Why Containers Change Everything

A pot is a base camp

Without a container you cannot boil water, cook a stew, carry supplies or store food safely. A pot is what turns a temporary camp into a working base. Most importantly, a container lets you purify water by boiling — the single most reliable field method there is.

The container family

Humans have made containers from wood, bark, clay, gourds, bamboo, hide and even stomachs for thousands of years. The skill scales from a twenty-minute bark cup to true fired pottery, and every level of it increases what you can do in the field.

What a container unlocks

• Safe water — boiling kills pathogens; nothing else in the field is as certain.
• Cooked food — stews extract calories from bones, roots and tough meat that raw eating cannot.
• Transport — water and food move with you instead of chaining you to a stream.
• Storage — dry goods stay dry and away from animals.