Decent nonstick pot for group camping (heavy is ok)

Lan…Take a look at these as I have been using one for 30 yrs and was introduced to them when I took a NOLS course. When I arrange my menu for frying OR when grandchildren accompany us on our trips and want to have bacon and eggs for BK.or when they want to do the cooking. I use a BANKS FRY-PAN 8″ dia – Alpine (7.5oz).

Take a look at the Cosmetic Seconds Expedition Fry-Bake Set

https://frybake.com/

I have a banks frybake pan too, and I’m just getting into using it for “NOLS” style cooking when we’re car camping or doing relaxed family trips where going ultra light and making big miles isn’t the primary concern.

Have you looked at MSR cookware?  They have some anodized aluminum cookware with the newer ceramic non-stick coating.  Their biggest pot is 2.5L,   They also have a 9″ x 2.5″ deep non-stick skillet.

They also have some larger cook sets that include what appears to be a 5.3L “stock pot” if you’re really looking to go big. I don’t think the big 5.3L pot has a non-stick coating, and honestly, it’s probably not needed for a pot such as that.

Looks like Primus also has some ceramic coated non-stick pots, including both regular pots and some heat exchanger pots as large as 3.0L.

Thanks guys!

Yeah, the MSR and Primus ETA pots look like just what I need. The Fry Bake stuff looks great too!

All of these are little more spendy than I was hoping, for such a simple item of gear. However, I have to concede that probably any of these is worth the investment of $50 – $75 and probably will last a long time. Was just hoping there was something cheaper and simpler out there :-)

If you wanted something for car camping or a quick hike I’d just go with an off the shelf cheapo at target or ikea. However, you can’t beat the versatility, lightness and ruggedness of the frybake expedition. We use 2 for groups of 4-5 canoe camping and it meets all our needs for the gourmet meals we cook on those trips. Cleaning eggs is the worse but isn’t too bad with an msr pot scraper after soaking them for a bit. We also cook on a fire instead of direct flame so YMMV.

+1 on Target quality being worth a look.

Another +1 on the Primus Eta non-stick pots.  I got it mainly as a large (3-liter) HX pot for family / math-team winter camping because I really like HX pots for snow melting.  But the non-stick seems pretty, well, non-sticky.  It works.  It cleans up easily.  I’ve got an older style without that outer support ring, just the inner fins.  It seems the current style would be (1) a bit heavier (or not, they used to include a plastic cover for the fins), (2) a bit better at HX and (3) more resistant to the HX fins getting banged up.  $60 at EMS.

Similar to the ETA pots, Optimus has their Terra lineup. Looks like they’ve got a newer model that is ~1.75L (just barely big enough for my purposes), has a modern-style HX ring with protector, and a non-stick interior. Best part is, it’s about 30 bucks.

Amazon link
Optimus product page

Has anybody seen one of these up close, or better yet, used it?

Ian, I bought a few of those on deep clearance but they weren’t the non stick variety. Maybe David can weigh in because I sold him one and he’s more likely to have used it.

I did get some forum input saying my stove (Kovea spider) and that pot wouldn’t work well together since the support legs are too wide to sit flush against the bottom of the pot.

XYZ,

Good point … I hadn’t thought about the stove needing to sit up into the cavity created by the HX ring. I wonder if the dimensions there are going to be a problem for my Fire Maple 117 / Olicamp Xcelerator (which I believe is smaller than the Spider).

But in that regard, I would thing that the Terra Xpress and the ETA pots would have similar problems.

I guess I’ll see! Amazon should have it to me shortly.

Alright so … I’m heading back to the drawing board on this. For anybody that still cares, here is the latest that I’m thinking about …

• As I’ve been using my cheapo hard anodized cookset and had repeated episodes of burning eggs and hash browns, I thought the answer would be getting a decent nonstick pot or pan. That gets us to the start of this post.
• Upon further review, it seems like I might be trying to solve the wrong problem. It’s possible that <span style=”color: #993300;”>the issue is NOT that the HA coating is too sticky, but instead that the metal of the pot is just too thin, and therefore I’m getting hot spots, which leads to burning</span>. (reminder, I’m using an FMS-117, which is an adjustable remote canister stove, usually turned all the way down)
• If that’s the case, then switching to a nonstick-coated pot will NOT help me because I’ll still be stuck with hot spots. In fact this might be even worse, because I won’t be able to scrub the pot as fiercely to clean it, due to the coating.
• So to truly avoid hot spots, I need a thicker-walled pot. Maybe I’ll use my Lodge cast iron for this trip. Another option would be to approximate the effects of thick walls by using a mesh aluminum diffuser or a metal plate diffuser. Or, apparently I can use a steel paint tin lid. Ha!
• ^^ Upon further review, it turns out this forum has dozens of threads involving a heat diffuser. I think I’m on the right track. And, I need to use more oil.

Any thoughts on the above?

One more question: for hard anodized cookware, are people using some cleaning solution that is harsher than a sponge or plastic scraper? I’ve been using metal utensils to cook in it without any issue, but I am unclear whether HA can stand up to e.g. metal scrapers or steel wool, to clean off stuff that’s burnt on.

If you have a large stove head and a small HX pot, the bottom of the pot can sit pretty far above the flame.  I use the BRS-3000T even with large pots, and then, I can often deploy the swing out pot-support arms.  But for small pots or if the HX ring is small, I fold those pot-support arms in and it fits fully within the ring of HX fins.

Four Dog Stoves has a titanium heat diffuser if that’s the direction you want to try.

http://fourdog.com/titanium-heat-diffuser/

David, thanks for the intel. I think I’ve decided that, as cool as HX pots are, I’m going to stick to conventional pots for the time being. It seems that if I’m trying to eliminate hot spots by using a diffuser, I am actually heading in the opposite direction compared to what HX pots are designed for. And I have no current complaints about fuel efficiency, and finally I might upgrade to a Kovea Spider in the next year for the inverted canister capability — which would be a new set of diameters to keep in mind for HX rings and pot supports. So, all that suggests to me … better stick with conventional stuff for now.

Anyway, overall ….

To that end, I went ahead and picked up one of these hard anodized 3Ls at REI yesterday with a gift card I needed to burn. It’s heavy for backpacking, but will probably be perfect for the kind of car camping that I’ve been doing recently. I would also bet the anodizing is better quality than what I got with my cheapo no-name Chinese HA cookset from Amazon.

For delicate cooking and simmering, I’m going to pair this with one of the following:

1. Steel paint can lid, per the article linked earlier
2. Mesh aluminum diffuser
3. Solid aluminum diffuser

Basically I’ll play around with the 1st option to see if it makes a difference. If not, then I’ll make my way through those other two and see what does the trick.

If I ever end up perfecting this cooking method in-camp, then the next step would be implementing something for “real” lightweight backpacking usage — for which that Four Dog titanium plate might be perfect. Thx for the link!

The Bunsen burner wire gauze works. It’s heavy.

a .1mm piece of copper foil works perfectly. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32846449941.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dP58n81

Also, you can season titanium in the oven just like you would cast iron pan. Works perfectly and creates a non stick surface. (avocado oil rubbed on (THIN) with paper towel, place pan upside down in oven on 500 for an hour, repeat many times to build up a layer of non stick surface)