Key factors
Cool zippers, new waterproofing, etc... sometimes it's easy to get lost in all the hype (over-spending happens on features). Our guide focuses on the fundamental factors you should always keep in mind (thus, this short list is similar across all items). Then only at the end do we have some questions to get you thinking about other minor features.
We highly recommend reviewing Type or Style first, where we review what you can use to address the Core function--a regular item you have at home may work! The other factors are secondary & depend strongly on the Type or Style you've picked.
While we encourage you to use regular items wherever possible, as an outdoor gear shop, we only carry outdoor-specific products
Type or Style
We've organized the most commonly used items people use to address the Core function below, with example images, characteristics, features, etc.
We strongly recommend first reading our info on stoves since cookware is heavily impacted by what you're cooking with.
NOTE: Here we refer to cookware as pots & pans. Smaller items that we also carry but that have fewer decision factors are quickly reviewed in the What We Carry section.
Cooking technique |
Using hot coals or a campfire |
Using a portable stove |
Regular stove (like a portable kitchen stove) |
Wood burning stove |
Liquid fuel stove |
Canister stove |
Alcohol stove |
Tablet stove |
Cookware |
Cookware has to tolerate directly sitting on hot coals or in a flame* |
Use regular cookware you'd use in the kitchen |
May be able to use regular cookware or small cookware (description at right), depending on stove size |
Cookware needs to be smaller since the stove top surface is smaller (a heavy, hot pot can tip over!) |
Example images |
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See note above |
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Effect on secondary factors |
Price
Per piece
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$20-200 |
$10-100 |
$10-70 |
Capacity
For pots
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Heavier & larger (1-10L) |
Smaller (~500mL to 2L) |
Material
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- Cast iron
- Ceramic
- Porcelain
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Any |
- Aluminum
- Stainless steel
- Titanium
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Weight & Size
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Heavier & larger |
Lighter & smaller |
Depends more on material, see section below |
Rationale |
No size restrictions imposed by stove = less technical |
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Size restrictions imposed by stove = more technical |
Why we do/don't carry it
= we rent = we sell
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To give folks the authentic cook-in-fire experience! Not for sale because these tend to be very expensive
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Standard for most outdoor uses in car camping.
On our Catalog, this is indicated with 'for portable stove'
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Same as regular or smaller cookware (at left & right) |
Standard for most outdoor uses in backpacking.
On our Catalog, this is indicated with 'for pocket stove'
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*Regular cookware can get discolored or warped, or have handles that will melt
Price
One of life's certainties is the trade-off between price & quality. This creates an inherently unfair situation. If you save money today by buying something lower end, you'll end up replacing it more frequently, spending money & time each instance so that at the end, you probably haven't actually saved anything. On the other hand, if you decide to invest in something higher end, you'll need a lot more upfront money, and you need to be able to use the item frequently enough to make it worthwhile.
We developed our rental program to address this unfairness. We don't sell lower end items. But for our higher end items, we offer them for rent at up to 90% off retail price, generally well below the cost of buying even the cheaper option. That's a win-win!
It may seem like the price & quality trade-off is disappearing, because you can find a cheap version of almost anything for tens of dollars that still has good reviews (assuming the reviews are real). Remember 2 things:
- Many reviews are written after only a trial use, first use, or infrequent use: We've seen entire review videos of gear done at home, which is very different than actually being outdoors!
- The point of gear is to give you a good experience because you've already spent money to be on vacation from work! Don't let quality issues affect your relaxation
For gear specifically, the quality issues center around performance & durability.
For the outdoors specifically, durability may be more important than in a home kitchen:
- Cooking outside is often done in smaller spaces & surfaces; it can be easier to drop coowkare
- Outdoor-specific utensils, especially ultralight ones, tend to be metal, so you need cookware that won't scratch (e.g., not non-stick)
Methodology notes on prices shown on this page
In addition to losing money by buying lower end products that just aren't worth it, you can also lose money by buying higher end products that also aren't worth it. Once you reach a certain tier of quality, any additional price differences are based on branding or design (check out this Louis Vuitton chalk bag [other chalk bags cost $20-50]).
For the reason above, the price data on this page for outdoor-specific gear (i.e., not household items) generally excludes
low end & high end prices. This way, you get a more accurate sense of price comparison & trends across categories (i.e., if there's a $20 version of everything, then it's hard to get a sense of trends if the ranges all start at $20).
Low end products are defined those that:
- Most professional reviewers don't mention
- Tend to be sold at mass retail (i.e., non-specialty stores)
High end products are defined those that:
- Are mainly branding driven (like the LV chalk bag; the brand isn't specialized in gear)
- Are so technical even most backcountry, off-track explorers won't really need it (we looked at a lot of consumer forums & our own expert staff for input on this)
Rule-of-thumb: when looking for decent quality, most bigger gear items (e.g., tents, sleeping bags, backpack) & key clothing (e.g., outer layers like jackets, pants, gloves & insulating mid-layers) should be at least $100; most smaller gear items (e.g., headlamps, small stoves, water filters) & clothing base layers or accessories (e.g., buffs, socks) should be at least $20
Material
An in-depth discussion of the different materials used in cookware is beyond the scope of our protip. You could look at things such as heat retention vs heat conductivity, risk of material leaching into food & toxicity, and consider that with many cookware, the material isn't pure (e.g., copper, aluminum, and titanium cookware usually have other metals used as liners or as bases to complement functionality), or there are other treatments to cookware to improve it (e.g., anodized aluminum or enameled cast iron). That's why we will only quickly overview 8 materials as they generally are viewed (averaged across composition). Given the variances, the lists should not be viewed as rankings.
How it rates |
Higher |
Lower |
Non-stick rating
Assuming a chemical non-stick* coating has not been applied
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Assuming it's been seasoned
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- Aluminum
- Copper
- Stainless steel
- Titanium
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Effectiveness rating |
Heats slowly but retains it well
- Cast iron
- Ceramic
- Porcelain
Heats quickly & cools quickly as well
- Aluminum
- Copper
- Carbon steel
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Durability rating |
- Cast iron
- Carbon steel
- Stainless steel
- Titanium
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Will shatter if dropped
Can dent or scratch easier
|
Effect on other factors |
Price |
- Cast iron
- Ceramic
- Porcelain
- Carbon steel
- Copper
- Titanium
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Weight |
Heaviest
- Cast iron
- Ceramic
- Porcelain
- Carbon steel (lighter than above 3)
Depends on exact composition
|
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Why we do/don't carry it = we rent = we sell |
All our cookware is stainless steel, which we prefer for durability reasons (you don't need to worry about having a non-metal utensil to avoid scratching it) |
*There are many types of non-stick coatings on the market. Some have issues where they scratch easily & could leach into food, and may be toxic
Capacity (size)
For most people who have experience cooking at home, the only new lens with which to think about capacity is when you need smaller cookware imposed by small stoves.
For example, if several people are sharing a single, small backpacking stove that can only take cookware up to 2 liters maximum, you may need several "boils" to get enough hot water for everyone's coffee or backpacking meal. Is it OK then if people eat at different times? Or should you get more stoves? These are exactly the decisions that backpackers think about when planning a trip!
As you can imagine, as capacity increases, so does price and weight & size.
Weight & Size (Compactness) for Backpacking
If you're thru-hiking 20+ miles (32+km) per day, every advantage counts! In this case, size refers to compactness. You can carry more gear in the same size backpack if all of it is very compact, or for more weight savings, you can get a smaller size pack.
Small-stove specific pot
1.5 Liter
Capacity
|
Regular
Stainless Steel
Material
|
Ultralight
Titanium
Material
|
Weight |
5.6oz (159g) |
4.1oz (116g) |
Effect on other factors |
Price |
~$20 |
~$70 |
Rationale |
Less technical material |
More technical material |
Why we do/don't carry it
= we rent = we sell
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Standard for most outdoor uses for durability reasons
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Much more expensive relative to the improvements in weight savings
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Methodology notes
- Only pots are compared; pans are rarely used by true backpackers since they're less versatile & most of backcountry cooking is boiling water
- Even though it's another common metal used given its weight savings, aluminum is left out of this comparison. This is because aluminum is often coated or combined with other technologies which can create substantial variance in weight & price
- Only weight is compared exactly; pots are by definition not compactible, at the same liter capacity, they'll all be around the same size volume-wise
- Capacity is a key determinant of weight & size, you can think of the categories from the Capacity section as the first column--for each capacity, there could be a Regular vs Ultralight comparison. That said, we've only highlighted a 1.5 Liter pot because:
- If you care about weight, you'll take a small stove, which is only compatible with small pots
- The products on the market are actually quite hard to compare because all manufacturers seem to produce random sizes (0.8, 1.1, 1.6 Liter size pots). At such small capacities, had we shown a range of possible weights, there would have been so much overlap across Regular & Ultralight that it wouldn't be meaningful. Therefore, to give you the best comparison of actual weight & price differences, we found 2 pots of the same size in stainless steel & titanium. Note that the pots are actually part of a set & not sold separately, so prices are triangulated
Minor features that may be important
Here, we give you a list of questions to start thinking about minor features. We hope our approach of savings these features for last gets you to more critically think about what you need & not get caught up in the hype of what's cool and over-spend your budget.
- Is there a handle?
- Does it come with a lid? If so is the lid transparent?
- How do the sides taper?