Pot handles vs pot gripper/lifter vs pot grabber/bandana

I only boil water in my Heine pot. I cook in a freezer bag or a 16 oz Ziploc bowl, which also serves as a drinking mug for hot drinks. I lift the pot with wool glove liners (don't try this with synthetic gloves), or leather gloves I carry with me in the winter. The same gloves are used to hold the mug, or sometimes I just lift it carefully by the ridge near the top.

I also heat cooking water in a 2 qt Open Country aluminum pot which has a bail wire handle, and a either a 1 quart or 3/4 quart GSI aluminum pot with folding side handles. I sometimes cook in these. I use the same gloves with these, but often use a sturdy stick to place or remove the bail wire pot from the fire.

The gloves work well, and they're something I would carry anyway. I'd just use my bandana if I didn't carry the gloves. I can't hold the Heine pot indefinitely, but can long enough to pour it out into a Ziploc freezer bag or Ziploc bowl. I do need to carefully avoid getting food on my gloves, since they're not bear-bagged.

I use a 0.9 liter Ti Evernew pot with folding wire handles covered with silicone. I eat and drink directly out of it. Works fine. Nothing to lose. Used it for several years.

I use to have a MSR pot with seperate pot gripper. A seperate piece of gear to lose. It was possible for the pot to slip out of the gripper when I was eating out of it.

Mug with silicone on the handles. Easy, no brainer.

I'm not a fan of separate pot grabbers. They often scratch up your pot and they're just another thing to keep track of. Pots with regular handles on them work well and this is probably the best all around option unless weight is the highest concern. A bail works well to lift the pot on and off the stove, but it doesn't work well to hold the pot while you eat out of it….so for a solo pot that is likely going to double as your bowl I don't like these.

Skipping the handles and using gloves or another article of natural fiber clothing works fairly well. It's not as simple as having handles on the pot, but it's lighter. I have an Evernew 1.3L pot that doesn't have handles and I normally bring my wool gloves partly for this purpose, but when I'm actually out in the woods I'm normally too lazy to go dig out the wool gloves so I just quickly grab the pot by the rim and lift it off the stove bare-handed. This wouldn't work so well if you actually needed to eat out of the pot though. If you're going to spend long periods of time holding a pot filled with really hot contents, then I prefer handles on the pot. Unless your wool gloves are quite thick, you'll find they get too hot after holding the pot for a bit. The MSR Titan Kettle has really good handles and makes a nice solo pot.