Has anyone tried to use a standard camp pot or pan as a Dutch oven? I have Primus stainless steel pots and pans. I feel like this could be done with some practice. I would imagine the coals on bottom would need to be a little further away from the pot or pan. I also thought of insulating the sides with a towel. Looking for an insight before I try this at home and potentially ruin a pot or pan.

Here is the set I have. https://primus.us/collections/pots-and-pans/products/campfire-cookset-stainless-steel-large

I think you're on the right track. Err on the side of going with low and slow heat. At home, I use a large clad stainless steel pot in a similar fashion to a Dutch oven. I can use it to fry, braise, stew, soups etc.

When canoe camping, I use a SS 1.6l pot with an MSR Dragonfly and I am able to dial in a number of different heat types. I can cook rice, fry fish, or let some venison tips simmer in a gravy.

To insulate the sides, you could try using muffler tape to wrap some Reflectix around it. I recommend leaving an inch or so unwrapped near the bottom. Beware of flamer flare ups.

Without cast iron, you do forfeit the heat retention and ability to stack coals on the lid (for my equipment anyway) but a SS pot can get you 90% of the way there. And you save a lot of weight.

Happy cooking!

I have utilized a handleless IMUSA on a tin foil donut inside a pot converted from a cheap utensil caddy ( about a gallon sized) for dry-baking muffins on the trail. While it was more bother than it was worth, this combo was a serviceable alternative to a dutch oven for light baking. I also made a Reflectix cozy for the larger pot so I can take it off the direct heat and keep food cooking with retained heat. I have less than $10 invested in both pots and the Reflectix all together so little to lose it everything gets scorched.

If I were using your Primus set, I'd consider using the 1.8 L inside the 3.0 L with a tin foil spacer and the add water to the void. As a double-boiler would limit the cooking temp but neither pan could be damaged beyond the soot stains to the exterior of the 3.0L pot (assuming you did not allow the water to entirely boil off). Again, I'd guess this arrangement would be more bother than it was worth.

Good Luck

I have used simple camp pots as oven quite often. Pot in pot just over a stove to bake biscuits and rolls, to a top and bottom DO meal.
Making sausage gravy and a large biscuit. The MSR Alpine pots work very well as the lid fit the pots in the normal way and upside down making a place to stack coals in from a small fire. pot inside a pot oven cooked over a single burner stove.

butthead

I have used pot in pot for years baking sweet breads, fruit compote, etc. I now use a round cake pan inside a skillet, small for solo and larger for group trips. A steady heat such as from a good coal base is best, check for hotspots but not too often and turn regularly.

A camp bake video I made long ago.
Makin' A Biscuit.

1. part one

2. part two

3. part three

4. part four

butthead

Nice videos Butthead!

pastorjsackett: "Nice videos Butthead!"

Thanks! I do like the MSR Alpine SS pot sets. Stackable and lids that fit tight right side up of down. Down is perfect for holding firepit coals. I've cooked jambulya's, stew's, bread's, anything you could do in DO with only coals on top, adding some heat to the bottom is easy if needed. Empty dry pot on a burner has not been a problem with SS or Ti but may be with Al. Hitting 350 degrees is simple as shown in the video's, outside insulation I never worried about nor used.

butthead

butthead: "I have used simple camp pots as oven quite often. Pot in pot just over a stove to bake biscuits and rolls, to a top and bottom DO meal.
Making sausage gravy and a large biscuit. The MSR Alpine pots work very well as the lid fit the pots in the normal way and upside down making a place to stack coals in from a small fire. pot inside a pot oven cooked over a single burner stove.


butthead"

Used this exact setup on our last trip. Worked like a charm. Was able to bake a cookie dutch-oven style, with upside down lid to hold coals. Dragonfly simmering on bottom. I /did/ bring an aluminum heat diffuser disk for the underside of the pot just to make extra sure I got a steady, low heat.

I switched from a D.O. to an IMUSA Caldera a few years ago. It is a thinner walled aluminum Dutch oven. Prop it up higher off the coals and it makes good biscuits. It is also a good fry pan. Oh, and replace the plastic handle with a eye bolt.

We flip it around. We use our dutch oven's as camp pots. I bring GSI aluminum dutch ovens (weight a LOT less then cast iron). A dutch oven will work perfectly as a camp pot, but a pot will not bake nearly as well as a dutch oven

That's a clever idea! I like it.