Has anyone tried collapsable pots?

[Michael F]

We were all set to bring a 8L aluminum pot and silnylon collapsible sink on our trek next month. Yesterday, however I was at my local council Scout store returning something when I began to chat with the person there who told me that they were on a 2017 PSR trek and they brought two collapsible Sea to Summit 4L X-Pots instead. Their cooking method was to use two stoves (remote isobutane canister), heat water in the two, 4L pots, then rehydrate food in the pouches and then serve from there.

As a side note, we have three people on our trek who, for religious reasons, won’t eat pork and will be having separate meals anyway so not everyone will be eating out of the same large pot.

So long as the 4L pots are deep enough to submerge and sterilize our personal bowls and utensils, wouldn’t that be sufficient?

Having two collapsible pots are significantly more expensive and do not provide any weight savings versus a single 8L aluminum pot. I believe the advantages lie in the area of portability and potentially time savings boiling in two half-sized pots versus one large one.

Will rangers accept the “two pot” and “reconstitute in the bag” method proposed above?

Obviously, we don’t want to buy and bring two collapsible pots only to be told that be must use an 8L pot and follow their method exactly.

[David Y]

Like you say just about the only advantage of the smaller and heavier collapsible pot is quickening boil time by using two stoves under two pots. They are heavier and pricey times 2.

Philmont has Mountain House, Backpacker Pantry and others package their meals in bags that are not suitable for hot or boiling water (says so right on the bag) to discourage the practice of “reconstitute” meals in their packaging. It is not in keeping with Philmont’s Patrol Method of cooking.

Some crews use this method, having two campers spooning food out of the same bag. They may as well use the same spoon. It’s kind of like swapping spit and not for me. My tent buddy and I share a tent but not spoons.

Are you sure there is pork in any of Philmont’s meals? With more than a couple religions objection to pork it’s not likely pork is part of Philmont’s or Mountain House’s meals. The meals and all their ingredients are listed on-line. I just gave them a quick look and didn’t see any pork in any of the meals. Have a look and decide for yourself.

Don’t try to over think Philmont’s methods, lighten up and go with the flow, KISS.

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endured.” Moonshine

[Brian T]

We went in 2016 and will be going again this year. In 2016 there were no MRE style meals; meals were made with separate ingredients so they needed to be cooked in pots, it looks similar this year. The 2019 menu can be found here https://www.philmontscoutranch.org/philmonttreks/dining/
We stuck to the Philmont cooking method that we learned at the PASS class, but we brought 2 Open Country 8L tribal pots, they are lighter and pack better than the Philmont pots and will be bringing them again this year. I have used a collapsible pot for my own personal trail cooking, but have not tried it for a crew size group.
BTW Dinner #10 is great, it’s like having a 1 pot Thanksgiving Dinner.

 

[David Y]

We save on crew gear weight by only carrying one large cook pot (8-qt aluminum or 6-qt SS) and lid. We do all our water boiling, utensil sanitation, cooking and clean-up in that one pot. We measure and boil only the water called for on the recipes, sanitize utensils in it then add all the meal packages. We wash and rinse everything in cold water and Campsuds.

By only boiling the water called for on the recipes we save time and fuel and only need the one pot.

All of the Mountain House, Backpacker’s Pantry, AlpineAire Foods and KNA Foods are complete meals in one package, just add to boiling water.

Only the #4 Idahoan and #10 KraftHeinz meals have a separate package of Chicken Breast to be added.

[Michael F]

@David, look again at the meal selection. You’ll find breakfast #5 “Breakfast Skillet Entree” contains sausage and #10 ” Biscuits and Gravy” contains pork patty crumbles. All the dinners that need to be cooked are fine. Although not cooked, substitutions need to be made for lunches #1 and 6 which contain pepperoni, #7 which contains ham and #10 which has spam.

 

[Brad P]

Is Spam meat?

[David Y]

Michael F.

Sorry, I was just speaking of dinners which are group / communal cooking and eating.

Breakfast and lunches have individual servings you can choose to eat or swap with others for something different.

Also, take advantage of the Swap Boxes to supplement / replace items you won’t / can’t eat. And you can usually find enough none cook breakfast items to avoid cooking breakfasts. Cooking breakfast has you hiking in the heat of the day, not good.

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endured.” Moonshine

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