Trangia users



Ian wrote:
> Wish to join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/trangia
>


OMFG! What is the net coming to. A mail list for Trangias!?
Yes they are nice. Loved by bushwalkers and cycle tourists
alike. But how much can you say? Are there not plently of
places, on and offline, to discuss already?
 
"Mike" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Ian wrote:
> > Wish to join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/trangia
> >

>
> OMFG! What is the net coming to. A mail list for Trangias!?
> Yes they are nice. Loved by bushwalkers and cycle tourists
> alike. But how much can you say? Are there not plently of
> places, on and offline, to discuss already?


Maybe not that much to talk about, but maybe hints & tips for use around the
world, where to get meths around the world, and of course, the all important
recipes for hungry touring cyclists might be a good topic - just to mention
a few. And lets face it, it couldn't be any worse than some of the ****
people go on with on this and other NG's - could it?

regards

Andrew

http://www.geocities.com/andrewhooker59/CycleTouring.html
 
Around Australia Recumbent Style wrote:

> Maybe not that much to talk about, but maybe hints & tips for use around the
> world, where to get meths around the world, and of course, the all important


Why not start a thread here? They are very popular in the Perth
cycle-touring assoc. (Have you been along? I dont recognise the name.)
I just can't see a dedicated mailing-list lasting long.

OK. Metho can be hard to find in North America, but the hardest part is
finding what its called. Ask for "methyl hydrate" in a hardware store.

> recipes for hungry touring cyclists might be a good topic - just to mention


The old dehydrated "pasta & sauce" packets are good, but lack protein.
Try dry TVP, with stock cubes for flavour.

> a few. And lets face it, it couldn't be any worse than some of the ****
> people go on with on this and other NG's - could it?


:) Not mentioning any particular subjects, of course.

> http://www.geocities.com/andrewhooker59/CycleTouring.html


Great website. Inspiring. Thanks.
 
In aus.bicycle on Sat, 31 Jul 2004 18:17:43 +0800
Mike <[email protected]> wrote:
> Around Australia Recumbent Style wrote:
>
>> recipes for hungry touring cyclists might be a good topic - just to mention

>
> The old dehydrated "pasta & sauce" packets are good, but lack protein.
> Try dry TVP, with stock cubes for flavour.


Or get a dehydrator and make your own.

Dehydrate vegies, get some dried meat or fish from the asian grocery, or
dehydrate your own. Carry spices in sachets. When you camp, put the
dehydrated stuff in a billy of water, and go off and shower and so on
for a couple of hours. When you come back, heat the water and cook the
rehydrated food. Rice is useful too, take quick cook rice and use that
for carbs.

The commercial stuff is expensive, and not particularly nice, at least
not the ones I've had. Making your own is cheap and easy, and ends up
being very tasty.

You don't need a commercial dehydrator if you just want to experiment,
you can dry the stuff in the oven. Low heat, door open.

Zebee
 
"Zebee Johnstone" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In aus.bicycle on Sat, 31 Jul 2004 18:17:43 +0800
> Mike <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Around Australia Recumbent Style wrote:
> >
> >> recipes for hungry touring cyclists might be a good topic - just to

mention
> >
> > The old dehydrated "pasta & sauce" packets are good, but lack protein.
> > Try dry TVP, with stock cubes for flavour.

>
> Or get a dehydrator and make your own.
>
> Dehydrate vegies, get some dried meat or fish from the asian grocery, or
> dehydrate your own. Carry spices in sachets. When you camp, put the
> dehydrated stuff in a billy of water, and go off and shower and so on
> for a couple of hours. When you come back, heat the water and cook the
> rehydrated food. Rice is useful too, take quick cook rice and use that
> for carbs.
>
> The commercial stuff is expensive, and not particularly nice, at least
> not the ones I've had. Making your own is cheap and easy, and ends up
> being very tasty.
>
> You don't need a commercial dehydrator if you just want to experiment,
> you can dry the stuff in the oven. Low heat, door open.
>
> Zebee


Zebee

That's a great idea. We did some dehydrating before we left Atherton and had
steak, corned beef, chicken, vegetables and of course, dried Mango for our
mid morning snacks. We found we didn't have to re-hydrate the food, just
boiled it up on the Trangia and there it was, a great meal fit for two
hungry touring cyclists, and the Mango was just divine as a mid morning
snack.

regards,

Andrew

http://www.geocities.com/andrewhooker59/CycleTouring.html
 
"Mike" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Around Australia Recumbent Style wrote:

<SNIP>

> Why not start a thread here? They are very popular in the Perth
> cycle-touring assoc. (Have you been along? I dont recognise the name.)
> I just can't see a dedicated mailing-list lasting long.


G'day Mike.
No, I haven't been along, in fact, I wasn't aware that there was one. I'll
have to search them out. Thanks for the tip. Do they have a website?

regards

Andrew
http://www.geocities.com/andrewhooker59/CycleTouring.html
 
Around Australia Recumbent Style wrote:
>> ad here? They are very popular in the Perth
>>cycle-touring assoc. (Have you been along?


> G'day Mike.
> No, I haven't been along, in fact, I wasn't aware that there was one. I'll
> have to search them out. Thanks for the tip. Do they have a website?


They do, but its a bit outdated. mailto:[email protected] and ask for
the current program. There should be a PDF version soon.

http://www.ctawa.asn.au

They do rides most Sundays. Occassional meetings and pannier tours.

Shall I book you both in to speak at the next meeting?
 
"Mike" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Around Australia Recumbent Style wrote:
> >> ad here? They are very popular in the Perth
> >>cycle-touring assoc. (Have you been along?

>
> > G'day Mike.
> > No, I haven't been along, in fact, I wasn't aware that there was one.

I'll
> > have to search them out. Thanks for the tip. Do they have a website?

>
> They do, but its a bit outdated. mailto:[email protected] and ask for
> the current program. There should be a PDF version soon.
>
> http://www.ctawa.asn.au
>
> They do rides most Sundays. Occassional meetings and pannier tours.
>
> Shall I book you both in to speak at the next meeting?
>

Thanks for the offer. I don't think we could inspire anyone, but if there is
enough of an interest, we might just have a go at the questions and answers
thing if anyone is really interested. We did a couple of "show and tell" at
some schools on the trip and they were fun. Not sure how we'd go talking to
experienced adult tourers.
Let me know when & where, but no promises.

regards

Andrew
 
On Sun, 01 Aug 2004 09:31:04 +0000, Around Australia Recumbent Style
wrote:

>> You don't need a commercial dehydrator if you just want to experiment,
>> you can dry the stuff in the oven. Low heat, door open.

>
> That's a great idea. We did some dehydrating before we left Atherton and had
> steak, corned beef, chicken, vegetables and of course, dried Mango for our
> mid morning snacks. We found we didn't have to re-hydrate the food, just
> boiled it up on the Trangia and there it was, a great meal fit for two
> hungry touring cyclists, and the Mango was just divine as a mid morning
> snack.


How do you do meat - cook before dehydrating or dry it raw ?

Last major tour we basically cooked dinner most nights in the Trangia,
even managed to re-heat a fresh Alsacation 'family-size'
wine+pork+mushroom pie perfectly (if you're ever in Erstien[1], France
goto the little deli' in the town and get one, they're to die for).

We lived mainly on <something> with rice or pasta. Always carried
a few onions and a head o' garlic. We usually bought some fresh chicken
or pork late in the day (beef too expensive in Europe), or used tinned
tuna. Fried up the onion & garlic & meat, took it off the heat and
cooked the rice/pasta. Folded the former into the latter and served.
Was frying in butter during early spring, but by June it was getting
a bit to melted during the day to keep.

I think if weight permitted I'd like to carry a 2nd burner, so I could
cook both simultaneously, since most times the meat was cold when added
to the rice.

It can be difficult to find good burning alcohol in Europe. The the
Netherlands, all we could get was this horrible blue[2] 75% "methodus
spiritus" (IIRC) that left rich black soot over everything. Managed to
find 85% alc/vol stuff in France, was yellow, heaps less soot. Didn't
really get to camp much in Germany[3], so never ran out of metho.

-kt

[1] Erstien (possible sp?) is about 20k south of Strasbourg
on an absolutely beautiful bikepath beside a canal. Fantastic
municipal campground, cost about 10 euro a night for the 4 of us
(2 adults, 2 kids - 3 & 1 yrs)

[2] NL metho' is blue like kerosine is here.

[3] According to what a German campervan owning lady told us, it's
legal to camp wild for one night if you're passing though.
We guessed that makes it near impossible to find the little
farm campings that dot NL and F. Ended up staying in guest-houses
which are about 8-10x the cost of camping. Anyway I guess I'm
digressing, in a foot-note what's more, so I better be off.
 
"kingsley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:p[email protected]...
> On Sun, 01 Aug 2004 09:31:04 +0000, Around Australia Recumbent Style
> wrote:
>
> >> You don't need a commercial dehydrator if you just want to experiment,
> >> you can dry the stuff in the oven. Low heat, door open.

> >
> > That's a great idea. We did some dehydrating before we left Atherton and

had
> > steak, corned beef, chicken, vegetables and of course, dried Mango for

our
> > mid morning snacks. We found we didn't have to re-hydrate the food, just
> > boiled it up on the Trangia and there it was, a great meal fit for two
> > hungry touring cyclists, and the Mango was just divine as a mid morning
> > snack.

>
> How do you do meat - cook before dehydrating or dry it raw ?


You can cook it first, or turn it into jerky by either marianating it and
then dehyrating, or make a salt and herbs mixture, coat all the bits and
dehydrating it that way. The trick is to semi-freeze it first, cut into
stips no bigger than 1/2" wide and then do it. Freezing it helps the cutting
and the thin strips makes the drying easier.

>
> Last major tour we basically cooked dinner most nights in the Trangia,
> even managed to re-heat a fresh Alsacation 'family-size'
> wine+pork+mushroom pie perfectly (if you're ever in Erstien[1], France
> goto the little deli' in the town and get one, they're to die for).


Thanks for the tip.

>
> We lived mainly on <something> with rice or pasta. Always carried
> a few onions and a head o' garlic. We usually bought some fresh chicken
> or pork late in the day (beef too expensive in Europe), or used tinned
> tuna. Fried up the onion & garlic & meat, took it off the heat and
> cooked the rice/pasta. Folded the former into the latter and served.
> Was frying in butter during early spring, but by June it was getting
> a bit to melted during the day to keep.


Nothing wrong with that.

>
> I think if weight permitted I'd like to carry a 2nd burner, so I could
> cook both simultaneously, since most times the meat was cold when added
> to the rice.


We always put the meat back on for a few seconds to get some heat back into
it which saves a second burner.
One burner can be a pain though.

>
> It can be difficult to find good burning alcohol in Europe. The the
> Netherlands, all we could get was this horrible blue[2] 75% "methodus
> spiritus" (IIRC) that left rich black soot over everything. Managed to
> find 85% alc/vol stuff in France, was yellow, heaps less soot. Didn't
> really get to camp much in Germany[3], so never ran out of metho.


Well, the soot helps form carbon on the pots which then heats the pot
quicker and uses less fuel (so we found out) but maybe the type of soot your
produced is not so helpful. We just wiped the pot over with a wet rag to get
the excess off and then dried it. Worked a charm

>
> -kt
>
> [1] Erstien (possible sp?) is about 20k south of Strasbourg
> on an absolutely beautiful bikepath beside a canal. Fantastic
> municipal campground, cost about 10 euro a night for the 4 of us
> (2 adults, 2 kids - 3 & 1 yrs)


Sounds okay to me.

> [2] NL metho' is blue like kerosine is here.


Thanks for the tip.

>
> [3] According to what a German campervan owning lady told us, it's
> legal to camp wild for one night if you're passing though.
> We guessed that makes it near impossible to find the little
> farm campings that dot NL and F. Ended up staying in guest-houses
> which are about 8-10x the cost of camping. Anyway I guess I'm
> digressing, in a foot-note what's more, so I better be off.



We will be looking for as much "wild" camping as possible so it sounds like
we could be in for an interesting time when we go O/S.

Thanks for sharing. Hope you try the dehydration thing.
 
On Wed, 04 Aug 2004 11:34:33 +0000, Around Australia Recumbent Style
wrote:

>> It can be difficult to find good burning alcohol in Europe. The the
>> Netherlands, all we could get was this horrible blue[2] 75% "methodus
>> spiritus" (IIRC) that left rich black soot over everything. Managed to
>> find 85% alc/vol stuff in France, was yellow, heaps less soot. Didn't
>> really get to camp much in Germany[3], so never ran out of metho.

>
> Well, the soot helps form carbon on the pots which then heats the pot
> quicker and uses less fuel (so we found out) but maybe the type of soot your
> produced is not so helpful. We just wiped the pot over with a wet rag to get
> the excess off and then dried it. Worked a charm


Well it didn't wash off too easily, but somehow it did manage
to get all over everything when packed. So we ended up scouring
it off every night or so.

BTW: What's your oppinion on the non-stick and/or titanium pots?
We found that the pot-holder clamp scratched the **** out of the
coating, and FWIW it didn't really make much difference in functionality.

I've been toying with the idea of saving up for some Ti pots, since
the Trangia is relatively heavy... although I guess the bulk of the
load is the fuel and the weight you'd actually save would be
in the range of tens of grams. But what I *am* going to do is trade
in our steel knife-fork-spoon sets for some lexan (plastic) ones.
5 sets of them will make a difference... maybe, it all adds up I guess.

-kt
 
kingsley wrote:
>>Well, the soot helps form carbon on the pots which then heats the pot
>>quicker and uses less fuel


The carbon absorbs the infra-red radiation I suppose. If thats
significant, why arn't all alum pots anodised dark? This calls
for an experiment.

> BTW: What's your oppinion on the non-stick and/or titanium pots?


The non-stick scratches too easily for camping. Steel lining is better.
A non-stick pan only would be useful for frying eggs, etc though.

As for Ti, careful what you say in a cycling forum. But I reckon there
are better ways to cut weight. Replace the stand and windshield with
wire and heavy-duty al-foil for a start if you really want to cut
weight. Take only the kettle and cook-in-the-bag meals if truly keen.

> But what I *am* going to do is trade
> in our steel knife-fork-spoon sets for some lexan (plastic) ones.


The plastic cutlery given on Qantas flights (from airports where
deadly steel spoons are banned) is very good.
 
"kingsley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:p[email protected]...
> On Wed, 04 Aug 2004 11:34:33 +0000, Around Australia Recumbent Style
> wrote:

<SNIP>

> BTW: What's your oppinion on the non-stick and/or titanium pots?
> We found that the pot-holder clamp scratched the **** out of the
> coating, and FWIW it didn't really make much difference in functionality.


Not too sure to be honest as we have the stainless pots and they seemed fine
for everything. My initial thoughts on the non-stick, is that the non-stick
at home usually rubs off somewhere and then the whole lots starts to fall
off, so I would give that idea the flick. As for the titanium, well, as you
said, the weight is a factor but not being sure of the titanium leeching/no
leeching I couldn't comment, but maybe a bit on research on the net will
reveal an answer.

One of the things we did to help stop the Trangia pots etc rattling was to
get some of that no-slip tablecloth stuff and cut it into bits that would
sit inside each pot to act as a protector and method of stopping the
rattling - it worked a treat!

> I've been toying with the idea of saving up for some Ti pots, since
> the Trangia is relatively heavy... although I guess the bulk of the
> load is the fuel and the weight you'd actually save would be
> in the range of tens of grams. But what I *am* going to do is trade
> in our steel knife-fork-spoon sets for some lexan (plastic) ones.
> 5 sets of them will make a difference... maybe, it all adds up I guess.
>
> -kt
>

Sounds like a plan. The only thing I would worry about is how long before
the plastic fractures and breaks? The trade off in weight might be okay, but
what about functionality? I guess you can always buy some more somewhere.

regards
Andrew
 
Around Australia Recumbent Style wrote:

> said, the weight is a factor but not being sure of the titanium leeching/no
> leeching I couldn't comment, but maybe a bit on research on the net will
> reveal an answer.


Leeching? titanium is used medically. Quite safe and unreactive.
Pure Ti is a bit soft, would scratch easily, but alloys can be hard.