Mess Kit

When you are broke and houseless your day becomes focused around procuring the basic necessities of shelter and food. This sounds melodramatic even to me, after all: I'm not wandering the high country dressed in bear skin. Despite my relative comfort the bare necessities become very important when you don't have refrigeration and meals are reliant on fire and clear weather. This is my round about explanation for why this weeks posts have been so heavily centered around cooking, and today's continues in the same vein.

My tin can stove has been working well for heating water and cooking easily stirred food, but I wanted more versatility, especially on weekends when it becomes by only method of heating meals. While in Wal-Mart this morning I came across this mess kit which is the perfect size for my stove. It was $5.50 (can't beat that) and, while the frying pan handle is pretty flimsy, the whole thing works great. I had to raise the pot on two bolts to give more air flow to the kerosene, but my veggies in cream of chicken cooked evenly and without burning to the bottom. Everything fits together like a Chinese puzzle (but less confusing), so it's compact, light, and easy to store.

Every time I buy a cool gadget or useful item, I think about where I'm going to put it. Each inch that these things take up is an inch of sleeping space that I loose. Something like this can easily fit into my kitchen bag, and I think it will be worth both the space and the money I forfeit.