Amount of water boiled daily

imported
#1

I’d like to hear how much water hikers boil daily for meals during the spring and summer.

I’m particularly interested in the amount of water boiled daily by alcohol stove users.

As for me, a gallon a day was usual: two quarts for breakfast and two quarts for supper.

Thanks, Canby

Canby

#2

For me, usually 1 jetboil(1qt?)for breakfast is plenty for my 2 packets oatmeal and 2 cups coffee/cocoa.
About the same for dinner, depending on what I’m cooking.
I don’t use a cooking pot. Add boiling water to the dry stuff in an insulated coffee mug, cover and let sit for 10 minutes or so. Voila- cooked. Just the mug to clean.

Cinnamonboy

#3

When I carried a stove, I heated 1 qt water per day for one hot meal for two people. This would consume about 3/4 oz alcohol per day.

I heard somewhere that if you heat a lot of water and usually carry more than 10 oz of alcohol, you may be better off with white gas. White gas has more energy per unit weight, and carrying a lot of alcohol can offset the weight savings of the stove. Has anyone else heard anything like that?

Garlic

#4

I think my wife and I together might go through a gallon a day. We have a 12 oz. wood stove though, so we don’t pay close attention to how long we cook, or bake or how many hot drinks we have.

woodstove

#5

For those of you who are wondering:

Breakfast: 2 quarts

4 cups of coffee = 1 quart
4 cups of water for oatmeal = 1 quart

Supper: 2 quarts

4 cups of water for two packets of ramen = 1 quart
4 cups of water for rice, spaghetti, soup = 1 quart
(or other reconstitutables)

It adds up pretty quickly.

Canby

Canby

#6

For those of you who are wondering:

Breakfast: 2 quarts

4 cups of coffee = 1 quart

4 cups of water for oatmeal = 1 quart

Supper: 2 quarts

4 cups of water for two packets of ramen = 1 quart

4 cups of water for rice, spaghetti, soup = 1 quart

(or other reconstitutables)

It adds up pretty quickly.

Canby

Canby

#7

regular thru hiking grub: lipton, instant mash potatoes, mac n chease uses about about 2-2.5 cups of water.
After dinner I sometimes will boil 1-2 more cups for tea.
so <1 quart per day.
I drink an instant breakfast or eat a bar so dont use any water in the AM.
Although I drink coffee several times per day at home I dont usually drink it on the trail.

mat

#8

I go thru 64 ounces of water a day. That includes two cups of tea and my water for my oatmeal and my lipton noodles or Mountain House.

Super Scout

#9

Depends of the time of year. In the colder months, something nice and warm to drink in the AM and in camp at night is nice. I normally only cook in the evening and only easy prep stuff that requires little effort. I would say I only use perhaps a half a quart if that much. I don’t drink coffee so that eliminates a lot of morning heating of water. Then in the Summer months, I am trying to go stoveless altogether. For what I do, my alcohol stove works just fine. If I were heating as much as a gallon a day, I’d definitely go back to my white gas stove.

Woody

#10

I boil, on average, 2 cups a day when I’m on a longer (over a week) trip. As mat said, lipton, instant potatoes, stove-top stuffing, and just about anything else I eat for dinner requires 1/2qt of h2o. breakfast is usually eaten on the go and lunch is a quick stop along the way. I use an alcohol stove now, courtesy of Caps 07, but before he gave me his I was using a pocket rocket. The propane can used up too much room in my pack once I got my jacket for the whites, and now everything fits inside my cook-pot (1.3L) nicely. I still use my propane or white gas stoves for weekend trips, though, because I carry more “real food” and drink more Irish coffee. I would say I average about 1oz of alcohol daily in a thruhiking situation.

Dethmarch