Utensils

What are the best utensils to take camping and hiking?

The best camping utensil set will provide a range of kitchen utensils that offer basic functions for camp cooking. You'll need a knife, fork and spoon for obvious reasons, but you may also want kitchen tools such as a long-handled stirring spoon, turner, spatula or tongs. Other tools that can be useful at meal time are a flint or fire starter, multi-tools for opening cans and bottles, and scissors. The best utensils are lightweight, durable and easy to clean.

What are the benefits of using specialised utensils instead of regular cutlery?

There are a number of benefits to using specialised camping cutlery and cooking utensils over regular cutlery and kitchen tools. These include:

Lightweight Materials - Most of the materials used to manufacture camping cutlery are more lightweight than the standard stainless steel used in regular cutlery. This helps to minimise the weight when its being carried around in your pack.

Slimline Construction - Many cutlery pieces or cooking utensils are slimline in design, again to help reduce the weight of the item itself without losing functionality or performance.

Multi-Functionality - Some camping kitchen tools are designed to perform multiple functions, shrinking the amount of gear you need to pack. A spork is a great example of this versatility, providing you the functionality of a knife, fork and spoon in one easy-to-pack multi-tool.

Easy-To-Pack - A lot of camp cooking utensils and cutlery sets are designed to pack into your gear easily, whether they nest within each other or have an attachment loop on their handle to hang them from a carabiner.

What materials are utensils made of?

Most camping cutlery is made from aluminium alloys, titanium or a polypropylene glass composite, all of which are hard-wearing and easy to clean. The main advantage of these materials over normal cutlery - which is usually made from stainless steel - is that they are more lightweight. This helps to reduce the overall weight of your gear that you have to carry in your pack.

Are cooking utensils easy to clean?

No one wants to spend their camping trip busy doing chores like scrubbing pots and pans, or drying the dishes. So like dinnerware, your cooking utensils and cutlery sets should be easy to clean with some water, soap and a little bit of elbow grease. Ideally, your camping cutlery should also be dishwasher safe, so you can give it a thorough clean when you get home without the material warping or getting damaged.

What utensils can you attach to a carabiner?

A quality utensil set will be designed to pack away easily in your gear. This may be through a nesting design where each individual piece rests within another, or they may have an attachment loop in the handle to hang them as a set from a carabiner. This also means you can keep your utensils clipped together, reducing the chances of them getting lost or misplaced.