House hold items

bsmit212

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Just for fun to see what people use

What household items do you use unmodified for outdoor activities.

Some examples would be a nice tupperware container as a dry box on the canoe.

Or a pill box to keep some spices or just a couple of lures for backcountry cooking/fishing.
 

ChadTower

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Heh, I'll really have to think about this, because I use so many things this way. And I've been doing it for so many years that I don't realize I'm doing it anymore. Most obvious ones that come to mind are all sizes of Ziploc bags and plastic soda bottles. Cheap recyclable plastic containers are so reusable with a little imagination and a knife.
 

Grandpa

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My tent poles are longer than my folded tent, so I carry them outside my pack with the cap from a deodorant container to hold the poles together and protect the bottom of the waterbottle pocket where they rest. (Compression straps hold them at higher points)

Grandma used to work for the health department and brought home empty little sealed bottles that held little things for testing blood. I use one to hold a pack stove that didn't come with its own box. We've used them for the cubscouts to put their homemade first aid kits in. We have also used them for holding stick matches, fishing bait worms, and numerous other little tasks.

Wire coat hangers for hot dog roasting sticks, (heat them first to burn the coating off) Pop and pill bottles have been mentioned, altoids and sucret tins for dozens of applications, tupperware type stuff, coffee cans.....the list goes on.
 

Snuggles

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My first thought was zip lock bags too ChadTower. I use them for just about everything around the house. I also save my empty plastic peanut butter jars with the screw on top. They are great for packing most anything. Eggs for example. Go ahead ahd crack them in the jar and then pour out as many as you need for breakfast over the open fire. Works great.
 

Hikenhunter

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When I'm backpacking or canoe/kayaking, almost everything in my pack goes into ziplock baggies. It keeps my stuff organized and easy to find and adds a little bit of protection in case water should make its way into my pack or dry bag. My kitchen items in my car camping kitchen are almost all things that were intended for household use.
 

ChadTower

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When I'm backpacking or canoe/kayaking, almost everything in my pack goes into ziplock baggies.

I like to do this too on the water. I trap air in the bags so the stuff won't sink nearly as fast, if at all, should it end up in the water. Saved my car keys once.
 

Scotty

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I use tupperware or it's equivalent for a lot of things. They are just handy to carry stuff in, especially stuff which could be harmed by water such as rain or the occasional stream I fall in. Ziplock bags have also been the best invention since sliced bread.
 

ChadTower

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I love 2 liter soda bottles. Man, so many uses, so cheap, so tough. If you need a wider mouth a Gatorade bottle works well. They can carry items, liquids, you can't destroy them by accident without fire, you can easily modify them with a blade. With a little imagination you can use them for 1000 things and they add almost no weight to your pack so they can tie onto the outside as well as the inside.
 

ppine

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For longer trips like hunting, I use cookware, utensils, rugs, and lots of other stuff from home. There is no reason to go out a buy equipment if you already have some stuff at home. Mostly they are garage sale type things.
 

Reed

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A spatula........
What is that, a flyswatter? Or an "attitude adjustment device" for a cranky wife?:tinysmile_fatgrin_t. A quick swat on the behind will turn her around.

Ziplock bags. Good for everything except lures.
 

Cappy

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From my posts I'm sure yall reliaze that our home is our outdoor base camp, Now that I am older and we car camp or boat camp exclusively now I do not own any camping gear just gear. Every thing like lanterns, easy up awnings, camper, cooking gear, etc etc. Gets used in our yard as much as it gets used camping. Our day packs are used a lot more around town and at festivals fairs and flee markets lots more than they are used on a trail. Fishing, hunting, trapping etc are used with in 10 minute drive from home more often than on the trail. The line dividing our gear is very grey at best.
 

CaverGroupie

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This is sort of specific, and probably not much help to many others, but I use those tiny little zip bags that come with your extra shirt button in them to portion out daily dosages of meds. The other things I've found really handy are those tiny little glass bottles that my contacts come in. They're great for carrying just a dose of something, for instance Excedrine.
If space is at a premium in your backpack, little is key.
And of course my cast iron Dutch oven works just as well in a campfire as it does cooking chili at home.
 

Judy Ann

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Freezer bags. Good for backpacking and freezer bag cooking. No cleanup needed except for your eating utensil.

When car camping my barbecue tongs get the most use: cooking, moving wood on the fire, pulling food off of the coals. My Sog knife came in second.
 

CaverGroupie

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Oh, I forgot one of the best things! Those giant black garbage bags. They make great rain ponchos, tarps, and groundcovers. Not to mention use to keep trash or recycling in.
 

Blueskyy

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This is sort of specific, and probably not much help to many others, but I use those tiny little zip bags that come with your extra shirt button in them to portion out daily dosages of meds. The other things I've found really handy are those tiny little glass bottles that my contacts come in. They're great for carrying just a dose of something, for instance Excedrine.
If space is at a premium in your backpack, little is key.
And of course my cast iron Dutch oven works just as well in a campfire as it does cooking chili at home.
I love that idea about the little bags the extra button for your shirt comes in. I have a bunch of those because I knew they would come in handy for something one day!
 

ChadTower

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Hell yes dinosaur! it may seem oversized but half a roll of toilet paper can make your trip a whole lot less eventful. It's worth having.
 
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