DIY, repurposed, and frugal. 1: cooking gear

koyote

koyote

Joined
Mar 29, 2007
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5,846
Okay, I'm going to stat asking every coupld days about peoples' frugal, recycled, repurposed, or home made gear.

I'm getting burned out on the 367 purchased items in the most expensive pack known to man thing. It's a recession, if not a depression.

I'm going to start by borrowing a few photos from KGD, because I haven't finished my version yet:

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can stove!!!!

Whatcha guys got?
 
As far as actually cooking goes, I cook most of what I eat in a canteen cup when I am out and about. The only other thing I use is a USGI mess kit that was passed on from my dad to me a few years ago. Never needed anything expensive or fancy to cook in, or on. Why spend that much when you are just going to throw it on a fire anyway. (Or set.. you decide)

No need to buy expensive gear to cook in, unless you absolutely need the titanium cook gear. (Not there is anything wrong with that, of course)
 
TheGame said:
Never needed anything expensive or fancy to cook in, or on. Why spend that much when you are just going to throw it on a fire anyway. (Or set.. you decide)

No need to buy expensive gear to cook in, unless you absolutely need the titanium cook gear. (Not there is anything wrong with that, of course)
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Pretty much my philosphy on everything, including cookware. My best and favorite stuff comes from yardsales and thrift shops. :p

About the only thing I spend big bucks on is my guns, just ordered a custom colerain barrel built up for me, I won't mention price. :o Chris
 
oh, that's a part of it. I have suprlus canteens and metal cups for everyone in the house. Leif loves using his on cub scouts campouts.
 
$30 tarp tepee, cut from a 15x30 polytarp to these plans... flaps and all... awesome success!!!!

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Nothing to contribute on this one, but I love the idea! Almost all of my gear is hand me downs from my brothers. I guess that makes it pretty cheap/free.

Edit: No cutlery was handed down from my brothers, they get theirs from me as hand me up gifts. :)
 
August West said:
Pretty much my philosphy on everything, including cookware. My best and favorite stuff comes from yardsales and thrift shops. :p
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I would tend to agree with that. (Except I would add military surplus stores into that) Oh, and... the only expensive things for me are my blades. I tend to spend on the expensive side when it comes to those a lot.

@Rick - I love that teepee. I may have to try one sometime when I get a tarp free from work.
 
TheGame said:
I would tend to agree with that. (Except I would add military surplus stores into that) Oh, and... the only expensive things for me are my blades. I tend to spend on the expensive side when it comes to those a lot.
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I get all the military gear I want sorta free and I am notoriously cheap on my blades, the only knives I have that cost more than 40 bucks were gifts. I think about buying expensive knives but I love my favorites so much I don't think I would use them. Chris
 
The tepee worked out to be 14' dia... so the poles would need to be about 16ft long at its tallest but because this design has no cutout door, you can roll the skirt up to accomodate shorter poles if needed. The poles are tied off at about 10ft in this pic. I could just touch my fingers to the top of the tarp. Obvilously, the flaps are not extended in the pic either.

For scale, the snowshoes are 48" long

rick
 
In the past I've owned two canvas tepees. In order to draw smoke, they needed a liner that went down to the ground. The outside cover went down to within a few inches of the ground. Adjusting the smoke flaps so that the wind passed over them also helped to draw smoke. I don't see how the poly tarp tepee would work. It seems it would be very smokey inside. No?
 
The belt is a standard GI pistol belt cut down to my waist size. The remaining webbing wraps inside under the teklock to make the sheath not di into my hip. The pouch is from my Chuddy Bear Bandolier thing I have. Tinder sparks lighter etc in there. The sheath has an leatherman sheath attached as a pouch and has my vic workchamp, cotton/vaseline tinder and blastmatch. Busse Bushwacker mistress is the blade with a mashed cat kydex. The back of the belt has 550 cord wrapped around it, about 50 ft or so. There is some room on the left side to attach a canteen or some pouches. The green 550 cord thing is a bandolier I wove out of about 100 or so ft of 550, it's one long piece. I love making stuff like this and tweaking it as I use it to make it better.
 

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I too have a soup can stove and I LOVE it-lightweight and works great. On every backpacking trip I take at least one can of stew and a few cans of tuna, which makes good cookware as well. I don't know how many cups of tea I've brewed or water I've purified in a soup can. Also fire tongs made from a wire hanger work great for cooking with cans.
 
Scott Free said:
In the past I've owned two canvas tepees. In order to draw smoke, they needed a liner that went down to the ground. The outside cover went down to within a few inches of the ground. Adjusting the smoke flaps so that the wind passed over them also helped to draw smoke. I don't see how the poly tarp tepee would work. It seems it would be very smokey inside. No?
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I have a liner for that one, too... I use it for causal camping. There are several reasons why I don't use a liner when I'm out in the deep bush. Instead I use fire management to keep the smoke to a minimum. The Lavu and other Scandinavian-type tepees don't use liners either. How you set up the inside (especially the firepit) is very important when using a tepee without a liner.

I find using just a shell to be much more versitile. The lined tepee are more maintenence free, but very rigid in their setup requirements.

Rick
 
posted this once before and i did buy the outside quart size paint can($1.49 at the hardware store)and of course i bought the progresso soup but i ate that
the wire bits i already had(tho purchased from the hardware store yrs ago..)
love this little stove-all it takes are twigs to make it work
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someone else(sorry dont recall who but thanks!)posted a link to the bushcraft site with instructions here not so long ago
http://www.bushcraftusa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6270

did some mod on the screen on top(cut in half) and it works even better now-that thing gets to singing from the gas effect
 
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I just realized that this was a DIY cooking gear thread...... sorry bout the tepee talk.... though I do cook in it.... lol.

Rick
 
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I drink Turkey Hill diet decaf orange iced tea. I've cut down to only a half gallon a day, but I think I can do something with these empty jugs. Fill some with sand to make an anchor for a rowboat. Already turned one into a dog food scoop. Planters? Filter for a rain water experiment?
 
I bought good stuff back when times were good and I was flush with cash. Now, in slimmer times, my quality gear still works like new, and I am not spending any money at all except for expendables.
 
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