Although there are plenty of opportunities to pick up food with your fingers or spear marshmallows with a pointed stick, any civilized camper will welcome the chance to eat with their utensil set on a camping trip.
A good utensil set should pack up compactly and stay together otherwise you might as well bring a knife, fork and spoon from your silverware drawer at home. Strength is important too because they are likely to face sterner tests outdoors than just cutting through food made tough from campfire overcooking.
Gerber ComplEAT Tool
Why stop at a knife, fork, or spoon?
Gerber has packed a lot into this. There are four nylon utensils: spoon, fork, dual-sided spatula and a four-function multi-tool, all nested together in a 2.5 oz set. The detachable tool opens packages, cans and bottles, and peels veg. And as if that wasn’t enough, you can join together the fork and spatula to make some useful tongs.
Ka-Bar Tactical Spork
Fit for special forces
This 6.8” spork can be pulled apart to reveal a 2.5” knife blade, both made from a durable polymer food-safe plastic. Lightweight but tough, the knife is heavily serrated making it far more useful than most plastic blades. Made in the USA by Ka-Bar, who were founded in 1898 and supplied the United States Marine Corps with their iconic combat knife in WWII.
UCO Switch Spork 2-Piece Integrated Camping Utensil Set
Eat, cook, and serve
This is more than just a BPA-free nylon spork. It actually includes a full-size fork, full-size knife/spoon and a reusable tether in one nesting set. You can use the utensils separately while eating or join them together to make a longer cooking and serving piece. The set measures 7 x 1.3 x 1 inch when nested, 10.3 inches extended, and weighs 1 ounce.
Orblue 2-PACK 4-in-1 Camping Utensils
The Swiss army knife of eating
Folding down to pocket knife size, this set includes a spoon, fork, knife and bottle opener all made from stainless steel. The camping fork can be held in one hand with the spoon/knife in the other so you can eat pretty much anything. All the utensils are a good size, folding out to 7.5 inches and it’s dishwasher safe for when you make it back to civilization.
Bottom line
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The best camping utensil sets are cleverly designed to fit the functions of a full set of silverware into one compact unit to cut down on space and weight while still allowing you to enjoy a proper, spirit-lifting meal outdoors. In fact, it doesn’t really feel like you’re camping until you unfold your utensil set and sit down to eat. When you do, we recommend you produce the Gerber ComplEAT Tool from your pack. For such a light, compact set it does a lot, including a spatular and tongs which is much more satisfactory than poking around in a pan with a fork. The multi-tool is a nice bonus.
