We are currently using the GSI Pinnacle Dualist Setup. At 20 oz it is pretty heavy.

What do you recommend to replace it? We currently do the Mountain House stuff but it is way too salty and expensive. We just bought the Trail Cooking/Freezer Bag cooking book and would also like to start having a little more fun with meals. We also need to be able fry fish which we cannot currently do. Mugs are important as we are both Morning coffee people.

I am thinking (and I could be wrong) that we can get by with a titanium spork each, pot, fry pan, 2 mugs, and possibly just share one bowl. If that looks good, do you have UL recommendations for each?

Thanks

Edited by HikeUltralight on 06/21/2010 14:36:41 MDT.

We carry 2 mugs (one GSI Cascadian cup, one MSR Titan mug), one Snow Peak bowl, and one Evernew 1.3L wide mouth pot with a Ti-Tri inferno. Weighs less than a pound for all that including the stove

Are those weights for each item about as light as it gets? If so, I can search around for pots, mugs, etc in those weight ranges.

Also, how do you pack that kitchen up to utilize the space correctly?

Edited by HikeUltralight on 06/21/2010 18:22:17 MDT.

For the respective sizes, it's pretty much as light as it gets. You can possibly go lighter by using beer cans for mugs.

I put my stove in my Evernew 1.3L pot along with a wash bandana, eating utensils, lighter, and the scrubber. I burn wood for fuel so I don't have to worry about carrying alcohol. As for the mugs, I just look for some space

Any reason to go for the Non-Stick even with the weight pentalty?

With non stick clean up is a snap. Enables you to do more than just boil water and actually cook / fry/ etc. Lightweight stuff is out there . Ribbed bottoms are good-won't slide off of stands. Some non stick pots are non stick on the outside as well-some at Amazon. Easy to clean but slippery on uneven stands. With a good coating clean up can just be wiping out with a paper towel instead of washing with the paper towel later burned or packed out. Aluminum coated can be light enough, especially if you are cooking for 2-3 +.

We had a BPL 550/ Caldera, 2 Firelight long handled spoons- around 12oz I think- oh yeah, 2 GSI nForm mugs- but we leave the bowls behind, so... 17ozish

550 is 2 small- too many boils required- too much time, fuel, hassle...

got the Caldera for the 1300- need the pot.

Gonna try this out. I bet its money.

2cups for meal + 2 12oz servings for hot drink= 40oz/ 1180ml

If you're gonna share a bowl (:)) maybe a plate would be easier? GSI has a approx 9" squareish plate with a good size lip around the edges

Snopeak ti pot 1.3L with handle and lid 4.3ozs, S to S longhandled ti spoons (2), 0.4ozs for two; Two Ziplock 750mls size bowls with lids and cozies 3.8ozs for two, two Ziplock Twist & Loc 4 cup containers plus lids used for carrying water and also as mugs - 5.8ozs for both.I use a Snopeak giga power stove.

our setup for the last two years has been ti SP 900 w/ a custom aluminum lid (never used the "fry pan) @ 5.0 oz; two ti SP cups (folding handles) @ 2x 1.4 oz; two SP ti bowls @ 2 x1.6 oz, two ti SP sporks @ 2 x 0.6 oz; Giga ti stove @ 2.8 oz

total for two is 15 oz, the fuel and stove nest in the 900 (w/ room for a small dish rag, backup lighter)- this is what I carry 7.8 oz + fuel; the two bowls, cups, sporks nest together- this is what my wife carries 7.2 oz

it might be a little on the "luxurious" end of the scale, but it works nicely and keeps my wife happy :)

We use:
Evernew 1.3 liter Titanium Pot
2 Orikaso Bowls (good for cutting board, plate, bowl or mug)
2 Sporks or spoons, plactic or titanium
Wenger Evo Classic Knife
Coleman F1 Ultralight or MSR Superfly (for international use)
Homemade pot cozy

Very flexible setup, fast boil times, and yet still efficient with the use of the pot cozy. See pictures and a better description on our travel blog

Edited by dannymilks on 06/22/2010 10:03:18 MDT.

Evernew 1.3L UL Ti pot x 1, Snowpeak Ti Bowl x 1, MSR Titan mug x 2, any old random spoon... lexan is tough, cheap, light. I now use a wooden spoon that weighs the same as a ti one.

Ti Tri would be a good stove for you. Light, super efficient. And when you need to fry fish, you can just go to wood burning mode. For a fry pan, probably a dollar store nonstick skillet w/handle removed.

I have always wondered, I currently have the MSR windpro stove. What would I give up switching to the Ti Tri system? I know I would get rid of about 5 ounces of weight, but just wondering at what cost. Would boil times be drastically longer?

The Ti-Tri system is fine... assuming that you have a relatively easy source of nice dry twigs to load in there. Collecting twigs might take only a few minutes. If it has been raining or if the twigs are damp, you might still get a burn, but it might be slow to catch, slow to heat, and extra smoky. If your twigs are some bad variety of wood, it could be worse. If you get above timberline, there may be zero twigs to burn, or some park regulations might prohibit wood fires. That is the good thing about this system, in that you can burn alcohol or Esbit for the meals when you only have bad twigs. When I burn my titanium pot with good dry twigs, it works great. When all I have are damp twigs, it leaves a lot of sticky black creosote on the pot. So, there are no show-stoppers, but there are little inconveniences if conditions aren't right.

In early May, I was melting snow with mine. Slow, but OK.

--B.G.--

Switching from the Windpro would save much more than 5 ounces. The packaged weight of the Windpro, ie with windscreen, heat reflector, etc is 10.5 oz; you'd also have to consider the weight of the empty canisters, which IIRC is ~3.5oz vs an empty aquafina bottle at ~1oz. In short, you could probably save 10oz + w/the switch.

I primarily use the Ti Tri as an alcohol stove; the wood is a nice backup, or for nights when I want some extra tea/soup and don't want to burn extra fuel... or if I wanted to spend some time cooking fish.

Your boil times won't be as fast, but they're quite respectable. Mine regularly boils (pint) in 6 minutes or so. There would be ever so slightly more "work" w/the ti tri, I guess... w/the windpro you open the valve and light, adjust to simmer etc. But w/the ti tri you just add the fuel and light, so also super easy. The windpro would be better for cold weather. I guess one way of looking at it is the windpro is pretty much like a home stove, whereas the other is distinctly a backpacking stove. Both eminently functional, though.

Good points. 6 minute boil times puts it into perspective. What do you use to cook fish?

So basically to revame my kitchen I could go with the Ti-Tri, a new 1300L UL pot, 2 UL mugs of some sort, and either share one bowl or ditch the bowls all together.

My hillwalking partner and I use an Evernew Titanium DX system (alcohol stove and DX stand) which also doubles as a wood-burning stove (85g). I use a kitchen foil windshield held together with a paper clip (5g). We carry about 200ml of meths for a 2 day, 1 night weekend jaunt in a 330ml plastic water bottle (180g). We eat re-hydrated meals so only need to boil water (180g each). He has a mug and I drink out of my MSR Titan Kettle (114g) which I use to boil water in too. We then eat our meals out of the bag. We have porridge (10g) with raisins, sultanas and sugar in the morning (slow release calories and warm). No washing up until the morning, and porridge is easy to remove with a tissue and wash up when you get home.