Cooking equipment for bikepacking

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rivers

How far can I go?
Location
Bristol
I have the Alpkit Brukit (their version of a jetboil). Not the most compact, but also comes with a stand for a frying pan/other type of pot, so it's a bit more versatile. I used it this weekend to make a coffee for me, followed by pasta for my toddler, then popped the frying pan on to make eggs for myself.
 

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livpoksoc

livpoksoc

Guru
Location
Basingstoke
By Bikepacking I presume you mean touring with frame mounted soft bags rather than the more traditional rack and panniers. With bikepacking bags, space is at a premium due to there smaller size and awkward shape, which precludes bulkier cooksets like the Trangia.

There seems to be generally two styles of cookset that are popular. First is the meths burner, basically the burner unit from a Trangia, with a much smaller collapsible windshield/pot stand. A light simple unit that will pack up into whichever pot set that you decide to use. The deal breaker for me with such a set up, is the need for a separate leak proof bottle to carry the meths in, I simply don't have anywhere to carry such a thing.

I've gone for the second option of a small gas stove, in my case the MSR Pocket Rocket 2. The stove itself will sit in the palm of my hand, yet is powerful enough to heat water in a few minutes. My complete cookset comprises the stove, two pans, a lid, a fire striker which works in the rain and when wet, a small cloth and a pan handle. Aside from the small bowl in the MSR cookset, I don't carry any other additional bowls or plates, the only thing not pictured here is the small plastic Spork I use to eat with.

View attachment 742736

For brews, I use an Aeropress go, a small French press style of coffee maker. It's really effective and makes some cracking coffee if you brew it for a while before pressing. This is paired with a single walled Titanium mug from Alpkit which can also be used as a pot if I need it.

View attachment 742735


Both of these all nestle down like a Russian doll and all of the stuff in the pictures above, including the gas canister, packs into these two small packages.

View attachment 742737

Cooking wise, I'll often prepare a few things at home to take with me. So a small bag with Olives, sundried tomatoes etc so I can eat foods Like Pasta, Pesto, with Parmesan and pine nuts, olives. Filled Tortellini is also a good one along with Couscous. Homemade vegi chill is another, then all I need to do is cook the rice. The trick is to only carry exactly what you need, so rather than a whole bag of pasta, I'll take just enough for a normal single portion.

Breakfast will often be home made Granola, though Porridge is also good. Fresh Coffee in the Aeropress, if the trip is only a couple of days then a small Nalgene bottle filled with freshly ground beans nestles nicely inside the Aeropress. For longer trips I'll take a small bag of ground coffee beans and use the spoon pictured to get the right amount.

I've written a number of reports of my bike packing adventures in the Travelogue section here on cc and along with that I'll often mention the foods I've eaten. I do like to eat well on trips, so whilst my setup is fairly minimal I don't starve.

The problem I find with some YouTube videos is the glossing over of issues and a reluctance to address or show the problems with bike packing. Many of them also don't carry cooksets and rely on Cafés and restaurants for food, or only eat cold junk food. It is perfectly possible to eat well on a trip it just requires more work and thought when you have limited carrying capacity.

One last thought, I also use a ultralight rucksack that packs down into a miniscule bag. It's great for nipping into supermarkets and picking up food in the last kilometres before your camp. You couldn't use it for long, but it's great for emergency space when needed.

Excellent response, thanks. I would be using a pannier and rack but prefer to keep bulk down.

Out of interest, how many uses do you get out of those gas cannisters? I.e. do you need one per day, or so long as used correctly, do they last a while?
 

Baldy

Über Member
Location
ALVA
Out of interest, how many uses do you get out of those gas cannisters? I.e. do you need one per day, or so long as used correctly, do they last a while?

How long is a piece of string?

Depends on your stove, what you're cooking, how many mugs of tea you like at breakfast, etc.

Going on a mug of tea and a mug of hot water for breakfast porridge. A mug of hot water for a freeze-dried meal and a couple of mugs of tea per day. I Get 15 days out of the large 500 canister, seven out of a 250, 3 days out of the small 100 canisters.
 

chriswoody

Legendary Member
Location
Northern Germany
Out of interest, how many uses do you get out of those gas cannisters? I.e. do you need one per day, or so long as used correctly, do they last a while?

The cartridge I use is a 100 gram cartridge. I will boil a mug of water in the morning for coffee and then cook a proper meal in the evening rather than a freeze dried meal. With that usage I'll commonly get 5 days out of a cartridge. A number of things can affect this though, like lower temperatures wind etc which will all make the stove work harder and use more gas.
 
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OP
livpoksoc

livpoksoc

Guru
Location
Basingstoke
Lovely, thanks all. Seems that even these smaller stoves can double up from boiling water, to being capable of cooking more if you have the right pan on top?

Which would make one a good investment as our little one wants to go camping, but is nowhere near able to ride along what I would be doing.

Will take a look at these brands and definitely be getting something ordered soon!
 
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OP
livpoksoc

livpoksoc

Guru
Location
Basingstoke
Some follow up questions...thanks in advance

1. Are all gas canisters the same compatibility? I.e. can you use coleman/primus cans with the MSR/jetboil stoves?



2. Can you use other pans like a skillet or a larger pan on these gas stoves? (If so do you have to use their brands).



Ta
 

chriswoody

Legendary Member
Location
Northern Germany
You can definitely use Primus gas canisters with MSR stoves, it's what I use because it's the only thing my local outdoor shop sells. I do have memory of buying another brand though and having to take it back because it didn't fit my stove, I really can't remember which one it was though sorry, it was a couple of years ago. You just need to pay attention to the fitment on the top of the canister, there are a number of brands that work though.

On the subject of cooking and cooksets though, this popped up on social media a few days back:



It's from a couple that do an enormous amount of travelling by bike and have just realised a cookbook https://thebikepackingcookbook.com/

I've not had a chance to properly watch the video yet or look deeper at the cookbook, but it definitely looks interesting.
 

andrew_s

Legendary Member
Location
Gloucester
I prefer to use a remote canister stove, with a preheat loop passing through the flame.

The preheat loop allows you to use the stove with the canister upside down, allowing full performance in cold weather or from a canister that's down to half full or less. If the canister is used upright you are burning the gas that boils off inside the canister, and that's preferentially composed of that part of the gas mix with the lowest boiling point, so a standard 70/30 butane/propane mix canister will have no propane left by the time it's half used. With the canister upside down, you are using liquid gas which then gets vapourised in the preheat loop, with the liquid feed having no effect on the canister mix.

The stove is also lower to the ground, and makes a considerably more stable pan support. It's also easier to protect the burner from the wind, and the lower stove is further from the tent outer should the weather dictate under cover cooking.

I use an MSR Windpro 2, but cheaper options are available, such as one of the various versions of the Fire Maple FMS-118 (e.g. Alpkit Koro).


Canister compatibilty:

There are two main types available: the regular screw-on, and the blue Camping Gaz click valve (CV) canisters. The latter look superficially similar, but there are no screw threads on the valve (not apparent until you've pulled the valve cover off). There are adapters available to allow the use of a screw-on stove with a CV canister.

Screw-on canisters and stoves are mostly interchangeable, but I have heard tell that Coleman canisters don't always work with non-Coleman stoves. Apparently the spigot on Coleman stoves is on the long side, and the valve on the Coleman canisters is correspondingly set slightly deeper, and non-Coleman stoves may not reach deeply enough to open the valve.

The other type of canister that would be usable is the cheap aerosol-shaped canister. These are frequently butane only, and hence unusable much below 10° C. They are designed for use in what I call a briefcase-style stove, and hence are intended to be used positioned horizontally with the correct side of the canister uppermost (controlled by the notch in the ring around the valve). If used with a basic adapter and not oriented correctly, you'll get a liquid gas feed and consequent big flare if used with stove without preheat. A good way to set your tent on fire.
 
OP
OP
livpoksoc

livpoksoc

Guru
Location
Basingstoke
I prefer to use a remote canister stove, with a preheat loop passing through the flame.

The preheat loop allows you to use the stove with the canister upside down, allowing full performance in cold weather or from a canister that's down to half full or less. If the canister is used upright you are burning the gas that boils off inside the canister, and that's preferentially composed of that part of the gas mix with the lowest boiling point, so a standard 70/30 butane/propane mix canister will have no propane left by the time it's half used. With the canister upside down, you are using liquid gas which then gets vapourised in the preheat loop, with the liquid feed having no effect on the canister mix.

The stove is also lower to the ground, and makes a considerably more stable pan support. It's also easier to protect the burner from the wind, and the lower stove is further from the tent outer should the weather dictate under cover cooking.

I use an MSR Windpro 2, but cheaper options are available, such as one of the various versions of the Fire Maple FMS-118 (e.g. Alpkit Koro).


Canister compatibilty:

There are two main types available: the regular screw-on, and the blue Camping Gaz click valve (CV) canisters. The latter look superficially similar, but there are no screw threads on the valve (not apparent until you've pulled the valve cover off). There are adapters available to allow the use of a screw-on stove with a CV canister.

Screw-on canisters and stoves are mostly interchangeable, but I have heard tell that Coleman canisters don't always work with non-Coleman stoves. Apparently the spigot on Coleman stoves is on the long side, and the valve on the Coleman canisters is correspondingly set slightly deeper, and non-Coleman stoves may not reach deeply enough to open the valve.

The other type of canister that would be usable is the cheap aerosol-shaped canister. These are frequently butane only, and hence unusable much below 10° C. They are designed for use in what I call a briefcase-style stove, and hence are intended to be used positioned horizontally with the correct side of the canister uppermost (controlled by the notch in the ring around the valve). If used with a basic adapter and not oriented correctly, you'll get a liquid gas feed and consequent big flare if used with stove without preheat. A good way to set your tent on fire.

All good to read, thanks.

I have ordered a trangia set and an Alpkit Brukit for some versatility and as my first use will be a camping weekend with my son, rather than a bike exped so I can trial the kits and see what works (and I found in ordering both saved substantially on costs of extra pans etc.).

Thanks all for the tips and tricks. Will see how this goes!
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
I prefer to use a remote canister stove, with a preheat loop passing through the flame.

The preheat loop allows you to use the stove with the canister upside down, allowing full performance in cold weather or from a canister that's down to half full or less. If the canister is used upright you are burning the gas that boils off inside the canister, and that's preferentially composed of that part of the gas mix with the lowest boiling point, so a standard 70/30 butane/propane mix canister will have no propane left by the time it's half used. With the canister upside down, you are using liquid gas which then gets vapourised in the preheat loop, with the liquid feed having no effect on the canister mix.

The stove is also lower to the ground, and makes a considerably more stable pan support. It's also easier to protect the burner from the wind, and the lower stove is further from the tent outer should the weather dictate under cover cooking.

I use an MSR Windpro 2, but cheaper options are available, such as one of the various versions of the Fire Maple FMS-118 (e.g. Alpkit Koro).


Canister compatibilty:

There are two main types available: the regular screw-on, and the blue Camping Gaz click valve (CV) canisters. The latter look superficially similar, but there are no screw threads on the valve (not apparent until you've pulled the valve cover off). There are adapters available to allow the use of a screw-on stove with a CV canister.

Screw-on canisters and stoves are mostly interchangeable, but I have heard tell that Coleman canisters don't always work with non-Coleman stoves. Apparently the spigot on Coleman stoves is on the long side, and the valve on the Coleman canisters is correspondingly set slightly deeper, and non-Coleman stoves may not reach deeply enough to open the valve.

The other type of canister that would be usable is the cheap aerosol-shaped canister. These are frequently butane only, and hence unusable much below 10° C. They are designed for use in what I call a briefcase-style stove, and hence are intended to be used positioned horizontally with the correct side of the canister uppermost (controlled by the notch in the ring around the valve). If used with a basic adapter and not oriented correctly, you'll get a liquid gas feed and consequent big flare if used with stove without preheat. A good way to set your tent on fire.

Yep, I've got an Epigas 'alpine' stove but it takes the Coleman cylinders too (screw top) had it for nearly 40 years now
 

ade towell

Über Member
Location
Nottingham
Problem with a lot of the Jetboil and copies of is that you have no control over the flame size, great for boiling water fast but not for gentle simmering etc. Things may have changed but when I was buying a couple of years ago the Jetboil that did have a regulator and igniter were quite pricey. Being a tight arse but who also enjoys quality product I got this Soto windmaster stove

https://www.beyondtheedge.co.uk/soto-windmaster-stove-review/

and paired it with this stove and it all fits inside itself including a 240g gas canister

https://www.woodtowater.co.uk/produ...QA1K9c0DGTR-I6hPYoirbMJ0MPtSUa6caAqssEALw_wcB

Have used it a lot, the Soto has been faultless, great wind resistance decent control of the flame for cooking, and will boil water in seconds. Love the little ignitor that so far has worked every time, hope I haven't cursed it
 
OP
OP
livpoksoc

livpoksoc

Guru
Location
Basingstoke
Just thinking, how do you secure your bike overnight when camping on a site? I get how wild camping is probably more secure but my first adventures will be using campsites.
 
OP
OP
livpoksoc

livpoksoc

Guru
Location
Basingstoke
Problem with a lot of the Jetboil and copies of is that you have no control over the flame size, great for boiling water fast but not for gentle simmering etc. Things may have changed but when I was buying a couple of years ago the Jetboil that did have a regulator and igniter were quite pricey. Being a tight arse but who also enjoys quality product I got this Soto windmaster stove

https://www.beyondtheedge.co.uk/soto-windmaster-stove-review/

and paired it with this stove and it all fits inside itself including a 240g gas canister

https://www.woodtowater.co.uk/produ...QA1K9c0DGTR-I6hPYoirbMJ0MPtSUa6caAqssEALw_wcB

Have used it a lot, the Soto has been faultless, great wind resistance decent control of the flame for cooking, and will boil water in seconds. Love the little ignitor that so far has worked every time, hope I haven't cursed it

Every gas stove like the MSR/jetboil style all had flame regulators built in. Fairly rudimentary, but they all mentioned simmering in their marketing bumpf
 
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