a discussion of mess kits

[Petej]

Nice kit....is it aluminum or steel? Never seen one with ametal mug.

It's aluminum.

I had steel ones years back, but they disappeared in one of my many moves.....

[Norton]

Petej

I have used that type of mess kit before and found they had some good advantages.
The entire unit is very compact and has all the main items needed for field cooking.
Frying pan, pot, plate, cup. They are hard to fry meat, but if you are careful and keep oil on it can be done.

Pete can you fit the small Swedish Trangia alcohol or German Esbit inside the pot?

If so here is a modification of the German Esbit I found on the web. We all want to pack gear in tight.
Camping people all over the world mix and match gear from Different nations to get a combination of compactness and ease of use.
This style allows me to use the small Swedish Trangia alcohol burner with German Esbit stove. Yet still be able to use German fuel tabs if needed
I cut a square from the bottom that allows the burner to pass through. If I want to use the fuel tablets I lay the flat metal sections from the Russian IRP mini stove over the square. When I use it in windy conditions I set the Russian IRP flat metal on either open side. I have used this in the field many times and it works good, You just have to be careful about knocking it over when you move about

This set up may be able to nest inside your main pot. Both the German Esbit and Small Civilian Trangia are fairly inexpensive.Plus they are nearly fool proof. I also have a cut down British tea tin I use to carry this assortment. The Tea tin fit on the bottom of my Yugo Mess kit

folded up

set for fule tab, Russian IRP in bottom

cut out for Trangia

Set up to burn Alcohol

IRP stoves as makeshift wind screen

[Norton]

You can fit the esbit and some other items in a Cut down British Tea tin. If you find the right size it will slip on the bottom of the Yugoslavian Army mess set. Then you have almost and complete set in a very compact for hiking. The only drawback I have found wit the Yugo is the main pot is thick and takes a while to boil water compared to German or Russian kettles

placed on the bottom of Yugo set

If you just use the Esbit folding stove and fuel tabs it slides most of the way up and takes up less space

[Petej]

Oh darn it! Now I have ideas again! Thanks for sharing this.

I have some very compact camping stoves in storage somewhere. I seem to remember one of mine fitting inside the pot, if I didn't put the cup inside it.

I'll have to go and dig those out and see if I can make this a complete kit.

[Norton]

Here are two Soviet Era Red Army field cups and a modern Russian Army thermal mug.
All three are outstanding for camping and outdoor use.
The Two tone Green enameled mug has a 57'' stamped on the bottom . The inside is white and makes it easy to keep clean
The enamel seems to have a very thick application and compares favorably to American Blue/white Enameled camping mugs of 1970's. This fits inside the Russian mess kit kettle with room to spare.

Look inside

Thick white coating on the inside

The other is a plain Aluminum mug with a tiny stamp under the handle. I cannot find a date, but have seen 1980's photos of Red Army troops with this style mug. This is a great bit of camping gear., big light and indestructible. It will burn you lip with hot drinks, but if you give it a minute it is fine. For Cold drinks it is outstanding, plus it is not bad for beer.

side by side with enameled mug 1950's

Last this is a modern Russian Army Thermal mug. All stainless steel , polished and insulated.. It does not burn your lips with hot drinks. Also the edge are tappered so they don't cut your lips either

modern Stainless thermal mug

markings on the bottom

It fits inside the traditional mess kettle

Nested inside

On the trail

Won't burn your lips

[elandil]

Oh darn it! Now I have ideas again! Thanks for sharing this.

I have some very compact camping stoves in storage somewhere. I seem to remember one of mine fitting inside the pot, if I didn't put the cup inside it.

I'll have to go and dig those out and see if I can make this a complete kit.

yeah, this site'll do that to ya....

[Yowie]

Hi all, during my travels I seem to have lost my old canteen mug. I guess I misplaced it while packing or unpacking somewhere. Not that it was a treasured heirloom or anything, it did come in handy with my little gas stove (see some of my older reviews)to heat up packaged meals and boil water for tea, coffee and soup.
So last week I was passing a disposal store and dropped in to try to replace.
And I found this little beauty....

According to the blurb, its a French canteen cup. The quality of the manufacturing is fantastic, unlike my old one it has that nice rolled rim, instead of the sharp edge. It is thicker than the old old one, the handles are well riveted on with an insulating pad between them and the cup proper and there is a molded mark (look closely on the side) that is about the right height for the RCIR soup measurement.
The best thing is that I had a choice of this one or a copy of my original and this one was nearly half the price ($9.95 v $17.95) of the cheaper made one.
Cant wait to get out and about to give it a try for Bob's new comp
BTW it still fits the my old canteen.
Got to love a bargain
Yowie

[housil]

Great find - Bon Appétit

[parafireboy]

This thread hasn't been active for a little bit, and I recently put together a mess kit system that is working pretty well, so I figured it might be a good time to bring it back to life.

I'm using a German mess kit (thanks Housil! ), and found that the inside has plenty of room to hold all of the essentials. When camping, I take it along with my US canteen, which I've replaced with the Nalgene version that doesn't leak, but is a drop-in replacement for the US issue canteen. With the canteen cup and stove that are a part of that, these two items are usually all that I need.

Mess Kit and Canteen

Canteen Kit

Inside the mess kit, I am able to fit all of these items:

Mess Kit

The Trangia alcohol stove as well as the Esbit solid fuel stove fit perfectly down inside the pot, and in the inner "bowl" that fits inside, I have a small mesh bag that contains a few packs of matches, extra alcohol fuel, an eating device, titanium pot / cup holder that goes on top of the Trangia, and trash bags.

The titanium pot / cup holder that fits on the Trangia is awesome! It weighs next to nothing, stows easily, and works great for it's intended purpose. I highly recommend.

Trangia with pot holder

I just thought I'd share my setup. I got the idea from seeing the great ideas that many of you already posted. I've finally got a mess kit setup that I'm happy with.

Thanks for reading!

[elandil]

that looks like a real nice setup.