Pot size for two people

[wildwanderer]

Perhaps showing my preference for solitude in the bush.. but I rarely cook in the outdoors for two. Usually when travelling with others they do their own cooking.

So if I need to don the chefs hat do I use a 750ml pot or 900ml for two people? Im thinking 900ml? Larger?

I don t cook anything to fancy however Im frequently adding in lots of different dehyd ingrediants and giving them a stir under heat.

I currently use a 500ml pot for solo use and its usually filled almost to the brim when im reheating dehydrated meals.

[Orion]

This is something you figure out on your own based on what you like to cook and how you do it.

For what it's worth I use a 2 quart / 1.9 liter pot. I can get away with a 1.3L pot but it makes it harder at times. Same with solo - I tried to use a 0.7L pot but ultimately found that I was happier with a 1.3L pot. For just heating water the smaller sizes are fine but I almost always put food in the pot.

[ChrisJHC]

I use a small Trangia pan when cooking for two - 1.5 L.

[Moondog55]

Bigger is better usually I use 1100 to 1300ml solo simply because I find it easier and for two I go up a size
I still use an old 3 litre billy sometimes. I tend towards soupy style meals tho with a lot of liquid

[Gadgetgeek]

My solo pots are 900ml and 1L, but I tend to try to one-pot stuff. if I was cooking for 2, 1.5 would probably work. Also depends on how much stirring or boiling space you need. I find that the stove/pot combo almost matters more than a few ml difference in size.
Again though, what you are cooking matters. For example, I'll cook rice with too much water, then add the freezedry veggies and meat to absorb the excess. That needs more room than just rehydrating some veggies and Deb, or even steaming some fresh veg. Also I'm a clumsy muppet, some people can cook in 700 ml what takes me 900.

[wildwanderer]

Interesting. thanks for insights everyone.

Ive just bought a 1L pot off Lamont so I will see how that goes. Seeing as everyone is using 1.3L and above Im glad i didnt go with 750ml!

I find 500ml comfortable solo and the 2 person trips will be less strenuous (and thus requiring less calories) so Im hoping 1L will work out.

[Moondog55]

Just a late thought here. You don't pay much of a weight penalty when going to a bigger pot and a bigger pot has room inside it to pack stuff so the bulk issue isn't as bad as it might seem at first glance.
I am sorting stuff out for winter so I may get a chance to weigh all of my pots and see just how much extra weight I'll be carrying to use my big Aluminium pot compared to my more usual Titanium pot

[north-north-west]

A pot big enough for two people is too big to carry. Besides, you'd never be able to eat them both at one sitting and, unless you're up in the snow, they'd go off pretty quickly.

[Son of a Beach]

A pot big enough for two people is too big to carry. Besides, you'd never be able to eat them both at one sitting and, unless you're up in the snow, they'd go off pretty quickly.

I have seen a cooking pot big enough for at least two people in a museum in Lagos, Nigeria. I agree that it would have been too big to carry. Mind you it was ceramic. A modern titanium version might work, so long as it's an open track with no scrub or forest to walk through.

But back to the other interpretation...

A bigger pot will actually boil a small amount of water faster than a smaller pot in some cases. Ie, if the bigger pot is wider, it will transfer heat from the stove into the water much more efficiently than a pot with a narrow base. Not much heat enters the pot from the sides, it's mostly from the base. I sometimes carry two pots (for cooking meals with a main and a side), and if I'm simply boiling water for a single cup of tea, I will use the bigger pot as it boils faster. If I'm carrying only one pot, I will usually take just the bigger pot because it doesn't weigh much more, and I can store the gas canister inside the pot, which makes for better packing anyhow.

[Orbita_Serenitatem]

Hi Wildwanderer - like you, I rarely cook in the outdoors for two - however from my experience I feel the answer would be to ask where you are cooking, what you are cooking and on what stove are you're cooking it? Like Orion said "This is something you figure out on your own based on what you like to cook and how you do it."

Moondog is right with packing a bigger pot for two (with a larger base), but if you have a small stove head... you will have a concentrated heat spot, limited simmer and crusty buildup unless stirred. Son of a Beach is right in that a larger wider pot will boil water quicker, but boiling water isn't cooking.

Adding a few personalised ingredients to a prepacked dehydrated meal is a great way to enhance the flavour - and stirring the pot gives you a connection to the meal. (Personally I've had it with packet dehydrated things in zip lock bags... buy or lend a dehydrator and dry your own if you can).

For cooking homemade dehydrated meals for two on a 2 -3 day hike I use a 1300ml Toaks on a Fire Maple 117t. The 1300ml offers lots of pot base and the 117t a good flame control for simmering. Don't forget to insulate and rest your cook pot after heating etc. - swollen food makes a bigger meal!

This September I'm taking my wife to the Walls of Jerusalem for a three night stay - I'll probably take all our pots and spend days dehydrating all the nicest food for the stay for there is nothing better than good tucker - for two - on the trail!