Mug/Bowl for preparing food and eating from

Theo.

Nothing GSI makes is usually is very weight efficient,but at 4.3 oz listed for the mug,lid cozy and cup, the Nesting bowl set is not too bad. I'd recon the large bowl with lid and cozy would weight well over 3 oz, though

At $ 16 and 1.9 oz ,solo multi use bacpacking bowls begin and end at the Snow Peak Trek bowl.

Crazy tough and versatile. It makes the world's best 600 ml Ul cookpot ,too..

Best $ you will ever spend on Ti cookware,IMO.

If you are worried about your food cooling off too fast or the bowl being too hot to comfortable to hold when hot, make a reflectix cozy or wear your glove liners when handling it..

We bought this set, 50g – 1.76oz per bowl including removable silicone handles. Haven't used them yet, but was thinking along the same lines (two of us plus two dogs, a single pot won't cut it)

Edit: just noticed that you're looking for something 500ml+, these are going to be too small then!

http://www.traildesigns.com/cookware/toaks-titanium-cup-bowl-set

Those are the little Toaks Ti mug bowls .I thi k they ariynd @2oz capacity .

BTW, for the OP the true caoacity for the SP trek is 2.5 cups/ 20 oz with a bit of head room.

I like rehydrating in screw top polypropylene jars from USPlastics with DIY reflection cozies. This worked great for the three week JMT I just finished. We used 24 ounce jars but I bought them in 8, 12 and 16 ounce as well.

Order a million dropper bottles and some Bendix bottles since their shipping is so high.

They have a Ziploc screw-top container with cozy, 1.8 ounces:

Inexpensive, can handle the boiling water, keeps it warm, easy to hold, could rehydrate cold too for stoveless.

ziploc cozy

The Toaks bowls come in 2 sizes (stackable), with each at 380 ml. One size (100mm dia) is listed as 38g (1.3oz) while the other (106mm dia) is listed as 39g (1.4oz).

Info from Toaks site.

Thanks for your replies, everybody!

Jim, do you think the Snowpeak Bowl+reflective Cozy is lighter than just the GSI mug+sleeve? In this DIY tutorial, the cozy is estimated at 1.5oz or heavier. This would result in a total weight of >3oz for titanium bowl+cozy. I have to admit the potential "dual use" as an ultralight pot (for instance in combination with a folding esbit stove) when I don't bring my Jetboil is tempting, though!
http://blackwoodspress.com/blog/6582/ultralight-backpacking-pot-cozy/

Justin, are 2 cups big enough enough? Most backpacking meals require 2 cups of water already (I usually take a little less, though, but I don't know exactly how much). So I figured anything smaller than 600ml wouldn't be sufficient.

Matthew, thanks for mentioning the DIY reflective cozy. I usually don't like MYOG but this is a project even I could probably pull off.

Yep these are stackable. I think the weights on the Toaks website does not include the silicone bands (they sell them as optional)

I normally just eat out of the freezer bag, but if I'm sharing meals or need a separate food bowl for some reason, I just take one of those plastic ziploc "twist n' loc" containers from the grocery store, either is size "small" (~475 ml) or size "medium" (~950 ml).

I made a cozy for each size out of reflectix material and glued a little circle of the same material onto the lid. The reflectix helps to insulate my container both for "cooking" my fbc meals and protecting my hands from hot liquids/food.

Don't know the exact weight of my containers but I can't imagine that either one weighs more than 3 or 4 ounces. The larger size "medium" container can serve double duty for scooping and treating water with a steripen, etc.

Theo,

When talking fractions of an ounce between kit,one must be VERY careful to compare apples to apples.

The guy in the " instructables" style site you listed is off on his weights by a bit,IMHO Also, the cozy he made us huge and for a larger pot as well.

Look at what we should be comparing.

The GSI mug ,lid and cozy will weigh at least 3 oz, probably a bit more.

The Snow Peak Trek bowl weighs 1.9 iz. If a reflectix cozy is made for JUST the bowl alone which is equal to to GSI cozy, that should add no more than an ounce. If you make a DIY alumium lid from a pie plate or even .010" Alu flashing weight material, its going to be very close to the same weight as the GSI rig ,only tougher , larger and more versitile.

One other rarely mentioned option for plastic backpacking bowls are the WONDERFULL IKEA Kakas child's bowls. About the same size as discussed here -5" diameter by 2" tall. BPA free plastic and weigh about 1.5 oz.

The best part is the price. $2 for SIX of them:)
In an Ikea store near you.

this kind of thing:

http://www.ziploc.com/en/products/containers/square/containers-medium-square

Other brands are out there, your grocery store should have them, pick the size you like, square-ish or round, about 1.5 oz for the 3-4 cup size that I use.

Yes, what Nico said, but i use the Target brand. They are slightly lighter with slightly higher capacity. Homemade cozy.

I made a similar post here:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=104952&skip_to_post=887183#887183
Those Ziplock containers seem too flimsy to me. The Talenti 473 ml. container I used is solid and not brittle at 1.9 oz.

For an upcoming trip I'm considering switching from freezerbag to eating out of the pot. My pot is a 600 ml SnowPeak mug, and I usually need 1 1/2 cups water to rehydrate my meals. How large a capacity for solo meals do most people use?

I thought that I'd hit jackpot when I stumbled upon the talenti gelato jars but then I discovered how well they handled boiling water (it was not pretty, though it was still water tight, so there's that!) I'd love to find something like that but made out of HDPE so that it doesn't go crazy when it gets a bit hot.

I recently bought a Lustroware 750 ml screw-top microwaveable BPA-free container that weighs 2.7 ounces. And I made a custom foil cozy for it that weighs 1.25 ounces. Utilizing a silicone gasket, it is very watertight and allows me to rehydrate food while I hike or add boiling water in camp and rehydrate in its cozy. It measures 4.75" in diameter (top) by 3.5" tall which I like because it is easier to access the food and to clean.

I use the sea to summit x-mug. Weighs about 2 ounces, I like it because it collapses flat.

That one looks nice. You can find it on Amazon as part of a kit (250-500-750) for $9.99 – even cheaper than the Snow Peak bowl. There's another set of (3) for $12.99 that look taller and thinner (maybe easier to pack).

I have the Snow Peak Bowl and the size is great, but it doesn't have a locking lid. I've used the ziploc screw top containers and also like those (with a DIY Cozy). They make taller ones as well, and that screw top is great not only for rehydrating (hot or cool), but also for leftovers if you have them. My pet peeve is it has to be really watertight or you can't trust it in the pack. I've had no problems with the ziplocs, but others have reported leaks over time – maybe user error. If these are water tight I think the size might be better.

My Evernew titanium pot weighs 1.9 ounces with handles removed. I am a huge fan of just bringing and using 1 great pot. 1 is bulky enough. Why the need for two? I can make my breakfast water pour it in a dehyrated breakfast meal, or add oatmeal. Then if I made extra water I can make coffee just by adding it to my pot of hot water. If i made oatmeal I would need to eat it and clean it then boil water again and make coffee. But thats not a big deal at all, I have patience in the morning.

Thanks for sharing your insights everyone!
I am partial towards some plastic-container + cozy solution, eigher the AGG version or self-made. Also, because it would be useful for no-cook oatmeal (as I said above, volume will be an issue on my upcoming trip which is why I have to deviate from my usual granola-for-breakfast-route).

Most examples you guys gave had about a 2 cup capacity. Is this usually enough for the meals you eat/typical backpacking meals? Are the containers filled to the brim then? I'd really love some comments on that as I don't want to waste my time making/buying something too small (and home-based tests under "lab-conditions" can be deceiving sometimes).

BOWL-> cut down ZipLoc clear plastic 'fridge bowl (to fit inside my Open Country 3 cup pot & lid)

CUP-> plastic "camp cup" with inside measuring graduations. (fits inside the ZipLoc bowl)

SPOON-> long handled Lexan spoon (goes in net bag with stove stuff – either Sidewinder CC or Brunton Flex canister-top stove)

As most here know, I eschew Ti utensils and cookware and have Ti only in my Sidewinder stove to withstand the intense heat from the Inferno wood burner insert.
(IMHO, Ti mugs are the present equivalent of the old Sierra cup – "far too cool" but still an affectation. ;o)

Other plastic things I own and like:

>several rifle stocks
>high capacity rifle magazines
>a few pistol frames
>bumper covers and interior bits on my car
>my glasses lenses
>folding knife handles
>certain bedroom "appliances" ;o)
>QR buckles on my packs
>headlamps
>P-Tex ski bottoms
>hydration bag parts

… and the list goes on and on – too many to remember.

As the uncle in The Graduate said to the newly graduated Dustin Hoffman, "Just one word of advice son, PLASTICS!"

For a bowl: the bottom 3 or 4" of a half-gallon plastic (HDPE) milk jug.

For a plate with high sides: the bottom 2" of an HDPE gallon milk jug.

Either is free at the recycling center. Mark and cut to the line with scissors.

I'm forgetting now, but about 18 grams each.

Good below -40F. Good above boiling. Free. Lighter than any other option.