Tell me about your cooking setup

[Ray]

Looking for some cooking kit for motocamping. What do you all bring with you?

Depends....
I always carry a spoon, salt, garlic, basil, honey, peanut butter, coffee cup, water bottle, and lately, chop sticks. (The chop sticks slow me down and make any meal seem a little exotic.)

I travel solo for most of my trips, so I don't need to impress anyone with my culinary skills.

Last trip, I didn't bring a stove or cook kit and found that a can of albacore with a little garlic powder and salt hit the spot when eaten with chop sticks. A spoonful of peanut butter and honey made a great dessert. Clean up..., what clean up?

When I do bring a stove and kit, I have a lot to choose from, but I usually leave most of it at home.

I haven't used my MSR dragonfly in years. I guess I keep this multi-fuel stove just in case I ever have the opportunity to ride through Nepal.... It sure is noisy - especially when using the bigger jets that allow use of kerosene.

I own a couple of MSR pocket rockets, which are cannister stoves. This is my go-to stove when I need one.

I have a 750 ml mini-cook kit that seems to find primary duty boiling water for coffee. A cut-down press-pot filter from Bodum fits perfectly, though I believe MSR makes a model-specific version. I own a 30-y-old hand grinder for beans and store the beans in the grinder. If you're an espresso addict, nothing like a coffee from my old stainless steel, single cup, espresso boiler - I think GSI makes one. (Got hooked on this while camping one January north of Whitefish.)

I also have a 2 liter MSR ceramic pot for those trips where I need to show off a little.

No reason to spend money on the super light stuff. I have it because not all my two-wheeled ventures are motorized.

You should use pots you're familiar with - often, that can be an old small Revereware sauce pan that's been replaced in the kitchen. One should always make a few meals at home on the equipment they plan to use on the road.

I've sold off all my expedition-sized cook kits, pot insulators, windscreens, stoves, and Chuck Boxes as they invite far too much work and expectation from others. They assume your investment means you want to do all the cooking... and clean up....

In the end - I hate to pack anything I'm not going to use (well - except the first aid kit, spare parts, and tools). If I bring a stove, I'm almost obligated to plan my meals around it. If I don't bring it, the meals can be more creative.

And don't forget - you're on a motorcycle. I agree with some of the sentiment above. Even if you're on a back road discovery route, you can get pretty good meals to go at any gas stop or grocery store.

Maybe we should have a thread on collapsible cooler/warmer packs if which to transport our carry out....

Cheers.