Outdoor Cooking in 2024: My Ultralight Setup

In this article, I’ll share my 188 grams cooking setup for under €60 👨‍🍳

I mainly use this setup to boil water to prepare my homemade backpacking meals & morning coffees.

Occasionally I make some pasta or soup in it, but in general it’s just for boiling water 🙂

Let’s dive in! 🙌

Note: this post is not sponsored and I bought these products with my own money. However, if you purchase through one of my links, you support me with a small commission.

Pot

For my pot I had a few simple requirements;

• It had to be lighter than my Trangia Kettle that weighs 175 grams.
• Should be big enough to occasionally boil pasta & soak overnight oats.
• No sharp edges so I can toss it into my backpack.
• Should fit all my cooking gear: burner, windshield, lighter, sponge, spoon, spirit bottle(s).

So after reading soms subreddits and watching videos, I learned a 650 to 750 milliliter titanium cup should be perfect.

Anything smaller would only be great for really boiling water, not for boiling any pasta or soups.

I mostly saw pots from 2 brands were recommended;

I went for the Toaks pot because I read slightly better reviews about the handles, and because it’s almost half the price.

I checked the weight on my scale, and here’s what each part weighs:

• Pot: 82g
• Lid: 16g
• Packsack: 14g

So just 112 grams in total, not bad! 🙌

And while being so light, it feels very durable.

It’s not easy to bend, and I think it will last forever as long as I don’t scratch up the inside of the pot too much.

(some people get a dynema pouch to hold their pot, but I think it’s not worth spending €20 to save 4 grams)

Alcohol stove

I’m a fan of alcohol stoves.

Before I started backpacking and only car camped I already only used an alcohol stove.

They’re not nearly as loud a cooking on gas, don’t need a heavy gas canister, you can easily get fuel anywhere, and you can exactly see how much fuel you’ve left.

I started with the trusty Trangia spirit burner, which I really like because it has a nice simmer ring but it’s a tad heavy at 110 grams.

That’s why I’m now experimenting with the X-Boil Spirit Burner 55mm.

There’s three things I love about it:

• It’s only 11 grams 🤯
• There’s a carbon felt in it that soaks up spirit so you can’t spill any fluid. Nice for accidental tip-overs, or to prevent leaking inside your backpack.
• It boils a cup of water in 6 minutes.
• You can blow it out (impossible with the Trangia).

It’s from a company based in Germany, so especially easy to get if you’re in Europe.

Note: I’ve also tried their bigger 70mm version which is only 5 grams heavier, but it was much less efficient while only boiling water slightly faster.

Windshield

A windshield is really important for alcohol stoves.

Wind doesn’t blow them out so easily, but they’ll burn way more fuel with strong wind.

That’s why I got a windshield that doubles as a pot stand.

I just got a cheap no-brand windshield, but it’s working:

The windshield weighs a mere 13 grams.

(it’s so light it blows away in strong winds if you don’t put a pot on it, lol)

The diameter of this thing is 110 millimeters, so it depends on the diameter of your frying pan or pot if you can just drop it right on top.

If it isn’t big enough, you could drill 4 holes in it and put two shepherds hook tent stakes through it to hold your pot.

Or you could use some stainless steel clips like I did:

(I store these clips inside the spirit burner itself)

I got these clips from X-Boil, but you could also try making them yourself.

You can take the windshield apart in 3 pieces, and easily put it in your cooking pot.

Because it doesn’t stay super flat, it isn’t easy to put it in a flat pocket in your backpack.

It’s also pretty sharp because it’s so thin, so really recommended to just keep in your pot before it cuts your precious gear 😅

Spirit bottles

To carry my spirit I use a few different Nalgene bottles with a round wide mouth in different sizes;

• 30ml bottle
• 60ml bottle (2x)
• 120ml bottle

What I take depends on the length of my trip, typically I use 30ml of spirit per day for one coffee & one dinner.

They’re very solid and never leaked on me, but the wide bottle opening is sometimes a bit annoying if you just want to add a tiny bit of fuel to the spirit burner.

Spoon

I know some people are suckers for their long titanium spoons, but I decided to go a different route.

I don’t need a long spoon because I make my own backpacking meals in shallow bags.

And I wanted to be able to fit my spoon inside the Toaks 750ml pot that I mentioned earlier.

So when I visited Decathlon, and spotted the cutlery below, I couldn’t resist:

The spoon is 36 grams, and the fork is 33 grams.

(I leave the fork at home usually)

It’s not ultralight but it feels nice and is still light enough for me.

Fire

I’m using a small BIC lighter that’s 12 grams.

Even if it’s empty, you can still use the spark to light the stove.

Besides that, not much to tell about a lighter 😋

Note: as a backup in case I lose it, I have a spare in my first aid kit since they are so lightweight anyway.

Cleaning

To clean the spoon & pot, I use a cut down sponge and all-purpose soap 🧼

(I use the soap for laundry and to wash myself too)

Just don’t get the mint version of this soap like I did, it’s so weird that everything smells like mint 😅

To make the soap fit easily in my pot, I refill a 30ml Nalgene bottle.

Conclusion

It’s a very simple setup for under €60 that works great to boil water or cook simple dishes.

The total weight for everything above except for the fuel bottles & soap is only 188 grams, which is awesome!

And the best part, it all fits into the Toaks 750ml pot with room to spare 🤓

Hope it’s helpful to figure out your own cooking setup! 🤗

If you’ve any questions or tips, let me know in the comments below 🙌