Stoveless Cooking: The Crotch Pot
This third option between stoves and no-cook is the brainchild of Gossamer Gear founder Glen Van Peski. Infrared images of the human body confirm what is basically common knowledge; one of the hottest parts of the human body is the crotch area. Your body naturally generates significant heat while hiking; why not harness this heat for a warm dinner? Save the weight and hassle of cooking. Just slip your dinner into your pants about an hour before you stop hiking for the day, and when you get to camp, sit down to a hot dinner. Imagine the envy on the friends' faces as they fuss around with their stoves, or choke down a cold dinner, and you simply pull your warm dinner out of your pants.
Glen has used this system for years, and we finally talked him into exposing it to the rest of us. The Crotch Pot™ is constructed of ultralight cuben fiber, and attaches to any pants with belt loops. If your favorite pants don't have loops, just use some safety pins to attach the pouch. Any recipe that you pour hot water into and let stand will work.
The Crotch Pot Backcountry Use
Just add cold water to the dry ingredients in the Ziploc bag, zip the bag shut and put it into the Crotch Pot. Slip the pot into your pants, directly against your skin for best results, and hike on for the last hour or so before stopping for dinner. You can knead the meal (discretely) while walking to make sure things are mixing well, and may need to monitor in case you need to add additional water. Then when you get to camp, simply pull out your dinner, grab your spoon and enjoy! Works for breakfast too! Just break camp quickly after slipping some instant oatmeal into your pants. When the sun comes out after a few miles, you can stop and enjoy a satisfying warm breakfast, without the hassle of breaking out a stove and pot to boil water!
What to Cook in the Backcountry?
We are pleased to provide some crotch-friendly recipes from Trail Cooking. Many of the recipes on their site will work with your new Crotch Pot, and if there is sufficient interest, they may start a Crotch Pot Recipe of the Month club. Be sure to check out the Crotch Pot Backcountry Cookbook!
If you like the simple genius of the Crotch Pot, you'll be blown away by the 153 nuggets of wisdom in Mike Clelland!'s Ultralight Backpackin' Tips. You may have noticed Mike's illustrations gracing this page, do yourself a favor and get the full brunt of his genius by picking up his book!