The more involved I get with this forum the more I realize just how wide a range of styles and beliefs there are. One thing I'm curious about is your varying opinions on emergency cooking? Do any of you carry cooking gear as part of a BOB or emergency kit or is the ability to make fire considered sufficient?

I've been watching a lot of Man vs. Wild and Survivorman lately and I always find it interesting that Bear Grylls eats so many things raw but Les Stroud cooks/boils damn near everything first.

Kit warning!

Personally I carry a small bag with a small alcohol stove (Vargo Titanium Triad), a folding solid fuel stove containing 4 fuel packs (similar to the Esbit pocket stove), and a mini Bic. A little while ago I added to it so it could double as a 'food and water' kit when I go lightweight hiking. I didn't add much just some collapsible chop sticks, salt and pepper packets, water purifications tabs, a disposible fork and spoon, my Gerber LST knife, a Wet Ones towelette, a couple of alchohol swabs, a small container of sea salt crystals (for food or to refill my MSR MIOX pen), a 1/8 oz. bottle of Tobasco and a 1/4 oz. bottle of 'special' hot sauce just for me (Blair's Megadeath). When I'm camping I carry a bottle of alcohol fuel of course but for emergency scenarios I keep it around because it's so easy to get fuel from a drug store or gas station. The re-usable solid fuel packs make dandy fire starters and the pocket stove can act as a wind guard for the alcohol stove.

I keep a stainless mug (A prison replica) tethered to my 1L Nalgene bottle that I use as a one person cooking vessel.

Overkill for survival no doubt but the extra stuff adds next to no weight and all fit in the same container (a pencil case) just fine. If nothing else it adds a lot of peace of mind knowing that I can cook/boil/purify no matter what should the need arise.

Thinking about how over prepared I am on this angle, I'm curious to know how many of you even bother...or for those who do, what your pack?