The choice of utensils for a hike is no less important than the choice of all other equipment. After all, if the mug breaks or the pot burns out, then replacing them will not be so easy. Therefore, dishes for a trip must meet several criteria that may seem insignificant in everyday life.
First you need to decide on the source of fire for cooking. It could be a fire or gas-burner. Bonfire: Utensils for cooking on a campfire should not have plastic handles, only metal ones, since the heat of the fire is directed not only to the bottom of the utensil. For the same reason, the walls and bottom of the dishes must be denser, otherwise there is a high risk that they will burn through.
Burner:
Cookware for cooking on a burner has fewer requirements, the main thing is that the material should not be combustible. Most often, such dishes are made of anodized aluminum. Important point. During the trip, you should monitor the layer of soot on the bottom of the dishes, as it increases gas consumption, creating protection from heat.
When you have decided on the source of fire, you need to calculate the number of eaters.
Usually each of the participants in the campaign takes their own dishes with them. Now there are whole nesting doll sets, like army bowlers, which combine several elements. However, in order to understand what exactly should be in the set, here is a list of the necessary utensils:
1. A pair of pots with lids - one for cooking, the other plays the role of a kettle. The lids will protect the food from dirt and insects, as well as speed up the cooking time.
2. Bowl - better if metal, in last resort its role can be played by the lid of the pot.
3. Mugs - a metal thermo mug is best, it is strong enough and does not burn your hands.
4. Ladle - it sounds strange, but it is better to have it if cooking is not for one person and you need to get to the bottom of the pot. Yes, and pouring food is much more convenient for them.
5. The handle is a special tack, like for pans, with which it is easier to remove the pot from the fire.
6. A tablespoon is universal, it replaces both a fork and a teaspoon.
7. Knife - every tourist must have a knife with him, and preferably several, each for his own purposes. One of these knives should be allocated exclusively for food.
This set is designed for one person, but it is easy to supplement it if a large group is going out. It is enough to replace the bowlers with larger ones and make sure that the others take their own plates, mugs and spoons with them.
Now let's take a closer look at what exactly this dish should be made of.
Previously, aluminum, steel and cast iron were used to make camping utensils. The latter is no longer used in hiking, as it weighs too much. Aluminum:
Cookware made of this metal weighs several times less, cools faster and has other nice additions, such as low cost and reduced sticking.
Unfortunately, food-grade aluminum is not very durable, so today a special anodized aluminum has been developed. It is lighter, stronger, less prone to scratches and has a non-stick property. But it also costs almost twice as much.
It is worth mentioning that you should not use aluminum cookware for campfire cooking. It will burn out faster, moreover, over time, from heating, it can begin to release harmful substances.
Stainless steel:
Stronger than aluminium, but heavier and less thermally conductive. When cooking in such dishes, food can burn due to uneven heating, but there are pluses. In steel dishes, food cools down longer, which means you don’t have to eat it cold.
In addition, steel utensils can be used both on the burner and on the fire.
Steel cookware costs no more than its anodized aluminum cookware.
Very light, durable and expensive cookware. You can use it both on a fire and on a burner. It retains the heat of cooked food longer, does not burn lips and is easy to clean without scratching, but cooking in it will take longer due to low thermal conductivity.
Zconclusion
When choosing dishes, you should not chase the price and brand, each of the companies producing camping dishes has its pros and cons, therefore it is better to first purchase a simpler set of dishes and then understand from your own experience what exactly the chosen option lacks and how to fix it. All of the above should make it easier to choose among the many models and brands currently on the market for hiking equipment and give general idea about what kind of dishes should be, the main criteria of which are its strength, lightness and thermal conductivity.
C.L.M.N.- This is a common abbreviation among tourists, which stands for mug, spoon, bowl, knife. This is a necessary set for a meal on a hike and usually everyone takes it himself as a personal equipment.
Like any tourist equipment, camping equipment has differences from those that we use in the city. Therefore, in this article we will try to figure out which devices can be taken on a hike, and which ones are best left at home.
Option one, camping utensils and appliances
If you are going out of town by car and do not plan to walk with a backpack, then the most convenient option is large universal sets of dishes. Such sets have existed for a very long time and you will surely remember interesting specimens from the distant past, and now there are just a huge number of them.
The convenience of the kits is that you can assign one person responsible for the dishes, so that everyone else takes care of other things. In addition, they always have additional plates, spoons or glasses, which can be very useful in nature. In addition, usually these sets are placed in one convenient container, bag or basket and there is no need to figure out where to put it all - it turns out to be a relatively compact and comfortable way to satisfy the need for cutlery and crockery for the whole company at once.
Expensive gift sets in large leather chests may look solid, but are often impractical. It is better to choose less presentable picnic sets, but much more functional and comfortable. And for sophisticated camping enthusiasts, it’s better to choose expensive technological kits from well-known companies such as MSR (we’ll talk about companies later), which are expensive not because of the leather suitcase and the shine of the plates, but due to the quality of all items, special coatings and unique ways layout.
Dishes and appliances for active tourism
For a hike with backpacks, a large set is clearly not suitable. Firstly, those same additional items will add a lot to us excess weight, which will have to be carried on the shoulders, and secondly, it is unlikely that anyone alone will agree to carry the whole set, puffing for everyone.
Therefore, for outdoor activities, everyone takes the c.l.m.s. for himself. Here compactness and weight play the main roles. That is, the option with glass and ceramic dishes is immediately thrown out of our heads. by the most simple solution there will be inexpensive aluminum cookware of any brands. Disposable dishes, as I said in an article about caring for the environment, are better not to take: they are unreliable, uncomfortable and fly away in all directions from any breeze. Plastic tableware - in general a good option but choose carefully. Plastic must be food grade, i.e. not emit harmful substances. Usually there is a special stamp on such products, but at least you yourself can just smell what you are going to take - the plastic should not have a pungent smell.
But in general, when choosing dishes for a hike, you can be guided by the following principles:
- utensils must be unbreakable
- choose dishes and cutlery so that they fit into each other or into other equipment, such as a bowler hat. At the same time, try not to rattle all this while driving.
- remember that on hikes, as a rule, there is no table, which means that you have to eat holding a plate in your hands or on your knees, so think about handles and other devices that will help you hold the dishes and not burn yourself
- plastic utensils are light, beautiful and convenient, but think about it: do you have to heat up food in a plate or mug? Sometimes this is necessary, so some experienced tourists still prefer metal utensils.
- multifunctional sets of spoons, forks and knives look cool, but are of little use in practice. The knife in them is usually bad, the fork is not useful, and the spoon is uncomfortable. Where it is placed or held together is usually difficult to clean and easy to lose. It is better to take an ordinary spoon - it will be easier and more convenient. Still, a multi-tool should be a multi-tool, not a transformer with spoons and forks.
Crockery and cutlery for light walkers
Over time, every experienced hiker becomes a lightweight, that is, a person who wants to lighten his equipment to the maximum. The dishes in this case should be not only light, but also compact, since the backpack of an easy-going person is much smaller than usual.
In this case, we can recall materials such as silicone and titanium. Thanks to silicone, the plates, mugs and even pots (the bottom of the pot is made of metal) can be folded, so that the dishes can easily fit even in the smallest backpack. Titanium cookware takes up more volume, but has a minimum weight; the problem of placement can be solved by hanging such dishes outside the backpack.
Thermal mugs (double-walled) are inapplicable for easy walking - they are at least twice as heavy as usual - and in general, thermal mugs are not the best option for a trip. In such a mug, although it is metal, you cannot boil water, you cannot warm your hands on a frosty day. It won't burn your hands - it's true, but usually the mug has a handle, holding which you won't burn yourself either. Tea can also stay hot longer, especially if there is a lid, but how often do you boil tea, pour it into a mug and not drink it? If you still do it often, then you should take a good thermos with you, and not a thermo mug.
Also light walkers can take the minimum set using one item as several devices. For example, you can use one container as a mug and a bowl, although in order to drink tea after eating, you will first have to wash the mug. You can use the lid from the pot as a plate and so on, I think general principle generally understandable.
Brands and examples of interesting tableware
Of course, I cannot list all the brands, since there are a lot of them, but I will try to describe those that can be found on the shelves more often than others.
- a Swedish company primarily known for its "sporks" (spork). A convenient simple shape, high-quality plastic, bright colors and the lightness of a spoon-fork-knife made it so popular. I have been using it myself for a long time cutlery them, for all the time I managed to break a couple of pieces, but still I think that their plastic is quite reliable. There is a catcher of the same shape made of titanium, I plan to purchase it and test it in the future. In addition, the company produces a number of other interesting items, such as a half-silicone glass, plates, bowls, and the like.
MSR- American company giant of the industry. It produces almost all equipment, including a variety of dishes. They have a lot of interesting sets, from pots and mugs to small custom pieces like folding spatulas, graters and even cutting boards.
snow peak- a large Japanese company that also produces a wide range of goods for tourism. At snow peak, titanium dishes are perhaps the most interesting, with bright colors and good quality execution.
GSI outdoors- the company is narrowly specialized in the production of cutlery and other accessories for the camp kitchen. Since this is their main specialty, gsi designs and executes many interesting items of camp cuisine with high quality.
Sea To Summit – good company, which presented a number of innovative solutions for both cutlery and other interesting tourist items. The most interesting thing, perhaps, is the collapsible silicone cookware, including a pot in which you can cook food on gas burners.
In addition to companies that purposefully make a bunch of various dishes, there are those who produce only a few products under their own brand, however, sometimes such things are very interesting. For example, an unknown company Fozzils launches a collapsible plastic plate Fozzils Bowlz, which transforms into a convenient cutting board.
Also, almost every large company produces a variety of dishes under its own brand, sometimes these are frankly copied products that simply have the logo of a familiar brand, but sometimes there are quite good, and most importantly, high-quality appliances. For example, a firm Tatonka, known for its backpacks, has a lot of good dishes in its assortment. Our firms (for example, Tramp or Nova Tour) are also not shy and, when ordering from the same factories in China and India, they put their logo on plates, mugs and cutlery - and there is nothing wrong with that, since these dishes are cheap and quite suitable for undemanding tourists.
In the end, everyone chooses for himself what is more convenient for him: reliable metal dishes, lightweight plastic or innovative super-foldable and multifunctional. And if this is your first trip, take what you have and use it for field conditions and you will understand with what you will be more comfortable in your future travels. Most importantly, do not forget about the necessary set - KLMN. Speaking of “H”, about knives, I deliberately did not say: firstly, since it is not necessary for everyone to have their own knife when hiking with a group, and secondly, choosing a knife is a good topic for a separate article, which will definitely appear soon time, stay connected!
Happy travels and see you soon!
Hello.
I think you, like me, do not have one more or less long outing in nature without cooking camping food. This is a rich porridge, and a smoky soup or ear, and fragrant tea prepared in nature and therefore acquiring unusual notes.
Firstly, it’s easier for me, I don’t need to look for firewood and kindling, which is especially important in wet weather.
Secondly, you don’t need to take some on a hike.
This does not mean at all that I do not use a fire.
I make a fire for heating and drying things, scaring away midges and pleasant evening gatherings in a friendly company.
The second thing to decide is number of eaters for which we will choose dishes.
It is clear that for two or three people a set is needed less than for ten, but what to do when the number of eaters is not known in advance.
Here it is better to use Russian - “maybe we will go to someone or someone will come to us” and look for a more impressive option.
For a couple of eaters, you can always leave extra dishes at home, but if a large company is going on a hike, the whole set will come in handy.
Moreover, it is a set, and not its individual parts. It is more convenient not only for aesthetic reasons.
All parts of the set are very well fitted to each other and fit one into the other like nesting dolls: it seems that they take up little space, but when you get all the nesting dolls, you can feed the company.
What a set usually consists of:
- one or more pots (pots)
- pan
- kettle
- bowls
- mugs
- ladle
- handle - grip for pots and pans
I described a complete set of dishes, but in this configuration, it is very rarely taken to nature.
The kettle and frying pan are replaced by a saucepan, the lid from the same saucepan serves as a bowl, the fork is replaced by a spoon, the knife is used not from a set, but an ordinary, camping knife.
Yes, spoons, knives and forks are not included in the set or are included very rarely.
Maybe I went too far with something, but in order to save space and reduce weight, they often do so. Even in spoons, holes are drilled to facilitate them (in the handle, of course, but where did you think?).
So, we decided on the preparation, now the choice itself.
We will choose according to several criteria:
- cookware material
- brand
Material
In times not so distant, materials such as cast iron, steel and aluminum were used to make dishes (including camping ones).
Cast iron did not take root in the field because of its severity, while steel and aluminum are still used with success.
To the virtues food grade aluminum light weight, good thermal conductivity and low cost can be attributed. Due to the good thermal conductivity, food in such dishes practically does not burn.
To the disadvantages - the strength of the dishes leaves much to be desired. The dishes of the early years of production, in addition, oxidized and emitted bad substances.
Anodized aluminum , compared with food, has undergone a number of changes. In addition to being light in weight, anodizing gives it greater strength and scratch resistance, and non-stick coating- even less burning.
True, the price has become twice as high as that of food-grade aluminum dishes.
The disadvantages include the fact that it is not advisable to use such dishes for a fire, only for a burner. Why? We read above.
Stainless steel stronger material than aluminum, but has lower thermal conductivity and more weight. Due to uneven heating, food may burn. Steel cookware takes longer to heat up than aluminum cookware, but it also holds the temperature longer.
It can be used both with a burner and on an open fire.
The price of steel cookware is about the same as that of anodized aluminum cookware.
titanium cookware - dishes from the field of space technology. It is light, strong, and expensive (contagion). The thermal conductivity of titanium is three times less than that of steel and 15 times less than that of aluminum, therefore, it would seem that it is an impossible task to heat a liquid in it.
But due to the fact that the material is very durable, the wall thickness is usually twice as thin as that of aluminum cookware, and the water in it boils not much longer. In addition, titanium does not burn lips and keeps food hot longer.
Can be used for both fire and burner. It is easier than steel utensils to remove soot, and you can even do this with a knife (does not scratch).
Such a disadvantage as uneven heating is compensated by the non-stick properties of the material and the food in it does not burn.
In addition to any set of metal utensils, plastic plates, bowls, cups, etc. are often included. I think there is no need to paint them, because no one makes great demands on them. Available and fine.
Weight an important factor for camping utensils, because, like all other equipment, it is worn on the back.
If, for example, we take pots of the same volume, but made of different material, then the weight gradation will be something like this:
Based on the above, and guided by the table, it can be seen that anodized aluminum and titanium have the optimal weight / strength ratio. Stainless steel has more weight, food grade aluminum has less strength.
Brand
There are many manufacturers in the tourist cookware market today. Here are some of them:
- Expedition (Russia)
- Pinguin (Czech Republic)
- Trump (USA)
- Camping (Ukraine)
- Tatonka (Germany)
- Kovea (South Korea)
- Fire Maple (China)
These brands generally produce excellent products, some are better, some are a little worse, and whether it is worth chasing them is a personal matter for everyone.
Let me just say that the presence of a brand in most cases indicates the quality of the product (although there are exceptions 🙁), and for this quality, each of them wants to get their own price. And the price of different brands can vary significantly.
Price
The table shows prices for a set of dishes of approximately the same composition, from different brands (2 pots: 1.5 l., 1 l., frying pan, not counting plates)
I will say right away that the prices are indicative, because it is difficult to find two completely identical sets from different brands, but I think it will do for an example.
Here is a brief and all about the choice of dishes.
The question arises, what dishes to take on a hike? Do you need cutlery, deep plates? How to choose dishes for a hike - focusing on weight, material, volume? Can I take ordinary dishes or is it better to use special travel sets? Is it better to take stainless steel, titanium, plastic or aluminum?
Mug, spoon, bowl, knife- just such a set of dishes for, rafting or any other similar trip will be the most optimal. The fork will only add weight, but, in essence, it is quite possible to do without it, of course, if you do not suffer from an overabundance of culture. General advice from experienced tourists on the Internet is as follows.
Utensils for a trip to a tourist
So, plate. Often in stores they offer metal or plastic ones. The first option is better for extreme tourism, in the sense that in which case you can put it on a fire for cooking. Such a plate is more durable and reliable. There is different variants configurations of similar items, ranging from conventional shapes to plates with one handle or with a removable one - then you can assemble a mini-pan from a removable handle and a plate. The latter are more convenient, since they can be held and not feel the temperature.
Plastic plates are lighter and don't get as hot. But they are fragile and can break in a backpack. Again, you can't put them on fire. IN Lately collapsible silicone bowls became popular. Their advantages are that they are compact, and the disadvantages are that such plates are not stable. They taper a little towards the base, and due to the fragile material they easily turn over.
Aluminum plates are also convenient to use - they have a low weight and low price. The choice is yours.
spoons you can use any at all - there are generally no special requirements for them. Both metal and wooden ones are taken on a hike. Plastic ones that look like a spoon on one side and a fork on the other are very popular (often cheap versions of such forks are given as a gift when delivering more expensive purchases - bowlers, kettles or plates). But, it is better to buy such devices either expensive and high-quality, or not to buy at all. They break very easily and are difficult to repair in field conditions.
cups in the catalogs of tourist dishes they also offer different ones. It is quite possible to take plastic or metal. Thermal mugs are especially popular. They do not let heat out and are easy to use. There are also folding or regular silicone cups. Here's what you should not take on a hike, so it's china plates or mugs. They are easy to beat and weigh decently. Leave them at home - for relaxing on the couch
Choose a knife depending on your needs. It is best that it be sharp and durable. Often, not only the knife itself is combined in one device, but also scissors, screwdrivers, corkscrews, etc. Of course, you can take this one, but for this you need to be sure that all of the above will be needed, and not be overweight.
You should also not take spare devices, this is also overweight.
