, add hot water etc for tea coffee noodle cups, no cleaning of it. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-3in1-...item19c690b720

I did the same thing... I should have known better.

It didn't have the little Australian Gas Certified sticker on it. I used mine the night it arrived. Worked fine. I walked away from it for less than a minute, come back and the f***ing thing is up in bright orange flame engulfing the billy i had boiling water on. I grabbed a bucket of water and drowned the bloody thing until the flame went out.

No Gas Certificate - don't even bother.

Hence now I'm asking the question about camp cookers.

I've been looking at the Trangia sets. Safe, small, reliable, and cheep to run. (From what I've read)

[Miss Jane]

Sometimes cook on a stove, sometimes on the fire. So jet boil pots are out, when I can remember foil wrapped vegies, feta cheese with a sprig of thyme etc are in.

We take either my MSR Simmer light stove, runs on shellite. Shellite is very useful for degreasing and cleaning engine casings when applying metal putty over holes or cracks!

Or we take the MSR Whisperlite International which runs on shellite or unleaded fuel - burns a bit dirty on the later, but a very handy back up.

Both stoves nice and quiet, quick to boil.

Rarely have to service/clean stoves in the field, but should you need to it's easy and they pull totally apart.

Very reliable, no problems in years and years, and they get used a lot as they are our only camping stoves and we camp often.

We find them efficient on fuel.

Light weight, compact, quick to use and reliable even in the most disgusting weather.

Aluminium pots can make food stick, non-stick is no good when not carrying detergent and using sand/dirt to clean out pots. We have a couple of misc pots made of stainless and a really big aluminium pot for one pot meals on cold wet Tassie bush walking trips.

[Miss Jane]

Originally Posted by dunno_where

I've been looking at the Trangia sets. Safe, small, reliable, and cheep to run. (From what I've read)

Excellent stoves, nothing on them to go wrong. They do take a long time to cook though.

[Storm Shadow]

scary if they catch fire, ill be cooking away from my bike nd tents on it now i thinks

[Sleepy John]

I worked with a Major in the Army who had returned from Vietnam. *He introduced us to the Bengahzi Cooker.

*It consists of an empty jam tin filled with sand that is soaked in petrol which is then set alight. *The sand acts like a wick and the fuel is drawn up to the flame. *It is quite a controlled burn and a useful form of heating in an emergency.

[curlysurfer]

I was looking at this exact subject. a stove to use while riding, small, easy fuel source, long lasting. easy to use etc. It came to a comp between the penny stove, and a gasifying stove. What's this gasifying you say. I haven't got a picture of mine, so here's a link of a commercial set-up. mine would be the S/S one half way down the page, it's literally two jam tins, and a pot stand, although they have added a fan, which can turn it into a forge if needed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by2VYHbbpb0

The alcohol stove wouldn't light for us unless, it was preheated. tried many different size jets. In all the friggin around lighting it the wood gas stove would have flames out of the jets every time, flame had nice fat blue bases too! for those curious, the 'jets' are the smoke burning. So hence smoke free fire!

Wood gas stove is by far easier to use, on all accounts. Fuel is any combustible material - grass, wood chip, sticks, goat shit, leaves. etc. ie anything you can find around the camp.

For shits and giggles, I made one out of a 600mm and 500mm drum about 800mm high. first light on a few pieces of paper had an 2.5m flame out of it!

I'll have it (small version) on the LDR if anyone's interested. That is wet road depending, don't wanna be locked up there for xmas!

Cheers
Nashy

[Nandewar]

I love my Whisperlite. I've had it for 25years. Easy on fuel and boils the billy in a flash. It packs up nice and small too.

I prefer cooking with coals when camping though. Take the coals from the fire to the cooking pit with a shovel and you can control the heat perfectly with no mess and no fuel. I carry a little grill that a put over a small trench in the ground which I fill with coals. It gives a very stable platform to cook on. The coals can be topped up as needed.

A quick point with Whisperlite. Make sure you have a wire nozzle cleaner with you. If the nozzle blocks it is almost impossible to clean without one. - cold soup anyone?

[Sundowner]

Originally Posted by Uncle Crumpet

i love cooking in aluminium, but I can never remember the meal or where i left it!

We're all doomed from our mum's alloy pot sets.
For those that don't like alloy cook sets (for health or temperature control issues, check out a Victorian company called SilverGlo - they do professional stainless cookware. They do a mini campoven with a second nesting pot that's built for Adv bike touring. Here's mine...



Not the greatest photo to show it's versatility but it gives an idea of it's proportions if you consider it's about the diameter of a normal table side plate (for your bread and butter at dinner, if you're posh). The lid has built in wire handles that make removing the hot lid very easy for checking your bread/stew/boiling yabbies/whatever. The lid makes an excellent frying pan as well...



It's not hugely thick, however it is thicker than any "camping" cookware I've seen in the usual crappy camping shop offerings, so it's easy to cook food without burning the hell out of it. It works really well on gas as well.
I really can't praise this kit highly enough. Best purchase I've ever made for camp cookware. It is fairly light as well, so don't write it off as heavy or overkill just on looks. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding...

Originally Posted by ontic

Of course, nothing beats a camp fire and cast iron hotplate.

Love the levitating fish trick, Ontic. How long do you need to cook it for like this?

[hunter_greyghost]

Now is that fish surprised or just pissed off?

Looks like a good feed anyway
Cheers
Baza

[Eddywoodgo]

I love the tranga metho stove. Works better if ya pack the cook



If you add a bit of water to the metho it cuts out the black sooty shit.

[Storm Shadow]

Originally Posted by Eddywoodgo

I love the tranga metho stove. Works better if ya pack the cook



If you add a bit of water to the metho it cuts out the black sooty shit.

ill have to try that

[ontic]

Originally Posted by Sundowner

Love the levitating fish trick, Ontic. How long do you need to cook it for like this?

The levitating trick was performed by probably the best use possible for a Venhill featherlite clutch cable (once it has broken after less than 1000kms use) unraveling a strand and stitching it through said trout.

after salt and sugar curing for a few hours it was tended and smoked for oh... about half a bottle of rum

Originally Posted by hunter_greyghost

Now is that fish surprised or just pissed off?
Looks like a good feed anyway

I suspect it was a bit of both.
And yes, was a great feed.

[Sundowner]

Awesome!

[trustme]

+1 for Trangia. I like the having 2 pots & frying pan all in one unit, compact & simple, slightly hungry on fuel , bit slow to cook , works anywhere.

I also use a Coleman 533. cooks quicker , fuel always available, bulky, smelly in the saddle bag , gotta carry pots & pans so might as well take the Trangia as well, grrrr kind of self defeating