How to Keep Pots From Turning Black
How do you keep pots from your mess kit from turning black when using them over a fire?
— Seared Sandi in Hamburg, N.Y.
A: Don’t cook over a fire! Just kidding — sort of. Actually, cooking over a camp stove is the best way to avoid blackened pots. Plus it’s more efficient and better for the environment.
That said, we asked Mike Glavin of GSI Outdoors Inc., which makes some of the best camp pots, for tips on keeping your pots clean when cooking over campfires: “Rub bar soap on the pots before use, and try to keep your pots on a coal-bed, away from open flames. They will still get sooty, but the soap helps keep the soot from sticking — allowing for easier cleanup.”
Soap anyware except for cleaning is a mess and eventually gets into the food! My solution is to cover the grill the pots and pans go on with foil. The heat will go thru it the soot will pass around. Remember, foil is your friend. Use it often. We line the inside of our dutch ovens with it when baking and clean up is a breeze! Also, do not throw it away! Foil is 100% recyclable, add it to your soda cans and other aluminum to be recycled and earn funds for that next camp out! Oh, don’t forget to feed the Dog!
Let your pots blacken. It makes them heat more efficiently, especially if they are shiny uncoated aluminum or steel. Darker colors absorb more heat, try wearing a black t-shirt, and then switch to a white one on a hot day. You can feel the difference. Thats why they make solar panels black, so they take in more energy from the sun. The soot might get on your stuff inside your pack, but to solve that problem just put them in a trash bag.
Try using dish degergent as twotall2 said also
try army mess kits as well my friend has one they don’t blackin as easily
Liquid or bar soap will work, however you must stress to the Scouts to soap only the OUTSIDE of the pot!
I have never used that!
Liquid Dish soap works as well,that’s what I’ve been taught and teach,Straight out of the bottle rubbing it all over just the outside of pots/pans BEFORE EACH use.
i dosent really matter if the bottom of the kit is black it wont hurt it…and i think army mess kits are the best
buy an army mess kit
perfect for backpacking
My father bought me 2 metal mess kits and they bend easily. Then we went to the store and bought me a thick metal mess kit. Now my new mess kit shouldn’t bend at all.