MSR burner suggestions

[Takeem406]

I'll conveniently be done with my seasonal job after this next week. I'm toying with the idea of hiking in somewhere and finally tagging my first elk after flat giving up on elk hunting the past four years. That is if the weather holds. But I've got a winter sleeping bag from my wildland firefighter days...
I'd like to get a small an MSR burner for boiling water and more importantly making coffee.
Any suggestions as to what to look for probably used? Then with the Mountain House you just add water right? I've already bought an MSR filter so as long as I can find water I'm good. On a side note, how much food do you pack in at a time?

 

[Colby Jack]

I have had a MSR Pocket Rocket for years. I love it! It boils water in a very short time, and packs down to next to nothing. When heading into the sticks, I bring one dehydrated meal (mtn. house or similar) per day. I also plan a larger than usual breakfast consisting of instant oatmeal, cinnamon raisin bagel, and a small bag of trail mix. For lunch, I'm usually out on the trail chasing critters, so I bring multiple snacks. Maybe check out the backcountry food subforum.

 

[BigSurArcher]

The MSR Reactor is pretty badass. Pocket Rocket works fine as well. In reality they will all work to boil water; just depends how fast you want to boil certain volumes. Keep in mind that some stoves that weight a bit more will actually save you weight due to better fuel longevity on longer trips.

 

[hammer0419]

Msr reactor is an awesome stove system. It is quite a bit heavier than my jetboil system but I do prefer the overall setup over the Jetboil.

 

[Clarktar]

Pocket rocket is simple and will suit your needs as stated. Very light and small.

 

[tenth1]

I have used the Pocket Rocket and several other burners over the years. This last year, I upgraded to the Jet Boil SOL. AMAZING, I don't have to carry nearly as much fuel and the wind doesn't affect it as much.

 

[Lawnboi]

Pocket rocket is a good and cheap choice. But I wouldn't use it if it was below freezing for the majority of the time. Cold weather and canisters don't go good together.

 

[Mike7]

Agree with above. The pocket rocket has been bombproof for me over the past 5-10 yrs and I have never ran out of fuel. Wind has never been a problem. You can use a wind screen (I have a small piece of light weight tinfoil pan that I put over the canister when using a windscreen just to be safe and my fuel canister is always cool). If you are going to be cooking 2 meals per day for over a week or melting snow for water, etc. then there may be better but more expensive options but that isn't my situation usually. Stove performance starts to suffer a little below 25 degrees...but I have used it down to 10 degrees, and seemed to get by fine for at least one boil by putting the canister in my pocket until I'm ready to use it (I haven't tested it beyond that). I prefer a really light weight but larger Ti pot (wider as opposed to taller & 1L plus) to go with the pocket rocket, so that I can melt snow and use it with a larger group also without having to boil water again. You can make a very light weight lid out of a tinfoil pan to go with this setup.

As far as meals, I prefer to make my own and use a once used Mountain House type bag to then cook all of my meals. If you seal or roll the top closed on the mountain house bag and set it on your foam pad, even at cold temps you can cook things with boiling water for at least 20 minutes. For the meal, you can put just about anything in a ziplock sandwhich bag to make it (i.e. oatmeal, dried fuit, nuts, minute rice, idaho potatoes, refried bean flakes, hummus powder, freeze dried meat substitutes from large cans that each cost no more than 1-2 MH meals do, freeze dried veggies, spices, pasta, parmesan cheese, garlic). I then also bring along some olive oil in a squeeze container to add at the end for a little flavor and fat calories before bed. For any meals with Idaho potatoes, add the potatoes after everything else has cooked because the potatoes cook almost instantly and in doing so suck up all of your cooking water.