Austin Seven with a Beehive

[Monsdonnet]

Kettles were almost invariably boiled over a "Primus" contained in an open-sided biscuit tin. I still have my father's somewhere in the garage. I last used it in the 70s, camping on the banks of the Thames.

Same here, father always referred to it as a 'brew it yourself" ....!!

[John Mason]

I kept one in the boot of my Morris Minor1000 the biscuit tin apart from keeping everything together also acted as a wind break when the primus was in use. In the 70s I went up market and invested in a gaz stove complete with windshield and storage for a couple of spare gaz containers. These were non fillable and single use only. I still have it and it comes in handy occasionally for heating an old fashioned copper tipped soldering iron.

John Mason.

[Ian McGowan]

My father always had a meths burner in a cube Peak & Frean (?) biscuit tin for a brew on the road. I still have a more modern meths burner and a folding aluminium windshield but, Oh my, it is so slow. So I now carry a tiny folding gas stove _ with piezo spark ignition - runs off a butane /propane mix cartridge, works way below zero degrees, uses the same folding aluminium windshield and boils a small kettle in less than half the time as the meths burner.
I have taken petrol stoves all over Europe, to the Arctic and to Africa. They are dirty and smelly but, they usually do the job and they share fuel with the vehicle.
These days in Europe its butane/propane gas for a travelling brew or a cooked breakfast.

[Bob Culver]

For those few youngsters on the Forum, biscuit tins were about the size of the box in the photo which might be one. Biscuits were packed loose and weighed by the shop assistant and sold in paper bags. The many broken biscuits were sold cheap and made excellent fudge.
All the talk of petrol and meths burners makes me nervous. You can easily remove eyebrows with a kero Primus. Modern souls are so unfamiliar with fire all would be a serious hazard. I can recall a few picnics where evrything smelled and tasted of kerosene.

[Mike Costigan]

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[John Mason]

Mike your photo is what was called in the trade a half biscuit tin. The original was twice the height of the one in your photo and called a biscuit tin.

John Mason.

[Mike Costigan]

Ah, yes, John, I remember. Our local grocer used to have them opened on display in front of the counter, and customers could mix and match their selection. He also used to mix his own tea and coffee blends, butter was carved off a huge slab, and I was especially fascinated by the bacon slicer with its huge flywheel ...

[Steve Jones]

Ah, yes, John, I remember. Our local grocer used to have them opened on display in front of the counter, and customers could mix and match their selection. He also used to mix his own tea and coffee blends, butter was carved off a huge slab, and I was especially fascinated by the bacon slicer with its huge flywheel ...

Having been brought up in my parent's shop and Post Office we had/did all of those. The Bacon Slicer used to scare me witless when I was a child.

Steve

[Rick F]

"Please do not sit your child on the bacon slicer - we are getting behind in our orders!"

Sorry.....

[squeak]

Growing up in New Guinea my parents ordered our peak frean biscuits by the full tin. They were sealed by a colourful printed paper wrapper, glued on. One could run a knife around the lid to open, the tins were returnable and you could often see the remains of the old labels under the new wrapper. We never returned the tins and they lined the shelves in the garage, with painted on labels, full of stuff that couldn't be thrown away.  The shelves also had screwtop  jar lids fixed to their undersides for nails, screws, glue beads or buttons. 
Later back in Australia I was very lucky to score a Saturday job at an old fashioned grocers with it's long counter. At one end hung an overhead string pull and underneath brown paper roll dispenser, at the other a large cheese round for the ladies to sniff.  Clarrie stood behind with his white apron and short pencil in his ear as the customers scanned the pidgeon holes for supplies.    But I digress.