Hi Presumed loss,
"real" backup knife (as opposed to a scalpel or x-acto blade) is worth the space"

Yep that is right on, I am with you every step of the way. I like the size but I want a knife and not to much bulk. I want other things in the kit but it gets to large to fast.

So what are my priorities in a urban environment what will I need in a earthquake, volcano eruption, tornado, hurricane,etc., even a terrorist attack. What would I need and not want in these situations. Also it is just like you said you can not carry every thing in all places.

I have a friend of mine that was in San Francisco during a bad earthquake years ago, all the buildings around her were destroyed and hers was left standing. She said the security guard would not let them out of the building for almost a day, it was dark and she could not get to her car and had to walk many miles home or what was left of her home. She said it was like a disaster movie, the only people there were small roaming gangs of people steeling, and stuff like that, and she is a lawyer.

That area went a long time without any stores being open, no running water, no power etc.

A scalpel blade does not cut it in that kind of situation so what is the answer??



MCSE

Cooking in foil (besides wrapping and baking or grilling) is pretty awkward at best (try fixing hobo stew in a foil-formed pot). It's kind of like the idea of a solar still for water... looks good on paper, but real world experience just doesn't support it. For those who insist that it's THE way to go, good luck, but for myself, I'd just as soon have a dedicated SOLID cook pot (let's face it, a canteen cup or small trail pot weighs next to nothing and doesn't take up a lot of space).

Troy

Thanks, wildcard- that's what I thought. I've bought several different sizes of metal mess kits that I'm using as the container for different sized kits.

I used to keep one of the small Gerbers in my kit, found them on sale and in bright colors some years ago. Now I keep a small Wegner. It was the smallest knife that has a saw and they were also on sale.

Back when I was a scout, I actually did boil an egg in an unwaxed paper cup over a small fire. The top may burn down to the water if you are not careful, but it does work. Heard about the bacon and eggs in a paper bag, but have not tried it yet.

Seperate note, we cooked omlettes in plastic bags for one camp outing recently. Crack two or three eggs into a heavy duty ziplock (quart), add cheese, spices, whatever, mix by kneeding, drop into a pot of boiling water, and cook until done. You eat it right out of the bag.

Bill

I would think bacon in a paper bag would not work. As soon as the grease comes out of the bacon, it will wick out into the paper and go up like napalm.

Anybody ever tried boiling water in a plastic bag? Presumably the same priciples that keep a paper cup from burning would apply here, but will the plastic deform too much when it gets close to boiling?

when we made the breakfast in a bag, the fire was just hot coals. We had made little cookers out of 3lb coffee cans for this.

Put several strips of bacon in the bottom of a paper lunch bag then shake an egg up, break it open then drop it over the bacon. Put that over the coals and let it cook. The bacon grease burns at a higher temperature than the bag, that helps to keep it from burning up. Actually works well.

Goatrider:

I doubt that you could boil water over a direct flame in a plastic container because the water does not seep into the fibers like it does in paper. The plastic would melt until a hole appeared at the hottest point and then the melting would occur at a different place until all the water leaked out or the water put out the fire.

I would be leery about boiling a lunch in a regular ziplock that was not made for water immersion cooking as the plastic components could leach into the food even if the bag were not visibly melting.

Brad:

I don't understand how you can fry bacon in a regular paper bag over an open flame. While the explanation of a fat soaked bag not burning seems feasible on the face of it, it would take a while for the fat to melt off the bacon and any part of the bag that was dry would flame up over an open flame. The other thing is that pork grease once melted and partially vaporized is highly voliatle. If you have "PERSONALLY" done so successfully, please give us details as I would like to try this on my grill for safetys sake. If you have not done this "PERSONALLY", please question your source for details as I find it hard to believe.

Thanks!

Bountyhunter <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

bountyhunter, that seems more likely than the latent heat of evaporation of the water keeping it cool (below boiling), but has anybody actually tried it?

Goatrider:

I am not a chemist and I have never tried boiling water in a plastic container, but I have observed that plastic starts to deform before it bursts into flame, so I am guessing the same thing would happen with water in a plastic bag.

Bountyhunter