Home Front: Battle belt

There is a lot to be said for having a go-bag, get-home-bag or bug-out bag ready and kitted out for those dire-circumstances where you need bare-necessities to make it to a secondary location.  But sometimes, requirement for action is a little less dire, demanding light-weight gear in limited capacity, but needs to be ready to go.  

One such method is to have a battle-belt. In my case I have set out to build a camping/hiking belt that has all the things I might find needful whilst out on the trail or if I needed to blaze one of my own. 

I've been modifying its setup for some time adding things, moving things and testing it on every hike we go on. The current setup has been pretty stable, both physically but also dynamically. 

I've included, hydration, first aid, navigation, fire-lighting and shelter options as well as storage space for other pieces of kit.

I started off with my Heavy Cover 
Titanium canteen and nesting cup in a GGG tactical pouch that I found in my collection. I put this central at the back of the belt for weight distribution. This gives me 37oz (1.1L) of water ready to go as well as a cook-pot and water sterilization (by boiling) method, on my person. Left of the canteen pouch is an older Platatac radio pouch that I use to house a ferrocerium rod and striker combo, a bic lighter, a set of medical sheers and a folding saw. 

So I have fire-making options and fire-crafting options. to the left of the radio/fire pouch is a three-pocket admin pouch where I keep a Sharpie, a pencil, sharpener, crayons a small note-book and space for my phone, as well as space for additional items. Right of the canteen is a Blackhawk Stealth Weapon Catch which holds a Go! outfitters Landing Pad mini-tarp for some single person shelter. To the right of that i have a tear-open GGG IFAK, that i've filled with a variety of bandages, gloves and the like, along with a CAT tourniquet  for extreme bad-times recovery and a Gerber Crisis Hook to round out the rescue/aid pouch.

To the right of the IFAK is a large Kryptek Highlander pattern pouch that contains a 100 foot spool of Go! Outfitters reflective guy-line as well as my emergency IR helmet strobe. I also have a couple of bundled hanks of paracord, one half of a set of pocket binoculars, and an Extac Australia Pocket Shot along with the arrow brush fitting and a couple of bags worth of marbles and bb's as ammunition. 

Finishing up the items carried on the belt is a collapsible mesh sided platatac ld dump-pouch, for foraged or salvaged items, and a horizontally slung ZU Bladeworx Grunt fixed blade knife that sits at belt-buckle level. A very sturdy tool for cutting, battoning and all manner of blade-craft. 

After its first big outing I realized that I needed to add shoulder straps to assist with its bulk and weight, so I rigged up some harness straps with some recycled kiddy car-seat straps.  With a little adjustment, I've managed to distribute the weight of all the items and keep it stable for those long hikes, or short dashes.

The belt that forms the basis of this set up is a Propper 360 riggers belt that has a hook and loop and locking bar fixture as well placed attachment ring for attaching safety lines or other retention systems. This belt runs through an older Platatac 3s belt pad that has PALS/MOLLE loops throughout and suspender loops as well as a breathable mesh padding. 

I think I might upgrade this ad-hoc system to something purpose made, like the Platatac bk harness perhaps, but for now, this whole rig lives in my room on the back of my desk chair, ready to throw on at a moments notice before rushing out to confront whatever adventure or misfortune may come my way.

Anything i'm missing or should add or remove? 

Horns and mugs.

 I've been really enjoying getting into Viking re-enactment these last few years. Part of this has been to get into the combat aspects, partly the crafting and the culture.  

Part of this is collecting and using period appropriate kit, part of it is becoming comfortable using anachronistic gear. Did you know its quite hard to chug a beverage from a drinking horn unless you tilt it to one side?

I now have three viking style drinking vessels. Two traditional and one more modern.

First up is the very slick and modern Goat Mug.

The Goat Mug is a 16 oz 470mL polypropylene horn shaped take on the classic keep-cup idea. Originally a Kickstarter project, now in full commercial production. It has been a mainstay of my desk since its arrival. With its silicone ring seal screw top and drip and spill proof locking clip, it's made a prominent workplace oddity. The best part is when people ask how it stands up. The molded leather hand-cuff inverts to act as a stand to support the horn with great stability, and protects the hand from hot beverage.  

The Goat Mug comes with a wrist strap and a shoulder sling for ease of carry, that clip to holes in the lid and tip respectively but I've never had much need of either.  I carry mine in my hand or table it in its holder. The seals are good enough to keep in a carbonated beverage and the horn keeps my mugs of tea hot for a lot longer than a similarly sized conventionally shaped mug would. They aren't even remotely period-appropriate but are perfect for adding flair to work or the open-pit bbq pig on spit Thing in the back-yard. The curvature of the inside presents some scrubbing challenges but I'm not phased by some tannin build-up and it's dish-washer safe.

Read the kickstarter Story here.

See their latest ideas here

buy one on Amazon here.

I also have a more traditional bulls horn drinking horn. This 8oz, 250mL capacity horn ( 9oz when filled to the brim upright) natural bull horn has a fine embellished brass rim riveted on and a brass tip fixed to the pointy end. The outer surface is well polished and the insides have been well cleaned and sealed to keep the horn structurally sound after long sessions of ale. The traditional horn has the drawback of not having a stable base to sit it down so once you get started its awkward to set it down till you've emptied your horn. 

I've knocked up a quick stand from some off-cuts for mine and you could always thrust it through your belt at the risk of spillage and wetting your britches. The brass fittings are handsome and lend themselves to adding some cordage as a sling.  It feels nice in the hand and it has a good capacity, and certainly looks the part.  

I personally like to be able to set a drinking vessel down when eating as a joint of meat on the bone can sometimes need two hands and pickled herrings are slippery.

 As i mentioned earlier, when drinking from a horn, its important you tilt the point of the horn downwards or to the side, not out in front or upwards when you drink, or you'll get an unexpected surge and slosh ypur drik all over your face, in your beard and down your chest. Amusing but wasteful and wont impress that sword maiden you've been waggling eybrows at over the fire.

 

 The final horn in my collection of drinking vessels is the "Eleet Original Viking Drinking Horn Mug"

 This elegant tankard has a 20 oz capacity and is fashioned from a worked ethically sourced ox horn in which the point of the horn has been bent back to form the handle / retention grip. The base of the is a colour-matched resin to seal off the mug and the inside is sealed with a 100% food safe non-toxic lacquer on the inside, in order to avoid the real horn odor and to avoid leakage. The exterior part is unpolished, unadorned and is kept real. The tankard feels great in the hand, it looks great and does the job. 

Being a natural product means each one has its own unique pattern and shape, but the true value is that it works. After a long day of swinging axes, hauling gear and arms and setting camp, let alone matching steel with the foeman and all the day to day challenges of the rustic Northman, having a large beverage to hand really brings home what is best in life. The "Eleet original Viking drinking horn mug" fits the bill AND I can set it down on the feasting bench to wrap an arm around someone close whilst feeding. 

 I don't think i'd want to put hot drinks in either of the horn vessels, (be it pine needle tea or the beans of Mocha for structural integrety reasons (hot water softens horn ...), but they're perfect for my home-brewed mead or cider. 

 

Its high capacity, flat base and broad handle make it the most convienient of my horns and mugs and as such keep it in highest rotation.
 

Review: Heavy Cover canteen and mug set

 As well as lights and blades I seem to collect bottles. I like to have my own reusable and reliable hydration source to hand. In my EDC bag, my desk at work, in my car and so forth. My usual go to bottles are my wide mouth Nalgene bottles and my venerable SIGG bottle.

Each have their benefits and drawbacks. Nalgene bottles are made from the sturdy Tritan plastic. Light and shatterproof, with a high capacity and easy-fill wide-mouth. They aren't fireproof so cant be used to boil water or cook in. The SIGG bottles are aluminium with an internal plastic coating and a finely threaded cap I've found to be delicate and prone to thread stripping. The Aluminium bottles are sturdy but ding and damage easily. They also do not support cooking or boiling due to the lining.


A solution I found is the Heavy Cover US GI Style Titanium Canteen Mess Kit. Over the last  hundred years or so  the US GI style canteen mess kit has served millions of military service members as well as millions of outdoor enthusiasts. Originally made from tin, aluminium or stainless steel or plastic, the Heavy Cover model replaces this with titanium. The kit is comprised of a 37oz (1.1L) canteen with Tritan Plastic and Titanium Canteen Cap options and a nested Canteen Cup 23.7 oz (0.7L) and lid, also titanium.


Combining time tested design with the high-strength to weight ratio material results in a light weight yet durable mess–kit. Perfect for those counting grams on the trail and people who break gear, like me. Both Canteen and cup can be heated and used to boil water or cook food.

Made from 0.5 mm thick titanium,  the Canteen with Tritan Cap weighs a slight 6 ounces (172 grams) and the titanium Cup Lid weighs a mere 4.8 ounces (132 grams). As well as being exceptionally  light, titanium has the advantage of being biocompatible (BPA Free, nontoxic to the human body) provides a non-porous, non-stick material for easy clean up when cooking. being thin walled and a rapid heat conductor , less gas/fuel is needed and you get a  faster boil time than with steel or other pot materials. It is anti-corrosive and will not rust. The mug has folding wire handles to assist in cooking and handling when hot.

The titanium cap of the canteen features a wide, thick thread to ensure ease of opening and removal as well as maintaining  a tight seal and resistance to incidental damage.  The lid itself features a titanium D-loop for clipping to a belt or pack, dummy-cording or perhaps even suspending over fire to boil water (beware steam and pressure build ups!) The canteen neck and mouth are quite wide which make for easy filling and drinking. The titanium cap sits quite high above the lip of the opening, I don't know why. It is hollow and floats, unlike the tritan lid which sinks like a rock. The titanium lid has a flat-folding wire lid loop for retention or for use as a float.

The canteen has a jutting rib around its mid-line which corresponds to the lip of the cup, to seat it. when nesting the cup lid is obviously left out, but I found that any pouch i could fit the canteen and cup in will also fit the lid in the bottom, ready to deploy to be a lid your cup for bean or noodle cooking. I don't know wat purpose that rib serves, except to possibly prevent rattle between mug and canteen on maneuvers.

I found the canteen had an off-flavor from manufacturing so I needed to give it a good wash and rinse out. Kraken rum worked nicely. The mug didn't have any such problem and cooked several meals without issue, and relatively non-stick and was easily cleaned.

Over-all I am really happy with this set, they're light, rugged as all get up, cook well and not bulky at all. I really like the traditional form factor and compact design for considerable volume capacity.

Find one on Amazon here:

Home Front: Rules of Threes (or more)

In survival, the rule of threes is a quick reference guide for how long one can generally stay alive in a survival emergency.

Originally posted on my birthday on Breach Bang & Clear you should go check out the other good reads there too! go there t orea dthe full article. 

Normally, it contains the following:

•   You can survive three minutes of severe bleeding, without breathable air (unconsciousness generally occurs), or in icy water.
• You can survive three hours in a harsh environment (extreme heat or cold). Think blizzards, the North Sea, at a Celine Dion concert ...
• You can survive three days without drinkable water.
• You can survive three weeks without edible food.

• When the Radiation alarm goes off, get out of Engineering, immediately . I'm looking at you, Midshipman 1st Class Peter Preston

Review: Pace lid

Here's an item that I had covered as a wish-lust item back in January when I backed the Kickstarter for the PACE lid.

PACE stands for Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency. It is a cache that replaces the lid of a wide-mouthed bottle such as a Nalgene. I've got several, both Nalgene and Kathmandu and the idea of them doing double duty was just too good. 

When planning for events in life you have to expect that unforeseen things may happen and knowing this and being able to prepare is empowering. Also, keeping your gear handy and secure is a good thing.

The PACE lid container has a capacity of 300mL (10oz), it's deep enough for an ID or credit card as well as a variety of other gear, with a recessed lip to fit a bent ID or credit card. 

The container is 7.6cm (3") in diameter and 5.7cm (2.25") inches deep. There's a small recessed lip around the perimeter that can secure items vertically and in place if they are bent, like cards, matches, other gear items.


I found that I could load at least 8m of paracord, along with my favorite gear tie, the Fishbone Piranha.


I found that I could stash a variety of items, from a roll of tape, keys, pocket-tools and a watch, as well as my ID. The idea I had was that I would have a waterproof and unobtrusive cache that I could leave on the beach, or toss into a daypack. 


The one downside is, that it is a pretty bulky addition to a Nalgene. 
 

You can see that it adds a fair length to the bottle, and that won't go un-noticed. Something to bear in mind.


The seal on the Nalgene bottle was solid, and the threading was well machined, so I didn't have any problems with leaks. 

One thing that occurred to me that I could store in it was a powdered sports drink, so I could keep my electrolytes up on the trot, my thought was that I could fill it up the 10oz capacity, enough to make several liters.
 
To give you another idea of how much capacity the PACE lid offers, I filled it with 70 Mentos. You could of course fill it with your own snacks or confection of choice, enough fishing line, lures and hooks to have a fishing trip set and ready to go. 

Survival Kit:The folks behind the PACE lids also offer a fully kitted out survival option, developed to fit specifically into a PACE lid.

Their kit includes:

(1) Adventurer Button Compass (NATO/U.S. Military Issue)
(10) All Weather Survival Matches (NATO/U.S. Military Issue)
(1) Derma Safe Razor Knife (U.S. Military Approved)
(1) Sewing Kit w/6 Safety Pins (Assembled in USA)
(6) MP1 Water Purification Tablets (U.S. Military Issue)
(1) Adventurer Survival Whistle (SOLAS/NATO Approved)
(1) Mini Survival Fishing Kit (Assembled in USA)
(1) Type 1A Utility Cord (U.S. Military Approved)
(1) Brass Snare Wire (Trapping and Equipment Repair)
(1) Emergency Signal Mirror (Daytime Emergency Signaling)
(1) Compact Flint Fire Starter w/Striker
(6) Adventurer Tinder Quik Fire Tabs
(1) Adventurer Fresnel Lens Fire Starter
(1) Water Bag 

(1) Compact First Aid Kit
--Sting Relief (2 packets)
--Butterfly Bandages (2)
--Band Aids (6)
--Moleskin (3" x 4")
--Triple Antibiotic Ointment (2)
--Zip Lock Bag
(2 packets) Hand Sanitizer
(2) Deet Bug Repellent Wipes 

(1) Silica Gel Desiccant (Moisture Absorbent)

The PACElid adds storage capacity to a wide mouth water bottles, compatible with Nalgene, Klean Kanteen, Kathmandu and Hydroflask bottles. I'm going to keep trying out new loads to carry around with me.

Review: MRE review 1/2 day's rations

I had the opportunity to take a pile of Australian issue MRE components to work to test out, following on from a small selection of them falling in my lap from more than one undisclosed source. I will not be on-selling these, they're for my own entertainment and preparedness.

I wanted to give myself a good trial, so selected a full menu to replace what I would normally eat during the day at work. It is common to see "8,700kJ" as the average recommended intake and I have breakfast, lunch and two breaks at work, so I selected accordingly.


For breakfast I had a brown of muesli/porridge, which I mad with boiling water and a sachet of instant creamer. It made a solid, heavy and hearty porridge, which was flavoursome and had enough variety of ingredients to have a good and palatable consistency.










I had the "blueberry and apple" cereal bar for my mid-morning snack, it was again, dense and for all intents and purposes, could have come out of any kids

Interestingly when I looked up the nutritional content of current US issued MRE kits, they suggested that service-members (who were classified as highly active men between the ages of 18 and 30) typically use about 4,200 Calories a day. The conversion is  1 kJ = 0.2 Calories (Cals)or 1 Calorie = 4.2 kJ, giving a figure of 17,640 kJ a little over double the "average adult intake diet". Bear that in mind later.

Lunch was a bit more involved; a sachet of freeze-dried rice, beef and onion stew, a can of "diced two-fruits in syrup" with a sachet of tropical flavour Thorzt sports drink powder to drink.

The dehydrated rice was reconstituted with a canteen cup's worth of boiling water, and once ready, I simply upended it into a bowl, and added the cold stew to it. I could have tried reheating the stew, either by suspending its retort in a bowl of boiling water, or throwing it all in the microwave, but this would totally have been cheating.

It was a pretty decent meal, there were enough chunky bits of meat and onion to make it more than just thick gravy, but it was hardly a hefty chew. The stew itself was quite palatable cold, but a quick mix with the hot rice made it all the better.

Obviously you have to reconstitute the rice to make it in any way enjoyable, but it will reconstitute in cold water, if you don't have a source of heat, or are under restrictions.



I finished off my lunch with the can of fruit in syrup, which I popped open with my trusty EDC P-38 opener, and tucked into the just-as-off-the-shelf canned fruit. Nothing special to report there though.












For my afternoon break and to snack on in e afternoon, I had selected the chocolate drink, infamous canned cheese and even more infamous chocolate ration. Again, boiling water into the chocolate drink, which made a quite passable hot chocolate.

If I had wanted it to be extra creamy, I could have saved the instant creamer from breakfast and added it, but I think it didn't need it.





The Bega canned cheese, reported to me as a legendary constipation cause, appeared to be exactly the Kraft cheese stick cheese, in a can. It was firm but elastic, and "split" rather than crumbled. It was tasty enough, and reminded me of school-yard snack breaks for sure.

Lastly was the equally infamous legendarily laxative chocolate ration.  I don't actually enjoy milk chocolate, but I wanted the full experience, and even with all the food I'd included in my half-day's ration, I wanted to make a real showing of it.

I snacked on it throughout the afternoon and finished it just before going home, and suffered no ill effects.

Perhaps the cheese and chocolate battled each other into a stalemate, but I was the victor.

Adding up the constituents, I had had 8907kJ (2129Calories) in this selection, and this was just my daytime food.

All this, and I was pretty full, and certainly didn't feel that I had gone without. If anything, I felt I had wanted to eat the cheese or the chocolate, but not both.

It's also worth noting that this only made up a small portion of the full ADF ration-pack. Given that, and the full kJ load in that full pack, you could make one of these stretch a long way, or spread them out between a number of people to make a survival situation both more palatable, but also more secure.

If you can lay your hands on an MRE, you'd have to go a long way to find a better, more densely packed, supplied and readily consumable source of nutrition and energy than the ADF ration-pack. If you're in a position to lay hands on one, do it.

If you're in a field where you might be able to swap out, try swapping for an ADF rat-pack, you won't be disappointed.

Review: Baubax jacket

Its just about spring-time here in Melbourne, which means a lot of rain, and cold mornings for me. I hate the cold, and hate being rained on. I am a big fan of soft-shell waterproof jackets and having lots of pockets, but sometimes you want something more than just rugged and dependable, when it comes to snivel-gear. You want something nice.

I saw the Baubax jackets on Kickstarter and their portal site (and was directed to them by umpteen people) and really liked what I saw. They offered four designs, (Dress Blazer, Sweatshirt, Windbreaker and Bomber) in a range of colours, and materials, which all featured a mass of features. Billing them as the "Worlds Best Travel Jacket". I jumped on the bandwagon and eventually, after much delay, they arrived.



I ordered the heaviest and feature-packed option, the Bomber.

A travel-friendly Bomber Jacket with stylish flare, this street-smart piece features pockets for all your smart devices, a built-in neck pillow, an eye mask, and a detachable hood. But that's just a handful of features.

The jacket is made from a machine washable 100% polyester soft shell, with cotton and fleece linings, and weighs in at 1.2kg (2lbs 10oz) making it quite a hefty piece, but that weight gives warmth and security.

It is also PACKED with features:


GLOVES: Built-in half-gloves that easily slide in and out of the sleeves, to keep you warm and cozy when you're on the go. Made from cotton, they will soak up water if you wear them in the cold and wet, but they cut the wind in dry conditions and are really great on those cold morning train-station waits.

EARPHONE HOLDERS: Built-in Earphone holders always keep your earphones untangled and ready for instant use. I havent really used this much, but the loops make really good deep-cover securing locations.

BLANKET POCKET: All BauBax jackets come with a pocket to carry the optional extra proprietary 60"x40" BauBax Blanket that'll keep you warm and cozy when you're traveling. If you don't get the blankie, another woobie or even a dry-cloth would fit in there nicely.

KOOZIE DRINK POCKET: No more fumbling with your drink and your laptop on a plane table tray. With an insulated neoprene drink docket, keep your hot drinks warm, cold drinks cool and your hands free for work. I have only occasionally actually kept a drink in there, but the padded and press-stud fastening pocket is good for loose valuables you want to keep protected.

iPAD POCKET:A 10" pocket to carry an iPad or any full size tablet to free up space in your carry-on or purse and for more convenient plane boarding. This is excellent, and I have stowed my iPad in there a number of times. It just "fades away" into the side pocket, seamlessly and is right there when needed. Be sure to do the little zipper up though, lest you drop expensive delicate technology.

TELESCOPING PEN: This was a cute addition. Clipped to the main zipper is a 1" pen that extends to 4", the bottom of the telescoping pen has a soft tip Stylus to ensure you always have a Stylus handy. It's totally not integral to the jacket, but a very nice feature nevertheless.

SMARTPHONE POCKET: Easily accessible water-resistant smartphone pocket that offers a seamless connection to your earphones., built into the upper outside of the chest on the left, it was a great place to secure my phone when out on the mountain recently.

SUNGLASS POCKET: Easily accessible sunglass holder in a pocket in the upper right side of the inside of the jacket to keep your optics safe and handy. Built-in Microfiber cloth included for cleaning sunglass lenses was also a really nice touch.

PASSPORT POCKET: Passport size inside chest pocket designed for quick access to boarding pass and ID while traveling. Keep your secure documents secure, and handy at the same go. Obviously they're not as safe when the jacket is open, but a damn side safer than if they were in the back-pocket of your flying jodhpurs.

HAND WARMING POCKETS: Multi layered hand warming pockets for extra warmth. I can not stress enough how good it is to have properly lined pockets. built of the same material as the rest of the jacket, both the inside and outside of the pockets are equally warm. No more still-freezing from the inside with these pockets, even with the jacket open.

DETACHABLE HOOD: BauBax Bomber and Blazer come with a detachable hood. The hood features a double press-stud gorget for really bad weather, and zippers onto the body of the jacket, behind a quilted collar that matches the waist and cuffs.

EYE VISOR:  Inside that hood is a fleece eve-visor, which forms your very own shade-cloth and eye-patches when you need a daytime nap, or just don't want tot make eye-contact whilst browsing for saucy delights on your phone in your lap. I found however, that the visor flopped down over my eyes when I was walking around with the hood up. A button-eyehole would have been a good feature to include on this.

NECK PILLOW: This was super sweet. A semi-built-in, inflatable neck pillow that easily hides inside the hood of the jacket, by means of a buttoned down compartment, but was also easy enough to hang behind the shoulders from the hanging loop. Its innovative valve technology allows for a 2 second, one breath inflation. Simple and easy one press deflation, as well as a very comfortable design rounds it out. Also not integral to the jacket, it was a brilliant addition, especially for those of us who often find ourselves sleeping in odd places, at odd times and can't just rack-out.

this was a really good jacket, and I'm glad I had it this winter, and spring, although we had to wait a long time for them, and the sizing of the ladies sizes (I got one for Omega as well) was a bit limited.  That said, the jacket held up well in all kinds of inclement weather, including snow and sleet. The cotton cuffs soak up water, and wold be better is treated to be waterproof, but otherwise, its a great jacket.

Sneak-Peek: ADF ration pack H

Behold the full contents of an ADF Ration pack, menu "H".

I had the good fortune to have some of these fall into my grabby hands, and I wanted to show off the contents.

This represents an entire days consumables for an Australian infantryman.

 

 

 

Bundled in a heavy plastic cover (broken, for legitimacy's sake).

Snacks, three meals, drinks, tea and coffee, a FRED eating tool, spoon, matches, wipes, Vegemite, all a fighting body needs. 

Stay tuned and I'll cover what a meal is like in more detail.

Review: Kathmandu Wide Mouthed drink bottle

Every now and then a piece of gear comes my way through .... unconventional means.

One time an IR strobe mysteriously appeared in the post, another time the same thing happened with a set of lockpicks. Other times I have found gear discarded and added it to my collection (some would say hoard).

This time it truly was a case of "gear adrift is gear a gift", in that in the flotsam and jestam of my local beach, I spotted a water-filled bottle, and fished it out.

It turned out to be a very serviceable Kathmandu wide-mouth drink bottle.

It was full of fresh water, and had obviously snapped loose, fallen overboard or been washed away, as the lid-to-bottle retention strap had been snapped away, and only a stub remained on the lid.

I am all for reusable drink bottles, and the clear-plastic, wide mouthed Nalgene's that I have been using for years have served me well.


That link is for a slightly different design, as the one that washed up appears to be no longer available but here is the Dead link anyway.

Apart from the obvious aspect of having a reusable and sealable water bottle, that holds a liter of water for hydration purposes, this kind of bottle also has the capacity for storage for any number of small needfuls to set it up as a survival cache or just as a waterproof storage system for those of you with phones or still use paper money still ...

As a reusable drink bottle, it is only 155g (5.5oz) Eastman Tritan co-polyester, which makes it both odour and shatter resistant,  freezer safe as well as withstand temperatures up to 100 degrees for washing in a dishwasher. They aren't recommend for hot beverages as the plastic will become too hot to touch but make for a great hot-water bottle if you wrap a t-shirt around it once it's sealed up tight.
Even after being lost at sea, and losing its retention strap, and being sandblasted rather thoroughly, its held up really well. The volume increments are still visible, which is good for measuring cordial or tracking how much I've drunk and how quickly, but that's not nearly as useful as the addition of moulded finger grip points on both sides of the bottle.

When you've just filled the bottle, or washed it, or worse, filled it AND washed it they get slippery. so having a textured gripping surface really adds value to the bottle.
I dummy-corded a new retention string to my bottle, so I don't loose my lid, and have something to tie MY bottle down with, so I don't loose it overboard.

Certainly a good addition to my bottle collection, and the price was right, that's for sure.

Always be on the lookout for gear adrift, it's gear a gift. I'm still enjoying a number of items I salvaged off the Tough Mudder courses I've run.

Review: Back Country Cuisine - Cooked Breakfast

Here is the fourth and final chapter in my "instant meals" pieces that I've been covering. The first was the Outdoor Gourmet Butter Chicken, which was delicious, the Back Country Cuisine Roast Chicken which was passable, the Outdoor Gourmet Tandoori Chicken, which was also delicious and now the last entry of the four I had collected to sample, the Back Country Cuisine Cooked Breakfast.

Billed as a "satisfying beef bacon, scrambled egg in a hash brown potato mix served with baked beans" I wanted to have non-dinner one to try, to give a range of meal options in my mix, so it seemed like a simple enough addition.

As with the other three meals, the Cooked Breakfast consisted of a full meal, freeze-dried to preserve them, and make for a light-weight, portable and stable foodstuff. In the freeze drying process, crystals of frozen ice in the food are sublimed (evaporated) to water vapour in a vacuum chamber.

This produces a completely dry food that allows water to quickly get into the pores left by the ice crystals to give a juicy, tender food product when reconstituted. After packing, the Back Country Cuisine meals are heat-sealed in their foil pouches from which all the air has been removed and replaced with nitrogen. This keeps the food safe and "fresh" for at least three years without the need for preservatives.

The Cooked Breakfast meal weighs 90g dry, and requires 250mL of hot water, and comes with a second retort within the main pouch, which contains the haricot baked beans component of the meal. Once cooked, this is a 340g (12oz) meal, and again, it is quite possible to eat the whole meal in the bottom half of the retort, which comes with a "tear-here" notch for ease of use, to change it from a cook-pot into a bowl. Splitting the boiling water between the main component, and the beans, re-sealing and waiting for 10 minutes to reconstitute produces the meal.

Nutritionally, the meal provides 1702kJ (408Cal) as a unit, which breaks down to 501kJ (120Cal) per 100g, and equates to 20% or the recommended daily allowance.

However. This is probably the worst instant meal I have ever tasted. The egg was simultaneously stiff and spongy, and tasteless like foam. The bacon beef was not even TVP standard, the hashbrown mix was mush and the beans. The beans. The tasteless, white, sauceless beans didn't rehydrate, and were still hard and dry in the retort, and didn't further reconstitute with additional water.

This is one of my rare negative reviews. This was terrible. Not only that, but I became very ill shortly after eating it, and I had to go home from work following eating it early in the afternoon. I was sick for a couple of days. It wasn't even tasty. Sure, it might not have been the BCC Cooked Breakfast, but I'll not be having another one. So, 2:2, the OGC meals were 2/2 delicious, the BCC meals were one passable, one awful and sick-making. Certainly not what I would have wanted if I had been out bush, or living in the Bunker.