How to save fuel using a Pot Cosy when camping
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- Опубликовано: 21 фев 2012
- When cooking over a camping stove, the best way to save fuel and make it last much longer is to use a Pot Cosy. The modern term for a Hay Box and although the materials have changed, the principle is still the same. Simply place your hot cooking pot full of warm food, into the Pot Cosy, seal it and let the retained heat do all the simmering for you.
After you get your food to a boil, don't waste fuel. Simply put it in a pot cosy and all your simmering will take place for free!
In this video I perform a simple experiment and show over an hour, exactly how much heat can be retained in this way. It was conducted on a chilly Spring day, however the final result is even more impressive during Winter.
I've been using this system for some time and I'm still amazed how many outdoors people are unaware of the practicalities. Whether you cook over gas, meths, alcohol stoves, wood stoves, solid fuel tablets or candles this item adds very little to the bulk of your pack, weighs a few grams at most and will keep your food cooking while you prepare your camp.
Listen to our Audio Podcasts No 336 and 337, where I cook up a three course full Christmas meal using one stove and a couple of cosy systems in a small tent during a December storm. Sure it took some juggling with the timing but the pleasures of the meal soon meant any stress was long forgotten.
You can make a Cosy out of most materials. An old sleeping mat, a few sheets of polystyrene even an old fleece blanket. However the modern foil encased bubble wrap is second to none, offering superior equivalent insulation properties. 
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This video is almost 10 years old and an excellent presentation even by today's standards. Well done, Thumbs Up.
Many thanks. Probably the simplest and most cost effective outdoors item around. Even when materials change the principle is still the same :)
Many home improvement stores sell a wide aluminum foil tape used to seal and join heating/cooling venting. It should work better and last longer than the duct tape shown in the video. The one negative is that it's likely to come in a large and hence more costly roll. You might combine this project with sealing up energy-wasting holes in your home ventilation.
One useful adaptation of this idea is to 'cook once, eat twice." When you fix breakfast, boil extra hot water and use it to fill two thermos containers, one with soup & noodles for lunch and the other for your hot drink. They'll keep it hot for hours and, unlike a cosy with pot, keep it from spilling. I tested that idea a couple of days ago and found that even after nine hours (overnight) it was still pleasantly warm. You might even shift the times. boil and fill at bedtime and you'll have a warm breakfast waiting come morning, allowing you to eat without cooking and get an early start.
im a truck driver, and i made my first cosy to keep mountain dew colder longer, so it works for both hot and cold things .. nice video
Dam BOY 🔥🔥🔥
Thanks a lot for the informative comparison and the well made DIY-Guide! 😀
Kind Regards from Germany ... Thomas
A few years ago, poundland were selling those car window protectors. These ones are flexible foam backed foil instead of bubble wrap foil type. I got around 6 of them. Extremely light and compact and many uses. Putting one over a tent inners large mesh ventilater at one end, Laying over tent inner in cold weather, putting over me, reflective layer under or over camping mat, wraping cooking pots/foil bags (multiple layers with one protector). Heat reflector for fire. Wrapping up takeaway meals.... Keeping frozen food frozen/cold for longer (wrap in newspaper first to absorb condensation).To stop slipping around ie with mats a few strips/squares of that rubbery non slip mesh material also from p land. To put pots/cups on as a table, one of those thick foam kneelers, also great to sit or kneel on in the cold/wet, can also use to fan a fire. One thing I notice though with so many camping videos, that makes me cringe when they are using gas, is how high they turn it up, wasting at least 50% of the gas. Likewise to save gas, a windshield.
I agree with everyone else. Thanks for this.
Well executed. Testing and data = win. Thank you for doing it right.
Very informative video. Thanks for making it!
Awesome man, we use this material to keep our frozen meat cool longer on summer canoe trips. I'm going to make some for the pot now for our upcoming winter adventures into the Canadian backcountry! Thanks! 💪🇨🇦👍
I almost wonder if you were to fold the handle out over the bottom cosy and place the top cosy on without holes for the handle would improve your performance. Great DIY idea.
Brian Rose ^this. Having a hole for top cosy is not smart and it’s where your heat will escape. No need to grab handles with cozies on. Just lift from bottom.
This is a great idea. Ill make cup/bottle holders for my camino in Spain next summer to keep drinks colder.
Great tip! I also use these camping. Here in the Arizona desert, it gets rather chilly at night (below freezing this time of year) and a hot meal makes all the difference. One more thing is, you can make bags out of these, keep them in the car, and when you go shopping, you can keep your groceries cold longer on the way home. It works much like a pizza delivery bag. Great for hot or cold items.
Bravo, great vid!
Very informative and educational. Thank you very much
Thank you for this. Worked perfectly and hugely reduced the amount of fuel used by eliminating the simmer-time. Also spares the cleaning as no food it burned into the bottom of the titanium. 10 minutes to construct? More like an hour for me.
I’m sure it was a piece of art 😉 But good to confirm to others just how effective it is. 👍
Of course any hole will loose heat, however you need to hold a steaming hot pot safely to lower it into the cosy. However if you use a pot gripper, it might be easier. Its all about choices and personal needs and this is merely a demonstration to get people thinking.
Fantastic!! Thank you!
Thanks for that tip
I stumble and bumble about, only to find in my search...your great video...am gonna make me one of these POT COzYs. TY for posting. Have yer self a Great day.. CHeers ;-))
i loved your idia thanks for sharing.
Very creative, I will definitely make one of these ASAP!! Thank you.
You won't regret it :)
Make more vids man, Your good at it . Thanks for the conversion to.
Thats a good vid,thank you
Thank you, great video.
Really inspired me to try making one and see if it makes a difference when camping.
It makes a massive difference both to fuel used and the pleasure of eating warm food to the end of the meal :)
i picked up one of those cloth lunch bags with the silver liner...works great but i'd bet this ( yours) works better
thank you
Great informative video! I did make a few of these and they work great. thank you
You're welcome. It makes big savings on fuel consumption.
great! but I would definitively cover the space between the handles also, to see if there is a difference -it is like insulating houses, cold points where warmth can diffuse ruins the whole job
love it
@strika62 Yes I have and I've found no benefits from a heat retention point of view, but it looks prettier. However I've also found that our damp weather makes the tape peel much sooner than Gaffa tape, and as I always carry that with me, it is much easy to patch up.
Personally: I would extend pot-cosy 2-4cm at the bottom, to create a light-weight wind-shield.
so helpful :-) thank you for taking the time & effort to share
No problem. It makes a massive difference to use of fuel and keeping your food warm for much, much longer.
@@TheOutdoorsStation :-) sounds great! Thanks again
wrap stuff in blankets too. We used to do this you heat something to boil wrap it with several blankets and it'll stay hot for a day or so
where do i buy the foil bubble wrap from? can i use it while cooking? or only after cooking?
We use a Cozy on each pot when camping . JUst boil the water and add the Cozy and set it aside and do something else The value of the Cozy will be evident the first time you boil the water and add the dry food and set it aside while you are heating another pot of water for cleanup. In the US we have a product that has 2 mylar/polyester scrim with a foam core which keeps a pot of tea hot for 1/2 hour quite easily .
I'm wondering if the difference after one hour would have been even greater if the cosy had been kept on the whole time.
I'm a complete camping novice... with this sort of system will it keep food cooking for a while? I'm going camping for the first time alone with 3 kids so the less time I have to spend actually at the stove the better. I was planning to cook and freeze our meals beforehand in ziploc bags, then reheat on a camping stove. If I bring the water to a boil with the ziploc in it, then put it in a pot cozy, surely that would be enough to heat it thoroughly after about 10 mins or so? Any thoughts?
That is an excellent video. Have you tried the aluminized/steel tape to connect the pieces instead of duct tape? I've found it has superior adhesion especially after a few uses. Thanks for your good work.
What material did you use and where did you get it?
I put a double thickness on the two halves (took a little more working out) so when the cosy is on, there is a double layer al round (except the handle, of course). I figured that the bottom may be in contact with a cold surface, and so some heat could be lost there, and that the top is where heat rises, and so it will have more loses. I haven't done any comparative tests, maybe I will when I get round to making a single again.
TBH, there isn't much in it, with regard to double and single layers in the video, especially as I have no need to keep water warm for an hour. TBH, I went through a phase where I carried small vacuum flask (a 500ml or 1 litre, depending on how I felt) and any remaining boiled water would be put into that (the flask being filled with water from the start of the march, to part negate the extra weight/volume), for later use, for example, a very quick brew later on or if overnight, put it in a ziplock bag with porridge (in a cozy) in the morning for a quick porridge breakfast or even brew.
what type of pot are you useing?
hi Bob.
the second covercozy doesn't really need a handle cutout does it ? that would hold heat longer too !
MultiOutdoorman True, however what happens if it sticks due to moisture and expansion? You could be in danger of losing your supper. I would rather have one hold on a pan of hot liquid for safety, but feel free to see what works for you.
Hi! This aluminum isolation material, what is it called?
+Kim Svensson In the US, it is called "reflectix"
You can do away with that handle, which would do away with the need for a slot in the insulation, which would increase thermal efficiency hugely. To slide it in/out of the insulation, use a pot that has a wire handle just like a bucket
You can find a aluminum tape right next to the insulation in most stores. Will hold up better he gaffa "duct' tape. much more water resistant.
The stuff does not burn???
The theory is correct, however I would be more concerned about the food safety with frozen food defrosting on the campsite and then reheating it! There's no reason to reheat in a ziplock bag, as this might melt against the hot metal pan. I would just pour the contents out into the pan instead. Best of luck :-)
I am going to make one of these..
But i am also going to make me some little booties to wear at night hehehee
whats the name of the material? UK.
Double Foil Bubble Aluminum Insulation
How did you end up reheating the food for your camping trip? I hope you all had fun:)
I know this video is dated but with the pot handles folding against the pot sides why would you need to make slits in the cozy side ? these slits for the handle violate the cozy integrity & diminish its effectiveness. the single layer cozy would be far more thermally efficient w/o the handle slits, the double layer would be 2X or more thermally efficient.
robert frederick Agreed. However you need to be able to hold the hot pot to put it in and take it out of the cosy. If you use a 'gripper' then that might be easier. However they only work when the lid is off, therefore losing heat. I can't think of a solution which allow you to keep the heat integrity 100%. Can you?
how about sliding a solid top on first? Maybe then you can grab the edges, lift and lower it into the second? Not sure if it would heat up too quick to grab though.
To hold the pot while sliding it into the cozy: make a mini "oven mitt" -- a pot gripper cozy for your fingers and thumb -- from the same materials.
Hayboxing in fact continues the cooking process
not just keeping the food warm
I cook soaked red lentils hayboxing
Boil the lentils
Place in the cozy
Leave for five minutes
Return to stove to boil, which takes just 1/2 a minute
Return to cozy
Cooking lentils takes 20 minutes with almost no fuel consumption
Yes it continues the cooking process if you use it that way. However when you use the pot cosy system with freeze dried food style packets etc, it makes the bottom of the food packet much more enjoyable than having to endure cold sludge. So the haybox system using modern materials has much much to offer the outdoors user. I've even used it to keep my takeaway chips warm from the village to the wild camp spot once or twice :) Thanks.
nice vid.(didn't care so much for the music though ,just sayin)
Agree ! ! When did bl**dy " dopey-music" become compulsory. And so many photographically superb trekking vids suffer in the same way, when a low key factual commentary allowing the perfection of the landscape to speak for itself, is all that is required.
pretty sure its mylar not aluminum
Equivalent to 2 inches of polystyrene??? I really don't think so! It does work to some extent - but the material used for windscreen shades is more effective as it also uses a layer of foam between the aluminium. But still nothing like as effective as anything used for a 'haybox' or' retained-heat' cooker.
This is technical spec supplied by the manufacturers;
Thickness: 4mm
Insulation properties: 1.393 M2K/W (equivalent to 55mm of polystyrene)
Achieves Class 1 surface spread of flame tested to BS 476 Part 7
CFC & HCFC Free
Weight: ~68g for 0.3m2 (227g/m2)
It must be very different from the product sold in the he UK.... A side by side test had would immediately show the difference. As I understand it, Reflectix works as a barrier to radiant heat, and use of an airgap is essential for this purpose.
The core between the two sheets of al foil is bubble wrap, so there is an air gap.
why not just use a yeti or thermos and thermal cook your meal ? they are way more efficient and you can cook a much larger variety of food. I use an 18 oz. yeti and carry it on every backpack trip. cooks enough for 2. or one extremely hungry hiker.
Ta Price Which is fine if it is a short trip or you have plenty of fuel. The Cosy system comes into its own when keeping fuel use to a minimum. The weight is negligible and there is no additional bulk in your pack.
I use the thermos to conserve fuel. same as the cosy system. with the added benefit of hours of thermal cooking. just add boiling water and let the thermal aspect cook your food. not knocking the cosy . have used it many times, great system. however with thermal cooking you can vastly increase your menu. it's not that heavy and easily carried on extended trips. or through hikes.
The double is only 4* warmer than the single.
4 degrees C is almost 40 degrees F
You might check your calculations, that isn't even close! 4 degrees C is more like 7 degrees F!!!!
Almost. DUH.
The key is the relative heat loss. Absolute values, in C or F, have no meaning as the zeroes are totally arbitrary. The "double" loss is 88°-52° = 36°. The "single" loss is 88°-48° = 40°. The "double" loss is 100*(40-36)/40 = 10% less than the "single" loss.
N
Wouldn't you be better off just having a thermos?? They even make them for food now so this is just homemade garbage really!!
You've obviously not been on a long self powered trip where you start to question the weight of everything and your reason for carrying it. Thermos are great for a day out or car camping. But carrying the weight of a full thermos over the hills, is not what this is about.
Great tutorial, horrible horrible 90s music.
guzelmarmara Yeah I know. But the RnB tracks just didn’t work 😉