Swedish Army cooker Mod

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Hammock_man

Full Member
May 15, 2008
1,450
526
kent
swedish mod.jpg
I like to make life easy and often make and use my own boil in the bag meals. Couple of times I have had the bag settle on to the side of the cooker without any or enough water to protect it. The bag itself is sitting in enough water but just that one spot is up against hot metal. Then either the contents leak or water gets in. Even if its just Beans and sausage from a tin, I don't want an extra 10% water or tomato flavor coffee !
No issues with real rat packs, it is just home made meals using a lakeland "boil in the bag" bag. While a rat pack bag tends to keep its shape, plastic bags tend to take up any old shape. Yes, I try to be careful but as I only take one lunch when I am out for the day, one slip up ; one hot spot and lunch leaves a lot to be desired.
Enter the Poundshop cooking mat! The sort of plastic mat that can sit in an oven tray and allow air to flow round your chips. In the photo there is a single mat, folded in half, sitting in the cooker. No cutting, just folded to fit, there is a 1cm gap but as this is at the widest part of the pot, it does fine. As I had already cut a piece off another mat, I also have a bit folded double sitting in the bottom. If you only wanted to buy a single mat, as the full mat fills all the way up the sides, it could be trimmed and the excess placed in the bottom.

For a one pound outlay, it only needs to save one dinner and its paid for itself!
swedish mod.jpg
 

Hammock_man

Full Member
May 15, 2008
1,450
526
kent
Major blow to my plans.. Lakeland no longer do their boil in the bag bags!! They only used to cost 5 pound for 50 and so were a cheap option.
They could be sealed but were big enough to take a decent meal and still be able to tie closed the top. Have found some bags on amazon but they come in 100's and postage is extra.

Anyway recipes.... Anything that has water in it !!!!! Simplest is just to buy a tin of all day breakfast and transfer to the bag. So many things that come in tins also come with a good amount of sauce. For me it is more about having something in the field which is easy and does not require stirring or baby sitting. Get the water up to the boil and then reduce the heat, it will sit there happy for 15 mins if it has to. I do not tend to use the cooking water to make tea as I normally use my Gillie kettle ( it is just such a fun bit of kit ). What I do not want to do is to stop making tea to have to stir the pot or stop something burning.

I tend to make variations of a soup come stew if I am making from raw. I don't want masses of liquid but nor do I want a paste. Thin cut veg and smaller meat pieces in a good stock allow the heat to move from the water bath, via the stock and into the food itself.

3 routes then to an easy meal in the field
i) CHEAT, tin of all day breakfast ( sausage and beans, mac and cheese, any thing easy) into the bag . Heat seal or tie the bag. Sorted.

ii) EASY, One Polish sausage, one bag of ready sliced fresh veg; stir fry size. Tin of cooked Potatoes. ( Don't knock it, these guys have been sat in water for maybe 6 months, 48 hours in a bag is not going to hurt them). Good quality Stock powder. Packet of cheap stuffing.
Slice the sausage and fry in a large saucepan for a few mins, just enough to get some of the flavour flowing. Add a cup of water to stop things sticking and then add the tinned spuds which have been cut into small pieces. Let them pick up some of the sausage flavour. Add at least a pint of water and the pre sliced veg. Add the stock to taste, the meat, veg and spuds need to be sat in a good broth not a wishy washy bit of water. Let it cook for 3 to 5 mins. Now add some of the stuffing mix, this is used to thicken the stock and add a bit of herby flavour. By adjusting the amount of stuffing and adding some more water you control the volume of liquid and the thickness of the stock. It needs to be runny enough to allow the heat to move around but not playing as a comsome. This should make 2 to 4 meals.

iii) Bespoke, Chicken thighs, Veg stew pack. Waxy potatoes, Creamed Coconut, Fish sauce, Piri piri hot sauce, chicken Oxo. ( I know it should be Thai curry paste but one time I did not have any so I used piri piri, it worked well and allowed me to control the heat with just a splash or two.)
Remove the thigh bone and cut the chicken small. Thigh works better in small pieces then does breast. Cut the veg small enough to fit on a spoon. Same with potatoes but keep 2 or 3 to one side. Simmer the chicken, veg and potato in an OXO stock. Meanwhile cut the remaining potato into very very small bits. Add these to the pan, they will break down to thicken the stock. Add the coconut and fish sauce to taste. Finally add some Piri Piri. I am looking for some thing that reminds me of a Thai curry or a massaman rather than being a true curry.
 
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TinkyPete

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Sep 4, 2009
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uk mainly in the Midlands though
nice one, thanks for the recipes.

I recently got a 300 one pot recipe book from The Works, looking through that at the minute to come up with some one bag options, once I have adapted some recipes to suit I will post them up.

The grill idea is great been thinking of something similar for when cooking on a higher heat, you just sold me on the idea of the poundland mesh, many thanks.
 
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Hammock_man

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May 15, 2008
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kent
As stated before I USED to use the Lakeland boil in the bags but I have since found they have been discontinued. These where thick plain sided bags. You need thick bags so I no longer use roasting bags, they are too flimsy and prone to break. They were also plain sided, this is great for manual sealing but not so good to vacuum pack. The vacuum machines need a rough inside surface to allow the air to be drawn out without the sides sticking together before all the air is extracted. As I would just empty a tin or a portion of home made stew into them, hand sealing was not an issue.

Looking on ebay an amazon I have found a number of places now doing the embossed bags far cheaper then they where when I got my sealing machine. If you fish around there are offers of 50 bags for £6 to £7 pounds plus postage. As I use mine in a swedish Army cooker I am looking for something like15cm by 25cm. 15 cm give me a wide enough opening to empty a tin or ladle a stew into the bag. 25cm is tall enough to tie the top shut. I gather the top together and tightly tie with thin string. Then I fold over the excess and tie that again tightly with string. In effect that gives me a sealed tube folded over and tied in 2 places. If I make a batch of stew then I still have the option to heat seal and cut off the excess.

So for people who do not have a sealer the embossed bags would still work, trying them off is just that much more of a pain. You could always get a smooth flat piece of wood wider then the neck of the bag. Take a strip of aluminum foil, again wider then the bag. Fold in half and half again and then slip it over the opening of the bag and rest on the flat board . You will then have a double thickness underneath and on top of the opening. With a heated flat iron ( clothes wrinkle free for the use off) just iron the ali foil WITHOUT touching the bag. { Me, I just tie the damm things!!}
 
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Hammock_man

Full Member
May 15, 2008
1,450
526
kent
Had some whole chickens to de-flesh for another meal, this left some meaty bones left over
bag5.jpg
Might not look the best but there was too much meat there to go to waste.

bag3.jpg

boil the bones and deflesh ! OK it really does not look good but the meat is free and the stock adds tons of flavour.

bag4.jpg

Now we have a great base, loads of meat and a great stock. Just need a few more bits!

bag1.jpg
I often use OXO's but a good stock power is worth the money. Thought I had some udon noodles but hey chick peas will work. Just means I will hold the coconut milk and curry. None of these need much cooking just really adjusting the strength and volume of stock.

Had a big bowl for tea along with 2 bagels I happened to have. Pitta cooked in foil would work fine in the field.

bag2.jpg
Bringing it back to the thread, qty 3 boil in bag meals ready for another day. Notice the top of the bag folded over so as to stop any splashes making it difficult to close / seal . When they are ready to pop into the freezer, I just push the very bottom corners in to give a more squarish shape. Means they fit just that bit better when reheated. Due to the high water content they will cook from frozen, should they be taken from home on a day out.
 

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