Cooking with the UCO 4 Piece Mess Kit

UCO 4 Piece Mess Kit

The components of the UCO 4 Piece Mess Kit stack together to make it easy to pack away. It’s also easy to carry.

When we think about our camp kitchens it’s easy to get carried away. We concentrate on the sexier pieces of cooking gear, such as portable stoves, cooking surfaces, camp kitchen organizers, and 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 but they are hardly sustainable. They 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. Instead of disposable items, consider their 4 Piece Mess Kit. The simple, self-contained kit consists of a bowl, a lid that doubles as a plate. It also includes 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 altogether. Its clever design means the lid and bowl are curved to match the sides of the 3-in-1 spork, which fits perfectly over the lid.

UCO 4 Piece Mess Kit’s Usage

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 the bowl and lid are sealed with a double gasket that is positioned inside the lid’s interior. The gasket helps keeps dust out and food in when in storage mode. The lid has 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 set down. Made from ultra-durable plastic, the Mess Kit is built so it can bang around in your pack without concerns. The bowl has a nice depth to it. It also has 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 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.

Camping with the UCO 4 Piece Mess Kit

We took the Mess Kit with us on a recent camping trip where it quickly became a favorite piece of kitchen gear. The Mess Kit was employed for its first meal after preparing a stew at camp. The first thing we noticed was the sizes of both the bowl and plate were just right, not too big or too small. It 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. The ears are “Get A Grip Handles.” That was the perfect name for them. We like that 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 used the spoon with our stew. We didn’t 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.

The lid and bowl are sealed when the tether is attached. However, 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.

Final Thoughts

All in all, we really enjoyed using the Mess Kit during our trip. The UCO 4 Piece Mess Kit is a no-nonsense, reusable, and easily cleaned plate and utensil kit to fit in your rucksack. It is both dishwasher and microwave safe. UCO offers a limited lifetime warranty on it. Even better, our Mess Kit now pulls double duty when away from the campsite. It is 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.

UCO
4 Piece Mess Kit
Weight: 8.5 oz.
Dimensions (approx.): 8×9.5×3 in.
MSRP: $15
ucogear.com