current thoughts on cooking

Based on my limited testing the past few weeks, if starting from scratch Here is what I might suggest:

• Stanley Adventure Cook Set
• Stainless 18oz cup (gsi or walmart)
• Self built fancee feest stove (potted meat + tomato paste + carbon felt)
• Self built aluminum can windscreen 
• Aluminum foil base plate
• 4oz fuel bottles using dollar tree x2 energy shots
• 20ml plastic measuring cup from robitussin/benedryl
• carbon felt pad
• 2x 1 cup stainless measuring cups, handles cut off for dry baking
• 90mm fan guard with arms clipped off
• 80mm fan with tabs bent down.

Store it:

• 18oz cup holding

inside the cup:

• soda can windscreen
• 90mm fan guard
• sanley adventure cook set

inside the cook set:

• 80mm fan guard, tabs up
• 2x stainless measuring cups
• fancee feest stove holding fire starter and carbon felt, 20ml cup
• aluminum foil base plate
• still tons of space to hold other things, including more fuel, one of the stanley green cups, scrubbing pad, etc

I think this whole setup can be done for under 30usd, under 45usd if you have to purchase very useful carbon felt.

• 15usd stanley
• 5usd cup
• 1usd stove cans
• 3usd fuel bottles
• 5usd measuring cups

stove and cook kit collection

When I was actively backpacking some years ago I used an MSR whisperlite with white gas fuel.

During my hiatus I loaned out some of my equipment.  The whisperlite was lost.  A few years back I bought one of those chinese campsor-9 white gas stoves.   Running a first test with it recently reminded me of the times sitting in camp taking the whisperlite apart to fix clogs, replace seals etc.  And I would smell like gasoline for some days after that.

So I looked on the internet and saw lots of things about alcohol stoves.  I built one, bought a couple.  For now here's what the gear looks like.

Cook kits:

Original MSR Alpine stainless cook set

• 1.5L and 2L pots, lid and aluminum pot grabber
• good for large group cookin
• can dry bake in the 1.5L with just a bit of carbon felt!

Stanley Adventure Cook Set

• fits inside GSI (or copy) stainless cup
• fits inside ikea stainless utensil holder
• dry bake with 2x 1cup stainless measuring cups, carbon felt and 90mm fan guard for stacking

Stoves:

Fancee Feest (carbon felt version)

• potted meat + tomato paste + carbon felt
• very reliable water boiler, impossible to blow out
• narrow stove, goes well with stanley adventure cook set

Alocs trangia knockoff

• simmer ring seems to work well for dry baking (40ml fuel)
• manufacturing seems a bit sloppy (but it still works)

Zelph GOTO venom stove

• larger base for more stability with MSR alpine.
• holds 4oz of fuel for long burn times. 
• stanley adventure fits on it exactly.
• includes simmer ring and windscreen (need to test)
• The inner pot stand ring seems fragile, especially compared to the fancee feast's tomato can.

Amazon orange box canister burner

• Cheap and effective at boiling water
• I dislike the unfillable throwaway canisters.
• fits with 2oz fuel bottle inside the stanley adventure.

Campsor 9 white gas

• Seems to burn just fine
• Nasty white gas smell, high maintenance. heavy.
• not compatible with MSR white gas fuel bottles!!!!!!!!

ikea stainless utensil holder

• useable for wood burning
• integrates easily with stanley adventure cook set, esp with aluminum tent pegs 
• might also try the bean can wind screen/wood burning option

Stove accessories:

Soda can windscreen (as seen on youtube)

• very easy to build
• not difficult to store
• effective on test bench

Alcohol fuel and storage

• dollar tree x2 energy shot 4oz bottles for alcohol fuel
• 20ml plastic measuring cup from robitussin or benedryl bottle

backpacking alcohol stove fuel bottles

I've been playing with my new alcohol gear.  Mostly I've been boiling water at home to make jello for the kids.  Testing different amounts to get things boiling with my carbon felt fancee feest stove.

I've been looking around for alcohol fuel bottles, oil, maple syrup, etc.

There's a couple of bottles that I've been liking so far:

Dollar tree Stacker 2 2oz

This PET bottle shares the same thread as the HDPE HEET bottle.  seems to be 20-410.  Unfortunately the cap liner itself is the white foam type disk so I'm not sure how well this will last.

Dollar tree Energy Shot x2 4oz

This PET bottle shares the same threads as a typical soda bottle (including smartwater, propel, normal 2L, etc).  This bottle is 28-415, can take 28-410 caps (common for flip spouts).  The x2 cap has a clear plastic blue liner which I hope will be durable.

Stanley adventure camp cook set system

This post I will document all the items I have used to build a cooking system based on the Stanley Adventure Camp Cook Set. Hopefully someone finds this useful as I've had to gather information from the web and youtube.  I'll be editing this as I add items to it.

I've included store and price (prices in USD, minus taxes).

Stanley Adventure Camp Cook Set - walmart 14.45

• diameter 4.0" (at rim), 4.3" at point of handle
• height 5.8"
• capacity 24oz

Unica Stainless Steel Cup - walmart 4.97

• diameter 3.9"
• height 3.4"
• capacity 18oz

Ordning Flatware Caddy, stainless steel - Ikea 2.99

• diameter 4 3/4" (12cm)
• height 5 3/8" (13.5cm)
• weight 5oz (.13kg) 

Coconut water can windscreen - dollar tree, 2 of them

• I made a windscreen out of these taller cans using directions from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf1gcE-cYyg
• Fits nicely inside the flatware caddy.

Stove Options

Canister Camp Stove  - amazon 7.89 (orange box stove)

• weight 3.9oz
• local source for 2oz canister fuel that fits in stanley

 Fancy Feast Stove

• armor potted meat - walmart .48
• great value tomato paste - walmart .46
• Oatey Hans-Free Heat Shield - home depot plumbing section 14.89 also consider a 3'x3' tilman welding blanket
• Heet Gas Line Antifreeze - walmart 1.77 12oz
• Energy Shot X2 - dollar tree 4oz bottle (plastic blue cap liner)

Dry Baking (in progress)

Steel 1 cup measuring cup - amazon 2.25 (buy 2)

• dry baking solution (remove handle)
• diameter 3.4"
• height 2"
• computer fan guard for stacking.  I think 90mm is the correct size with the screw thingies removed.
• carbon felt pad for bottom