Our Lightest Cozy Yet

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I know people who use their hat, jacket, bag, etc as a cozy. I don't due to being in bear country. ;-)

Micheal….the outer fabric is metalized sil nylon, inner is Insul Bright.

PS: I was able to score more fabric than I thought I would be able to. So I am making a ton more of the cozies. Tonight is a production night.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I was talking with Jared, who posts here, today about the FBC UL Cozy. He wanted one smaller/lighter than the original version currently being sold on TrailCooking.

I had time tonight to work on a prototype and happily it turned out nearly perfect first try. Jared will be testing the prototype out for us this weekend.

Stats are:

Weight: .6 of an ounce

Height/width: 6 1/4″ x 8″

The newest cozy fits a pint freezer bag, though a smaller meal in a quart will work. A solo cozy for one. It trims off a shy 2″ inches of height from the version selling currently.

So let me know…would anyone like to see this one offered as well while we have our supply of the silver silnylon?

~Sarah

[Kimberly Wersal]

Yes, please! I hadn't realized you were even making an UL cozy. This looks perfect for me.

[Millette Jones]

Yep, that looks like something I might have room for in my pack!

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I am heading out to get some PCT hiking in this weekend, but when I get back I will be producing the even lighter version as well :-) Maybe midweek I will have them live!

Btw, for those of you in Washington, we will be at TrailsFest in North Bend once again this year, on July 18th and I will have the new line there!

[T Harrison]

Love the trailcooking.com website, I'm keen to test out some of the recipes (although I probably won't be able to make myself wait until my next trip).

On the general theme of cozies, has anyone played around with insulating their pot whilst cooking? Obviously we use lids and windshields, but does a Jetboil style jacket make a noticeable difference? I doubt that any increase in efficiency would pay for itself weight wise but I'd be keen to reduce the number of empty gas canisters I'm throwing away if possible.

Sarah, has anyone ever expressed an interest to you/have you done any testing with a disk of insulation on top of a lid or a (probably removable) jacket to go around a pot on the stove (not on a Caldera Cone!)?

Sorry about the tangent, but the idea of cozies just got me thinking….

Tim

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

With the insulation I use, it isn't fire proof – but it can be made into pot cozies so all you do is boil your water, add food and take off stove/then put into the pot cozy. That works well and does hold in quite a bit of heat :-)

Might be fun though to play with a lid insulation and see if it does anything!

[T Harrison]

yeah, it was more as a method to increase stove efficiency and let me shut off the gas sooner/use less power than as a traditional cozy (I just use my jacket if I need too – no bears in the UK :-) ).

I might have a play with whatever insulation types I can find in my local DIY shop. It shouldn't need to be highly flame retardant for insulating the lid and as long as it's not really eager to burn it should be ok for the sides too. I'd be using it with a cannister stove so flaring is unlikely and I don't let flames extend past the edge of my pan anyway.

The question is whether it will actually make a noticeable difference or not. I guess Jetboil had their reasons for the neoprene sleeve (it's just whether those reasons were mainly to do with marketing or performance).

Someone in the world of BPL must have got curious at some point.

Tim

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Neoprene works well being easy to clean, light insulates but most of all….doesn't need to be "finished", just cut and use. That makes it efficient for high production runs.

[T Harrison]

hmmm, I wonder if one of my surfer type friends would notice a pan shaped hole in the back of their wetsuit….

[Kimberly Wersal]

Any progress on your new UL pint sized cozy? I have the standard size cozies, but the pint sized would be handy also.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Kimberley,

What I have been telling people is order a pint cozy but send me a note on the order (or an email!) and I will custom swap in the even smaller mini-pint one :-)
The silver cozies sell so fast I am selling them as I make them – so it is easy to make smaller one.

[Bob Ellenberg]

I have used a form of cozy for years around my pot. The reason I haven't gone to the bags is I wash everything to eliminate the smells that attract animals. Even if I cooked in a Ziplock, I would wash it and I find an insulated cup much easier to hold and eat out of and easier to wash. I think Sarah's new material around my cup would be great.

If anyone sees this differently (unless you aren't concerned about the lingering food smell), enlighten me.

[Dennis Park]

I come across some articles warning of release of carcinogens from heated plastic food containers. Anybody know if the same risk exists with freezer bags?

[Lori P]

Of all the chemistry used in the food industry, polyethylene plastic is the most used. We have had teflon (Polytetrafluoroethylene) for years and now it is slated to be discontinued in 2015, but our manufacturers love the stuff since the chemicals are used in everything from space heaters to hair dryers to popcorn bags to furniture to ovens to GoreTex. It's been proven to cause all kinds of things, from teflon flu to cancer. There is no such schedule to discontinue polyethylene (PET), which is as pervasive. There are 1,000,000 rumors about it being dangerous. You may have read about BPA – that's polycarbonate plastic, and a particular kind of it too, and in most containers like Nalgene it's been phased out of production and replaced with non-BPA polycarb.

http://www.medicinenet.com/plastic/article.htm

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Bob, I tuck my cozy in with my food at night – in my Ursack or canister (depending on where I am) :-)

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I know many of you have bought one (To which I say thank you!) but I want let everyone know that I cut the final production today. I am finishing up this last run of them and then no more of the silnylon ones – I will be out of that fabric.
I have about 40 left in stock and that is it :-)

[Roger Caffin]

Beware of Urban Myths!

> teflon (Polytetrafluoroethylene) for years and now it is slated to be discontinued in 2015,
Wrong.
What is being changed is the use of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), so it does not get released into the environment. That's ALL. In other words, the older production method is being changed to eliminate a potential problem, but the idea that Teflon production will go away is … amusing.

> It's been proven to cause all kinds of things, from teflon flu to cancer.
Cr@p. Urban myth.
One of the production by-products represents a potential problem, but Teflon itself is INERT. Granted, if you take it to red heat it will decompose, but so will all other plastics.
How many millions of Teflon-lined pots and pans have been used in the world without any **substantiated** problems surfacing? Teflon is a US$1B business just for DuPont, let alone other companies.

> There is no such schedule to discontinue polyethylene (PET), which is as pervasive.
> There are 1,000,000 rumors about it being dangerous.
Exactly – like the rumours about Teflon. People LOVE spreading panic urban myths.

> You may have read about BPA – that's polycarbonate plastic,
Wrong.
BPA is a production byproduct which may or may not be in any PC/Lexan product at low parts-per-million levels, and which may or may not be a hazard to humans. At present the EPA does NOT have a ban on it, because the evidence is just not there.
How many Lexan bottles have been made and used around the world? Are there queues of people lining up with proven medical problems? Nope. Huge media panic (it sells papers), yes, but no evidence of any problem in humans. Yet another urban myth.

Why did Nalge replace all their Lexan bottles? Well, they didn't replace them all. They moved some production to other plastics as a pre-emptive legal precaution. And they scored a huge financial windfall by selling replacement non-PC bottles to everyone who panicked and discarded their current Lexan bottles!

Come in sucker!

Cheers

[Lynn Tramper]

"I come across some articles warning of release of carcinogens from heated plastic food containers. Anybody know if the same risk exists with freezer bags?"

Nope, no risk.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Actually a certain company, GSI Outdoors, did DO something cool with their discontinued polycarbonate bottles. After pulling everything mid last year it was stockpiled till they could figure out what to do.

Coming early this winter is a poo trowel, on the cheap side (and light), made of recycled bottles. They are one of the nicest trowels I have seen yet – serrated edges even.

As for Nalgene…..they make many products NOT for food use, but for medical use in labs. No point in them changing what works for them.

Now what this has to do with my fabric cozies who knows…..

[Author]

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