Preparing my cycling trip from Denmark to South Africa people in my life and here on Steemit asks a lot of questions about how one even start to plan such a trip. For me there's a lot of approaches but the most important I always have in mind is every choice matter. This time I will be focusing on one of the essential parts of a travel, the cooking equipment.
Choice of how you will cook food is a essential decision that might influence the whole trip
Let me give you an example: My Jet-boiler gas stove is excellent, but not very flexible since I can only boil water in it and make few dishes in it. It is absolutely excellent for long hikes where dry-food is usually on the menu and since a gas-can last for one person at least a month it is without doubt optimal to bring. BUT I have always felt a certain disconnection to nature when using the gas stove, it just dont bring the same "camping" feeling with it, simply because it is so fast, effective and even a bit noisy, I guess it just feels too high-tech for my primitive needs. Also on a long cycling tour I don't always know what I will have available to cook. At the same time when getting to parts of the world where gas for my boiler might be hard to come by, alternative ways would suit my needs better.
My choice: Bush Box - the wood/alcohol burner
While looking for better alternatives that suited my needs I fell over this German product called Bush Box. At first when I saw it I thought to myself: Looks good, but way too big to fit in my bags. Well that is where I was WRONG, this thing folds down in a small bag that's the size of my hand and the medium sized version only weights 280 g. I fell in love with it the moment I realized how many perks this one can give me on my travels through the world.
I can cook anything I desire that does not require an oven. With my lightweight cooking set that consists of a pot and a pan I can already see myself sitting in the evening making a small fire and cook my food nice and slow while thinking and planning of the tomorrow.
While you might argue that one could make a firepit instead if you really want a fire fast and efficient tends to make me lazy and because of that miss out on what I truly appreciate at times.
The key words: Flexible, reliable and fun.
This stove not only keeps the heat centered, making the fire much more efficient at using the wood i'm feeding it with = less wood collection is needed. But also allows me just put the pot or pan on top and you are ready to cook, you can also just directly BBQ on it. It even has a bottom that collects all the ashes, sparing the nature of leaving traces of the fire.
Not only am I a person who loves to watch and feed a small fire, but the smell of BBQ after a long day of cycling is just priceless. I feel like this is the ideal equipment for my travel and I cannot imagine a situation where I will be stuck without anything to cook if I keep being aware of my surroundings and the coming days ahead. Either there's some dry wood or other kind of fuel to use or a small amount of alcohol if I should find myself in a desert.
While it might not be as efficient and fast like my Jet-boiler it does provide so many other benefits. Instead I get a stove that's light, compact, fun and reliable(since nothing on it can really break). This might very well become my go to cooking stove no matter where I will be going from now on. There's nothing like tending to a fire to cook on while watching the sun set.
What do you prefer for your adventures?
I am never in a rush when i'm on my cycling tour(except for escaping storms). So when I put up my hammock to sleep in. I like to take everything slow and enjoy my time and I think this stove supplements exactly that need. A great mix of using modern material and lightweight mindset while combining it with the primitive side of mother nature.
So what do you prefer when you are doing small or big adventures? Do you prefer the quick food or the slow and primitive ways of cooking? I don't believe there's a right or wrong answer to this. It all comes down to where you are going, for how long and how.
