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  1. #21
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    I picked up a couple of 4 cup capacity aluminum containers and modified them into Bot's. Added a stainless steel bail for easy handling if i decide to heat contents. I'm going to try cold soaking some goodies and see what it's like.

    My creation weighs 2.8 ounces. When the weather changes for the better, I'll hang it over a wood fire and go thru the motions of heating some water.

    Aluminum BOT 4cup.JPG

  2. #22
    Registered User Kaptainkriz's Avatar
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    That is an interesting container!
    Quote Originally Posted by zelph View Post
    I picked up a couple of 4 cup capacity aluminum containers and modified them into Bot's. Added a stainless steel bail for easy handling if i decide to heat contents. I'm going to try cold soaking some goodies and see what it's like.

    My creation weighs 2.8 ounces. When the weather changes for the better, I'll hang it over a wood fire and go thru the motions of heating some water.

    Aluminum BOT 4cup.JPG
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  3. #23
    Registered User TMathers's Avatar
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    I think i would rather go completely stoveless rather than try eating cold mush on the trail

  4. #24

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    I'll just throw this out there. I normally go stoveless and occasionally soak meals during the warmer months. But when the days get shorter and the nights get colder, having a warm meal because a moral booster, so I start to at least cook some of my meals.

  5. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by BuckeyeBill View Post
    After two PCT thru-hikes and a CDT thru-hike I tried eating cold a few times for dinner/supper what ever you call it and realized not only does hot food tasted better but I had more energy when I woke up the next day. You are also right about morning coffee, much better hot. I carry a 16 oz nalgene bottle with a cozy around it just for coffee. Why don't you try a alcohol stove, very light weight and you can still have that hot cup of coffee?
    I pretty much agree with this. I pulled an 18 day backpacking trip on the BMT recently and did it "cold"---in the rains of April 2015---without my beloved Simmerlite stove. Back in the 1990s I also did many no-stove trips and discovered the neato Oatmeal-with-raisins-in-cold-water trick. Definitely edible. BUT . . . .

    There's a certain daily ritual I like to perform with my stove---morning peppermint/spearmint or nettle tea with honey---and of course evening home dehydrated dinners reconstituted with boiling water. It's a premiere comfort item.

    Quote Originally Posted by Starchild View Post
    I've tried it on a 4 nighter. Mainly to give it a fair shakedown. I didn't expect to like it, but it seemed survivable. What I really missed was my morning cup of joe. Cold doesn't work well for that and I felt deprived. Missing hot dinner seemed to wear on me over time too, also some hot breakfasts. As I found on my thru, food is morale, it can boost ones spirits or crush them. One can take the occasional hit, but multiple times a day and it does take it's toll.

    I concluded that no-cook hiking is not for me, it is part of my enjoyment of the experience, and I miss it when it's not there. I also love to cook, and trail cooking is sometimes inventive, which is something I enjoy.
    Agree. FOOD IS MORALE . . . true. I'm amazed at the hard core backpackers here who love the no-cook method, day in and day out. Way tougher than me! Like robby and garlic08 and JC13.

    Quote Originally Posted by Miner View Post
    I'll just throw this out there. I normally go stoveless and occasionally soak meals during the warmer months. But when the days get shorter and the nights get colder, having a warm meal because a moral booster, so I start to at least cook some of my meals.
    Yes, deep winter trips and "stove" go hand in hand in my opinion. When it's 0F or below it's always excellent to have plenty of white gas and a good stove to melt snow for water and to thaw out a devilish white world---and to cook hot liquids and meals. And to cup your cold hands around a hot Nalgene.

    Then again, realistically speaking, even though I carry a stove on 95% of my trips---it doesn't mean I don't go stoveless a couple days here and there. Which means---I don't cook at all and just snack all day. "Snacking" means, simply, that you eat out of hand whatever you pull out of your food bag---bread, bagels, cheese, nuts, granola, energy bars, peanut/almond butter, honey, crackers, chips, rice cakes, sunflower seeds, raisins, dates, cookies, ETC you name it. Sometimes during a trip I don't want to cook so I "go stoveless"---and eat the above.

    Drawbacks? Snacking constantly puts a greater strain on the teeth---eventually you'll crack one and it might break---while cooked food is softer and easier to chew. Constant snacking is tough on the teeth---and this is more apparent the older you get.

  6. #26
    Leonidas
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tipi Walter View Post
    Agree. FOOD IS MORALE . . . true. I'm amazed at the hard core backpackers here who love the no-cook method, day in and day out. Way tougher than me! Like robby and garlic08 and JC13.

    Drawbacks? Snacking constantly puts a greater strain on the teeth---eventually you'll crack one and it might break---while cooked food is softer and easier to chew. Constant snacking is tough on the teeth---and this is more apparent the older you get.
    I appreciate the compliment but I'd argue that carrying a 80-100lb pack is much tougher than eating no-cook.

    As to the drawbacks for snacking, that is a good point on the teeth issue as you age.
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  7. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by JC13 View Post
    I appreciate the compliment but I'd argue that carrying a 80-100lb pack is much tougher than eating no-cook.

    As to the drawbacks for snacking, that is a good point on the teeth issue as you age.
    No cook is not really a way to save weight. In practice it is usually a wash Sometimes no cook is heavier due to food choices and soaking requirements.


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  8. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by Starchild View Post
    No cook is not really a way to save weight. In practice it is usually a wash Sometimes no cook is heavier due to food choices and soaking requirements.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    This is very true especially on long trips without resupply. 20 or so dehydrated dinners are much lighter than 20 no cook dinners . . .

  9. #29
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    For those that want to tinker with cold soaking, I saw a recent you tube gear video I thought had a clever idea.
    (Forgive me if I don't have the exact products and details right, but here's the gist of it...)

    The video was by 'Darwin On the Trail' who is currently hiking the PCT. He plans to cold soak, but he also wants to leave open the option of doing some cooking. So he's using the Vargo Titanium BOT and the ultra tiny BRS canister stove. For now, the BOT (at <5oz) will be used for cold soaking, and the BRS is an added 1oz of dead weight to his pack. But if he decides he wants to do some cooking at some point, all he has to do is pickup a canister in the next town. He can then use the BRS stove and switch to using the Vargo BOT to a cook pot.

  10. #30

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    Well for me, my cooking setup is ~3oz which includes 550ml pot, windscreen, lighter, and an alcohol or esbit stove. So other than the fuel weight, carrying a stove isn't really a big deal other than taking up a little more space in my pack. And a lot of no-cook meals that I prefer to eat, aren't saving me any weight over dehydrated food as they definitely have water weight in them. The reason I normally go stoveless, is purely because I'm really lazy about camp chores. I hate doing anything that seems like work on the trail other than the walking part which I love. Don't want to cook, don't want to clean a pot (so when I do cook, its' freezer bag style), don't want to set a shelter up unless its raining so I cowboy camp etc.

  11. #31
    Registered User GankenBerry's Avatar
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    i've cold soaked a few times. not my preferred choice but i hate cooking.

  12. #32
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    I'd add a frying pan to my set up before I started going without a stove.
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  13. #33

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    A stove, or heating water to use in cooking isn't just about consumption of warmed food it's also a way to treat water which on the AT overall might be an added good way to treat water seeing it's level of usage.

  14. #34

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    Yes, I've made the shift to incorporating cold(tepid) soaking into hikes. I tend not to make it an always all or nothing cold or hot food dichotomy of choices or approach. Summer desert hikes are typically tepid soaking times. I like amending the cook and no cook approach to the hike letting the hike dictate to me what options are appropriate. I'm not one so obsessed with time or letting a little clean up dictate whether or not to boil water. For me, it can be a satisfying aspect of backpacking. I'm already not primarily a camper but do enjoy that aspect of backpacking too. Part of staying warm after I stop is addressed in warming water with my hands around the flames and around a warmed 750 ml or so Ti "pot." Right after or during I'm reviewing the day's activities, journaling, and reviewing the next days anticipated agenda on maps or SmartPhone.


    When incorporating cold soaking not always totally dependent on it it provides options of eating cold or warm, using less fuel leading to less consumable wt, less potential clean up, leads to carrying less water wt needed for cold soaking, etc. It's the same way i approach the wake up break bread get up and go period of nutrition. Options rather than rigidness of routine. Doesn't have to be an all or nothing choice.

  15. #35

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    You can fit a MSR Titan cup and an esbit/alcohol setup into a talenti container with the lid.

    Pretty snazzy.

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  16. #36

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    Quote Originally Posted by HooKooDooKu View Post
    For those that want to tinker with cold soaking, I saw a recent you tube gear video I thought had a clever idea.
    (Forgive me if I don't have the exact products and details right, but here's the gist of it...)

    The video was by 'Darwin On the Trail' who is currently hiking the PCT. He plans to cold soak, but he also wants to leave open the option of doing some cooking. So he's using the Vargo Titanium BOT and the ultra tiny BRS canister stove. For now, the BOT (at <5oz) will be used for cold soaking, and the BRS is an added 1oz of dead weight to his pack. But if he decides he wants to do some cooking at some point, all he has to do is pickup a canister in the next town. He can then use the BRS stove and switch to using the Vargo BOT to a cook pot.
    That's most often my approach. BUT, to each their own.

  17. #37
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    Take a look around at some of the studies... If you go on keto diet you'll need less food therefor saving weight.

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