For want of a spoon, the meal was lost

[Stormin Mormon]

(From another list, written by a survie who is well
prepared, and was humble enough to share such
a moment with the world. I'll let him remain anony-
mous, except to those who saw the post earlier.)

Went camping once, on my motorcycle, with a bunch
of other people along in their vehicles. I had plenty of
food, TP, extra clothing and so on. Lit my little back-
packing stove and had water almost hot enough to
rehydrate my freeze dried food. Was just about to
open the package, when I decided to get the spoon
out first. After all, I was going to have to stir the water
into the rice mix. Well, what do ya know. I had no
spoon with me. I just couldn't find it! I knew it had to
be there somewhere, because except for cooking,
eating and cleaning it afterward, it was always in my
backpack.

Well, ended up cleaing my face and bod with the
now cooled water. Put the food back in the pack. I
ended up subsisting on some candy bars I had
bought earlier and my candy, nut and dried fruit
mix. This was Friday night. Sunday going back
home, I stopped at a drive in and pigged out. I could
have borrowed a spoon from someone else. I could
have gone out to buy a spoon or buy my meals. I
just opted to go with what I had on me.

Now, to make matters funny. I looked for that spoon
when I got back home. I literally upended the pack
on the floor and found it real fast. Should have done
that on Friday night, but I was afraid I would lose
something then. From that day on, I always kept my
spoon with the cook kit, inside the cook kit bag.
This bag had my metal spoon and a plastic spoon I
added inside the pot, waterproof matches in a water-
proof container, backpacking stove, pot, lid, pot
holder, spices and salt.

I really should find that cook kit, update it with my
current spices and pack it in the truck, with plenty of
fuel and it's funnel/filter. BTW, a quart metal jar can
easily hold a couple weeks worth of fuel, if the stove
is full initially.

BTW, I did have a good time that weekend, but I did
drink an awful lot of water for some odd reason. Least
in my truck now, I have about 20 each plastic spoons,
forks and knives.

[CanopyCo]

I use a germen mess kit.
I tried to find one on Google to show but I didn’t find one that is
exactly like mine is.
It looks like what you find on Google if you search German mess kit,
but mine does not have the nesting pan inside.
It does have a cooking platform that the kit nests inside of.
An alcohol stove that fits into the cooking platform to put it right
where you need it, and plastic flask for fuel.
The bottom is a pot and the lid is a pan that accepts a stick as a
handle.
The pot has a bail wire handle to hang it from.
I added a scotch bright pad, small bottle of dish soap (mine is an eye
drop bottle reassigned to hold the soap), pack of matches, bandana,
small sheet of PVC sheeting, pocket knife, spoon, fork and table
knife.

That gives me a complete eating kit in one can.

The scotch bright pad and soap for cleaning up before and after use.
Pocket knife for cutting food that is too hard to cut with the table
knife, as well as cutting the wood to use as a handle.
Fork and spoon for eating.
The table knife is kind of redundant with the pocket knife, but I
prefer one for cooking to turn things and stir the pot.
The bandana not only keeps the entire thing from rattling, but it also
gives me a clean surface to work on (table cloth) as well as a wash
cloth, dish cloth, towel, hot pot holder and napkin.
The PVC sheeting is a cutting board.
If you don’t have access to the PVC sheeting, a square cut from the
side of a dish soap or about any plastic bottle will work well enough.
The matches are pretty much required to light the stove, as a lighter
just won’t do it.
You could use paper or sticks, but this way I have everything I need
just in case it isn’t available locally.
I prefer a real fork with long tongs (salad fork) and table spoon with
a deep bowl, as the spork or other eating tools just don’t work as
well.

I use the pan as a plate and the pot as a bowl, because I am a
heathen.
;-)