DIY Ultralite Camping Oven
Create your own ultralite campfire oven with a simple modification to the Ozark Trails or Outdoor Products Mess kits from WalMart. Or order from amazon with my affiliate links here and support the channel if you like:
Coleman Aluminum Mess Kit:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01...
Flower wire similar to what I used:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...
This project was a great success! I wanted to do a simple mod to my cooking kit that would allow me to make cakes, biscuits, muffins etc.. over the campfire or on my gas or wood hiking stoves. I know bread can be made on sticks and as ash cakes etc.. but I really want my food to look good as well as taste good. Not sure why, just a goal of mine. This mod allows that. I wound up actually reducing the weight of my kit a little as well.
I did use a roll of $1 flower arranging wire that has a ton of other uses besides the oven stand and pot handle I use it for in this video.
I love all the information rich videos out here on youtube. Hope this is helpful to someone. Enjoy!
Subscribe or comment with your ideas and questions!
Пікірлер: 77
Quite clever, I have seen people get some height from the fire by a canning ring. Good use of things you probably have around the house.
I'm sure that someone has already suggested this. But, I still have to tell you a trick that works fairly well. When Baking in the Bush. Put some hot coals on top of the oven, to surround it with heat. You won't have to increase your cook time as much. And your food will bake more evenly.
@TheToscanaMan
9 жыл бұрын
Teresa Judy good call. That's the way to do it. I use this: frybake.com/ and you put a fire on the top to create the oven effect as you mention. It does heat more evenly. As a matter of fact when you "dutch oven" bake you need more heat on top than on the bottom so it won't burn below. Fun video though. Cake or biscuits on the trail. Yum.
Nice idea and good job! I'm thinking if you added maybe 1/4 cup of water into bottom of oven 5 or so minutes after the beginning, it might provide some extra cooking power in the form of steam. After the water evaporated the cook would just continue normally. It might just shorten the cook time. Just a thought...
This is exactly the same as my first mess tin cookset that I bought 47 years ago! Good to see that the design has stood the test of time. Great ideas to improve the versatility of the set, and your results looked absolutely delicious...
Great idea. I had a old mess kit gathering dust so I gave it a try with some corn bread. Worked great. I turned the pan upside down so I could use the stem as a handle. Thanks for sharing. I'll be doing a lot of baking on the trail now. Enjoy & be safe!
Use a 5 inch wide circle of carbon felt under you baking pan, will not scorch bottom and evens out heat better :)
nice idea i baught a coleman mess kit at my local wall mart last week. look like yours ,,,will try this
I haven't read all the comments, so maybe someone already suggested this, but here's something to try. In a regular stove, the oven is hottest towards the top. So to brown the bottom of a pie, for instance, you'd put the pan on the lowest rack first. Folks do that to get a crisp bottom crust on pumpkin pies. So start your baking with the cover on the pan like in this video. You'll need to experiment with how long it takes to cook the muffin all through, but not dry it out by leaving it in too long. Then, after you know it is cooked through, so it will not fall when you handle the pan, remove the cover from the muffin pan, and put the pan back in for a few minutes. The lack of a cover may allow the hotter heat to brown the top of your muffin. :)
I took the pot and set it on the stove as a spacer. Then put dough in mess kit. Put both halves together like you pack it up with the handle fastened with the bolt. No mods needed. The mess kit pans are an inch and a half off the flame. Baked in about 15 minutes when flipped half way through baking with pliers. Used Crisco on pans.
I doubted it would ever work..Wow! Was i ever wrong! Can't wait to try it! Good job! Thank You
I am excited. I am going to have knee replacement surgeries over the next 7 months and Oct. 2015 I am taking my first Hiking trip. Omg I am so very excited and been creating most of my own supplies via these wonderful videos. This is a must have. I was wondering if I could make a proper style bisquits. This proved it can be done and baby brother may be missing his Boy Scout kits, lol Thank you for making dinner special. And with muffins that will be breakfast too,
fantastic!!! I've been looking at different oven possibilities and am happy to see this one with a very low cost and ease to create. thank you much.
thats so cool! what a cool way to use a mess kit! thanks for the vid :)
Just ran across this and said to myself, why didn't I think of that? I have the same mess kit and never use the stinking thing but a ready made oven for campfire biscuits. That makes this cheap piece of kit a darn necessity now. Thanks a million enjoyed it.
@1BigKidOutdoors
10 жыл бұрын
Thanks buba! Appreciate your feedback.
Simple, versatile, brilliant. Great Job!
Super video and idea. Getting ready for a second AT attempt in April, and this is absolutely something I'm going to take along. Thanks.
I've been trying to figure out how to make a backpacking oven for ages! Great video! :D
Now I know what to do with that old Girl Scout mess kit! Brilliant trick
Excellent idea!
Thanks for posting this great idea!
Great idea! Ty for posting!
Great idea, thanks for sharing!
I love those muffin mixes, so guess I just found a use for my second vintage Mirro Backpacker kit. Not that different, but considerably bigger since I'm a fatboy 😂 you just earned a new subscriber
Great Idea, thanks
Cool never thought about that
Awesome!
Awesome! Thanks for the vid!
wow...good job.
Thank you 😊
“Idea” Add some tabs with holes in them so when turning over to dump pan that will hang down, but at same time if you want to attach bail for use of hanging pot over fire to warm soup or make a small stew you can. Thanks for sharing your video with us.
A large mouth canning ring to raise it off the bottom and Parchment to line your pan is all you need to bake. It works great.
Awesome
Love it! Suspect another variable in your cooking time is the size of the pan. Muffins, cupcakes, etc. are usually smaller than cooking the batch as 1 big one. Know that when I bake corn bread, for example, baking time varies by how deep the batter is in a pan. (Loaf pan vs various sizes of skillets.) The thinner the layer of batter, the faster it'll get done, using the very same oven temp. Just a thought for whatever it's worth. :-)
It might be helpful to have more space underneath the pan of food you're baking such as a mason jar lid or a small tuna can so that the pan is higher within the area of baking air. Also adding coals or wood sections of fire on the top of the pan will add heat on the top and shorten the baking time needed.
@Rspenesmit
Жыл бұрын
I tested both methods with a riser on the bottom and carbon felt and without anything, the method that used nothing underneath the Pot cooked the most evenly & had the best looking crust on the bottom & sides & a little browning on top with absolutely no burning, & I just turned the pot over and the bread fell right out on it's own, check out Hiram Cooks test on this using a Mess kit, the 2nd best method was Hiram's way using the carbon felt, The 3rd method I used 3 different risers in the bottom & a 4th test using Parchment paper that I had seen others do and none of those tests beat the other 2 ways, without anything and using the carbon flet.
Yes I just watched your video on making a one person oven and that a good idea but sure I have made one out of a two person mess kit making small pizza and small loaves of bread and small cakes and pies
That looks tasty
I just watched another video with a mess kit similar to this one, and the woman made a "rack" by bending the edges of a grill topper she bought at the dollar store and cut into circles and it sits in her mess kit and round cake pans she has in her bag. She cooked kid-sized personal pizzas on them (she put 2 cake pans together and put the pizza on top of her homemade "rack" inside them and then baked the pizzas that way) and it worked!
@1BigKidOutdoors
6 жыл бұрын
Hanna, Thanks for commenting. I believe I've seen that video too.
well done sir thanks for showing atb steve
Exelent.👍
Good Video Dennis..
Great idea! I love blueberry muffins too try two foil pie pan one for the mix and one for the top, no dishes LOL
NICE.
I would drill about four one-eighth inch holes around the sides of the lid to let the excess steam escape, which I think is your problem. That should reduce the cooking time.
I got the Jacob bromwell potato oven. Haven't gotten to try it out yet but, hopefully soon we will have an oven on trail.
Nice thinking!, Keep the handle on the frying pan and ditch the potholders, I think if you bent the tabs below the holes to a 180° you might be able to still use the pot bail.
to reduce the risk of burning, place some water in the bottom of the big pot. This will aid in making the batter temp more even. You could also toss in a handful of gravel. Or even dirt (fire the dirt first to sterilize it) Just make sure you release the steam. Once steam is done leaking out, you know it will start baking and can adjust things accordingly.
you could always use powdered milk.
awesome info brother
@galenlong937
9 жыл бұрын
Hey Joel, can you send me the link to his channel, I sure would Appreciate it
@joelsweatman1503
9 жыл бұрын
no problem Galen
@galenlong937
9 жыл бұрын
Thanks Joel
@joelsweatman1503
9 жыл бұрын
your welcome Galen
you could use a little dirt as a bottom insulator too.
Hey, that was pretty awesome! Do you have a video to show how you make your cool little tin can brazier?
@thatbearlife
8 жыл бұрын
Oh, found the stove video, thanks!
Great. I bet a carbon felt disc in the bottom would work well.
@crazedaze6395
9 жыл бұрын
+Bobby Harper thx for this comment......i used 3 small carbon felt discs under 3 silicone baking cups and it worked great........1 oz in an alcohol stove and they cooked perfect
What kind of camp stove is that! It looks like a huge can.
liked this idea I'm looking for the pan set in the UK 😊
@billyandrew
6 жыл бұрын
Russell Smith Try camping goods, like Tiso, although they're a bit expensive or maybe Army surplus...lots on the Internet.
@edieboudreau9637
6 жыл бұрын
Russell Smith - check with the scouts. Campfire. They still use them.
If you dont care what they *look* like you can put the batter in a cooking bag and put it in (or above) boiling water.
The timing on the package was for muffins, so it would be longer if you make a cake.☺
where can i buy this ?
@1977jda19
6 жыл бұрын
At Wal-Mart or just about any camping store. There pretty cheap but very useful.
Dont try this with msr pocket rocket. even on low, i melted a hole in the bottom of the pan.
That turned out great. FYI - I have the "Stansport 360 Stainless Mess Kit" which I think would work better for this without any modification. I paid $21 for mine so it's a little more expensive. 1. Pot handles don't protrude up so no bending is required. 2. You can use the pot lid for a stand (the knob screws off by hand) as it is slightly bigger than the base of the pan. This still provides clearance at the top for circulation while allowing the top clamshell to seal. smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AQO5S?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage
Rotate for even cooking.
... bend the tabs in.
@1BigKidOutdoors
8 жыл бұрын
+Wayne Novotny Worth a try Wayne. I thought it might get in my way when removing the cake. Thanks for commenting.
The electric motor running was annoying, could hardly hear you talking, you need to do your tests somewhere else.
@charlietango186
8 жыл бұрын
Yer, that looks good mate, save me a piece, just a opinion I have, try to keep away from cooking with aluminium, as it gives off some dangerous toxins, a lot of us bushcraft people are going onto s/steel, it does not add that much more weight, and is a lot, lot safer. atb Ray
Reallybigmonkey1 lets it be 30 minutes to get it done. Just sayin.