Thread: Cooking systems - Light vs cost

Originally Posted by PerazziSC3

You only need to boil like 200ml of water for a freeze dried meal so yep. The good thing about the freeze dried is there is no clean up cause it "cooks" in its own bag

OK, then next question. Does anyone know the smallest toaks cup I can fit a 100g canister in then? @stretch you said you got a 650ml one, does that fit the canister in sweet with enough room for the little BRS too?

Originally Posted by Ricochet

OK, then next question. Does anyone know the smallest toaks cup I can fit a 100g canister in then? @stretch you said you got a 650ml one, does that fit the canister in sweet with enough room for the little BRS too?

I still don't know why so many people are worried about putting gas canisters inside their pots. Its not like the canisters need the pot to protect them, and its not really saving space because you can put other things (like squashable food) in the pot instead.

Originally Posted by Ricochet

OK, then next question. Does anyone know the smallest toaks cup I can fit a 100g canister in then? @stretch you said you got a 650ml one, does that fit the canister in sweet with enough room for the little BRS too?

Cooker stashed in the concave base of the canister. Probably room on top for racing spoon, lighter, pot scrub. Mine is a 650ml. 650ml is full right to the brim. 500ml is about an inch below the top.

Originally Posted by stretch

Cooker stashed in the concave base of the canister. Probably room on top for racing spoon, lighter, pot scrub. Mine is a 650ml. 650ml is full right to the brim. 500ml is about an inch below the top.

I have the same set up and it works a treat I think I got the 750ml cup.

But it tastes so much better if you can let it soak an hour or so then warm it up. Gives it time to rehydrate properly and is less like cardboard.

@stretch - Thanks for that, looks awesome, I'm sold.
@GravelBen - I see your point but I just like the idea of one tidy little unit ready to go & then just add whatever food each trip.

Originally Posted by Ricochet

@GravelBen - I see your point but I just like the idea of one tidy little unit ready to go & then just add whatever food each trip.

Fair enough, each to their own!

Yep it's a good setup, and tidy having it all together. The orange bag it comes in is very handy to keep the lid from rattling

It's also handy if you can get your bag of ground coffee into your billy that way you can just pull out the billy and brew up instead of having to dig through your food bag to get your hot drink stuff.

What kind of altitude are we talking when gas canisters for jetboil and the likes start to have issues?
Is it the cold as well causing icing through the valve or something?

i think about minus 5 is when it really starts to make a difference, as said above, keep it in your sleeping bag etc over night. my msr reactor should arrive tomorrow

I've had trouble with them this week at a mere 1400m (it was snowing, ice on the outside of the canister). Slow as. Didn't have the meths cooker to compare sadly. Might take it up tomorrow, going to be at about 1900-2000m the next 2 days

Keep the canister in the tent or at bottom of sleeping bag when sleeping and it will be good to go on the coldest mornings

Be curious to know if a neoprene sleeve or something would help?

Originally Posted by Nibblet

Be curious to know if a neoprene sleeve or something would help?

Off the top of my head I don't think it would - its a while since I studied thermodynamics but essentialy the evaporation of liquid to gas inside the canister requires energy, which it has to absorb from the outside to maintain operating pressure. Thats why the outside of the canister feels cold when its running, and can ice up even when the air temp is well above zero - its the temperature drop inside thats cooling the outside. Some people use little heat packs which you can stick under the canister if it gets too cold, simple solution but seems to work as it doesn't take a lot of heat to keep it the gas evaporating. Even wrapping your hands around it (which obviously gives you cold hands) or sitting the canister in a pot of slightly warmed water can sometimes be enough to get it cranking.

Liquid fuel stoves don't have that issue because you pressurise the fuel bottle with the pump to make the liquid flow, and then its the heat of the stove that evaporates the liquid to gas (which is why you have to prime/pre-heat them to get started). IIRC they're also a fair bit more efficient/cheaper to run, a 1l bottle of fuelite/white spirits for will give a heap more use than a 230g gas canister and not cost much more. If you're burning a lot of fuel doing things like melting snow for drinking water then it can make quite a difference.