Group cooking

I used to lead a lot of group trips, and the number in the group was often 6 or 8, and occasionally as many as 12. Back in those days, virtually all trips used one or two big MSR white gas stoves (cheaper). My rule of thumb was that one could handle up to 6 mouths, or two could handle up to 12 mouths. I might simplify that and scale it down if I had to do it again today. Maybe use butane stoves.

One big factor was to work away from the common theme of a one-pot meal. Instead, I would break a meal up into more of a smorgasbord. One or two small pasta dishes or soup could be mixed up with boiling water. One or two small dishes might be cold appetizers or bread and cheese. Desert was Logan bread.

I tried not to do all of the cooking. Instead, I would ask for volunteers, and each person would watch over one boiling pot or prepare a cold dish. I tried to just supervise and then take all of the credit.

–B.G.–

I don't do group cooking stuff normally – even when I went with groups, we almost always cooked meals ourself, but ate together usually. It worked well.

The reason behind this is it teaches everyone to be self sufficient, but also it meant everyone could eat what they wanted, when they wanted it. If someone was vegan, great. Gluten-free? Great. And no worries about too little or too much food either.

I am not a fan of using bigger than a 2 Liter pot on a canister stove. Anything bigger, it gets very top heavy. If you do cook for a group, use a couple of stoves, with a couple people cooking. It will go faster and be safer as well.

…

Roger and Sarah, think of it as a challenge.

An old story:
One gal signed up for one of my group trips that was going to include breakfasts and dinners. She stated that she did not eat red meat, and that included beef and pork. She did eat poultry and fish. OK. I took it as a challenge.

It was about a four-day trip, so I planned the whole central commissary to omit beef and pork. It took a little extra work, but I got it.

We were doing the trip, and I received no gripes about the lack of beef or pork. On the last day, we were all hiking out together when we stopped for lunch, so we each pulled out our personal lunches. This gal pulled out a very large salami and started slicing it! I couldn't believe it.

I asked to speak to her, and I led her out of earshot of the rest of the group, and I asked her about it. She had told me that she did not eat red meat, so what the hell was this salami?

She said, "Sometimes I just have this craving…"

–B.G.–

Our Scout Troop's theory on group cooking for backpacking is "buy the boys each an MRE and call it good." Then they get to pack in and out an insane amount of trash. But the boys like it.

Personally I think they're insane.

It depends on what you mean by "cooking" because many people just boil water and throw it in a bag or dish.

My groups are rarely more than 4 but everyone chooses and brings their own breakfast and lunch. Breakfast is just boiling water unless maybe a layover day and someone wants to get exotic and make pancakes or something.

For dinners that is a group meal and we split it up with 1 or 2 people coming up with a dish(es), buying and carrying the food and cooking it. It becomes kind of a surprise event which shares all the loads and duties. My groups are always experienced backpackers so they are familiar with backpacking foods and stoves so know what they can do and not. If there is a rookie then we pair them with someone who isn't but they get to have input on the menu. Everyone is still responsible for their own hot drinks etc.

For up to 4 people a canister stove and a 2L pot is just fine. My most recent big group trip was 10 people with two stoves and pots, one was a Windpro with more stability to handle a larger pot/frying pan and the 2nd was an Optimus Crux

Ah BPLrs. We'll carry our own stuff and cook our own meals.

I usually follow the same approach Alex uses with each responsible for their own lunch and breakfast with dinner a group meal. We usually end up carrying 2 whisperlight stoves and two canisters of fuel.

But as Sarah suggests, there is something to be said though for learning self-sufficiency. We have a mixed group though: some go out once a year; some of us 2x or more a month. There isn't one ethic that everyone has in common and some of our group bristle at the requirements of learning to cook.

Any ideas for using meals and food as a way to introduce those new to backpacking to some of the principles common to backpacking? How can I use the group meal to move a novice to a more experienced hiker/backpacker.

Forced inclusion ;-) Hehehe Works for Boy Scouts, make it work for adults. It is sad/funny that I have done many BS cooking presentations over the years – and so many boys don't even have a clue how to make a bowl of ramen. I am not kidding either. One time a Mom came up to me and was so happy "He is cooking!!" and I am thinking "I taught him to make ramen, instant pudding and rice. That isn't cooking" But I bit my tongue – he was at least learning to be self sufficient.

One tip is do meal planning – where everyone has a say and gets together. This forces everyone to be part of it. Some people will have ingredients laid out and meals can be bagged up.

In their defense I do have to say some of our boys managed chocolate fondue and chicken-fried rice over a campfire this past weekend. Not backpacking but still better than we usually see.

Of course then there was the patrol that won the dessert competition by creating a dump cake with individual zebra cakes baked into it…

On my last trip I was a guinea pig/groupee for a friend who wants to start doing more guiding. We were a group of ten. I wish I could tell you exactly what she did.

She prepared/cooked all the dinners and it worked great. They were vegetarian/gluten free — with optional dairy (cheese) that we added individually.

She provided water for tea after dinner

She provided hot water in the morning – enough for a hot drink + enough to make your own instant hot breakfast. (though I brought my own Caldera Cone so I wouldn't have to wait in the morning and cause I wanted to show off.)

The best dinner was a Moroccan bean stew. (Though I think i liked that the best because I carried it!) If you're hiking with adults and not pushing them beyond their fitness level, be sure to divvy up the group gear/supplies.

I've also been on group trips where we all used individual alky stoves. That was good for learning, an did have advantages. I haven't done the math, but I suspect group cooking ends up being overall more efficient weigh-wise than individual cooking. I also like the communal aspect to it.

She used a WG stove and one big aluminum pot, looked like maybe 6L. Yes it took awhile, but the pacing worked. I was pitching my tarp and picking blueberries while the water was heating up. Efficiency-wise one big pot might be slower, but is probably more fuel efficient, than separate. Personally I loathe WG and will only use alcohol or canisters. For a group of six, my choice would be a remote canister stove (for stability) and the Open Country 4L pot (so cheap!)

If you just bring one stove it's that much less to carry. If people are high maintenance eaters with requirement you don't want to adapt to have them bring their own cat-can stove and meals.

It helped that this was a very nice group of women. No whiners in the mix, lots of gratitude.

The only negative was there was a hair too much food — and a push to clean the pot. So I ate too much one night in an effort to help. So I'd err on the side of too less than too much, and compensate with snack food or individual additions to the dish (e.g. cheese, chips)

fwiw it was also an older group. We could, and did, eat peanuts. With kids that's another thing that commonly needs to be avoided. (e.g. my kids schools and camps are all nut/peanut free).

Re: the JetBoil — is the group one all vertical, not remote, like most Jetboils? If so I'd nix it for being tippy, but at some point in group size a heat exchanger-if you can find one compatible with your set-up – is probably worthwhile, both in terms of time and fuel weight.

As you cook for more people, you want a bigger pot (duh). When you have a bigger pot with more water/food in it, you wish you had a bigger burner. One way around that is to use a bigger pot with a heat-exchanger. Here's one that I have been using for 2 years now on family trips, anytime I'm snow camping and melting snow and sometimes at home in the kitchen because it boils water faster than the kitchen pots. STP has it for $55 instead of MSRP $69 and there's almost always an additional 30-35% off available (currently 30% off orders of $75 or more) so that gets it down to $35-38-ish.

http://www.sierratradingpost.com/jetboil-fluxring-helios-cooking-pot-3l~p~6674d/?filterString=s~pot%2F&colorFamily=99

This would also let you have a single, bigger pot to make all the boiling water (instant oatmeal, tea, coffee hot chocolate) each morning and use less fuel doing it. When I've calc'd the fuel savings, the added weight of a heat exchanger comes out ahead after 4 to 8 person-days which you always have on a larger trip.

UL disclaimer: This ain't a Heineken can on a cat-food alky stove. But over even a weekend, group trip, avoiding two smaller pots, plus the fuel savings and you'll be ahead. Even if you don't need the full 3 liters, having more freeboard for a 1- or 2-liter meal means you spill less pasta onto the ground.

I always leave the orange, plastic HX protector at home for backpacking (I'll bring it for car camping or canoeing). I also usually leave the black plastic lid at home, too, using either aluminum foil or a plate that fits the pot opening (and then serves as a plate).
Edited to add image.

To get others to learn how to take care of themselves when they bristle at learning to cook just ask them to help while you are cooking. Be VERY specific (let me know when the water is boiling for example) and start slow and easy, just one request per person at first. Eventually you will have taught them to cook and they won't realize that is what you were doing!

+1 David. I was also going to recommend a heat exchanger pot like the Primus 1.7 or 3L, which are also handy for snow melting.

David, what's the weight and dimensions of that Fluxring Helios 3L without the lid and without the HE fins protector? Wondering how it compares with the Primus 3L.

If it's a big group, I prefer to cook in smaller groups of 2-4 max. And with rare exceptions that's what we did in the Scouts – helped everyone learn to be self-sufficient and learn how to cook.

EJ:

Weights (oz/g) of

Pot only 13.1 / 373g
plus black plastic lid: 15.8 / 449
plus black lid and orange HX protector: 18.7 / 530 g

EJ:

You also wanted dimensions.

OD of main pot: 8 5/8", 219mm
height of total pot, including HX, no covers: 4 3/8, 110 mm

The max dimension of the pot – the diameter where the handles project the furtherest is 9", 228 mm

If you are looking to store another pot inside the Helios 3-liter pot:

ID at top: 8 1/4", 207mm
ID at bottom of pot: 7 3/4", 197mm
height of pot interior: 3 7/8", 97mm

Edited to say that my Primus 1.7 (with HX) liter fits pretty well inside the Helios 3-liter. Diameter-wise, it is an easy fit. You could toss a towel or scrubbies and Bics in there, too, between the two pots. It a touch higher, projecting maybe 1 cm out of the Helios 3-liter.