COOKING IN STYLE
UCO 4 PIECE MESS KIT
When we think about our camp kitchens it’s easy to get carried away and concentrate on the sexier pieces of cooking gear, such as portable stoves, cooking surfaces, camp kitchen organizers, and even onboard fridge/freezers. But what about the simpler things like plates and utensils?
Forks, spoons, and plates may be less glamorous to think about, but they are no less important. What are you planning to use to eat your campside cooked meal? If you’re talking paper plates and disposable utensils, we’re going to say you’re out of step with the times. Sure, those items may come in handy at times but they are hardly sustainable, and can create quite the mess when it comes time to pack up camp. Carry out what you carry in, remember?
UCO presents a great alternative to those aforementioned disposable items with their 4 Piece Mess Kit. The simple, self-contained kit consists of a bowl, a lid that doubles as a plate, a 3-in-1 utility spork (one of the fork’s tines doubles as a knife) and a rubber-like tether that binds the kit all together. Its clever design means that the lid and bowl are curved to match the sides of the 3-in-1 spork, which fits perfectly over the lid.
After unhooking the tether from the bowl, the lid and spork are easily taken off. Flipping the lid over reveals its secondary use as a plate. We noticed that the bowl and lid are sealed with a double gasket that is positioned just inside the lid’s interior. The gasket helps keeps dust out and food in when in storage mode. The lid has some depth to it so it isn’t a completely flat plate. This helps keep food on your plate, especially when you’re moving to your favorite spot around the campfire.
The bowl and lid both feature rubberized bases to keep them from sliding around when they are set down. Made from ultra-durable plastic, the Mess Kit is built so it can bang around in your pack without any concerns. The bowl has a nice depth to it with smooth, rounded corners that won’t snag when moving in and out of a bag.
The spork features a spoon on one end and a combo fork and knife on the other. The “knife” is really just a semi-serrated contour on one of the outer tines of the fork. It is handy for cutting pasta or a hot dog but we wouldn’t say it would do well with something more substantial.
We took the Mess Kit with us on a recent camping trip where it quickly became a favorite piece of kitchen gear. After preparing a stew at camp, the Mess Kit was employed for its first meal. The first thing we noticed was that the sizes of both the bowl and plate were just right, not too big or too small. It packs away into our bag well and still easily holds a hearty meal. While holding it and enjoying our stew, we realized that both the bowl and plate have rib-like textured surfaces that make them grippy and very easy to hold onto. We liked that detail.
The bowl and plate also have ears where the kit’s tether loops through. These ears made for a natural place for our thumb to grip the bowl and plate for an effortlessly stable grip. UCO calls these ears “Get A Grip Handles,” which we decided was the perfect name for them, much better than “ear” anyway.
The spork features a wide, concave grip that feels nice in the hand. With a spoon on one side and the combo fork-knife on the other, we made a choice to just use the spoon with our stew, as going back and forth between fork and spoon would have proven a bit messy. We didn’t have the opportunity to try out the knife, but we imagine it’s there to cut only the softest of foods, especially if there’s no fork to help hold down the item being sliced.
Although the lid and bowl are sealed quite well when the tether is attached we would not recommend keeping liquids in it for transport. If you do choose to carry a snack around, dry items such as trail mix or cookies would be fine.
All in all we really enjoyed using the Mess Kit during our trip. It’s a no-nonsense, reusable and easily cleaned plate and utensil kit that can fit in your rucksack. It is both dishwasher and microwave safe and UCO offers a limited-lifetime warranty on it. Even better, our Mess Kit now pulls double duty when away from the campsite and is now being used to bring lunch to work when we’re not traveling. But the next time we head out, you know that the Mess Kit will be coming with us.