In this episode of Primitive Camping & Bushcraft, Chris breaks down his personal camp cooking gear—from titanium pots and antique store finds to trusty Dutch ovens and survival kits. It’s a fast-paced, hands-on walkthrough of the cook systems he's tested in the woods and why each one earns its place in his pack.
Chris takes us deep into his cooking gear pile, sharing real-world insights on cookware that works in primitive camping—from the heavy hitters like cast iron Dutch ovens to lightweight titanium pots. He covers a wide range of gear including coffee percolators, salvaged aluminum pots, antique Coleman cook sets, and even modular bushcraft kits that double as mess kits or survival storage. If you’ve ever wondered what to bring for backwoods cooking—or why some gear stays and others get left behind—this episode lays it all out with practical, time-tested experience.
What You’ll Learn:
Pros and cons of stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, and cast iron
Why a coffee percolator might just be your favorite pot
The evolution of Chris’s favorite cooking pot (spoiler: it’s cooked armadillo)
How to repurpose antique gear for modern bushcraft
Setting up for camp cooking without carrying the kitchen sink
Next Week's Topic:
Stoves, ovens, grills, and bush pot ovens—plus what’s next for the podcast as we shift gears from the book to more real-world outdoor adventures.
(upbeat music)
Welcome back to the Primitive
Camping and Bushcraft Podcast.
My name's Chris Speir
and I'm gonna be your guide
to enjoying the great outdoors.
So we are in the
cooking section of the book.
Last week we went over a few things
about like different stuff that I found
in an antique shop and stuff like that.
So this week we're gonna
just start running through
some items in this book.
We're gonna cover
different aspects of cooking.
And we've been through
this kind of stuff before,
but it's gonna be kind of fast paced
because there's not
really much you can really talk
about cooking other
than showing you what to do
and how to cook.
And one of the things about cooking
is that you get to get out into the woods
and at your campsite and
enjoy the time out there
through cooking.
And previously before
that we talked about
the cooking
temperatures and all of the such.
And now, as we discussed in
the water and gear sections,
one of the most essential
items you can carry with you
into the woods is a metal container.
As long as you choose the
best type of metal for you
and your knees, the packing pots and pans
for your camping trip will pay dividends
in campsite kitchens.
So everybody knows you got the titaniums,
you got your aluminums, you
got your stainless steels,
you got the cast irons
and you got the enamelwares
and you got all these other
different types of things.
So one of the beautiful aspects about it
is that it's not a one
size fits all type or deal,
it's not.
And you can do whatever
it is that you wanna do.
For instance, right here on my desk,
right in front of the Prandak Camping
and Bushcraft Blend Coffee,
we have a coffee percolator.
Now, this is, let's see how many ounces
this thing really is on here.
It don't say this thing is old school,
it don't have that in there.
But I can tell you right
now that this is gonna be
almost a quart and a half,
maybe two quart tops, right?
So this is gonna be two
quarts tops, if that, two quarts.
You know, a little
less than that, whatever.
So, oh wait, it's got, on the side here,
it's got cups here, it's got five, seven.
So it holds seven cups.
Seven cups is eight
ounces a piece, you know?
So we're starting to show
my Mississippi math skills
and that's 49, 50 something ounces.
So let's look here at this pot.
Now, this pot can be
used to percolate coffee.
It can be used to also cook food.
It can be used to boil water.
You can take the
percolator out, excuse me,
you can take the percolator out
and then you are left with a pot
that you can actually boil some water in,
boil some food in.
So, you know, all these
items that's listed in this book
are just examples and ideas.
It's not written in stone,
it's not for you to, I mean,
you don't have to take it to heart
and it's for you to get a
baseline of what works for you.
Right here is a metal cup.
This is an aluminum cup.
It looks like a solo
cup, but it's silver.
It is aluminum.
And you could use that in the woods.
Be careful because it could melt
if you don't have enough
liquid in it, you know?
Now, whatever you
choose to bring with you
to go camping is your prerogative phase.
You know, I just listed the items
that are common to camping.
Not all of them, just
mostly the common things.
Then, you know, we get into
other cook systems, you know?
We get the pots and the pans first.
You got your Dutch ovens.
Got different variations
of pots and pans down here.
And, you know, actually, I
think it would be a great idea
to demonstrate to you and show you
the various pots and pans.
Okay, so what I've done
is I've loaded my desk
completely down, so if
you're watching the video,
you can actually see what's happening.
If you are listening
to the actual podcast,
I'll have to do my
best to try and explain,
visually explain what it
is that we are looking at.
All right, we're gonna start right here.
This is a stainless steel pot.
Now, it has a handle
that opens up, flips over,
and has a little latch on
the side that just slides down.
Somehow, it's not really sliding.
And it acts as a handle here.
And then you take this lid off,
and you have a two-cord or whatever
stainless steel pot here.
This thing is pretty
handy, and it's compact.
It will fold up, and you can throw it
right into your backpack.
You can put stuff inside the pot itself,
and you can use this
pot anywhere at any time
for any given purpose of boiling water
or for cooking food or
anything of the such.
And it's very handy.
It's a nifty little pot.
It's all compact, and it's pretty cool,
and it's relatively lightweight,
but this is stainless steel.
Next, we have a, this is a pot
that I started off with years ago.
I made this, I did a video
on YouTube with this pot.
This, I found this at a salvage store
because it didn't
have the handle up here,
and all I did was take
a knob from my cabinet
and put it up on the top here.
This is anodized or
hard anodized aluminum,
and it is, it has cooked armadillo.
It has cooked all kinds of stuff.
Now, this pot has been
with me for years and years.
I have cooked many of
pots of beans on here.
I made this flat bar that
you see at the top is a bale
to where I can hang this
pot over a fire and cook.
Now, this thing is extremely lightweight.
This pot right here and I go way back,
and this is one of the first pots
I started carrying
with me into the woods.
Now, it's considered a Dutch oven.
Now, you can cook biscuits in this.
You can cook stews in this.
You can cook whatever in this.
Now, moving on to the heavy stuff,
we have the cast iron Dutch oven.
This is a two-quart cast iron Dutch oven.
It weighs about seven or eight pounds,
and this thing is extremely heavy,
and it is hard to carry
with you in the woods.
It's a seven-inch pot.
I've used it for a long time.
Originally, it came
with legs on the bottom,
but I cut the legs off
and ground it smooth.
I did not like the legs on it.
Not for a cast iron pot that size.
Now, right next to it,
Dutch ovens have a purpose,
and they actually do
what they say they do,
and there's a reason why
these things are so popular,
because Dutch ovens are amazing.
Now, you cook your biscuits in there.
You can oven cook all
kinds of stuff in there.
Now, this one is a GSI.
This is a 10-inch
aluminum, hard aluminum anodized
or whatever it is, Dutch oven,
and I've seasoned it pretty good,
and this thing is ready for the woods.
I have not used this pot.
I've had it for a year, and
I have not cooked in it yet.
Every time I went to go
camping or cooking in it,
something come up and
I use something else,
but what I like about this
is it has the double bales.
It remains more stable, like that.
And I'm really wanting to use this,
and this is the GSI.
GSI Outdoors, it is a
10-inch aluminum Dutch oven,
and that is what I was gonna take with me
if I was to go on a TV show.
Now, getting into the gritty-nitty.
This is a titanium pot.
This is a Keith titanium.
This is 750 milliliters, I believe it is.
It has the little D-ring on top,
standard D-ring that
most camping stuff has.
Open that up, and then
it has the little wings
on the side for handles,
and most of your
camping pots are like this.
You can use this to boil water.
You can use it to cook your food.
This is really
ultra-light, hiking-type stuff.
This is extremely
lightweight, and it's very versatile,
but it does have hot spots whenever
you're cooking on it,
like most titanium does.
Titanium and stainless
steel do have hot spots.
Now, I wanna show you,
well, let's go right here.
This in my hands is the
Uber-Leven Kessel pot.
Is it Kessel, I believe it is.
And it is their
variation of a cooking system,
and this is unique because
the handle is over the top,
so apparently you can
fill it up with some liquid,
and you can put a toggle through here
and actually suspend
your pot over the fire.
Now, if you're not watching this video,
what they have here is just
like a little stainless steel
pot, and it has a handle,
and the handle goes up and over
and to the top of the pot.
So this thing is pretty cool.
I have used it, and I have
cooked many meals in this thing
on my Uber-Leven stove,
twig stove, biomass stove.
So now we got one more pot
on my desk that I wanna cover.
And this was a antique store find.
I found this dude in the antique store,
and what it was is this was the
all-in-one cook system,
and since then, the actual stove is gone.
It's no longer with the system here,
but if this is a Coleman,
it's a Coleman cook system,
so what you have, you take the lid off,
and you have a
skillet, and this is aluminum,
and this is dated back into the 70s,
so this is a 1970s version.
If I would have found the
actual cook system in here,
it'd been awesome.
It had a propane stove or a,
you know, a Coleman fuel stove.
So what you do is you
take the handles here,
the handles slide into the bottom of
these wings like that,
and you have a skillet to
cook with over an open fire,
over a stove, whatnot, and
then you could do the same thing
for the pot.
This is a, now this is a pot,
and you could put a handle here,
or you could put two handles on this,
just like this and this,
that way you can carry it like this,
be more sturdy, all right, now.
But I wanted to put this together
and do it like a survival kit,
and that leads me to
another one that I wanna show you.
I have to get up and go
get it, it's right over here,
that I have yet to do anything with,
and I found it at the
Smoky Mountain Knife Works
when the last time I
was there in Tennessee
a couple, several years ago.
So everybody has seen these.
This is just your
little standard camping cup,
and you could cook some food in that.
It has the wings on the side
that wrap around as a handle.
And when people visualize camping,
this is pretty much what they see.
And these little handles right here
allows you to drink or
eat or hold it right there.
Watch out, it can be very hot
if you cook over open flames.
Now, what I got up to show you was this,
S-A-E-S-E-E, S-A, S-A, S-A, E-C.
However you wanna
pronounce it, they make the moths.
So this is a little
survival kit that they have,
and you can make it a mess kit.
This flips around,
and then this comes off,
and then you can cook something in here,
and you can use this as a plate.
Now, you can also make
this into a survival kit,
and you can put your gear
and stuff inside this kit,
pack it inside your
bag, and take it with you.
Now, this is not, I mean, I liked it,
I bought it for that reason,
and to build a kit, and I
have not built a kit yet.
So, but this is pretty cool.
Now, I got one last thing
that a lot of people may be familiar with
is the Pathfinder Bush pot set.
It's the Woodland Camp
Chef, or Woodland Chef Camp,
whatever, it's whatever.
But it's one of the most common outdoors,
and you got stainless steel,
and then inside that you have a
10 inch skillet.
Right here, you got a
little skillet to use,
and I've cooked many a
breakfasts in this skillet.
But most recently, I have found
another pot that is gonna take its place
at an antique shop, I
think I covered this last week.
This is bigger than the
Pathfinder skillet, it's lighter,
it's actually the exact same weight.
The only downfall, not downfall,
but the only thing
different from this skillet
to this skillet is the handle does not fold up.
And you can see, this is the handle, the handle does not fold up.
And I mean, you don't necessarily
have to have a folding handle.
Then I got the, like I showed you,
the cold handle skillet,
the snow king, right there.
Now, opening up this Bush kit,
you have another cop pot here,
and then open, it's like
the little Russian doll,
you keep opening it up,
and you get another one,
and I think that's it in here.
But what I like about this,
and we discuss this here in a little bit,
is that with this grate that comes in it,
you can convert either one of these pots
into a Bushcraft oven, and you can
actually cook with it.
So,
(chuckles)
all right, now,
we'll put all this
stuff back up eventually.
I'm doing a lot of videos
on YouTube about cooking,
or covering cooking.
And that is the,
all the, not pretty much the majority
of all the pots that I have.
I have some enamelware pots,
I have some more carbon steel skillets
and stuff like that I have put away.
But, yeah, that is pretty
much all the pots and pans
that I would choose from to go with.
The majority of the time,
I take the Woodland Chef kit,
and take it just for simplicity sake.
Most of the time, I
take one pot out of that,
and the skillet, that's it, that's all.
The biggest advantage to that
is the canvas bag that it comes in.
That way you don't get none of the soot
and all the other garbage all over you.
Now, that's gonna be
easy enough to replicate.
You can do something
else and make your own.
You don't have to buy
that kit just for that bag.
You can actually buy a
bag and wax it yourself.
You can, you know, you
don't even have to wax it,
just buy a bag and
keep washing it, you know.
Wax does keep the water
from getting in or out,
but it keeps the soot from
getting all over your gear.
So now that we've done that,
I guess this is gonna be a
relatively short week here.
Next week, we'll be
getting into the stoves,
the ovens, the grills,
stuff of that nature.
And I will start talking about that.
And, you know, I'm gonna
start doing a lot more videos
about this subject of
cooking, camp cooking,
on my YouTube channel.
Now, I've created a camp out in the back,
behind my pond, to
where I am going to start
demonstrating camp cooking out there.
It's easier for me to do it there
and show you how to cook in a camp
than it is for me to load up the boat
and head out to the
river for a couple days.
And I can just get more
videos spit out that way.
Not that I wouldn't,
every time I go camping,
that's the first thing on my
mind is what are we eating,
you know, what kind of food we got.
So now, now that we got,
let's say we're about 22
minutes in on this one,
but now we're gonna be
heading over to stoves,
ovens and grills, then we're gonna be
doing propane stoves,
and then the bed roll
stoves and the bush pot oven.
We'll be doing that next week.
And then after that, it's gonna be,
we're gonna move on from the book.
We're gonna be talking about the book,
but we're gonna be talking about camping,
talking about the outdoors.
And we're gonna continue,
you know, the book's still
gonna be the great, the thing,
but we're going to move on from the book
and start moving into
outdoor venture type stuff.
Because this will be the second time
that we've been page for page
all the way through this book.
So we're gonna start seeing
if we can get some individuals
on here to discuss
different stuff with the podcast,
and their experiences
with the camping and cooking
and just having a good
time in the great outdoors.
So, all right guys, I thank you so much
for joining me today.
And I look forward to the next one
and I will see you next time.
God bless you.
(upbeat music)