Crew size cooking pot suppier?

[Nate Ward]

I’m looking for a 8 and 6 quart pots for my crew. Just don’t care to check anything out, would rather have our own (and so we have them for prep hikes). However, I’m having trouble finding them…Open Country doesn’t have them, nor does Campmor. Anyone know where to pick them up?

[David Thomas]

Cheap ($10.60), basic, not sure about the weight (“2.6 pound shipping weight”):

http://www.walmart.com/ip/IMUSA-STOCK-POT-8QT/13370055

(one commenter’s complaint was “SEEMS LIKE ITS MADE FROM ALUMINUM AND IS VERY LIGHT” which, of course, sounds good to me.)

I note that it has a recessed lid which returns the condensed steam to the pot, which is nice.  That depression in the lid might be nice for warming food, socks, etc.  I much prefer a thin aluminum lid over a heavy glass lid which most kitchen pots have now.

I sometimes see cheap (= thin + lightweight) aluminum pots at thrift stores.  Another thing to look for is a large rice maker ($3-$6 at the thrift store) and use the insert as a pot, especially if it is aluminum.

[Jay L]

You might try calling some of the outfitters in Ely MN, they all sell used gear.  I picked up a couple of 8-piece patrol cook kits from Voyager North (vnorth.com) for about $40.  They dont have any kits on their website right now but if you call looking for a couple of pieces you might find something.

 

[Bruce Kolkebeck]

Nate,

Much discussion on this subject at, http://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/101354/

Hope that helps,

BK

 

 

[Rich Bowman]

Call Open Country customer service.  They make 8 qt pots as part of a larger cook kit, but don’t market them separately.  I was able to get 3 pots earlier this year to prepare/practice for Philmont by calling them.

IWTGBTP!

–Rich

[Jeff Long]

http://www.boscovs.com/shop/prod/stainless-steel-stockpot-8qt/11658.htm

Pot weighs 1 lb. 5 oz., with lid, 1 lb. 10.5 oz.

They also carry a 6 qt. that weighs 1 lb. 4.25 oz., with lid 1 lb. 8.75 oz.  These pots have attached handles rather than a bail handle.  One of the six quart pot handles seeps water where one of the rivets attaches the handle. Handle is still secure — unlikely you would need to fill the pot with that much water.  Very stable on the Whisperlite stove.

[Anonymous]

A little larger than you are looking for, but these pots are surprisingly light weight and have a non toxic, semi/fairly nonstick coating on them (porcelain fused to carbon steel, not quite as good as more common non stick coatings though [teflon, ceramic, etc], but definitely better than bare stainless, aluminum, titanium, etc for cleanup).  I have a very large version for home use, 22 quarts, and it weighs 3 lb 6 oz on my scale.  I use it to heat water on a wood stove for various things, plus i’ve used it for dyeing of synthetic clothing.

Anyways, the following 12 quart pot will weigh about half of the one above, so around 1.6 lbs or so.  That’s fairly light for the size, and unlike aluminum, you can cook acidic foods all day in it and not worry at all.  Price is 12.88.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Granite-Wear-12-Qt-Stock-Pot-with-Lid/17193283

[Nate Ward]

Thanks all who helped!  i hope this helps other people/treks!   i would rather have ALL my own crew gear, makes check out easier and you can practice with what you take.  Past two trips we didn’t do the one big pot, but with this group, I think it’ll work, good close group of boys. Next is my ropes……

[Nate Ward]

Open Country does not have and 8+ quarts pots in their inventory any longer….that is sad…Went to WalMart and found SS 8qts!  Two of the cost about $16!  They are thin and as light as you would hope for (still don’t like their style of cooking).    Hope this helps someone out there so they can have pots for their practice hikes!

 

[Rich Bowman]

You can get a light weight 6 qt pot as part of the Stansport 4 person aluminum cook kit.  Available at Amazon or other online retailers for < $30.  We used the pot/lid in 2015.  Not as sturdy (or heavy) as OpenCountry or Phil issue pots but held up fine. All we wanted was the pot and lid.  The other stuff that came with it we added to the troop gear.

[Edgar M]

I found the Imusa 8qt pot at my local Walmart:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/IMUSA-STOCK-POT-8QT/13370055

Without the lid, it weighs 20.8oz.  The lid ads another 4oz.  This appears to be the same weight as the pot/lid Philmont provides.  The handles appear pretty heavy and I plan on removing them.  I’ll fill in the rivet holes with JB Weld and add a simple wire handle made from a bicycle spoke.  The JB Weld is non-toxic once cured and good to 500 degrees.  The lid will be replaced with heavy foil from a disposable turkey roasting pan.

If our Ranger is amenable, we will not bring the second 4, 6, or 8 qt pot.  For coffee, I have a Ruta Locura TI stove kit  and TI Jetboil pot.  The purpose of the extra 4/6/8qt pot is for dishwashing.  I have a SeatoSummit foldable bucket (not the ultra sil one) which can be the wash bucket.

[ed dzierzak]

There should be no problem not taking the entire kit. If I recall correctly (7 treks), we’ve never taken anything but the two 8 qt pots. The rest got stowed in the locker until we got back.

[Edgar M]

I had another idea regarding meeting the spirit, if not the letter, of the Philmont methods.  The only purpose of having two large pots is for washing dishes.  The foldable buckets and kitchen sinks from Sea2Summit tend to collapse unless you are careful.  How about using a 1 gallon ice cream tub as the second “pot” for washing?  Store it in the 8qt pot when packed to keep it from getting crushed.

[Jamie Barnes]

We found ours to train with here – http://www.brookstone.com/8-liter-aluminum-tribal-pot/945924p.html?bkeid=compare|mercent|googlebaseads|search&mr:trackingCode=795D6FF0-10E2-E411-AF6F-001B21A69EB0&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=t&mr:adType=plaonline&mr:ad=78735697044&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:tid=kwd-51320962143&mr:ploc=9022933&mr:iloc=9022906&mr:store=&mr:filter=51320962143&gclid=CLL8-a3T6MgCFdc9gQodKJMOGQ

Who would have thought Brookstone would carry an 8L aluminum pot. Haven’t weighed ours yet, another adult advisor purchased them, but published weight is 1.8 lbs. We attended the Philmont PASS session in St. Louis. The head ranger from Philmont, Eric Martinez, was the one running the session. He was very interested in where we bought our 8 L pots from. He said they’ve been looking for a manufacturer and hadn’t been able to find one.

As for a wash pot/bowl this place sells cuben fiber dog/wash bowls. I contacted them to see if they’d ever used hot (not boiling) water in them. He said they weren’t designed for extremely hot water but it shouldn’t hurt the cuben fiber material. They hadn’t tried using them that way. I may purchase a large one and try it out. Would be awesome if it did – half an oz and $24.

http://www.bearpawwd.com/misc_gear/misc_gear.php

[Roger Caffin]

Just remember though, that very big pots can have really bad effects on many stoves.

Sometimes the big pots are just too heavy when full and they ‘crush’ the stove. Few light-weight stoves are designed for that sort of weight.

Second, the very wide base of such a pot can reflect far too much heat back down onto the stove and/or the fuel tank. I am aware of at least one really bad accident which put first degree burns across two people, and i think contributed to their early deaths.

Care! Cheers

 

[Edgar M]

Roger,

My “large” stove uses a remote canister connection.  I bought it for my 2013 trek because it had  larger support arms and kept the pot lower to the ground.  Keeping the reflected heat away from the butane was not something I was thinking about at the time, but is certainly a very important bonus. I will bring this stove in 2016, but will also have the Ruta Locura/TI Jetboil combo as a backup and for coffee

Edgar

[Jamie Barnes]

I, and another adult advisor, have an Optimus Vega remote canister stove. Has a fairly wide pot stand. It’s not been to Philmont. I did try it out on an outing a few weeks ago with a six quart pot filled about 3/4 full of water and worked well. Didn’t have any issues with stability or looking like it was going to squish the stove. It has the capability to turn the canister upside down so it’s burning the liquid fuel instead of vapor. Worked MUCH better doing that during my test. Boiled water much faster and used less fuel. Supposed to work well for altitude. We shall see in the fall when we are planning on doing an Autumn Adventure at Philmont. Selling it to the wife as an opportunity to test out gear so we can operate safely. :-)

[Nate Ward]

Believe it or not…Walmart has an 8qt thin wall stainless pot with a lid for less that $10.  1lb 11oz…. just as bad a Philmont’s pots

[Nate Ward]

[Dan T]

We picked up a couple of Whirly Pop popcorn makers at the local thrift store for <$5. Aluminum 6 qt. weighs 10oz. We’ve had to make our own lids but an aluminum pie plate seems to work well < 2 oz. Hoping to get by with 2 of these for a 12 man crew.

[Bruce Tolley]

We took two 4 quart Open Country pots and two stoves to Philmont and it was more than enough.  It takes FOREVER to heat up the water in an 8 quart pot. We used 4 quart pots for all our training hikes and the Scouts demonstrated to the Philmont Ranger that they could fulfill the spirit if not the letter of the Philmont procedures.

[david richardson]

Google texsport 4 person aluminum cook kit and buy from Amazon, use the large cook pot and lid from the kit. And buy a 4 qt pot from open country. This combination has served 3 crews very well. As light as you can get and big enough for 8 to 12 man crews.

[Bruce Tolley]

To Roger’s point above about the danger’s of large diameter pots, here is the warning in the Whisperlite manual: “Keep the Fuel Bottle away from the stove burner or other heat sources. Separate Burner and Fuel Bottle with the Windscreen. An overheated Fuel Bottle can explode and burn or injure you.

Never use cookware with a diameter greater than 9 inches (23 centimeters). Large cookware reflects excessive heat. Never operate stove with empty or dry pots. Never use non-MSR reflectors or diffusers.”

Of course the stove suffers damage first. But then come the after effects that can cause damage to humans.

[Aubrey W. Bogard]

Chief Ranger Eric Martinez stated at the Philmont Advisors Skills School that they are working with MSR on an 8-quart pot to be available sometime in the future.  The pots that Philmont uses are no longer manufactured by whomever made them.

[David Y]

Cook pots. We modify Philmont’s cooking technique only slightly to save fuel and time, we don’t go to Philmont to spend our time cooking.

Rather than boiling a lot of water in one pot and cooking in another we only boil the measured amount of water needed per the food packages instructions (usually about 3 qt.) in one Philmont issued 8 qt. cook pot. Once the measured water comes to a rolling boil we submerse/sanitize all our eating and cookware in the boiling water and lay them out on a bear bag, as per Philmont’s instruction. Then we add the packaged food to the cook pot’s boiling water and cook, as per Philmont’s instruction.

After everyone consumes all the solid food we half fill the cook pot with clear COLD water and wash all the dishes, “CampSuds works equally well in cold water”. Sump the wash water and half fill the cook pot again with clear COLD water and rinse all the dishes, as per Philmont’s instruction.

This saves us carrying an extra 8 qt. pot, boil time and fuel. We use a wind screen around the pot and stove and keep the pot covered while heating and cooking. Using these methods we can cook 10 suppers for a crew of 12 with only three 11 oz. MSR fuel bottles of white gas, less gas, more weight savings.

Otherwise everything else is done the Philmont way. We understand and believe in Philmont’s methods and techniques, we just improved on some slightly and have never had push back from our Rangers.

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endured”, David Young

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