In times past at camp I would cook stuff, I would take ingredients and make something for dinner. Breakfast was sometimes a slice of bacon or two, and after years of just boiling and rehydrating I have to admit I get a little fed up with the food at times.
I won’t be going back to a wood fire and sausages I don’t think, but some kit that came in for test and then a wee piece I put together for Trail got me thinking about the old days and some possibilities. A summer overnight pack is pretty empty, so maybe room in there for super-luxury?
Guyotdesigns will be supplying some of the kit.
The Squishy Bowls above are the Large (500ml/93g) and the Cup (200ml/48g), there’s Medium size and a “Shot Glass” as well (which I have somewhere, I’ll find it…).
The weight is good, but the fact that they pack flat, or at least won’t take up the same volume in your pack as their capacity would suggest, makes them handy wee buggers. Usability without penalty maybe? They’re made of food grade (obviously) silicone, and the material and super-smooth inside surface should make them easy to keep clean without using up all my water.
No handles of course, but there’s something “earthy” about holding a bowl in your hand and it’s nice to have something so different.
The little chaps there are MicroBites, a spork, spatula, knife and spreader in two click-together utensils weighing in at just 20g. They’re small, but not too small, feel sturdy will very little flex when leaned on and there’s enough material to hold onto to make them usable.
One interesting thing about them is that the manufacturing process is carbon negative, something that seems to run deep in the company philosophy. It’s worth reading the “About Us” page on their site.
I’ll take these out and see just how out of practise I am at doing more than boiling water when I’m wild camping.
I’ve seen this sort of bowls before and I don’t quite get the point. I just use a lunchbox, this kind: http://www.oww.be/UserFiles/Image/Winkels/brooddoos.jpg
Many lunchboxes have flat lids. You’ve pointed out in the review of the Optimus pans that flat lids on pans are crappy, it’s the same for lunchboxes.
This kind has two halves, one is slightly bigger so it can slide over the other. During the day I use it to hold fragile items (like boiled eggs) and sharp stuff (like forks). At dinner the two halves slide open and become eating vessels, or “plates”, for me and my hiking partner. I haven’t weighed my lunchbox but I’m pretty sure it’s lighter than those squishies.
Oh and I keep it shut using a rubber band that’s actually a strip of the inner tube of an old car tire!
Just arrived back from a wild camp myself, where last evening during my boiled water+bag of dehydrated mush supper (spookily) I also had a “so, is this it…?” foodie moment.
Proper grub in posh bowls, nice one…I’m up for that. I’d give back some of the gear weight savings for some proper ingredients and a bit more fuel.
Len, I love that lunchbox in the link!
I’ll find out the pros and cons of the squishies when I take them out. I know the space saving element is good, but what effect the quirkiness has on the practicality of it all is still unknown!
Hey, if it all goes wrong and I don’t get my dinner it’ll be a good story!
Gable, it’s worth a try. Summer evenings on the tops, pasta boiling, chopping some spicy sausage into a homemade sauce ready to go on the stove next, real porridge for breakfast with some cold milk and a chopped apple on top…
Now and again that might be nice.
I use a Swedish fold-a-cup, like this
http://www.magellans.com/store/Health___Hygiene___Food___DrinkFP589
brilliant bit of gear, just scoop water from streams or waterfalls :) Would recommend if you want one stay away from the Raidlight one, it’s a three times the price to have their logo on your folding cup!
That’s a cool wee thing.
I’ve got one of those “concertina” flat-pack bowls somewhere, I should take that out as well.
Talking of Raidlight, I’ve been using their chest pouch for months instead of an OMM one. I’ll need to write it up, it’s interesting.
I’d second the Flexi Cup as suggested by DNF. Mine fits neatly at the bottom of my Ti Lite mug and has lasted for three years without falling apart. It is also much cheaper than the other ‘cup solutions’ I was looking at at the Backpackers Club lightweight show this morning.
Good to know about the longevity.
I must admit my Snow Peak Ti mug has been a faithful companion over the past few years. It’ll take a lot to separate us!
My GF uses a Raidlight pack, bottle holsters on shoulder straps, the chest pouch and ran all over the Alps last year with it, her verdict on the chest pouch was glowing! Raidlight stuff is nice, but for a person who finds Haglofs Intense cut small, Raidlight is like childrens clothing! So the jury is out for me, but seeing the number of ultra runners decked head to toe in the stuff and Ali’s verdict, I assume it good stuff. My foldacup is ok :o)
Some of their desert racing gear is the oddest kit, they do an awful lot of niche gear, but fair play to them for producing it.
I’ve got a couple of their bottles with the straws kicking about, I should dig them out for summer as well.
In Sweden those fold-a-cups are as common as Mora knives, every house I’ve ever been to in Sweden has a massive stack of them lying around in various drawers. They’re thrown into bags with thermoses of coffee all Summer and hibernate and procreate during the Winter.
Tough as nails too, a few of mine were inherited from my girlfriends grandparents.
Proves again that good ideas are rarely new!