MILITARY ISSUE CANTEENS: These are the most practical canteen around. They are carried on any standard issue web belt in a pouch. They are more confortable than most canteens, being contoured to fit your body, and certainly last longer than any typical camping canteen. The canteen itself will be around $3. If possible, try and find the belt clip version. It is insanely hard to find, but they do make a belt clip version that doesn't require the cover. User the cover, anyway, and just save the belt clip for backup. It costs about the same. Fill your canteens about 2/3 full the night before you pack out, and put it in the freezer. Don't fill it all the way up, because water expands when it freezes, and it will crack your canteen. Then the next morning, when you leave, fill the canteen up the rest of the way with water. The water will melt the ice slowly, and you will have a super cool water supply. Or, for something on the warmer side, boil some water at night them put it in your canteen. Make sure you keep your canteen in the insulated cover, inside your tent. When you wake up the next morning, you will have warm water for hot cocoa.

CANTEEN COVER: Get the insulated canteen cover, which comfortably carries the canteen cup and stand. DO NOT purchase these from mail order. They come in varying sizes, and you need to make certain when you buy them that it is the one manufactured to carry the cup and stand. The cover has a small outer pocket for a bottle of iodine tablets, though iodine water is about as tasty as mildewed cardboard. The downfall of these is that the synthetic liner, which insulates your water, also absorbs water rather well, so in a downpour or if you fall into the river when rock-hopping across, count on gaining some serious weight. There are unlined versions (USMC and independent contractors), but they are not manufactured to accept the Cup and Cup Stand. Take your pick; I'll take the Cup and Cup Stand. They run about $10.

CANTEEN CUP: An extra $15 will land you the cup, which the canteen will rest in inside the pouch. Handy for sharing water, if you are paranoid about hygiene, or for mixing stuff, if you don't want to mix the whole canteen. You can also heat things inside them via the Canteen Cup Stand. The only downfall is that it takes a good tug to get them out of the Cover unless they are holding a full canteen. The canteen, when full, expands ever so slightly, and grips the Cup snugly.

CANTEEN CUP STAND: Another $5 will get you a canteen cun stand, which the cup rests in. This still all fits in your canteen cover, if you buy the right one. The stand is more of a stove. It is essentially a ring of metal with a large notch cut into it. The notch is for lighting fuel under the cup. A whole lot easier and faster than your typical MSR, not to mention more easily portable. Ever tried to get an MSR through security at an airport? This only applies to those of us who are into backpacking enough that we fly to the trails. This can be used with either Trioxane of Hexamine, both of which are solid fuel tablets.

TRIOXANE FUEL TABLETS: Though it has a tendency to crumble if not packed carefully, trioxane is cheap enough that, when frusrated, you can toss one of these into the fire to help it get going. These fuel tablets are pretty stubborn when you are trying to light them, but once you get one lit it will stay lit come hell or high water. This whole ensemble (canteen, cover, cup, stand, and trioxane fuel) will eliminate the need for the larger and more expensive MSR liquid fuel stoves, and also serves as your mess kit. It burns slightly better than Hexamine, but is more expensive.

CHOPSTICKS: I am not a great fan of those stupid "camp eating utensil" sets. They are not very well engineered, in my opinion, and don't even serve as normal silverware very effectively. I personally just cook with my handy dandy Swiss Army knife. For eating, I use chopsticks (much better than a fork, if you know how to use them). If there is something like soup on my menu, I just drink it like a cup of water. Chopsticks, to me, are just a whole lot easier to use, and are handier than a fork. How often have you tried desperately to get something off your fork that was stuck on one of the tines, or tried in vain to stab an elusive grape that just does not want to be impaled, or tried in vain to scoop things onto your fork? Just grab them in between two chopsticks, and you're off! Well, that and they are lighter (hey, when you're hiking with a 90 pound pack at 13,000 feet, every little bit matters), easier to pack, and easier to clean. Not to mention cheaper and stronger. I'd recommend going slightly shorter than your average chopsticks.

CANTEEN STRAW HYDRATION SYSTEM: This is sort of like a Camelbak mutation for the canteens. It's not an issue item, so you won't find it at military surplus places. It's another one of those impossible to find items. It fits any US issue 1 or 2 quart canteens, and has a huge clear straw, nipple, and a replacement cap. Take the regular cap off your canteen and replace it with this baby. It makes your canteen available for hands-free use. It even comes with a tube clamp so that you can clip it to your lapel, or wherever you want it to be clipped. Handy. The one thing I will caution you on is that with this hydration system in place on your canteen, it makes it kinda clumsy to be using the canteen for anything else. Opening the cap to pour water into a cup to heat, or anything like that becokmes a hassel with that darn tube in it. I would suggest doing one canteen with and one without this system, until you become accustomed to it.

P-38 3-WAY CAN OPENER: This is an improvement on the old tried-and-true P-38 G.I. can opener. The 3-way has a bottle opener as well, and the bottom platform is hollowed for use as a small spoon. These are VERY hard to find, so don't waste too much of your time, but if you happen to stumble across one, pick it up!

RANGER BANDS: This is the last thing to add to your canteen kit. These are essentially massive rubber bands. They come in packs of 6 (2 large, 2 medium, and 2 small) and you can find a pack for under $5. Take a small Ranger Band and put it around the cap of your canteen. It fits it just about perfectly, with just a touch of stretch. This will make it very easy to open up your canteen, even in cold temperatures, with gloves on, or when it seems like Hercules couldn't get that darn cap unscrewed.