BEMCO Backpacker's oven

[ninjapuppet]

One of my favourite past times aside from camping, is baking cakes. I just received my Bemco Backpacker’s oven in the mail, and opened it up to find exactly what i expected it to be! Its a cottage Industry product, and I fully support these guys. Delivered in about 5 days from the US. Total all up was around $114 AUD given our crap exchange rate. If i had gotten it last month, it would have only been $98 AUD delivered.

Weights
Complete oven.....665
2 velcro straps: ....13g
Smaller tray: .......114
Smaller tray: .........96
Thermometer: ......31
Pot gripper: ...........37
Storage pouch .......51
---------------------
TOTAL ...............1007g



Just got home from work, Too tired to whip up one of my nice recipes, so i just used an instant scone mix available from any woollies. To replicate what its like in the mountains, i used powdered milk instead of fresh milk, some choc chips, and abit of caramel powder. The mixture to make 7 sconnes was about 400 grams (1/2 pkt). This is NOT lightweight but hey, having freshly baked foods on a week long camp? Total weight is 1kg , so shared among a few people, it aint bad at all.
Results: simply stunning!

To make 7 scones, I only used half a packet + 120mL water + 17g of milk powder + handful of choc chips. It didn’t matter that I hand mixed it instead of using an electric beater. Instructions said to cook for 12-15 mins, but I baked it for 23 minutes, keeping it at 220 degrees. I lined trays with baking paper and guess what? NO CLEANING UP !





NOVA was found to be better than the NOVA+





I used this to speed things up abit



CLEAN FINISH!

[ninjapuppet]

alcohol stoves...took too long to get 220 degrees and couldn’t control the flame

MSR XGK – NO WAY, this thing would probally melt my oven even on the lowest setting.

Screw on gas stoves: i didn’t have the adaptor because the canister cant be stored under the oven or it’ll blow up the gas cylinder. However, because of having to cook for 20+ minutes, i think it’ll be abit expensive using canisters all the time like this. I think white gas is the way to go.

OPTIMUS NOVA/ NOVA +
I have both, and can clearly say, the cheaper optimus is the way to go. The optimus + is too hard to control with its distal valve. When you turn it, the whole stove moves which is NOT what we want while the flame is on.

So my recommendation is to use the ordinary Nova. Whenever i opened the oven, temp would drop about 40 degrees, and it was very quick and easy to blast it up to 220 in a jiffy, and tone it down to keep it at 220.

[ninjapuppet]

Compared to the Backpacker Pantry’s Outback oven

At first, i got confused with the name because they both had the word backpacker oven in the name.
The Outback oven, is abit lighter, cheaper and quicker, but Brian from Bemco explained to me that differences are:

- Outback oven uses your own pot. All my pot are expensive titanium or have non-stick surfaces so i think it’ll get damaged from being over heated if i bake like that.
-Outback oven doesn’t fold up like the Bemco
- Bemco has 2 racks, so i can bake 2 things at once. Being so heavy at 1kg, its likely to be a shared cooking device, so me and my mates don’t have to fight for the first cake.
- this point did it for me: with the outback oven, you have to live the cover to check, and this looses all the trapped heat. With the bemco, i just open the lid, and close it without loosing all the heat.
- It has an opening on top. If you want to heat water, just leave a pot on top and bubbles start forming at the 15 minute mark. It didn’t get hot enough to boil at the 20 minute mark, but definitely warm enough for a cup of coffee or instant soup.

[flatfoot]

Interesting setup! Looks like you get a nice crispy & brown result!

I think I will try your chocolate-chip scones recipe.

[ninjapuppet]

I just managed to save 231 grams simply
- by changing the ditty bag to a $8 cuben fibre bag
- loose the pot gripper and just use a sock or something to grab
- use only 1 velcro strap instead of 2
- use 2x lightweight bake tins 57 grams, instead of the 2 supplied pans.
- I think thermometer will have to stay till i find something lighter. cant bear to stick my protrek watch in the oven just yet.

total new weight: 776

--> i have a full functional oven and saved 1/4 the weight.
Now If only they can build an oven made of that metal from the planet in the Avatar movie ...funnily called "unobtanium"

[rucksack]

Very interesting ninjapuppet. I have often thought about a bushwalking equivalent to a camp oven, but one that ran on gas or Shellite, as your BEMCO obviously does. I have sometimes carried a small cast iron camp oven when I have been on long desert canoe tours and I have thought that a lightweight bushwalking version would be a winner. Have you tried cooking anything else in it yet, such as bread, or damper? Biscuits? When I have been canoe touring and someone has conjured a hot loaf of bread or a rack of hot scones out of a camp oven, it has certainly impressed all and sundry. I wonder if those bread mixes would work.

rucksack

[Stuntman]

I have the slightly bigger 8" version and its a great bit of kit for car and kayak camping. I use mine with an edelrid opilio or the coleman 2burner when car camping and find it works pretty good for pizza, anzac bikkies, etc, etc.

There are other stove options out there, but I reckon this one is a beauty for its versatility, packed size and weight. It certainly adds a lot of extra options when doing extended car camping trips.

cheers, Shawn