Choosing the right kind of mess kit that is suitable for your needs is very important. I have bought a few mess kits for myself and I found out that if the item is not enjoyable to use, I will not use it. If I am not comfortable with using the mess kit, it will just end up accumulating dust in the cupboard. The reason for this is that I eat fast food from Asian restaurants all the time. They often give me some sort of plastic container for the foods. I use this plastic container to carry foods in my hikes and when I go out as well. So if I get a mess kit and it is not as enjoyable to use as the disposable ones then I tend not to use it. It is important that you get the correct mess kit that will be right for you since you may end up wasting money if you don’t.
Types Of Mess Kits
Cookware
For outdoor enthusiasts, a good cookware that can also be used as a lunch box, tableware, and mess kit would be a great part to their outdoor gear. If you are planning on backpacking and staying a couple of nights in the wilderness then having a mess kit that can be used to cook and eat foods would be ideal for your needs. These mess kits are often very lightweight and compact with a nested design. You can choose from aluminum, stainless steel, titanium and other types of materials.
Lunch Box
There are lots of mess kits that can be used as lunch boxes. These mess kits are often cannot be used as a cookware but will have multiple items that can be used as tableware. These items will often have lids that can secure the food in the container without leaking. If you are not planning on cooking in the outdoors or you are just planning on using the item to bring food then this type of mess kit is better for you. You can also use this mess kit for hiking and to carry your lunch for work.
Tableware
Mess kits can also be a set of tableware. This set will often consists of plates, bowls, and flatware like spoons, forks and knives. This set of mess kit does not have lids. One of the major drawbacks of this type of mess kit is that you cannot use this as a lunch box. This type of mess kit is great if you just want to enjoy food or have a place to put the foods at.
Disposable
Disposable mess kits are great in a way that you can just throw them in the garbage and you don’t need to clean them at all. Disposable mess kits are very cheap and you can get a lot for just ten dollars. They can be used as a lunch box, and tableware but they cannot be used as a cookware because mess kits that are disposable are often made out of plastic. These are often not air tight or leak proof as well. If you are looking for that type of container, then disposables may not be the right type for you.
Choosing The Mess Kit Material
Choosing the correct material for your mess kit is also very important. Each type of material has their own strengths and weaknesses. There are various materials to choose from like stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, enamel and even silicone can be seen in a lot of backpacking mess kits. There are a few materials that are great for indoor cooking but are terrible for the outdoors like cast iron. I love cast iron in my cookware at home but for backpacking purposes, they are often too heavy. Each type of material will give you some form of advantages and disadvantages.
Hard-Anodized Aluminum
Hard anodized aluminum is very popular in a lot of backpacking and outdoor gear. A lot of gear you will find for the outdoors is made out of this material. This material is very inexpensive and very durable as well. The mess kits are often coated with some form of non-stick coating to make them easy to cook with and easy to clean. This material is ideal for beginners that are new to the outdoors and to backpacking. You can get a few mess kits for a very low price.
Plastic
Plastic is a great material if you just want a lunch box, a disposable mess kit or tableware for the outdoors. Plastic is very durable as well and can handle falls and other types of accidents. The problem with plastic is that it does not conduct heat well which means you cannot use this type of material as a cookware. However, there are lots of benefits to having a plastic mess kit. They are foldable, and can be shrunk to a very small size. We often have to make sure that the item is BPA free or free of known toxic materials. We can keep our bodies healthy and safe if we do our research first.
Stainless Steel
I love stainless steel in my backpacking mess kits. It is often my favorite material when it comes to backpacking gear. Stainless steel is a very durable material that can handle a lot of mishaps and accidents. They can handle a lot of heat and they do not get squished when put inside a backpack. This material is also very easy to clean and you can use a steel wool without scratching it. This type of material can be used as a tableware, cookware, or both. A lot of people I know love stainless steel as well.
Titanium
Titanium is another favorite material for backpacking that I know of. This material is great for the outdoors because it is very light, and conducts heat well. Titanium also is very safe for the body and has anti rust properties. One of the biggest drawbacks for this material is that mess kits made out of Titanium are often very expensive. Even for a thin walled mess kit, it will cost a lot. Since this material is somewhat pricey, most of the titanium mess kits that I have tried felt very flimsy and not as durable as I want them to be. Don’t get me wrong, I love titanium. They work well for outdoor purposes but they are not as durable as stainless steel. I just think that for the dollars that I pay for the mess kit, they should be as strong as stainless steel.
Wood
You will see a few mess kits made out of wood as well. These mess kits are meant as a tableware though instead of a cookware or lunch box. The common material would be bamboo. Bamboo is an amazing material for a mess kit. It is very durable, light and easy to carry. The flatware that comes with this mess kit will often be made out of wood as well. You can also use chopsticks as a flatware. Chopsticks are very cheap. I think I bought one in this Asian restaurant for 100 pieces for five dollars. There are lots of tableware that are made of wood these days. They are affordable and durable at the same time.
Cast Iron
Cast iron is not a good material for backpacking but it is an excellent material if you are going car camping. You can even use cast iron for picnics and other outdoor activities. Cast iron is often very heavy, large and very thick. The size of most cast iron cookware is not very compact and will take up too much space in the backpack of the user. The weight is way too heavy for a lot of people as well. People will be too tired if they bring a cast iron mess kit to the backpacking trip. You can bring one if you are not going to hike for a lot of miles. Let’s say your camp site is just 1-3 miles then maybe you can bring a cast iron cookware so that you can cook more elaborate recipes and enjoy your steaks more. If you are planning on hiking for a lot of miles then cast iron is not a good material.
Health Concerns You Need To Consider
Teflon Non-Stick Coatings
Teflon and other non-stick coating make mess kits and cookware very easy to clean and cook with. If you have a cookware that is non-stick then you will save or conserve a lot of energy since the food will not stick to the cookware which makes them very effortless to clean and fry foods with. Non stick coatings are great for backpacking since we want to conserve as much energy as possible. There are a lot of backpackers that love to go backpacking and bring their Teflon coated pans and mess kits. I have a couple of Teflon coated cookware as well. A lot of my hard anodized aluminum mess kits are coated with either Teflon or ceramic nonstick coating.
Is Teflon safe and should we use cookware that has it? I have read a few websites that say Teflon is pretty safe as long as we use the cookware correctly. Non-stick coating used to have this chemical called PFOA. This chemical is considered a carcinogen. Of course, this has been known to cause health issues, make people sick and wreck havoc in people’s bodies. From the websites that I read, most companies no longer put this chemical on the cookware since 2013. In order to not make Teflon make us sick, we need to make sure that the cookware coated in Teflon is not heated above 570°F or 300°C. The fumes that will be generated at these temperatures will make people sick and can even cause death. I have read a few websites also saying that swallowing Teflon can make people sick. So you should not use steel wool to clean Teflon coated cookware and use wood or plastic and not steel as a utensil for the cookware.
Having said all of these, I still have a couple of Teflon non-stick pans and cookware that I use. However, I am very very careful whenever I use them. I am very very careful when I clean them as well.
Ceramic Non-Stick Coatings
Ceramic technically means “clay that has been fire hardened”. I love ceramic non-stick coating. In the case of backpacking mess kits, you can see this type of non-stick coating on a few hard anodized aluminum mess kits. The ceramic coating makes the mess kit non-stick. This will make the mess kit easy to clean and cook with which I have said before already. The ceramic non-stick coating is often made out of minerals like silicon and oxygen. Silicon is a naturally occurring chemical element while silicone is a synthetic substance. I have read a lot of websites that say that ceramic coating is pretty safe. There are a lot of companies that are using ceramic coatings on some of their cookware now. I have seen MSR mess kits coated with ceramic. Ceramic is a little bit more expensive than Teflon. Teflon has a bad reputation but ceramic has a pretty good reputation. You may have to pay more for ceramic coating though.
BPA-Free
Bisphenol-A, better known as BPA, is an industrial chemical that is often used in a lot of food packages and household plastics. There are a lot of mess kits made out of plastic so you will often see that they are BPA free. BPA is capable of interfering with the body’s hormones. BPA interferes with hormones like estrogen, and scientists have linked BPA exposure to diseases like cancer and diabetes. Since BPA can make you sick and can kill you, companies will often tell customers that their products are BPA free.
The bad part about all of this is that while BPA is a really bad and toxic substance that should not be in our system, this substance will often be replaced by another harmful chemical. Companies will often substitute BPA with another chemical that has not been thoroughly tested yet. So we may end up with a more toxic substance. I’m not saying that you should not look for a BPA free plastic. I am just saying that it is highly likely that there lots of chemicals in plastics that can cause health issues in our bodies.
Other Considerations You Should Think About
Number Of Bowls
Another thing we need to think about is the number of bowls the mess kit has. It does not have to be a bowl, it can be a plate as well. If you are only going to use the mess kit for yourself then you do not need to think about the number of plates and bowls that you need to get. However, if you are going to get a mess kit for a group of people then you should consider the number of bowls that you are going to get. It is better to get a mess kit that is meant for a group rather than for yourself. A mess kit for a group of people will be more compact and will be more complete.
Bowl And Pot Size
Bowl and pot sizes are also something you should carefully consider. If you are going to cook foods, then you have to know the pot size of the mess kit that you are thinking of getting. Certain recipes just do not work well with certain pot sizes. Sometimes you need a bigger pot and this will save you some gas or fuel when cooking the food. A big pot is great for cooking for a group of people as well. It is the same thing for bowl sizes. You need to think about what you are going to put in the bowl. While a small bowl will work well, it is just not comfortable at times. Putting cereal or mac and cheese on a small bowl over and over is kind of tiresome. Sometimes you just a big bowl that can handle all that you need to eat. You don’t want to keep pouring or getting seconds. Bowl and Pot sizes are something you should think about. The bigger the size, the heavier and costlier it will be as well.
Handle
If you are planning on using the mess kit as a cookware then you need to take a look at the handle. In my early years of my outdoor adventures, I have put this outdoor kettle on my butane stove. I set the fire to maximum so that the water will boil faster. What happened was that the handle on the side got burned. The handle was made out of plastic material and it melted rather easily and quickly. So if you don’t want to ruin your mess kit, you need to make sure that the handle can handle the heat. There are also companies who create pot grippers so that you do not need a handle for the mess kit. You can just use the pot gripper to hold the cookware or mess kit when it is time to lift them or take them out of the fire.
Campfire Safe
I have already said that plastic handles and similar materials can melt when the flame is too much. The flame and power of campfires are totally different from portable gas stoves. Campfires can engulfed the whole cookware in flames. You will need to look at the handle of the mess kit and you need to look at the lid as well. Some lids cannot handle the heat. The lid maybe made out of plastic as well and it can melt if the campfire is very big. One of the main things that you need to consider if you are getting a mess kit for cooking purposes is if that mess kit can handle a campfire. You may end up wasting a lot of money if your mess kit gets melted on a very hot flame.
Lids
Not all mess kits will have lids. Some mess kits will have bowls and pots without lids. This is something you need to check also. Sometimes a mess kit will have one lid for multiple cookware. One lid is sometimes not enough. A lid can help you save gas and save time when you are cooking or just boiling water. Make sure that the lid is also campfire safe if you are planning on using it on the outdoors. For bowls, try and look for lids that will make your bowl leak free. You want to be able to store your food without any hassle then enjoy it afterwards while on a backpacking adventure.
Flatware
A lot of mess kits already have flatware included but you can also get your own. There are lots of flatware that can be used for backpacking purposes. There are lots of different kinds of materials as well. You can choose from plastic, aluminum, stainless steel, wood, titanium and so on. You can get a spork as well. A spork is a multipurpose flatware that can be used as a spoon, fork and knife. There are oftentimes flatware included with the mess kit that you are going to get. However, if you wish to do so, you can also get flatware by itself or individually since there are many good flatware designs in the Internet. You can also use chopsticks as a flatware to enjoy your foods. If you forgot to bring your flatware, you can use twigs along the trail as your flatware. Make sure to clean them first though.
Best Backpacking Mess Kits
Here are 5 backpacking mess kits that I really like. I made a list and added more items of the best backpacking mess kits in here.
1. Light My Fire 8-Piece BPA-Free Meal Kit 2.0
Weight: 13.5 oz
Material: BPA-free materials
Largest Bowl Capacity: 30.4 oz
Compact: Yes
Feature Summary: Does not take much effort to clean, compact design, amazing company with lots of customers returning
Short Review: This is definitely one of the best mess kits that I have ever tried as this mess kit can be used in a lot of ways. People can use this item for backpacking, camping, school, work and so on. This can be used as a lunch box or a mess kit for the outdoors. This is very versatile and the lids are very good. The lids lock very well. You will have everything you need in here to be able to eat and enjoy your food. There are various colors to choose from. This is very lightweight and very compact as well.
2. Stanley Base Camp Cook Set For Four
Weight: 5 lb. 6 oz
Material: 18/8 Stainless Steel
Largest Bowl Capacity: 3.5 L
Compact: Yes
Feature Summary: Amazing company with lots of customers returning, amazing item for outdoor activities, company makes a lot of items
Short Review: If you are going to be backpacking or car camping with at least four people then this is a good choice for a mess kit. This mess kit will have everything you need to cook simple recipes and be able to serve that food to your group mates. This mess kit has plates, bowls and cookware. Stanley is a great company that develops amazing and high quality outdoor items. This is also very high quality and I like this a lot. One of the best mess kits that is available right now.
3. ProHealth HealthPro Titanium Lightweight 3-Piece
Weight: 13.6 oz
Material: Titanium
Largest Bowl Capacity: 40.5 oz
Compact: Yes
Feature Summary: I love this company, durable outdoor friendly item, item is made out of high quality materials
Short Review: If you love titanium then this is a great mess kit for you. This is mostly cookware but you can also use them as tableware. The pots can be used as bowls and the frying pan can be used as a plate. Titanium is a very lightweight material that is also very durable. So expect this to last for a very long time. This is somewhat more expensive than other mess kits though but totally worth it. This has a lot of positive customer feedback and I like this set of cookware a lot also. One of the best that you can get at this time.
4. Stansport 360 Stainless Steel Mess Kit
Weight: 1.2 lbs
Material: High-quality stainless steel
Capacity: 3 Cups
Compact: Yes
Feature Summary: Durable item for the outdoors, company is very trust worthy, this can handle lots of unintentional punishments
Short Review: If you are looking for a very good stainless steel cookware set then this is a great choice. This set has everything you will need in order to cook simple recipes while backpacking. This feels good and feels very durable. This will definitely last for a very long time. The pot is very big and can hold a lot of water. The frying pan is easy to cook with. This set is very easy to clean also. A great set of cookware for backpacking and car camping.
5. MalloMe Camping Cookware Mess Kit Backpacking Gear
Weight: 1.6 lbs
Material: FDA APPROVED Non-Toxic Anodized Aluminum
Largest Bowl Capacity: 2L
Compact: Yes
Feature Summary: The design and material made this easy to clean, company is very good, space saving design
Short Review: This mess kit is very affordable and great for beginners. If you are new to backpacking then this is a good choice. This has a lot of the things that you will need in order to cook and enjoy foods while on a backpacking trip. This has a frying, pot and several tableware that you can use. This is a very complete set and the price is also very affordable. This is somewhat nonstick so this is very easy to clean. Very lightweight and very compact. This mess kit is very easy to carry as well. I like this a lot and many people feel the same way as I do. You can just look at the positive customer testimonials if you do not believe me.
For more items, please go to my best backpacking mess kits page.
References:
- https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/nonstick-cookware-safety
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-nonstick-pans-safe/
- https://www.edf.org/health/three-ways-bpa-free-wont-protect-you
- https://www.thecookwareadvisor.com/ceramic-coated-cookware-safety-secrets-that-no-one-will-tell-you/
- https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/topics/camping-and-hiking/best-camping-cookware/buying-advice
- https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/cookware.html