Customer Reviews

Coleman Aluminum Mess Kit

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I bought this item almost as a joke because it was so cheep and so lightweight that I thought it would be junk. I figured that even if it was useless I wouldn't feel bad about throwing it out because of the price. What I found was that this little set actually works very well. I was impressed with the weight and it cooks a great steak and cleans easily. It packs up pretty small too.

My only two concerns with this product was that

1. Because the frying pan is two pieces and aluminum the handle tends to bend with too much weight. Long term I think bending will greatly weaken the handle.

2. The handle of the frying pan can get a little hot if left on the heat for more than a few minutes. Still easily handled with a towel or shirt sleeve.

These are the prices you pay for the very light weight and cheep price. All in all though, a great bargain that really works.

I have to laugh at some of these reviews. I have owned one of these since I started in boy scouts 30 years ago and I take it backpacking and camping several times a year to this day. It bends, it dings, but it also bends back. It's still here and that's more than anyone can say of their plastic kit. It weighs next to nothing. It's not non-stick, but so what. I can take gravel/sand, scrub it around with my hand, rinse it with water and it's good. I have yet to see a light weight non-stick pan that doesn't get scratched and flaked in two years. It cooks on a camp stove just fine. I have not used it on a fire that I recall, so I can't speak to that use. I have a feeling people try it on a fire that's way hotter than it needs to be. You only need some mild coals to do any kind of pan cooking. I still get a kick out of seeing the initials I scratched into it when I was 10, and I still have the original butterfly nut too. The plastic cup that came with mine is only useful for measuring and that's the only negative I have for it.

For $9 I don't think you can go wrong, and you might just go right.

I wanted a very light, easy to carry frying pan. Anything that came with it was extra. This unit fit that bill. All 4 pieces weigh less than half a pound, but feel quite sturdy. NOT non-stick, but I didn't expect that. Just fry the bacon first! ;-)

If you're just starting out backpacking then this is the mess kit for you. It's practically identical to the kits Boy Scouts of America have been using for decades. There are a hundred different kits that you can find that will be made of stronger, lighter, non-stick material, but if you're only using if a few times a year, who needs all that?

I received one of these kits from a family member who outgrew it. I have cooked with the pot and fry pan quite a few times and have yet to be disappointed. Of course it will ding dent and bend if you're clumsy. But seriously if your this clumsy you should not be around fire and definitely should not be camping.

I have had no problem at all with mine. Any of the problems I've read about this have been human errors. I have used these just the same as pot and pans in home. i've cooked fresh rice and simmered in the cover pot as you would in a home, fried, cooked, grilled and boiled with the frying pan. The plate is the perfect size needed. The only thing wrong with these are the people using them! If you are paying attention to what and how your cooking they wont "melt" or turn "redhot" you dont put this sitting directly on a burning log. This set is extremely light weight, easy to clean, and compacts to be very small, everything you want in a mess kit!!!!

This is a cheap mess kit for one.
It is lightweight. Not for a hardcore camper, but good for the person who goes 1 to 2 times a year. Compact. I agree with what others said about the pot that boils, but if you make the right contraption out in the wild, you can make ANYTHING work for you.

Quite simply, this kit is rubbish. And dangerous too.

It is so crude and flimsy that you will have an ordeal trying to boil a cup of water for tea, let alone cook anything, and will quite likely burn yourself in the process.

Say you try to boil a cup of water. You use the included tiny, tiny pot with handle. First of all, the handle hangs down at just the right angle to get red hot in the stove's flame. Next, when you lift the pot (using tongs... the red hot handle will burn through gloves), it tips right over and dumps the boiling water everywhere. It just hangs freely from that wire handle and since it's so crudely made, is unbalanced and tips its contents out as soon as its lifted.

After you've burned yourself and lost all your boiled water, you might try to cook something in the frying pan. First you try to assemble the handle, with the screw and wingnut.. problem is that the metal of the handle and mounting tab is so thin that you can't even tighten the bolt fully, so the pan flops about from side to side. Good luck tipping anything out of the pan without a mess. Next, if you put anything in the pan that weighs more than an ounce or two, the handle simply bends. Even a 1/2" of water is enough to bend the handle.

The whole kit is absolute rubbish. Oh, and the handle of the mug gets too hot to handle if you succeed in sloshing any hot water into it.

Don't waste your time or money.

It's worth it's weight in aluminum foil, lol. For less than $10 I think it's a great buy. I have used mine for about three years and it's still holding up well.

Most of the reviews i've read say that it heats up too fast. Well if i'm backpacking i don't want to waste a ton of fuel so heating up faster than most kits sounds like a good idea. Aluminum also cools down rather fast, so when you take your "Steak" off the stove/pocketrocket, the handle will cool down in less than a minute. So what do you do wtih that first minute, right? I mean if i try to pick it up its going to burn me... When i'm at home, i don't just pull the baking pan out of the oven, i use a huge red lobster claw. And thats when the over is only 400 degrees and not over a direct fire.

When it comes to cleaning the equipment alot of people say that food usually sticks on it. Well I agree, food stickes rather well, and most campers don't bring Pam with them on camping trips. However, nature has it's own Pam --> Sand. Sand is a great abrasive device that helps remove debree, and water removes the sand. Both are Readily avaiable when camping.

Nothing in life is perfect. Everything has to be augmented to perform better. This product has served me well, and yes i would recommend this set to anyone who is able to use a bit of logic, and overcome the "Oh-So- Strenuous" problems that might occur in life.

I just melted mine on a wood-burning fire. If you plan to use your mess kit on a campfire, look elsewhere.