Seeing the (ultra)light
“I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.” (Julia Child)
There is a welcome trend in camping equipment towards the ultralight.
This has been driven mainly from America by long distance trekkers who began to question the conventional wisdom of needing heavy duty equipment for each-and-every camping trip and started developing their own kit instead. Some take this to astonishing levels and travel for days with packs weighing under 5kg; obsessive about reducing weight to the point of cutting labels off clothing to save an extra few milligrams of weight.
The other aspect of this ultralight movement has been a DIY approach: from alcohol burners made from soda cans, to pots and pans made from nesting beer cans, home-dehydrated foods and tarps sewn together from old tent flysheets.
I am very grateful to all who have led the way in this area as a heavy pack can ruin an otherwise pleasant jungle trek and, for me at least, it was a needed change of mindset from the one I was brought up with in the UK.
Ultralight camping equipment in now commercially available and often of very good quality. However it can be very expensive – the MSR titanium kettle I’ve just bought was 40 pounds (I mistakenly say 25 pounds in the video) which is a lot to pay for a container to boil water in. Luckily there are DIY alternatives and many how-to-make videos on Youtube. But the bottom line is you either pay someone else (a lot!) to make it for you, or save money (but not time) and learn to make it for yourself.
At the far end of the spectrum are the survivalists (or local tribes people) who don’t take in much equipment at all (other than a parang) and make what they need, when they need it. This is great if you can do it but does take more time, more effort, the necessary resoures (e.g. bamboo) and practised skill sets.
In this video I look at my own cook sets and how they’ve evolved over time and then show how to cook using bamboo. I chose a jungle favourite: sardines and bamboo rice as both are readily available products in village stores. I use a tin of sardines in the video but, of course, a sachet of sardines would be better (less weight and no tin to carry out) – but in the villages you won’t find such items and would need to bring them along from the city.
The rice I cooked here in the video was slightly undercooked (after about 20 mins) and 30-35 mins cooking time is better, but I was impatient and running out of time.
Hi Paul, another excellent video. I believe you would be able to reduce the cooking time if you plug the opening of the bamboo with some leaves. This would help keep the heat in better and less lost of water and heat due to evaporation. Thanks for sharing. Cheers!
Hi Freelander,
Great idea! Thanks and you are absolutely right. Even at home I often forget to use a lid when boiling up water and it definitely slows it all down. I might try using a piece of bamboo node as a lid as well…
Thanks again, great suggestion.
Cheers!
Paul
I would recommend using leaves as a plug as some evaporation and expansion of gases should be allowed to take place. Otherwise the bamboo pot might explode 🙂
Hi Freelander,
Yes indeed! I was going to make some holes in the top, but the more I think about it the more I like your idea of simply using leaves – less effort and easy to do…a nice, simple solution.
Thanks again,,
Cheers!
Paul
Hello Paul! Firstly, thank you for the excellent videos, I really enjoy your down to earth and green approach to trekking. It’s a pleasure to watch your videos.
There’s one thing I’d like to point out regarding the hexy burner. I live in Finland and use the same cooker design in the military (I threw my issued Trangia at a water bird first chance I got. Thing weighs like two kilos..) and here in Finland the conditions are often wet and cold, and you get -35 Celsius temperatures in the winter, so using a hexamine stove can be a bit tricky. But here’s a few tips that will help it bring water to boil: If you really need to boil water properly, not just for a brew or dry food but say, to purify it, you want to snap the hexy block in four pieces and align them close together like a Swedish candle. That way you’re burning the block from 24 sides at once instead of 6, and the fire will burn very hot. This way you’ll get water to boil easier, but keep in mind that you need another quarter block to keep it boiling after. The British military issue hexamine burns for 8 minutes according to the instructions, but if it’s split, I’ve timed it to 4 minutes.
Also, if you happen to be in a military setting and the situation has gone totally tits up and you need to quickly make hot water, you can also burn hexotol that burns a lot hotter and faster, but might burn through your cup if you’re not careful. Also, it’s a high explosive, so don’t do it unless it’s your only option :).
Another thing I’ve found useful is the top lid that comes with the cooker. It’s got a hole that fits the pattern 58 stainless steel mug (which is the only cooking pot I carry these days). The lid will help to keep the heat in the stove and keep the bottom close to the flame. I find the cooker works better with it fully opened and the lid on, but that’s just me and I could be wrong here too :).
To really insulate the cooker, I usually carry a bit of aluminium plate, or foil (not the thin one, but like 1 mm thick) that I use to shield the cooker from wind and reflect radiation into the cup and cooker.
The only things I don’t like about hexy stoves is the hexy itself. It’s not exactly green and cooking in an abside of a tent can be somewhat dangerous compared to a gas cooker (though once you run out of gas, you’re in trouble, but with the cooker you can still use it with twigs and what not).
Anyway, that’s my 2 cents.
Again, thanks for the great content and I hope to see more from you in the future!
Best regards,
Onni Johansson
Hi Omni Johansson,
Many thanks for the tips on hexi stoves and good to hear from someone else who likes lightweight camping! Your idea on splitting the hexi into four is a great one and makes total sense – in fact, when I’ve finished writing this I’m going to go out and experiment with it!
I’d not heard of hexotol before but it sounds…interesting!…explosive, huh!?
It reminds me of an account I read of some guys who used petrol in their alcohol stoves! (not something I would dare to do!). I remember when I was a kid a neighbour tried to start his barbecue by pouring some petrol on – the petrol vapourised above the coals and set his hair on fire and took off most of his eyebrows!
A good point too about using a lid and a draft screen – they really do make a big difference in terms of keeping the heat contained where you want it. I made my draft screen from a disposable baking tray as it is thicker than aluminium foil and easy to work with.
And I guess you’re right about hexi not being very green fuel to use – it’s one nice thing about alcohol stoves that they do burn clean. I know some people don’t like hexi because you get gunge building up on the base of your pots and pans, but then my pots and pans are never that spotlessly clean anyway!
Once again, thanks for all the tips, very much appreciated.
Cheers!
Paul
Hello Paul,
Again great video. When I cook in bamboo nodes I make the lid by wilting 2 layers of banana leaf over a fire to make flexible then put them over the end of the bamboo and tie on with a strip of bark. I then make a tiny hole in the lid with a sliver of bamboo or tip of knife. A big plug of nontoxic/non bitter leaves work as well. Try putting some peeled freshwater prawns in with the rice sometime! Keep those videos coming !!
Cheers!
Gabriel
Hi Gabriel,
Good to hear from you again and a great tip. I’m always forgetting about lids and I shouldn’t as they do make a big difference.
Also, thanks for making the point about heating leaves first – its’ something I meant to mention in the video on banana trees (but forgot) as unless you heat them first banana leaves aren’t really flexible enough to use as food wrapping.
Cheers!
Paul
Hi Paul,
Love your videos. Just thought I’d mention an experiment where I cooked rice in a 1.2 liter stainless steel thermos. Simply put .25 liters by volume of rice, or 1 cup, and add about .75 liters of boiling water, and put on the caps. Wait 45 min and you’ll have perfect “sticky rice” Thai style that can almost fill a 1 liter pot. You’ll also need a long stick, or better yet, a long handled ‘ice tea’ spoon, but it beats maintaining a fire for simmering, especially if fuel is scarce or wet. You can also cook while you do chores, or head down the trail, or cook rice in the morning and have it for lunch or dinner with a tin of sardines.
The stainless steel thermos weighs about twice as much as a 1 liter stainless steel water bottle, or about the same a 1 liter steel bottle and 8oz of alcohol fuel. One can save that 8 oz of fuel almost every time they cook rice, and the thermos will cook it or keep it hot to warm for 12 to 24 hours. I’ve also softened dry beans in it, and it is still ‘hot’ after 24 hours of soaking. The 1.2 liter thermos also can carry 1.2 liters of water and keeps cool river water, cool.
Question: I’m looking into a knife. Ray Mears only wants 350 GBP ($550 USD)) for his, and it would likely still get rusty if expose to a mud puddle. It is 01 tool steel and I’m frankly broke. How necessary or desirable would it be to have a stainless steel blade? I have the same Mora as yours, but I’d like something with a full length tang and tough enough to take batoning. The 12oz and 28cm in length Fallkniven A1 in stainless steel VG-10 seems to the best package for the money. After that one I would go for the much lighter 6 oz Fallkniven F1. Could you make any recommendations?
Thanks again for all the hard work you put into your videos. They are so well presented it makes for effective learning and enjoyment.
Bunny Boots
Hi Bunny Boots,
Great idea! and not one I’ve ever come across before….ingenious!
I often underestimate the time taken for rice to cook in the bamboo (also because I am impatient I suspect!) and it is worth noting – for people thinking of trying these ways of cooking rice for the first time – that the bamboo method, and your thermos method, require longer cooking periods than when rice is cooked in a pan full of water on a rolling boil.
Thanks again for the tip.
Cheers!
Paul
Hi Paul,
I’m headed to Thailand soon and for a long stay in the jungle. Do you think a stainless blade is better to have than a regular or 1095 steel for rusting. I prefer 1095 as the stainless steel tends to chip, yet 1095 would rust quickly and one would need to carry an oily rag or equivalent?
Thanks again,
Bunny Boots
HI Bunny Boots,
Interesting question – for parangs I like the (relatively soft) metal that is used in the local parangs (carbon steel) – it rusts at even the sight of rain but that it isn’t a problem as you will be sharpening them daily anyway.
I have a stainless steel parang (ex british army) and it is, frankly speaking, my least favourite parang for the simple reason that it is very difficult to get a good edge on it (and I’ve tried!) and the nicest thing I can say about it is it doesn’t rust!
I prefer carbon steel even for small knives – like the Mora – although I do own a Falkniven U2 folding knife which is stainless steel.
So, bottom line is I would avoid stainless steel for parangs but for small pocket knives it is okay (although I’d still go carbon steel most of the time).
Hope that helps.
Cheers!
Paul