GSI Camp Cookware
May 15, 2011
Adventures aren’t always far from home, so although I am a little light on the extreme endeavors at the moment, I’ve been testing this GSI Crossover Kitchen during my kitchenless travels. It’s funny, because I’m not much of a cook and I don’t own too much kitchen stuff to begin with, so when I realized that I had everything I needed in this little bag, I was really into it. With this and the GSI Bugaboo cookset I tested last year, I’m in good shape to keep myself alive. If I didn’t have this, I guarantee I’d be on 24/7 cereal.
This little set has a nearly full-size flipper, tongs, and cooking spoon that fold up and stow away, along with a small handheld spatula. A dropper bottle, squeeze bottle, and salt and pepper shaker allow you to bring along your favorite spices (though I admit I don’t understand the dropper, unless I missed out on the GSI Martini cookset and I’m supposed to be using that for my vermouth). A little cutting board rounds out the cooking gear nicely. The inner pocket holds a pot scrubber and towel for cleaning up and the whole shebang fits in a nice lightweight pouch.
I was also given a GSI French Press to try out, and I’m a total convert. Like I mentioned, I don’t buy things for the kitchen so I had been using a super cheapo camp french press (that, although cheap in construction, hadn’t been too cheap to buy, way to go big box stores of the outdoors) which had been acceptable but allowed a lot of coffee grounds to squeeze through. The GSI versions are really quality, with a very tight seal between the plunger and the sides of the pitcher, so no grounds end up in your coffee. The lightweight plastic pitcher is easy to clean and comes with a thin neoprene sleeve, apparently to keep the coffee warm, which works OK I suppose. It’s not like a thermal carafe or anything but it works all right.
I use this to make even my home coffee, but for camping it comes in a smaller personal size so you don’t have to schlep around a giant french press. Once I had a near disaster when the plunger came unscrewed from the actual press part, but the coffee that resulted was still ok but for a few random extra coffee grounds floating in it.
The GSI Nesting Wine Glass is a luxury camp item that I rarely travel without. I’d be that mountaineer in the death zone getting nasty articles written about me because I’m such a princess that I need to bring a wine glass with me, but I don’t actually care because it’s so nice to have it along. I don’t really like drinking wine out of tin cups or dirty bowls with the remnants of the morning cheerios floating in them, and it weighs so little that bringing it along is not difficult. It adds that little touch of class to paddling and camping trips, so why not? I’ve had mine for probably four years now and it’s still going strong, so I thought I’d include it in this article even though it’s not a new product from GSI.
So now pretty much my entire kitchen is made out of GSI camp cookware. Actual camping is going to be a breeze because I’ll have my normal supplies along!
All of the pictures above are affiliate links so if you click on them and then buy the stuff from that retailer, I eventually get a few coins of my own as a commission. Such a deal!
GSI Outdoors Bugaboo Hiker Cookset
July 13, 2009
So I run in a social circle full of people who climb mountains, swim in muddy lakes and freezing rivers, and grub around in the dirt sleeping in tents for fun. During a big party weekend, where are we? In the woods, in tents, swatting bugs, and cooking on open flame. What could be better? But there’s always that one girl who has to wash her hair in the creek and put on her makeup before she’ll be seen in public. Huh, I don’t really get it. Getting AWAY from societal expectations is what makes camping appealing. Aside from her, I knew that my camping partners were my kind of people when they had more questions about the camp cookware I was using than about what I did for a living. I fielded more “How do you like that GSI pot?” and “How does that handle work, it looks cool!” than I ever expected. Of course, I was camping with over thirty people, so that alone will result in more questions than average.
Still, when I got the Bugaboo kit to check out I wasn’t expecting it to be much different than any other camp pot I’ve ever used. I was even a bit stressed about how to write a feature article about it; I mean, it’s a pot, it holds water, as long as that part is successful that’s pretty much what you need to know, right? So I was relieved and delighted to find that the Bugaboo is actually a very clever cookware kit, complete with multipurpose, er, holdy things that can be used as cups, bowls, or food storage. They’re super cool; they even have lids that help keep your drink warm while keeping campfire ash out of your drink. There are four containers shaped like Trivial Pursuit pieces, and they just snug back into the pot for storage and transport. The removable handle clips onto the pot securely and easily; no more balancing a heavy pot of boiling water with one of those pincer-type handles.
Best of all, the pot really did help boil water faster! Strange, but true. I’m used to leaving a pot of water on my stove for 20 minutes, waiting for it to boil, but the Bugaboo did the job in less than 5! And yes, I was using the same stove. Now I understand why all my camp partners were so interested in it. One of my partners even said he knew a guy who had a friend who used the Bugaboo on Denali. Which is not really that big of a deal considering all the stuff people haul up there, including toilet seats, lawn chairs, blenders, you name it. But it IS pretty cool for GSI to be making a name for itself; it was certainly recognizeable by many. And it’s definitely a hit with me; finally cookware I actually get excited about using! This is a first. Even at home I don’t use my cookware. Hmm, maybe if I use the Bugaboo at home I might be more excited about cooking…
