I recently wrote about all my favorite lightweight backpacking gear in 国产吃瓜黑料鈥檚 Summer Buyer鈥檚 Guide. Buy everything I suggest (plus a few choice extras) and your base weight (all your gear excluding water and food) will be around nine pounds鈥攁nd you鈥檒l be $1,800 poorer. Going light is expensive, and it takes a lot of time to research the best gear to fit your needs.
That鈥檚 why I perk up when a brand makes a great weight-conscious product at a reasonable price. For the past year, I鈥檝e been testing the ($80), and I think it鈥檚 a high-performing, affordable system that is ideal for anyone just getting into backpacking or the seasoned backpacker looking to lighten their pack.
The five-piece kit includes nearly everything you need to cook in the backcountry鈥攋ust bring food and a spork. Here鈥檚 what you get:
Stove
I鈥檝e probably tested more than 20 backpacking stoves, and the Pocket Rocket 2 is still my go-to. There are already enough in-depth reviews of the stove online, so I don鈥檛 need to go into the details, but in brief, it鈥檚 lightweight, compact, reliable, and cheap. If you already have an ultralight pot, you can for $40.
Pot
The .75-liter hard-anodized aluminum pot is four inches high and four inches wide. It sits perfectly on the stove and has a removable rubber sleeve around the outside edge that lets you hold the pot without burning your hand. The pot is really only big enough to boil two cups of water, which is plenty for cooking a dehydrated backpacking meal, but if you backpack with a friend, this won鈥檛 be big enough.
Snap-On Lid
The problem with most camp cooking pot lids is that they snap onto the pot too tightly. This is good in concept鈥攃reating a tight seal prevents heat from escaping, thus boiling water faster. But if the lid is too tight, removing it requires two hands: one to pull off the lid and one to hold the pot steady. Inevitably, you end up burning your fingers and splashing water everywhere. Not so with this lid, which snaps onto the pot gently, creating a good seal but not so tight that it can鈥檛 be easily removed with one hand. A small rubber tab in the center makes this easy. The lid also has vents so you can strain pasta water or drink a cup of coffee without spilling.
Plastic Bowl
Described by MSR as a 鈥渉ot- and cold-safe bowl鈥 made of BPA-free plastic, this 12-ounce cup/bowl nests over the metal pot for compact transportation. I don鈥檛 use this item too often, but it鈥檚 nice to have if you want to drink a cup of tea or lemonade while cooking dinner.
Pot Grabber
A grabber makes picking up a pot of boiling water easy and burn-free. While the pot鈥檚 rubber sleeve works well once the pot has cooled down a bit, it doesn鈥檛 provide enough insulation to handle when water is still boiling, making the pot grabber necessary. It works very well, it鈥檚 lightweight (less than one ounce), and it stores inside the pot when not in use.
Conclusion
The PocketRocket 2 Mini Stove Kit is an effective, compact cooking system that鈥檚 suitable for basic cooking while backpacking. All the components nest together in the pot and take up very little space in a pack. Over a year of testing, I鈥檝e found the kit components to be well made and durable. Sure, you could take the time to compile your own cooking kit, but for just $80, the Mini Stove Kit has nearly everything you need in a small, lightweight package.