Lightweight Sub-5 Ounce Cook Kit

My friend Jeff Scott, who is an ultralight backpacker, sent me his most recent sub-5 ounce cook kit list. It weighs in at an astonishing 4.62 oz., and it features everything you’d need without skimping on anything. He uses it for on solo backpacking trips, but there’s no reason why this wouldn’t work on a paddling trip. The stove burns alcohol, so you need a supply of denatured alcohol or you can use HEET in the yellow bottle, which you can purchase from almost any gas station.

Sub-5 Ounce Cook Kit List

• T’s B Side Burner Stove – 0.33
• Spark Lite Fire Starter – 0.17
• Snowpeak 600 Mug – 2.8
• GSI Foon – 0.3
• Hot lips – 0.07
• Foil lid – 0.01
• Wind Screen – 0.2
• Fuel Bottle – 0.36
• Clip – 0.03
• Plastic Lid 0.35

TOTAL – 4.62 oz.

The turn-off for some people might be the size of the mug. It only holds up to 20 oz. of fluid. If you’re just heating solo dehydrated meals, then that’s big enough, but it’d be pretty hard to cook anything inside the mug other than oatmeal, ramen and instant products. The stove brings 7 oz. of fluid to boil in 4 minutes using 0.34 fl. oz. of alcohol. It can hold twice that much fuel when you need to bring more water to a boil. The GSI Foon folds up and fits inside the mug. To save another 0.1 oz., you could switch to a Light My Fire Spork, which weighs 0.2 oz. It wouldn’t fit into the mug.