Best Cook Set?

C

Chuckwagon

Junior Ranger
What is the best cook set (pots/pans)to use for cooking on a camp-inn stove? I know cast iron is great for a skillet and griddle, but what kind of sauce pan(s) are best - cooks evenly, durable, easy to clean? Also, what's best for boiling water for tea/coffee? A tea kettle or a regular sauce pan (no wasted space)?

Sharon
 
We got a set similar to this....

backpacking-cookware-evernew-titanium.jpg


They seem to work well for us and they store away pretty well.

We have a big Kitchen Aid stock pot and the nesting set sit inside the big stock pot. Then we have 2 sizes of non stick skillets with folding handles (from Walmart for about 10 each) that nest and store in the skillet spot.

I will get a picture of everything and post here in the next day or two.
 
We use a super-light kettle (http://www.backcountryedge.com/gsi_outdoors-halulite-ketalist.aspx)

It means we carry an extra pot, but it's so light that it doesn't matter much, considering that we carry a cast iron skillet AND a cast iron dutch oven....

It's a funny thing - trying to determine which items we should opt for the light version and which we don't.

I do wonder how much weight we could pull out of the trailer if we put our minds to it.

-Al
 
We are bringing a Calphalon saucepan from our home kitchen but just purchased a coffee percolating pot which can be used to boil water as well. We have a cast iron 8" skillet and Dutch oven. We will see how this all works out!
 
That Galleyware looks enticing. I put it in my Bookmarks. Maybe get it later if I start getting short of storage in the galley. Right now I have second hand, mismatched stuff that kind of nests.
Complete nested set measures 10" in diameter and 8 3/4" high.
• Stores in less than 1/2 cubic foot
• Two removable handles
• 1 1/2 qt saucepan
• 2 qt saucepan
• 3 qt saucepan
• 5 qt Dutch Oven
• 9 1/2" saute pan
• Multi-lid fits all sauce pans, saute pan and Dutch Oven
• 4 plastic storage lids A Galleyware exclusive!
• 18/10 Stainless Steel
 
I stumbled across a sailing blog that had high praise for the Magna nesting pots. And there are lots of positive reviews on Amazon.com - the few that weren't 5 star were generally due to buyers not adequately researching what they were buying.

And a search in the forum turned up a small number of CI owners that have Magna.

I also saw the Galleyware, and the lower price was tempting. Zero reviews on Amazon.com, despite the cookware having been sold for a long time, so I'm not sure what is up with that. I also found a few negative blurbs out there, though nothing that would necessarily be a deal killer. I suspect it's pretty good stuff. It'd probably be worth the risk to save the extra cash and get the extra storage lids (I can't see us using those in the CI).

Since we plan to be spending more time in the CI, we decided it was time to walk away from our old second hand pots and pans and get something closer to the quality that we use at home. We like the removable handle and the ability to have more pots and pans, yet use less space. And the marine grade SS is a nice touch. So we've just ordered the 7 piece Magna SS cookware and the saute pan.

Our long range plan is looking like we'll eventually build a very small one bedroom house somewhere in the sunbelt, so we are hoping it may one day be our daily cookware.
 
RE: teapot or boil water in a pan?

It's too easy to get distracted and have your pot of boiling water boil over - after all, that is the reason why teapots were invented.

But here's another option, though not necessarily one that I am sold on:
http://gizmodo.com/5642779/a-watched-pot-never-boils-but-a-whistling-one-does

I'd be more than willing to drill a hole in a pot lid if someone made a whistle that could be retrofitted to an existing lid. But I had no luck finding such a thing.
 
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We have the magma set.
My only complaint is the bungee they supplied to keep it together. A piece of webbing and velcro solved that problem!

Its been a great set for cooking all kinds of stuff. I will look into the colander. I have a silicone pop up colander, but having one that stores in the pans is a good option.
 
I'm glad to hear the positive comments about the Magma cookware. I just ordered a set yesterday. :)

If you decide to order the colander (I haven't yet done so) be sure to notice that the newer ones have holes along the top edge as well as on the bottom, while the older style has holes only on the bottom of the colander. To add to the confusion, the model number is the same for both styles.
 
we've got the colander and it works great as a steamer as well. Steamed some awesome fresh local mussels in it in Nova Scotia last August. Can't wait to get back to the maritimes ...
 
We recently purchased the basic 7 piece set of Magma pots, plus the colander and saute pan. The colander increased the stack height of the set. As a result it was difficult to get the Magma bungee on, and it flew off at very high velocity when I removee it. It was easy to imagine that thing taking someone's eye out, so I went searching for a replacement.

McNugit had found a workable solution in the Walmart camping aisle, but when I looked online I couldn't find what they had purchased, though I did find a four hook bike bungee that looked like it would work, except it was too long.

The design of the bike bungee was simple enough that I MacGivered my own version using two existing bungees (one of which I shortened), one existing key ring and three plastic zip ties, as shown in this picture:

3325.jpg
 
I thought I'd update our experience with the Magna nesting cookware. We've been using it daily for a few months now and we love it. For a time we were regretting having only one detachable handle (since there can be two pots on the stove at the same time), but we solved that problem by buying a silicone pot holder similar to this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Res..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=0ZKHG3RCH5T7VKRAQWNR

It allows us to solve just about any issue we might have - transferring the handle to a different (heated) pot, removing a hot pan lid, etc.

The heavy bottoms of the Magna cookware work well when cooking with gas, where there isn't a lot of variation in cooking temperature. We find that we don't need to use a cast iron heat tamer to keep from scorching things to the bottom of the pans.

Of course a big benefit is that we can carry a variety of pans that we don't use all that often in less space than if we were using non-nesting cookware.
 
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We got the Magna set when we got our CI. I love using it and I love that the handles are separate for storage. The set stores great in the galley of the CI. We don't use the bungee that came with the set, because we were afraid of losing an eye if it slipped off accidentally.
 
I'm thinking about buying the Magma colander/steamer to add to my set and noticed that Magma has two styles of colander that can be purchased. The newer version has holes on the bottom and on the sides near the rim and the older version only has holes on the bottom. Some reviews say that water comes out of the side holes during cooking when the colander is set inside a large pot for boiling pasta. Does anyone have experience using either of these?
 
We recently switched to using a Nite Ize 24" gear tie to keep our Magma nesting pots together. It's simple to use and works better than both the bungee that ships with the pots and the safer bungee that we cobbled together as an alternative (shown at left in the picture below). The 24" size is sufficient to accommodate adding the colander to the pot set (which increases the stack height as compared with the basic set).

3750.jpg


Two ties run about $5 at Home Depot. They can also be found at most outdoor stores. We use another gear tie attached to one of the barn doors of our van to store Alea's yoga mat on the door (and thus saving our limited floor space).

We love these pots, and finding a better way to bundle/unbundle them makes us love 'em even more.
 
I wish to thank all who participated in this thread (prior to my even knowing about Camp-Inn, no less!) about cookware. I returned home from our first trip with #864 knowing I needed to update my very old, cobbled-together camping cookware, lest I burn up the trailer with scorched pots and melted pot handles. I almost bought something different, when I thought to check this forum. You all saved me research time, frustration with "not-quite-right solutions, and, no doubt, money by sharing your experiences, and I'm extremely grateful.

I ordered a set of Magma nesting cookware and it should be here before our next outing. That ought to really simplify the clutter in my deep-storage cabinet!

Diana
 
I can't resist sharing our latest Magma addition, but first some background info. I bought a pair of oversized sweat pants last year, as a means of quickly layering up in the shoulder seasons, thus allowing us to be comfortable outdoors for a couple of extra hours every day. They worked great, but they were made of cotton, so they were less than optimal if it was damp out. So this year I replaced them with a pair made of synthetic materials. The cotton ones were headed for a thrift store when I thought to convert them to protect our magma pots:

Sweat Pants Magma Pots Cover

Sweat Pants Magma Pots Cover

 
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