smallest pot you would consider for one person?

I use the gsi glacier cup, I think it's about 16 oz (takes to cup fulls to fill a 1 liter bottle). That's the smallest I would use.

Snowpeak bowl @ 20oz capacity.

700ml was the smallest I could do ramen in.

I have a BPL Firelite Ti 550(2.6oz). It is very small,compact and it works fine. My only complaint is the lack of storage inside the pot for all your "stuff".

I did some agonizing over this awhile back. I only heat water-no cooking in pot. I realized I only needed a max of 2 cups and rarely that-usually 1-1.5 cups. I ended up a 475ml Trapper's Mug that Ron at MLD carries. I used it for awhile with esbit tabs and loved the system for it's size (weight too). I made a windscreen and everything fit nicely in the cup. I've since sold it on BPL because I went to a Caldera cone fosters system. I still rarely heat more than 1.5 cups at a time. That's used in the bag to rehydrate my food and I'll heat another cup or so for a hot drink while waiting for the meal to get done.

The firelite 550 (or it's equivalent evernew mug pot)with a gram weenie stove is my ideal cooking setup. Boils enough water for a big meal and a hot drink.

Sometimes I bring just a Trapper's mug and esbit when pack space is at a premium (running/fastpacking trips) and this works pretty well, but I usually can't do both breakfast and coffee simultaneously.

If I was actually cooking rather than rehydrating, I'd need something bigger.

The smallest pot I own (or want) is a 3 cup pot that fits my Trail Designs Sidewinder stove. It's JUST the right size and it's made of hard-anodized aluminum.

So 3 cups is about 700 ml. To me a 450 ml. "pot" is just a metal cup only suitable for heating water, not true cooking, which I often do.

None of this foo-foo titanium in my utensils! (Just Ti in the Sidewinder stove, for withstanding high wood fire temperatures.)

P.S. This 3 cup pot is wider than it is tall, making it more fuel efficient than tall pots/ti mugs/beer cans. So with the fuel saving pot and Ti cone stove setup I figure I've maximized my fuel efficiency, whether I use alky, ESBIT or wood.

The 550ml pot for me.
Very space efficient because I nest the Caldera Cone Caddy inside that and the caddy holds the cone ,stove,lighter,kitchen cloth and fuel up to 3 days.
However I never "cook" with that pot, just boil water. (I re-hydrate in the caddy)
If I were to cook inside the pot , then around 700ml would work for me.
So basically you need to look at how and what you cook , for example I would not use Ti if I were cooking …

Franco
And I meant to add the bit covered by Jerry, that is look at the whole system.
So I would not use my 550ml pot with a non Caldera Cone system because narrow pots don't work well with most flame patterns .

sp600 is my 1P pot

If I am going to actually cook on a trip, I take my MSR Titan kettle, 800 ml. It has plenty of room for doing a meal for one. I can put on plenty of water to make a big cup of coffee and then add whatever I am cooking to the water that is left boiling in the pot.
If I am just needing to boil water, I take a home made Fosters pot.

If your pot is too small, that is, if the base is too narrow, then your stove will be less efficient.

I just use my Titanium Evernew 900 ml which isn't quite the lightest but it's pretty light. I "cook" oatmeal or soup (1 cup – 225 ml) or coffee/tea (2 cups – 450 ml) which allows some headroom in the pot for the liquid to slosh around. I might get a 550 ml or 750 ml the next time if it was wide enough base.

I've used a small 450 SP "pot", really a mug :) for solo trips, it works for boil in bag/instant coffee etc, BUT I've found I get quicker boils w/ a 600 pot and the weight penalty is very small- it also has better storage w/ the slightly larger size

Judging by the responses, it seems it's just some wierd mental quirk that makes me look at my pot and think "Gee, that looks so small!" I don't do fancy cooking, but I generally cook in-pot so I need more capacity than if I were just boiling water. It is short and wide rather than narrow, which may contribute to the perception that it's smaller than it is. Thanks!

If eating out of it, 400 ml (13.5 oz). If only boiling water then a little less (10 oz).

It depends. On longer treks when I want to eat more, I prefer my .9L pot. On shorter trips where I cook smaller meals, my .6L Evernew is fine. I prefer the short, wide pots. For my set up, they come to a boil quicker and they are more stable than tall, narrow mug style pots.

My pot weighs 1.8 ounces and has a capacity of 20 fluid ounces. I find that I generally boil 12 fluid ounces at a time using part of an Esbit tablet.

–B.G.–

I'd have to agree with the majority of the posters here. Good advice. It depends on how you will prepare your meal, viz:

Boil water, Rehydrate in Ziploc/Cozy

450-550 ml (~15-18 oz, short and wide, better fuel efficiency, more stable on teensy solid fuel stoves. I like a very simple SUL – UL cook kit, so this pot is handless).

Cook in Pot, Eat in Pot

700-900 ml (23-30 oz, with bail wire handle to hang from tripod, Ray-Way style).

However, with so many good rehydrate in ziploc or cozy recipes and meals, cooking in the pot is 'alien sighting' rare on my trips!

YMMV as always, esp near Area 51 :-0

~J

one of my favorite pots holds about 450ml or 15 fl ounces. it's a stainless steel container i took from a hotel bathroom. weighs 5.5 ounces but nearly indestructible. not the lightest but extremely compact and can packcookeat an entire package of saimin from it.

In winter, I'd opt for 2 litre titanium pot. The reason for this is most, if not all, of my water comes from snow and a 2 litre pot makes the process of melting snow more efficient. With plenty of water around [in summer], the smallest I'd opt for would be a 1 litre for solo or 1.5 for a duo.

I am with Jhaura. With freezer bag cooking, ~450-550ml is enough, but if I am "cooking" in pot 700-900ml. I tried cooking in the classic 600ml snow peak mug, but struggled with spilling / overfilling with some of the recipes I made. 700ml was just enough, but I eventually settled on the MLD 850 + ULC stove. Has been just about perfect.

–Mark

I'm a freezer bag cooking fan and don't cook in my pot, just boil water. My 550 ml pot is just right for rehydrating my dinner and allowing me a cup of tea.

If I were cooking in the pot, it would be a whole different story. Most starch type foods (rice, pasta, etc.) tend to expand considerably when they boil. I'd want a 1 L pot if I were cooking, and a 2L pot if melting snow for water.

For general purpose solo cooking, I think your 750ml pot is fine. If you want another larger pot without breaking the bank, find a less expensive aluminum one. They are handy for trip with others or chores like melting snow.

A pot is part of a system, so it should mate well with the supports and the flame pattern on your stove, and suit your recipes if you like to make "real" meals.

I have a 450ml cup that I have built a minimalist system around. It has a heavy foil lid, an aluminum flashing windscreen, a Ti Esbit wing stove, a Bic lighter and a folding Ti spork, with everything fitting inside. It is meant for day hikes and minimalist overnight trips so I can have soup, hot oatmeal, instant coffee or other hot drinks. It is about 4oz, less fuel.

Most dehydrated dinners need 2 cups/16oz/475ml water, so my 700ml pot can handle that and a little more, and I can make noodles or rice in the pot. I can fit my canister stove and a 110g fuel can inside, again with the folding spork and Bic lighter. I like that a lot, so I'm not digging around looking for this or that and a ziplock makes a good stuff sack. That all gets hung with my food too.

I carry a 700ml ti pot that sits in a 300ml ti bowl and a 450ml ti double-wall mug fits inside the pot, along with utensil and stove.
That lets me have a double-pack of instant oatmeal in the bowl and a big cup of coffee in the mug from one heating of water in the morning without cooking in the pot (avoid the cleaning hassle from burned-on-bits). Some people here get by with 550ml or smaller, it depends on how you cook and eat.