From the time when a person learned to make dishes from metal, marching pots accompany him everywhere. In travel and in everyday life, an iron boiler is as demanded now as it was thousands of years ago. However, if you had to choose only the right amount before, now the tourist has just a ton of shapes, sizes and, finally, materials that modern hiking pots are made of.
What should be a bowler hat
To answer this question, you need to know how many people will cook food in it, and also what they will cook on it (on a fire or gas burner). For cooking, in general, 1/2 liter of dishes per person is enough. But for brewing tea, it is good to have a larger volume - up to one liter per group member. It can be seen from the above that, ideally, two pots are needed: one for tea, and the other for food. This will not only significantly reduce cooking time, but also save fuel. And about the pleasure of drinking a hot seagull immediately after taking the main course and there is nothing to say. So, we figured out the volume, now let's determine the shape and material. Camping pots do not differ in a special variety of forms: these are, as a rule, cylinders with a convex (semicircular) or flat bottom. There are also army (flat) bowlers, but they are designed for one or two people and have some features that should be discussed separately. Logically, for a bonfire, a boiler with a convex bottom is preferable. Food is heated more evenly in it, and it’s easier to wash it in camp conditions. For a burner, flat bottom cookware is certainly better suited. The surface of the burner is small, and such a pot can be reliably put on it without fear of overturning your lunch every second with careless movement.
As for materials, modern pots are made from alloys of aluminum and stainless steel. A malleable cast-iron pot, maybe you can find it on sale, but only a real “fan” of antiques will agree to drag it on yourself. There are many supporters of both aluminum and stainless steel, and very often they are irreconcilable among themselves. Some argue that stainless steel is easily wrinkled, and food burns on it, while others refer to the harm to health that aluminum carries. In fact, experience shows that there is no particular difference between the two materials. Both of them have comparable thermal conductivity and have approximately the same stiffness and mass. You can select only anodized aluminum, and even then solely because of its exorbitant and unjustifiable price.
By the way, about the price
Responding to growing demand, manufacturers literally overwhelmed the market with a variety of tourist equipment, for many of which they are asking for very substantial money. And if such equipment, perhaps, justifies its price to conquer Everest, it is unlikely for a three-day trip to the Crimea. This is especially true for dishes and, in particular, the pot. After all, pots marching, in fact, are ordinary pots. At the same time, they are constantly fried over an open fire, dropped, crumpled ... In general, they get it on a campaign. What is there to overpay for? Well, if there is extra money and a desire to brag to friends, then, of course, such a purchase will be justified.
Army bowler
Many use them as camping pots. Army pots are not made of stainless steel, they are all made of food-grade aluminum. The advantage of such dishes is great versatility, ease and convenience when carrying. However, due to the high flat shape, cooking in them is associated with high fuel consumption (if you use a burner). Well and the main thing - all of them seldom have more than one liter of volume and, therefore, are suitable only for single or pair trips. However, experienced tourists claim that four of you can eat from such a pot.