DIY: How To Make An Ultralight Backpacking Pot Cozy
17 Comments
A pot cozy is an essential part of the ultralight backpacker’s kitchen. This simple DIY project can help you to conserve cooking fuel, simplify and automate your trail cooking (and cleaning) and provide a convenient carrying case for your cook pot and accessories.
Ultralight Backpacking Pot Cozy DIY Instructions
Materials
Materials to make a pot cozy
- Cook pot or mug*
- Auto Sun Shade made from Reflectix (looks like metallic bubble wrap)
- Duct tape
- Ruler
- Scissors
- Permanent Marker
*In this demo I’m using a “Walmart” Grease Pot, an ultralight, inexpensive alternative to titanium cook pots. It weighs just 4 ounces, holds approx 1.2 liters and costs only $7-$10. It is available from Walmart, Kmart, Target and Amazon.com
Part 1 – Making The Pot Cozy Sidewall
Making The Sidewall
1. Measure the distance from the bottom of the pot to the top lip.
2. Cut a strip of sunshade material that is the height of your measurement and as wide as the circumference of your pot plus a little extra.
3. Wrap the strip around the pot and trim the overlap so that the two ends but up against each other. The fit should be snug, but not tight.
4. Wrap a strip of duct tape around the two ends to connect them, forming a cylinder.
Tip: I use one of the existing seamed edges of the sunshade for the top opening. This makes it easier for the pot to slide in and out without snagging and prevents wear and tear. An alternative method is to protect the top edge with a strip of duct tape.
Part 2 – Making The Pot Cozy Base
Making the base
1. With your pot inside the cozy cylinder, place it on the sunshade and trace a circle.
2. Cut the circle out. This will be the base of your pot cozy.
3. Leaving the pot inside the cozy, turn it upside down and attach the base to the side using small strips of tape, starting at opposite sides.
4. Continue attaching the base with small strips of duct tape all around the edge. Overlap each strip slightly to create an airtight seal.
Tips: Once the base is securely attached using small strips of duct tape you can wrap a single long strip around the exposed edges to prevent the tape from coming up. Your cook pot should now be able to easily slide in and out of your pot cozy.
Part 3 – Making The Pot Cozy Lid
Making the lid
1. Cut a strip from the sun shade that is 1.5″ tall and as wide as the circumference of the cozy with the pot inside, plus a little extra. Wrap it around the cozy and trim the overlap.
2. Tape the two ends with duct tape, forming a cylinder. This will be the side of your lid.
3. With the side of the lid in place turn the pot and cozy upside down and trace and cut another circle to make the top of the lid.
4. Attach the top of the lid to the side using small strips of duct tape like the base.
Tip: As with the base, you can use a long strip of duct tape around the cozy lid to prevent the tape edges from coming up during heavy use. Your lid should fit snugly enough around your pot and cozy that it doesn’t come off by itself, but not so tight it’s hard to put on.
Congratulations, you made a pot cozy!
Completed ultralight backpacking pot cozy
Depending on the size of your pot your pot cozy should weight between 1.5 – 3 ounces and should last for thousands of miles.
A pot cozy will help you conserve fuel (and thus weight) and will provide a handy method of storing your cook pot and other cooking accessories (like lighters, alcohol stoves, camp towls, etc.) inside of your pack.
You can also use your pot cozy to comfortably hold a pot full of steaming hot food and eat your dinner without burning your hands.
How to use your pot cozy for cooking
There are two ways you can use your pot cozy when cooking meals on the trail:
Cooking Method #1 – Boil water in your cook pot, add dried food to the water, allow to simmer for a minute or two (if necessary), then remove the pot from the stove and place it inside your pot cozy for 15 minutes. Your food will continue to “cook” while you set up camp (or wait impatiently). When you are done you will have a hot meal waiting.
Cooking Method #2 – This is known as “freezer bag cooking”. Boil water in your cook pot, pour boiling water into a freezer ziploc baggy with dried food, seal the baggy and put it back inside your empty pot (removed from heat), and finally place the pot (with baggy and food inside) into your pot cozy and let it set for 15 minutes.
You can eat your food directly from the baggy (kept inside the pot cozy so you don’t burn yourself) and you won’t have to clean your pot afterward. This method works better with some foods than others (good for soft foods like mashed potatoes, pasta, cous cous… not so good for tough grains that require extended simmering or lots of time to rehydrate, like rice).
17 Responses to “DIY: How To Make An Ultralight Backpacking Pot Cozy”
If you at a JetBoil user and are lazy, REI sells an insulated bottle holder that fits a JetBoil pot (solo version) very nicely. $13.95 and 3.8 oz.
www.rei.com/product/770795
Instead of buying a window shade, you can buy the same metal bubble wrap by the foot at any hardware store. Much cheaper. Also, instead of duct tape, use metal tape.
A year ago I made a cozy for this same pot using Reflectix insulation designed for houses. The sides were made about a inch longer than the sides of the pot. The top and bottom were made the same as the diameter of the pot. This allows the sides to overlap the top and bottom. I did not use tape to seal the top and bottom. Metal foil duct tape was used to tape the main pot cozy. The knob was kept and a hole made in the cozy top keeping it in place. Performance is quite good. Another cozy was made to fit the bag used in common freeze dried dinners from the same material. That has been highly useful keeping the food very hot. Cut off the bottom half of a gallon plastic milk jug and it makes a great case and doubles as a sink or container for filtering water. I was fortunate to have all the materials from other projects.
Pot cozy’s are a great way to shave ounces on fuel carried and use one regularly on my trips. My only concern is with cooking in a freezer bag. The normal freezer bags start to break down around 195 degrees and are not designed to stand the high temperatures of boiling water, (212 degrees). I’m not sure of the exact amount of carcinogens or chemicals that leech into the food, but the convenience of not washing a pot isn’t worth the risk IMHO.
Although I have read that they make microwave safe bags, I haven’t ever used them to cook in myself. If you are going to use the cook in bag method, do so with caution and make sure you get the bags designed to withstand heat.
Since initial experiments and use of Reflectix I’ve since found some windshield reflectors which use a lighter material with foil on one side and thin insulation material on the other. Reflectix is light but still weighs more than twice as much as the single sided stuff. I second the metal tape. The raw edges of Reflectix can also be sealed with an iron–you can get a nice 1/16 to 1/8 sealed edge with practice.
Just to tease the JetBoil users, my whole cooking system–pot, lid, pot cozy, stove, wind shield, spoon, lighter and stuff sack weighs 3.8 oz.
Still Lookin!!!
Can you give a detailed breakdown of how you get your cook system to such a light weight? Thanks if you can!
No cozy required. For 1000s of miles now, I’ve simply added my mac & cheese noodles to the pot before I start heating the water. Stir once or twice to loosen the noodles as the water gets warm. Take the pot off the stove at the first sign of boiling. Let sit for a few minutes, add seasoning and tuna, sit some more, then eat. Noodles get cooked though and food is still hot. I don’t believe there is much difference in fuel consumption.
Thanks for getting me off my but and trying something new. I have never used a pot cozy but decided to make one and will give it a try. If I dont like it Im only out about $10 and 1 hr of my time. I wasnt doing anything anyway.
My cozy method.
Put pot of hot water/food in a supermarket plastic bag and close. Wrap in bandanna and put in you shelter as a wind break. You can cover with extra clothing, sleeping bag/quilt or duff if you need a longer cooking time in cold weather.
The plastic bag contains the steam, spillage, (soot if you cook on a wood fire) and reduces draft.
Erik,
Nice one! thanks for sharing.
I always look for out-of-the-box materials to make backpacking gear. Thanks for the idea.
Edgar
I am curious about the stove Eric. I looked at the stove at wal mart like you said but they seem too big and bulky. It was a grease pot like you stated but it was 1.5 liter. Really light wieght but just bulky.
@Scott The grease pot you saw may have been a larger version. The grease pots I am used to are approx. 1 liter. They are about 5.5″ wide, 3.5″ tall with top knob is removed, and weigh about 4 ounces.
Erik,
I think I just discovered a nifty little DIY project.
But 1 question – So how do you make it adjustible to fit different size pots? For example, instead of taping the cylinder together, could you use velcro and put a wide strip to give some ability to make the cylinder fit different diameter pots? and if so, how would you make an adjustable base?
thanks!
@Susan I just make them custom fit the pot that they are going to be used with. Instead of trying to make it adjustable I would just make another pot cozy if you have another pot.