Posted by Bryan on 2020 May 4th
Ultralight Backpacking: Food, Drink, Stoves and Water Treatment
This is merely one section of many on Ultralight Backpacking. Refer to this post for other categories.
FOOD AND DRINK
Food will end up being a good portion of the weight that you carry. Prepackaged dehydrated foods are the way to go for weight saving. Take out the oxygen absorber pack, add boiling water, wait up to half an hour, then eat it up. Some people make their own if a nice dehydrator is available. Good-To-Go and Backpackers Pantry have a great list of flavours and natural ingredients. Look for high protein amounts because you will need it after hiking all day for several days in a row. Granola is a standard snack or meal and is relatively light. One option for snacks (or even meal replacement depending on your caloric needs) are energy bars. There are several brands out there and grocery stores often have a whole isle full of options. After a breakfast of granola, I'll have an e-bar around 10am and another at 2pm (skipping lunch) then a dehydrated dinner in the evening. Experiment with what works for you.
As for coffee, The Starbucks Via instant coffee tastes great. On car camping or canoe trips, I'll often grind my own and use my Bialetti because I am a coffee snob. The Via passed my taste test much to my surprise. They offer many different roasts, are super light and have minimal waste.
STOVES
There are 4 main types ideal for UB. Wood fired, Heat exchanger canister, tiny canister and liquid fuel. The canister refers to the isobutane fuel canisters needed to run the stove. The canisters come in 4 oz (114g), 8oz (228g) and 16 oz (454g). The 4 oz fits inside just about all cooking systems for 1-2 people with room for the stove and matches or lighter. The 8 oz usually only fits the larger 2-person cooking kits with minimal room for other loot. The 16 is larger and will either take up all the room in your 2-person pot or will have to be carried outside the cooking system. These are obviously only needed when going into the wilderness for a very long time. Even through hikers don't carry these as the resupply points offer the ability to get more of the smaller ones. These canisters do recycle. Once you are sure to have used all the fuel, simply take a can opener and pop some holes in the top so the recycling people can see that it is clearly spent.
Heat Exchanger Canister
The best example of this kind of stove is the Jetboil. They are sold as a whole system including the stove and vessel. Some come with additional accessories like pot supports that allow the use of other pots or pans. They are the most efficient at boiling water because of the folded heat exchanger that greatly increases surface area on the bottom of the pot. This helps with heat distribution in windier situations as well. The vessel attaches securely to the stove while cooking and fuel can stabilizers allow the whole unit to sit safely.
PROS
- Very efficient
- Nesting, full cook system and cook set, minus the cutlery.
- Takes up minimal space.
CONS
- Relatively heavy, 1.5-2 pounds (340-454g)
- Not great below -7C
- Non-reusable fuel canisters that need to be carried out and recycled.
Tiny Canister
These are minimal, the lightest by far of the bunch and wicked small. They very often fit into any nesting 1-2-person nesting cook set. Many models can be found in titanium which is lighter than stainless steel and offer precise flame control as well. They are not as efficient as the HECs and need to be fired up out of the wind. They are often half the price of the HEC types. The MSR Pocket Rocket is a standard, below.
PROS
- Super tiny and small
- Extra, extra light
CONS
- Least efficient petrol-based fuel stove
- Must be protected from wind
- Non-reusable fuel canisters that need to be carried out and recycled.
Liquid Fuel
These stoves have been around for a while, so their technology is tried and true. They offer great versatility as many models can be used with a variety of fuels like gasoline, kerosene, diesel and white gas. These are best when traveling in foreign countries or where fuel types are not as predictable. Once you have your whole kit, including the optional windscreen that helps with efficiency, these end up being the heaviest. They do have a reusable fuel bottle that you simply refill or top up when you need more, or the opportunity arises. You pump up the bottle and air pressure pushes the fuel to the stove. They come in simple, less expensive models and more expensive flame control models. The MSR Dragonfly is an excellent solid stove.
PROS
- No petrololeum fuel
• No fuel to carry
• Classics take up very little room
• Classics are the lightest of all stoves if fuel weight is considered.
• You will be the old school hero of the campsite
CONS
- Heavy
- Takes up more room
Woodfired Stove
These stoves are both new and ancient. There are two types: classic old wood burning and wood burning that charges devices.
The Biolite stoves, below, are the charging type. They use a new technology that converts heat generated from burning bits of wood and even dried grasses to electricity so you can charge your phone while you cook. This eliminates the need for a solar panel, or USB power banks. They are heavy though.
PROS
- Charge your phone and other devices while you cook
- You will be the techno master of the campground
- No petroleum fuel
- No fuel to carry
- Dual purpose charging and cooking so no USB power bank
- More efficient than classic folding style.
CONS
- Heavy
The plain old wood burning kind has been around for at least a hundred years. People have made various designs of the tin can cook stove for as long as there have been tin cans. Recently however, they have been re-engineered to be collapsible and more efficient. The Ember Lit, (below), is a typical modern collapsible version. The classic style, especially when collapsed, is quite light and small. Both the charging and the classic are the least efficient of all the stove styles and the slowest to boil.
PROS
- No petrololeum fuel
- No fuel to carry
- Classics take up very little room
- Classics are the lightest of all stoves if fuel weight is considered.
- You will be the old school hero of the campsite
CONS
- Dry fuel can be hard to find during wet weather.
- Not efficient.
- Messy with soot
What ever cook set you choose to bring, consider its weight, volume for your group and if it nests together well to save space. Titanium is lighter than stainless and just as durable.
WATER TREATMENT
This is a big area with lots of considerations. Reasons to treat your water are to filter out chemicals, dirt and micro organisms. Any of these can make you sick. Only a few water treatment systems do all of these and some are modular allowing you to add in-line filters for chemicals.
First, let's look at where you are going. Get familiar with the area and the industrial or farming activities that go on there. Any pesticides or mine tailings and runoff will need a chemical filter or activated carbon filter to get rid of weird tastes and chemicals. Follow the manufacturers recommendations for how often to replace them. Even forestry operations sometimes spray herbicides to control the types of trees growing on their land so what looks like miles of wilderness, can be tainted with unwanted chemical runoff downstream.
The beaver is one of North Americas most widely distributed mammals and wherever he goes, giardia follows. Otherwise known as beaver fever, you don't want to get it, so just about anywhere, you want to either filter out or kill those micro organisms.
Some places like glacial streams or in the desert, the waterways are thick with silt. This can clog a filter in a few pumps so a hefty prefilter is essential. Many people even wrap a few layers of fabric like a Buff over the prefilter that is easily cleaned to spare the filter. Some places have very clean water and only need to be treated for any sneaky micro organisms.
There are several kinds of treatment systems: tablets, gravity feed, pumps, straw filters, bottle filters & UV treatments. Goodness! Let’s get into it…
Tablets
These are the lightest by far and take up barely any room. Aquatabs are a popular type that come in packs of 50 at 1 tablet per liter. Different manufacturers have different directions, but they involve dropping a tablet into a volume of water, waiting for it to dissolve and drink. These are so small they should always be included in any packing list for emergency use. They only kill micro organisms and don't filter out any debris, silt or chemicals. These save the most time as you can cover ground during the wait time. Good for large or small volumes.
Gravity fed
These systems save some time in that you scoop up dirty water in a bag or bladder, hang it in a tree and let gravity pull the water down through the filter to you clean bottle or hydration bladder while you set up your tent. They really save time and energy for larger groups. These systems are light and convenient. Some filters can be cleaned or back washed, and you can put in an activated carbon filter for chemicals as well. Prefilters are hard to incorporate into these systems. The Platypus gravity works comes in many sizes and are well suited for large volumes of water.
Pumps
These are the most versatile in that they almost always have an easy way to clean the filters. Some have built in chemical filters as well. Some are faster than others and prefilters are easy to put on and many come with them. Many pumps screw right onto bottles or clip onto hydration bladders. If they don't come with a chemical filter, one can be added inline. The MSR Hyper Flow micro filter is a great one. These can be the heaviest of the bunch. better suited to smaller volumes and groups as you must manually pump all the water you want.
Straw filters
These are very light and are suited for small volumes or opportunity drinking. This means that when ever you come to a water source, you can suck through the straw. There is no storage capacity with these and meant for personal use. Not great in dry environments. You often must lie in the dirt or on the ground to get at the water source. The Life Straw is the most famous brand.
UV treatments
These work on the principle of destroying the DNA of the micro organisms in the water with a small but powerful UV light bulb so they can't reproduce in your body. It doesn't kill them. You turn it on and swirl it in the water for about a minute. They are very small and light but delicate and most come with protective cases. You can't filter out any debris or silt and you should only use them where the water is relatively clear. Chemicals are not removed by these either. The smallest ones are USB rechargeable, so you must plan for that. You can still use them in a 3-liter hydration bladder by giving that amount of water the recommended number of treatments. These work great for general travel where you would get a glass of water in a restaurant or cafe with questionable quality. The SteriPen is the best known.