I have a pot that's slightly over 750 ml. It "feels" like a small pot, though I haven't had problems using it for things like oatmeal and instant soup. What's the smallest volume pot you'd consider acceptable for solo use? I'm curious where my nagging feeling of wanting a bigger pot is coming from.

I use the gsi glacier cup, I think it's about 16 oz (takes to cup fulls to fill a 1 liter bottle). That's the smallest I would use.

Snowpeak bowl @ 20oz capacity.

700ml was the smallest I could do ramen in.

I have a BPL Firelite Ti 550(2.6oz). It is very small,compact and it works fine. My only complaint is the lack of storage inside the pot for all your "stuff".

I did some agonizing over this awhile back. I only heat water-no cooking in pot. I realized I only needed a max of 2 cups and rarely that-usually 1-1.5 cups. I ended up a 475ml Trapper's Mug that Ron at MLD carries. I used it for awhile with esbit tabs and loved the system for it's size (weight too). I made a windscreen and everything fit nicely in the cup. I've since sold it on BPL because I went to a Caldera cone fosters system. I still rarely heat more than 1.5 cups at a time. That's used in the bag to rehydrate my food and I'll heat another cup or so for a hot drink while waiting for the meal to get done.

The firelite 550 (or it's equivalent evernew mug pot)with a gram weenie stove is my ideal cooking setup. Boils enough water for a big meal and a hot drink.

Sometimes I bring just a Trapper's mug and esbit when pack space is at a premium (running/fastpacking trips) and this works pretty well, but I usually can't do both breakfast and coffee simultaneously.

If I was actually cooking rather than rehydrating, I'd need something bigger.

The smallest pot I own (or want) is a 3 cup pot that fits my Trail Designs Sidewinder stove. It's JUST the right size and it's made of hard-anodized aluminum.

So 3 cups is about 700 ml. To me a 450 ml. "pot" is just a metal cup only suitable for heating water, not true cooking, which I often do.

None of this foo-foo titanium in my utensils! (Just Ti in the Sidewinder stove, for withstanding high wood fire temperatures.)

P.S. This 3 cup pot is wider than it is tall, making it more fuel efficient than tall pots/ti mugs/beer cans. So with the fuel saving pot and Ti cone stove setup I figure I've maximized my fuel efficiency, whether I use alky, ESBIT or wood.

Edited by Danepacker on 06/24/2012 19:35:46 MDT.

The 550ml pot for me.
Very space efficient because I nest the Caldera Cone Caddy inside that and the caddy holds the cone ,stove,lighter,kitchen cloth and fuel up to 3 days.
However I never "cook" with that pot, just boil water. (I re-hydrate in the caddy)
If I were to cook inside the pot , then around 700ml would work for me.
So basically you need to look at how and what you cook , for example I would not use Ti if I were cooking ...

Franco
And I meant to add the bit covered by Jerry, that is look at the whole system.
So I would not use my 550ml pot with a non Caldera Cone system because narrow pots don't work well with most flame patterns .

Edited by Franco on 06/20/2012 17:44:26 MDT.

sp600 is my 1P pot

If I am going to actually cook on a trip, I take my MSR Titan kettle, 800 ml. It has plenty of room for doing a meal for one. I can put on plenty of water to make a big cup of coffee and then add whatever I am cooking to the water that is left boiling in the pot.
If I am just needing to boil water, I take a home made Fosters pot.

If your pot is too small, that is, if the base is too narrow, then your stove will be less efficient.

I just use my Titanium Evernew 900 ml which isn't quite the lightest but it's pretty light. I "cook" oatmeal or soup (1 cup - 225 ml) or coffee/tea (2 cups - 450 ml) which allows some headroom in the pot for the liquid to slosh around. I might get a 550 ml or 750 ml the next time if it was wide enough base.

I've used a small 450 SP "pot", really a mug :) for solo trips, it works for boil in bag/instant coffee etc, BUT I've found I get quicker boils w/ a 600 pot and the weight penalty is very small- it also has better storage w/ the slightly larger size

Judging by the responses, it seems it's just some wierd mental quirk that makes me look at my pot and think "Gee, that looks so small!" I don't do fancy cooking, but I generally cook in-pot so I need more capacity than if I were just boiling water. It is short and wide rather than narrow, which may contribute to the perception that it's smaller than it is. Thanks!

If eating out of it, 400 ml (13.5 oz). If only boiling water then a little less (10 oz).

Edited by jshann on 06/24/2012 04:07:23 MDT.

It depends. On longer treks when I want to eat more, I prefer my .9L pot. On shorter trips where I cook smaller meals, my .6L Evernew is fine. I prefer the short, wide pots. For my set up, they come to a boil quicker and they are more stable than tall, narrow mug style pots.

My pot weighs 1.8 ounces and has a capacity of 20 fluid ounces. I find that I generally boil 12 fluid ounces at a time using part of an Esbit tablet.

--B.G.--

I'd have to agree with the majority of the posters here. Good advice. It depends on how you will prepare your meal, viz:

Boil water, Rehydrate in Ziploc/Cozy

450-550 ml (~15-18 oz, short and wide, better fuel efficiency, more stable on teensy solid fuel stoves. I like a very simple SUL - UL cook kit, so this pot is handless).

Cook in Pot, Eat in Pot

700-900 ml (23-30 oz, with bail wire handle to hang from tripod, Ray-Way style).

However, with so many good rehydrate in ziploc or cozy recipes and meals, cooking in the pot is 'alien sighting' rare on my trips!

YMMV as always, esp near Area 51 :-0

~J

one of my favorite pots holds about 450ml or 15 fl ounces. it's a stainless steel container i took from a hotel bathroom. weighs 5.5 ounces but nearly indestructible. not the lightest but extremely compact and can pack\cook\eat an entire package of saimin from it.

Edited by kife42 on 06/23/2012 21:29:16 MDT.

In winter, I'd opt for 2 litre titanium pot. The reason for this is most, if not all, of my water comes from snow and a 2 litre pot makes the process of melting snow more efficient. With plenty of water around [in summer], the smallest I'd opt for would be a 1 litre for solo or 1.5 for a duo.