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Some people are happy to eat out of a freezer bag with a long spoon, but that does not work too well when you have to cater for more than one person. Anyhow, on a long trip you may not have that many separate freezer bags. Walking in France for three months, my wife and I had to buy stuff as we went. And, I might add, my wife expected dinner to be served in a reasonably couth manner. A light bowl is the answer.

In the past, it has been hard to find good, light bowls with a decent capacity and fairly high sides. There are plenty of light 'plates' on the market in a range of materials, but those flat things can spill easily, getting dinner all over your sleeping bag. Bowls are available too, from both gear shops and supermarkets, but in general they weigh a ton or are too shallow. I do not like shallow bowls for the same reason I do not like the plates: one slight lurch and I am covered in my dinner. I want a bowl with a decent depth…but not too small a base.

GSI Outdoors has come out with this Cascadian brand bowl: cheap, light, not too flexible (unlike some folding bowls we have tried), non-cracking, with a decent capacity for a good meal, and with adequately high sides. The base may look a little small for stability, but some field testing has shown they are quite stable in practice. They are large enough that dinner does not 'escape' (under reasonable treatment!). If you have a couple of them, they stack quite nicely. Cleaning is pretty easy: a rinse and shake works most of the time.

We measured these at twenty-four fluid ounces capacity - but that is filled right to the brim. Do not expect to put that much in one without immediate disaster. Mind you, even twenty fluid ounces of dinner is more than most could possibly eat.

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