My son and I had a chance to try out this new cook kit from GSI Outdoors earlier this year as we headed to Capitol Reef National Park and Grand Staircase National Monument in southern Utah.
This kit is meant for four people, with two pots (a 2- and a 3-liter), two lids (with drain holes), a frying pan, a folding clip-on handle, four plastic plates, and four insulated plastic cups with covers. And, it all nests together and fits inside the nylon carrying kit that doubles as a water carrier. It’s very compact, and light for car camping, but probably not great for backpacking due to its size.
If we were on foot I’d take the small pot, lid, handle, and frying pan separately, though. The plates and cups are color coded so you know whose is whose, and the pots and pan are all anodized aluminum with a non-stick coating, which made for easy cleanup. The clip-on handle works well, and it only takes one hand to operate.
We cooked on a propane stove, and I did notice that the frying pan bottom warped slightly with the high heat, a function of the thin metal I suppose, but not a deal breaker. I wasn’t crazy about the tri-corner cups though; it was tough to drink from the lid’s corner-holes, and I was wishing that there was a way to seal the cups, so you could use them to store loose items, because they’re very light.
All in all, we liked the kit, and it’ll be part of our gear from now on. It retails for around $150.
Traveler footnote: GSI Outdoors provided the the Traveler with the cook kit for field testing.
Comments
My family has been using this cookset for several years. Overall, we are happy with it, too. Ours is an older model with plastic lids for the pots - I have inadvertently melted the edge of one lid, but it is still usable.
We also find the cups a little difficult, but often just drink from our water bottles anyway.