Plates and bowls, let's overthink this together

A little off-topic but I have been using these for about a year and am highly pleased. I see they are on sale and maybe a 10% discount also going through the website.

X-Pot: Collapsible Backpacking Pot | Sea to Summit

Then again, I mostly just boil water for coffee and use a ceramic lined frying pan or foil. But, the concept seems to work.
Have seen those collapsable bowls and they are intriguing. This past winter got a set of Hydroflask plates and 12 oz cups; tough, no burns or spills, they nest and got a separate color for each family member. I like them! Their bowls are a bit large so we will use the plates and work off a stash of paper bowls.
 
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I needed a couple of stainless steel bowls and all I could find at the time was sets of 4. I went for 2 dog food bowls ... the kind that rest inside a plastic holder, one for food and one for water. I laugh every time my wife and I have breakfast when camping and she has no idea why. I'll probably tell her in a few years. :grinning:
 
I’m all for cheap, lightweight and easy to replace, so the dishwasher and microwave safe plastic dinnerware from Target and Walmart are my favorites. Each piece was about 75 cents. I’ve added a couple of metal bowls ($1 each) and 3 sets of eating utensils (25 cents each piece) from Goodwill. My entire set, with the exception of the utensils and a Yeti cup, are nested in a 12”x12”x6” Sterlite container:
3 dinner plates
3 sandwich plates
3 small bowls
2 large soup bowls
1 small/1 medium metal mixing bowl
2 cups
1 splatter screen
1 heat diffuser (for biscuits, etc.)
1 silicone heat trivet
The multicolored dinnerware allows each person to quickly identify their plate/bowl. I store my eating/cooking utensils, knives and a few small kitchen items in a separate plastic box.
If anything is lost or damaged, it’s simple to replace. Paper plates are great if you’re only going out for a few days; multiply 3 meals a day by 30-60 days and that’s a lotta trash!
 

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what did you decide for plates?

I never found anything I really liked, so I'm still using some inexpensive plastic plates and bowls from Target. They aren't exciting, but the've held up well during lots of camping trips. I added two small stainless bowls that I use for mixing and holding food scraps (not shown in picture).

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If I was going to do it all over again I'd buy this set below, has everything you need IMO. As it stands I bought a nesting pot and pan set from Bass Pro, have a few cups I've collected along the way and mostly use paper plates because I hate doing dishes. Most of the time the paper plates are used to help start the fire.

GSI Outdoors Pinnacle Camper Cookset | REI Co-op
 
we recently decided to go with all stainless and found these bowls and plates on amazon. they are double wall, so even with really hot contents in the bowl, the outside stays fairly cool. you can easily have a hot bowl of chili and set this in your lap and not get burned. also went with a different style stainless spoon. i really like these..

i'm still country enough that i'll use a butter container or cool whip container as a bowl...so i got these more for the wife than anything. i dont know...some of my best times have been sitting at camp in a chili stained t-shirt eating half heated spaghetti-o's out of a cool-whip container...

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Wow, this is old, better late than never eh? We had a set of the old steel ceramic coated plates, bowls & mugs. The first time we cold weather camped that was the end of that. Anything served up hot became cold faster than you could eat it. Correll plates and bowls keep the food hot and work great along with an insulated mug for tea and one for coffee. Regular old flatware delivers food from plate to mouth, however we were gifted a nice set of cooking utensils and knives.
 
i'm surprised nobody has mentioned UCO stuff yet. i've tried a lot of different options, but really like my uco mess kit (i didn't get the one with the cup because i already have a bunch of cups). while it doesn't nest, its not overly huge and it stays sealed. i like that if i'm eating something on one of the sides and i have to set my food down to do something else really quick, i can put the other half on top as a lid to keep bugs out. its also nice that once you clean them and put the halves together, since its sealed, it stays clean until you're ready to use it again.


i also like these uco switch spoons, you have the option for 2 pieces (one with a spoon and knife, the other with a spork) or you can snap them together to make a longer spoon/spork for things like mountain house meals/mre's in bags. i always have a couple mountain house meals and a some cans of soup/chili in case i feel like being super lazy for dinner. when they're snapped together in the folded up position, they fit perfect inside the mess kit.


this setup may be a good option with the kids in case you want to save food for later, makes it easy to just toss "lid" on it and they can come back to it later.
 
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we recently decided to go with all stainless and found these bowls and plates on amazon. they are double wall, so even with really hot contents in the bowl, the outside stays fairly cool. you can easily have a hot bowl of chili and set this in your lap and not get burned. also went with a different style stainless spoon. i really like these..

i'm still country enough that i'll use a butter container or cool whip container as a bowl...so i got these more for the wife than anything. i dont know...some of my best times have been sitting at camp in a chili stained t-shirt eating half heated spaghetti-o's out of a cool-whip container...

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You wouldn't happen to have a link or model of these, would you? I've been on a quest for decent stainless with a good double wall/air gap, but haven't had too much luck. The first couple I tried were junk. Finally had some points to spend from a work bonus, so I ordered a couple Hydroflask plates, which are better than anything I've tried, but can still get warmer than I'd like.
 
You wouldn't happen to have a link or model of these, would you? I've been on a quest for decent stainless with a good double wall/air gap, but haven't had too much luck. The first couple I tried were junk. Finally had some points to spend from a work bonus, so I ordered a couple Hydroflask plates, which are better than anything I've tried, but can still get warmer than I'd like.
first thing i did when they came in was to put hot water in the bowl (about 120 degree tap water) and check the heat transfer. i didnt feel any heat on the outside, but not sure how it would do with boiling hot soup in it. i mainly got them for durability...pretty much anything we take glass or ceramic gets broken. we also have some amazon double walled stainless tumblers we use for coffee and boiling hot coffee doesnt heat the outside, and they look to be built the same.

click the image below and itll take you there

 
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