Thoughts on mess kits or BOB cooking preps

[John in WI]

I'm curious what folks are doing in terms of BOB cooking preps? I'm just out of college, starting a career, so ultra-light titanium is out of the question. I saw a super beat up Boy Scouts mess kit at Goodwill the other day, but that didn't seem to really fit the needs. I'm looking through some mil surplus mess kits from various countries.

Since I would be carrying it on my back, I want something light. #1 is a pot to boil water in. Pure water is a priority. Instant coffee is an even bigger priority . Do I need much more than that? A decent pot, a fork and a spoon (and knife that i always have anyway?).

In my old backpacking days i would spring for MREs, and there were stops to buy food, or even cheat and buy a decent meal someplace. I don't have much experience with survival cooking. It just seems to me with a decent sized pot, I could cook tolerable meals and make water safe to drink (unless, of course it's some radiological problem.)

I just wanted to see what thoughts people had. If a Goodwill variety kettle of some kind, with a wire bail to hang it over a fire, would be good enough. It would have to be an upgrade from cooking in discarded cans.

 

[DrHenley]

In my BOB I carry a steel cup that can serve as water cup, coffee cup, or small cooking pot for boiling a freeze dried meal. And I have a small cooking stove just big enough for the cup.
I did a review of it a few years ago and "cooked" some freeze dried meals outdoors. I'll try to find that post and put a link to it.

 

[DrHenley]

Here is the link. It also turned out to be a review of two different Mountain House freeze dried meals and two different brands of waterproof matches.
https://www.doomsdayprepperforums.com/threads/emergency-pocket-stove-review.3212/

 

[John in WI]

Here is the link. It also turned out to be a review of two different Mountain House freeze dried meals and two different brands of waterproof matches.
https://www.doomsdayprepperforums.com/threads/emergency-pocket-stove-review.3212/

I will check it out right now. Thanks for the thoughts. I think with careful meal selection (ie warm vs. cook), something basic would work. I just bought some hexamine fuel at wally world to play with.

 

[Oddcaliber]

I keep a couple of Stanley cook sets and a Coleman dual fuel single burner stove I'm my BOB. Used it for camping as well.

 

[bill harrell]

I have found that one needs a fairly large pot of about a half gallon size or so to boil drinking water safely to lighten the work load from small containers. It always takes me half the day just to boil enough drinking water to be safe for the day, especially at high altitude, where it boils at lower temps and you have to boil it longer. By the time I have the water safe, I have 30 percent of what I started with. A filtration system is far more practical to me.

 

[bill harrell]

By the way , the little boy scout setup is pretty awesome

 

[Digout]

I have a Trangia system for cooking, it has a Metho burner, 2 pots, a kettle, a frying pan, and the stove. also a pot "gripper" used as the handle for the pots, and the pan.

 

[Nomad13]

I have what I would use out camping, a little pocket stove and a canister of fuel. And a small cooking pot that can hold a camping plate some utensils and the pocket stove with fuel in a little neat bag. I'd like to upgrade at some point to something that I could use over a campfire, a Mess kit would be nice.

 

[MaterielGeneral]

I'm curious what folks are doing in terms of BOB cooking preps? I'm just out of college, starting a career, so ultra-light titanium is out of the question. I saw a super beat up Boy Scouts mess kit at Goodwill the other day, but that didn't seem to really fit the needs. I'm looking through some mil surplus mess kits from various countries.

Since I would be carrying it on my back, I want something light. #1 is a pot to boil water in. Pure water is a priority. Instant coffee is an even bigger priority . Do I need much more than that? A decent pot, a fork and a spoon (and knife that i always have anyway?).

In my old backpacking days i would spring for MREs, and there were stops to buy food, or even cheat and buy a decent meal someplace. I don't have much experience with survival cooking. It just seems to me with a decent sized pot, I could cook tolerable meals and make water safe to drink (unless, of course it's some radiological problem.)

I just wanted to see what thoughts people had. If a Goodwill variety kettle of some kind, with a wire bail to hang it over a fire, would be good enough. It would have to be an upgrade from cooking in discarded cans.

In my families BOB's or field packs I have mess gear for heating a meal, water or coffee in the field. Something to consider to have with your mess kit is an alcohol stove and a metal folding stove such as the Coghlan's Folding Stove.

The alcohol stove (Trangia clone) uses denatured alcohol or 90% rubbing alcohol and I heard you could use Heat brand fuel treatment that gets rid of water contamination in fuel. I would stay away from it though, because one color bottle is supposed to be fine and the other colored bottle has poisonous fumes.

A standard cheap metal bottle is great for storing the stove fuel. It will allow several refills for your stove and the metal bottle will resist abrasions and punctures.

The Coghlan's stove is made out of steel. You want redundancy with your equipment. The steel stove will better allow you to make a small fire with twigs/branches in it to heat your mess kit, in an event you run out of alcohol.

Our mess kits are East German but essentially the same as all European mess kits. You have a pot and lid that can be used as a bowl, frying pan or plate. The E German mess kit comes with an additional bowl plate and that's why I chose this model. The pot has a bail handle and you can hang it over a fire.

I would stay away from U.S. Army mess kits. They are worthless. They are designed to allow a soldier to walk thru a mess hall line and get food scooped onto the mess kit.

 

[Mountain Dragon]

@MaterielGeneral

The last pic you posted is this we used in the Swiss Army, we call it Gamelle.
It was always come with the Notkocher 71 (Emergency stove), filled with an spirit based burning gel and an drinking bottle. As well there was an cutlery set consisting of spoon and fork.

All together was packet in - as we call - Brotsack (Bread bag)

Worked and still works fine for me.

 

[Captjim_NM]

I don't backpack, I do have an omega camp (camp for one) where everything fits into one box. I carry a small cast iron skillet and a SS sauce pan. If you are cooking over a campfire the cast iron will spread the heat evenly and not burn food. I also carry a Colman single burner stove. If campfires are permitted I carry a fire grate. In over 40 years of camping this is the best system I have found. Add to that lexan plates, cups, cookware and a coffee pot. A cutting board and good kitchen knife and you are ready to cook food.

 

[UK-Ghost]

I have a crusader cup and 58pat bottle but never used for cooking, mostly I just use a homemade billycan... it works.

 

[Dracos]

After the reunification of Germany a huge amount of East German surplus mess kits came on the market. Sportsman Guide sold them for around $5.00. I bought a dozen and gifted them to friends and family. I kept a few for putting in vehicle survival kits. Cheap, light, and OK quality.

 

[Captjim_NM]

Dracos has a good point. Mil surplus is better quality than Walmart or boy scout equipment. Ten or 20 years ago that surplus gear was priced right. When you are looking for good deals, check thrift stores. I have seen great deals on backpacks, tents, wool clothes and kitchen knives. Learn what brands are quality and search them out.