Äta middag ut - Dining Out in Sweden

Submitted by J.W. Will

I have seen this mess kit labeled as a Norwegian and Swedish mess kit as well.  I purchased a Swedish model, bare aluminum, but it also came with three extra items.

1 alcohol stove
1 alcohol fuel bottle
1 metal cook stand that holds the pots above the flame, acts as a stand and base for the stove and a windbreak.

All of the above except for the stand fit inside the metal cups.  Upon first getting it I put it to the test and made a batch of impromptu chili with ground beef, dried red beans and peppers, onions and chili powder and tomatoes.  I let the beans simmer and rehydrate for several hours and then added the rest and let simmer, figure about four hours of cook time all using just the items in the mess kit.

The kit is good to go; it works well on a camp stove, its alcohol stove or the kitchen stovetop.

The stand works very well to keep your cook pots either the shallow one or the deep one so you don't have any spills.

The downside, its aluminum so it turns black from the campfire and that can be a bit messy,

Overall it’s a good piece of kit, and the cook system is leaps and bounds ahead of a canteen cup and those aftermarket canteen cup cooker/stands and trioxaine.

ED -- What you are referring to actually IS the Swedish mess kit.  I too purchased one of these while looking for a replacement/upgrade to the GI issue kit, and as you say, it comes complete with a large boiling pot, lid/frying pan, as well as a combination windscreen/cook stand and a alcohol fuel burner and fuel bottle.

I had no issue at all in cooking with this stove/mess kit combo (in fact, I still use it to cook kim-chee noodles when I visit the office) and, I agree, it’s good to go as is, right out of the box.

The only reason I selected the German mess kit over this one was the fact that the German kit comes with a second, smaller bowel/container and I did not have a ready supply of alcohol fuel in the field.  Also, the shield/cook stand was an additional source of weight (though, since it is aluminum, it isn’t really all that heavy.)

All in all though, I cannot fault your preference for this piece of kit though, and I’m pleased that you have found success with it.

Get a Swedish mess kit here

Comments

[waldo]

For the civvies, the equivalent is the Trangia: http://www.trangia.se/english/2921.25_series.html

The 25-1 goes everywhere I go with a backpack.

[Allium]

Before you put a pot on a campfire take either bar soap or liquid soap and put a thin coating on the pot - that way the soap burns not the pot and it washes off.

[Nicolas]

It's not the pot that's burning, it's the soot from the incomplete burning of the ethanol/alcohol. The trick with the soap is a really good one though. Can't wait to try it...

[Eric Daniel]

I'd forgotten about the soap trick (which I first learned about while in the Boy Scouts.) It does the trick for cleaning soot off pots though.

Regarding incomplete combustion, if you're using a diesel fired stove, such as the MSR XGK, I'd suggest you get the stove up to operating temp before you put the pot on to boil. That will also reduce your soot load.

[Ghill]

Äta middag ut - Dining Out in Sweden.

Actually, the correct translation would be "Ät middag ute" or "Utemiddag"

To skip that last "E" in "ute" will make the sentence more like "eat dinner - get out"

Anywho...I like 'em. Have used them a plenty of times. Costs about 10skr (aprox. $1.5).

[Dave]

Funny anecdote:

In the forces the stove is mostly known by its unofficial name "Snuskburken" which basically means "can of filth" or "dirt jug". According to the story I've heard this is because the army never bothered to issue the conscripts with washing-up equipment (and buying the said eqipment is forbidden by army code).

But I have to agree, it's a great piece of kit. After all, it's been used for almost 70 years with forces serving from Kongo to the Arctic. Current issue m/40's are made of Stainless Steel, a great improvement if you ask me.

[bigdog]

If you use methanol fuel instead of ethanol in burner you will have no black soot.Methanol burns cleaner .