Halve the weight?

[Scythe13]

(10 April 2012, 22:08)WetandCold Wrote: Scythe I like the idea of chop stick as long as remove the bark and use the clean inside, One thing to bear in mind, it is quite easy to get a gut infection while in the woods, I have seen it happen a few times and to me it happened once silly mistake I made and I had stomach pain for 3 days really powerful cramps.

You sanitise the chopsticks the same way you do a needle for a splinter, in the fire.

The best thing is to just heat them as if you are hardening a spike in a flame. That cleanses them and hardens them. Jobs a good'en

[Timelord]

The plastic spork weighs next to nothing & yes I agree it is not necessary. It is nice to retain some vestiges of culinary advancement. I did think I could do without it & yes I can. Weighed against this I thought - well it weighs almost nothing and may help to keep hygiene levels up more easily. I bought a white one so I could see the colour of any food/broth on it and so I could tell it was properly clean before use. I also thought it may be handy to be able to easily hold food still with the fork whilst cutting it up. I doubt I will use the knife part of it.

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It would be good for stews when checking on contents or removing certain items. It may also be useful in food preparation. I will see. I can always ditch it, but it weighs next to nothing, so I probably won't need to.

[Scythe13]

That's cool TL.

Don't forget that someone's BOB is their choice of items. I'm not against knives, spoons, forks, or sporks. I'm just offering alternatives.

The whole idea of halving the weight of the kit (for me) is to be able to up and off ASAP. But for other people with their kits, they have different priorities. You don't need to justify the spork. If you want it in the kit, stick it in the bag.

[Timelord]

I know Scythe, there is no worry from me. I put the info out there not just necessarily because I don't agree with alternatives or think this is better. I describe my thought decision making process so other enquiring preppers can take on board the logic. Wether this particular item is of any relevence or not to them, I am hoping the way people review the information available and the way they learn to think about it will grow to encompass multiple graded options inc lateral thinking. This is one of the key prepper skills needed to SURVIVE & THRIVE.. regards, TL.

[Scythe13]

Alright TL

I'm looking at minimizing my kit even further. With my gas cooker, I'm chucking the lot and going SUPER UL!!!

Check this out. Might be low quality, as it is GoOutdoors own brand. But It's worth a purchase and field test at that price and weight! Plus the plastic case looks pretty robust.

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/hi-gear-blaz...ve-p158215

[Timelord]

I just had a look at it. It looks good. I would ditch the case and wrap it in plastic bag & then some garment or hat or other that I was carrying to save weight & bulk. Obviously you will need to carry the gas canister as well.

Have you considered a meths burner? they are compact, reasonably lightweight and pretty unbreakable. They are so simple in operation with no moving parts, valves etc. I believe they are more efficient on fuel than gas systems and burn hotter. Also in high winds the flame jets burn more fiercely. Combined with a simple home made wraparound shield that the pan or mug can sit on top of, then the system is simplicity itself. the fuel can be carried in a non metallic lightweight plastic bottle that can be reused.

In a PSHTF situation, then whilst all fuels may be hard to source, it should generally be easier to find meths or paraffin or some other fuel that can be used to keep the stove running. ok, so the stove might only be for the short term, but why not have one that will run for longer on a fixed amount of fuel and also that may be easier to resupply?

Look up "the Tommy burner" that was supplied to our troops in the 2ndWW. This uses solid fuel within the tin, but the set up is almost the same. I only saw this example the day after completing mine which looks almost identical.

This is all my own personal idea on the subject. I accept Gas is a recognised method for cooking - I just remember trying desperately to get enough heat into a pan of food when the wind had picked up. The wind blew most of the heat sideways from the gas burner and even an expedient shield was of only limited use. I was amazed the first time I used a meths burner and found in similar circumstance that it actually burned hotter in the high wind. The Trianga windshield was also key and this can be replicated in a lighter weight & smaller construction for the minimalist.

Happy ultralighting. TL.

[Tonka]

All Terrain push chairs… it sounds a little off topic but I am very impressed with their ability to carry a load off road at speed. I bought one as soon as I found out a man-cub was on the way, as I generally find that anywhere pushchair friendly isn’t worth a visit. Ours has three fixed wheels, pneumatic tyres and suspension. It’s designed to enable you to jog off road with a baby, and it works very well. I have taken ours up mountains, admittedly Welsh mountains that can be walked up rather than scrambled up on all fours climbing, but none the less, pretty hardcore terrain for a pushchair.

It got me thinking that this is a good way to haul kit. You can run with it, take it anywhere you can walk, and pack a lot of weight into it.
Pushing a pushchair isn’t entirely suspicious either. Once the youngling is old enough to use his legs, I am seriously considering hanging on to that push chair for use as such a tool.

I know it sounds ridiculous, but the thing works insanely well.

They are expensive to buy new, but I picked ours up cheap used from Mumsnet. I’m sure you all already use Mumsnet to shop for your survival equipment though

So important kit goes in your webbing and extra kit in the chair. Instant dumping if you need to. It doesn’t attract attention (webbing will though) and goes anywhere you can run.

Not necessarily the ultimate in bug out buggies, but has to be worth considering?

[Scythe13]

Thanks Tonka. That's a pretty neat thing to have. I'm trying to refine my kit so that I don't need to even fill my BOB. But the buggy does seem really useful!

With regards to the cooker TL, it'll be something for me to try and see how it goes. I'm not experienced in meths/alcohol cooking, so I've stuck to what I know as of current.

I'm not going to be bothering with a seperate windshield. I love cupping my hands and keeping then nice and toasty haha. Generally my camping is deep in the woods, so the trees cut out a lot of the wind, so that helps.

With the casing for the little cooker, I'm going to be keeping that simply because it's going to give it loads of protection, so I don't have to worry about being delicate (not my strong point). I think a lot of the UL stuff is fragile, so having something to protect it is important for me. If it ends up weight loads with the little box, then I'll chuck the whole thing and start again.