NEWBIE Cooking question . . .

[Rixtoy]

I have been impressed with the functionality and creativity I have seen on videos from bike campers cooking with the typical jet torch pocket stove configurations.

Here is a question, though -
If it is raining, can you safely use a jet boil to heat water for boiling or fry food in a pan within the covered area of a tent?
Either in the tent itself or, more likely, within an area covered outside the tent by a small vestibule?

Envisioning a day of riding in the rain, pitching the tent and really wanting something hot to eat and/or drink.

Thanks for any input.

Rixtoy

[HikeBikeCook]

When I hiked the AT I often heated water for breakfast while still in my sleeping bag and the stove under the vestibule. Do not cook smelly foods or your tent can become a bear magnet. Keep the stove well away from the fly. I used a jet boil with the pot kit and made water for coffee and oatmeal then used the rest to wash up. The Jetboil has a set of feet that clip on the fuel canister to make it stable. USE EXTREME CAUTION. I had a Big Agnes Seedhouse XL2 and the vestibule was the only route of escape from a burning tent.

I would NOT use any other kind of stove other than canned fuel, meaning an alcohol stove, a multi-fuel stove, etc. I have seen too many of these this have flare ups and seen too many burned picnic tables from alcohol stoves.

In bear country it is advisable to cook food well away from your sleeping area and to bear bag or store you food in a bear canister away from your tent.

[ray b]

Right on all counts.

Depends on how big your tent is and how much risk you're willing to take.

On the one hand, when skiing, I always enjoyed a cup of coffee or tea in bed. (gas stove)

On the other hand, cooking, drinking and eating while in a sleeping bag takes practice, and modern bags that integrate the pad make it more difficult.

Besides, my first task in the morning as an old guy is to get out of the bag and urinate. Unless you're using a pee bottle or unless it's raining or snowing, meals in a little ultralight tent might not make sense.

People and set-ups are different. Have fun experimenting, but stay safe.

[BikeliciousBabe]

I think I cooked under my tent vestibule once. Not something I am inclined to do. Certrainly never inside the tent body.

Some alternatives are putting the stove underneath a picnic table to help keep it dry. If there is a bathhouse or something similar with an outdoor vestibule or overhang and a paved surface you can try there if it's not busy/you're not blocking access. In 2016 I cooked in the vestibule of a vault toilet at a Forest Service campground because it was raining pretty hard and I was famished after an 82 mile day. Fortunately, there was almost no one else there. If you are familiar with the typical FS vault toilet you know what I mean. Something like this:

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aiEu5ndvqqI/WbGM5Oq3FuI/AAAAAAAACoI/rkFVH2iWJ547MZkH8UjaCpowtU-qaAD3wCLcBGAs/s1600/vault-toilet-570.jpg

[John Nelson]

When it's raining, delay cooking until (A) it stops raining, or (B) you get to some place with cover. Carry energy bars or other ready-to-eat foods to tide you over in these situations. If it's raining, I prefer to find a restaurant if I can.

[TCS]

There are tents designed specifically for cooking in the vestibule during inclement weather - e.g. a Hilleberg Nammatj 2 GT.  These have generous VENTED vestibules.

There are tents that have a door flap that can be stood out on poles, forming an awning - e.g. Big Agness Copper Spur HV UL.  Just the ticket for brewing up a cuppa in a three-season light rain - if you've got the poles.

There are other tents that have small vestibules with steeply sloping sides, intended for giving one the option to not bring their muddy footgear into the interior - e.g. an Ozark Trail 1-Person.  Cooking tackle will block the only egress and not be able to be placed very far from the tent body nor far from the sloping fly.  Flame inside a tent of that design is a hard pass.

[TCS]

Carry energy bars or other ready-to-eat foods to tide you over in these situations.

This.

When cycletouring, packing along a stash of energy-dense, non-cook food is a good idea for a number of reasons!

Lengthy chat by our British counterparts:  https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=143015

[TCS]

When it's raining, delay cooking until ... it stops raining

Sometimes it rains steadily all day, but often you only have to wait out the squall line.   

[Rixtoy]

Thanks to all for your input.

Facts are our friends . . .

rick

[ray b]

This.

When cycletouring, packing along a stash of energy-dense, non-cook food is a good idea for a number of reasons!

Lengthy chat by our British counterparts:  https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=143015

Right. Although I always have at least a tiny stove and metal cup when in the backcountry, not everyone does. Some of you might know YouTube hound and personality Ryan van Duzer of Boulder, who famously does multiday backcountry trips without  benefit of a stove..., or coffee!