Cooking Equipment

The main utensils are a spoon and a knife. A fork is only useful for mixing instant puds. A plastic spork is ideal. Also the knife is better of the small light spreading type rather than the big heavy beast gutting type. You are more often spreading butter on bread than skinning animals. I take a light flat plastic plate for spreading on and one billy to cook in and I tend to eat out of the billy too. I also have a small kettle that fits inside the billy for boiling up a brew, but that is a bit of a luxury. Anything I cook can be done in one pot. As for a cooker. Best to have one because most huts do not have gas. I disagree that more will have gas as that would make them serviced huts which are more expensive. I prefer taking my own cooker as I know it will work. I tend to use a gas cooker nowadays because it is lighter, but am still a little suspicious of gas in cold weather so use a liquid fuel stove in the winter.

What to take depends a lot on where you go and who you go with. For Sunday walks I tend these days to take a thermos if I think I will want a hot drink. I have even done noodles this way in the past but normally lunch is sandwiches. On a sunday walk the time lost to making a brew can cut a lot out of a day. For weekend trips I take a stove most times but I also collect camp stoves so always want to take one. Even if going to a serviced hut the gas might not work or if the hut is full there might not be enough gas points for everyone. If travelling in a group its good to have 2 or 3 stoves for up to 8 or 10 people along with a 3 or 4 billies. If travelling solo a stove and one billy should be enough but this will depend on what you cook. one billy is fine for a dehy meal heated up in water and the water can be used for your coffee but isnt going to be enough to do a full 2 or 3 course meal. For solo I would advise gas as its lighter and quicker to light than white spirit but the Triangia meths cookers also have a big following. Note the comment from pmcke about gas in cold weather. For group use it is a good idea for everyone to use the same fuel be it gas of white spirit. Gas stoves are cheaper to buy but the fuel is more expensive. White spirit and multi fuel stoves are more expensive to buy need more maintenance but the fuel is cheap.You also need more training on how to use them. My tramping club replaces white spirit used on trips. My favorite gas stove is a Cadac Adventure. For white spirit I use a MSR Dragonfly if cooking outside and a coleman 422 if all the cooking is in huts.The dragonfly is too loud for hut use. If going solo I still take an Optimus 123 or 8r sometimes as a lot of younger trampers dont know what they are.

One other thing to think about when choosing your stove. If you intend to fly with your stove chose gas. You can take liquid fuel stoves on aircraft but you have to follow a very complicated procedure to get the fuel tank through. It includes nice easy things like 20 page dangerous goods decelerations and airing the stove for a week and filling with cooking oil. With a gas stove you just throw the canister away which at 8 bucks a throw doesnt hurt too much even if near full. Re eating gear there are nice polycarbonate and titanium utensils available these days which are not excessively expensive at most tramping shops but avoid the plates mugs etc as you can get stuff just as effective at a fraction of the price elsewhere. My mug and plate came out of a picnic set but the bowl is a 3 to 4 cup plastic mixing bowl. One other person I tramp with uses a 2 litre ice cream container as his bowl. As for sporks you will either love them or hate them. I have 2 but cant get used to using them

i have a small anodised aluminim billy with lid that doubles as a cup . the gas canister fits snugly in it and small titanium stove fits in as well lid goes on its very compact.whole set up is slightly larger than med sizes gas canister

Hi Herbie, I use a 1 litre billy for cooking, drinking and eating out of. Utensils are a long handled spoon, which is ideal for stirring the billy and a small pocket knife. For cooking I use a compact gas stove that fits inside the billy with a gas cannister and a lighter. In winter I use a white spirits stove. I have from time to time used a small homemade meths stove (supercat stove) in summer.

Yes cooking in the wind is a mission if you do not have a windshield around your stove and billy. The MSR ones work well for their stoves. For my gas stove I made a wind shield using a couple of oven trays for their thick aluminium foil. Otherwise whatever you can to shelter the stove. Pile packs around, wrap a sleeping pad into a circle around the stove.

The Jetboil system was designed by an American who whilst on the South coast track in Tasmania fought constantly with the roaring forties from the southern ocean. I'm not suggesting it's the answer for everybody. It just addresses the issue of loss of heat around the outside of the billy with a heat transference device. A similar concept to MSR for their more serious alpinists. The Jetboil can be picked up with hands around it whilst on the stove. Saves heaps of fuel etc.

With the comment about gas stoves in cold weather I have to add that this is just a suspicion of mine. Gas stoves with the 4 season mix (includes isobutane) perform very well. I have used mine with the stove sitting in snow. It is just an old timers suspicion that I have and not shared by others. I also rather like my Optimus Nova so I need to have an excuse to take it out sometimes. I see the old Optimus 8R mentioned. Everyone used to have one in the 1970s. The main problem with them is that they never wear out. I have two and they still go great. Just need the occasional new gasket or jet. They can be a tricky to start but OK when you get the nack. But I prefer a cooker nowadays that will boil my billy a bit quicker. My Optimus Crux is the smallest lightest stove I have and is the fastest too. I didn't mention my cup. I use one of those old plastic mugs that Fairydown put out a few years back. It has a double layer for insulation, a lid and a nice wide base for putting down on rough ground. Insulated cups are just great on a cold morning. Bulky but worth it. The trouble with modern insulated mugs is that they all have that silly narrow base, designed to fit in a cup holder so fall over when you put them down.

We often have to sleep with a cannister or hold it awhile in the down jkt. and perhaps shake it vigorously to build enough pressure after a night above 1000m. Any other time its generally good. The jet definitely gets dirtier quicker when using almost any brand of cannister other than MSR or Jetboil. It seems overkill now for us to bother with the liquid fuel stove unless spending prolonged periods above the snowline. It's more work to prep for air travel and fuel supplies present complications at times.