Review: Gear4U Camping Cookware After a 3-Month Trip

So, let’s review us a set of hiking/camping cookware. I used the Gear4U Camping Cookware set on a three-month driving-and-camping trip, and got to know the Gear4U set pretty well. In this review I’ll go over what I found to be the good and the bad points – what I liked and didn’t like about the Gear4U Camping Cookware set.

Below you’ll even find a piece-by-piece breakdown of each item in the package. Or you can just read the short version to get the highlights.

The Long Version of This Review, and About the Trip

My partner and I went on a three-month road trip around the United States to visit National Parks. Much of the time we stayed in hotel rooms, and sometimes we camped in a tent (beside the car, not after hiking in). There were frequent stops for picnic lunches, and we often made dinner in the hotel rooms when not eating out.

We used the Gear4U set, or various pieces of it, during all of these meals.

A Piece-By-Piece Breakdown: Gear4U Camping Cookware Set

When I bought my Gear4U kit there were three configurations available, at a narrow range of different prices:

• 10-piece set: Pot, pan, lid, spork, plate, spatula, ladle, sponge, bowl, bag. (1.28 lbs/580 g)
• 13-piece set: Same as the 10-piece set – minus the plate, plus a second spork and bowl, and two collapsible cups with lids. (1.32 lbs/599 g)
• 14-piece set: Same as the 10-piece set – minus the bowl, plus a deep dish, a second plate and spork, one collapsible cup with lid, and a stove with an igniter. (1.85 lbs/839 g)

So basically, the 10-piece set is good for one person, the 13-piece is good for two, and the 14-piece… well, one or two people, depending on whether they want to share the cup and the one deep dish. Could be trouble come coffee and stew time.

We got the 13-piece set, which seems to have the best balance of useful items for two. We ordered it on Amazon along with a lot of other equipment, and had it delivered to a post office in Thousand Oaks, California, in my name. When our flight to LAX arrived and we picked up the rental car, we drove to the PO and there it was waiting for us. Magic.

The Bowls

Made of sturdy plastic, and what a fetching shade of bright orange! We used these for soup and stew, for yogurt or cottage cheese with fruit, and for oatmeal in the morning. But almost immediately on the trip, we started using disposable paper bowls instead because they were bigger. The problem in a campsite with small bowls is that you have to keep the soup (or whatever you’re eating) simmering in the pot while you eat the small portion in your bowl. But that takes up valuable gas. So you either waste gas or you eat increasingly cold food.

This may not be a problem for you necessarily. Many hikers and campers eat mostly or only cold food – but the whole point of this set is that you heat things with it, and the small size of the bowls can be frustrating. If you are hiking and want to keep things light, or if you don’t like generating lots of waste with paper bowls, you can certainly get by with these small Gear4U bowls. As for us, we had a car and didn’t have to worry about staying ultralight or saving millimeters of room. The paper bowls proved to be easy to find and just the right size for, say, an entire can of soup each.

We did continue using the small Gear4U bowls throughout the trip though, either when the paper ones ran out or for cottage cheese and fruit at lunch picnics along the side of the road. Note that Gear4U uses BPA-free plastic in the bowls. BPA is “Bisphenol A”, a chemical that has been shown to be damaging to humans when it seeps into your food. The risks are very tiny, but why not be safe?

The bottom line: With the bowls, there’s a balance between size and compactibility. What’s acceptable for your needs is up to you.

The Sporks

A true success! These two metal beauties were by far the pieces in the Gear4U kit that we used the most. Because, well, sporks are nature’s perfect tool. Plus, the handles on the ones in the Gear4U pack fold down, and the spoon part is the perfect width for any type of food, no matter how liquidy, chunky, hot, or cold. I’d continue using these at home just for that fun outdoors vibe, if people wouldn’t make so much fun of me.

We used the sporks for quick applesauce snacks in the car, for hot Campbell’s Chunky soup meals at campsites, for yogurt and blueberries, and even to smear cactus jelly onto tortillas at roadside picnics. We speared olives with them, balanced cottage cheese and raspberries, and a whole host of other things. Even in a hotel room they came in handy for eating supermarket sushi.

The bottom line: Who doesn’t love a spork? And these are the perfect size.

The Cups

The two collapsible cups are a wonder of compact technology. They’re rubbery (actually lightweight silicon) and squash down into flat little discs, but when popped out they stand on their own with no danger of collapsing or spilling. And they come with one lid each made of the same material.

We only really used them for coffee in the mornings at campsites. But again, they proved too small. (They each hold 6 ounces, or 177 ml.) They did the job, certainly, but didn’t hold a full, decent cup of coffee. Again, not wanting to waste gas heating up water more than once, we would either just drink a smaller and unsatisfying amount of coffee, or have a second helping that would be lukewarm or even cold.

These aren’t world-ending problems, and we did last a couple months with the Gear4U collapsible cups. But eventually we went to a Walmart and bought bigger versions – ones from a company called Ozark Trail (hey, this was in Arkansas) that held 16 ounces (480 ml). These bigger cups served us very well the rest of the trip. (Plus, unlike Gear4U’s cups, they are BPA-free. And you can buy these on Amazon too.) We even used them for soup and stew and stuff sometimes, thus reducing the need for our paper bowls.

Next time, personally, I’ll leave the Gear4U cups at home and pack the bigger ones instead. Although the upturned lids came in handy as little olive dishes at picnics, ooh la la.

The bottom line: Totally a judgment call. If a smaller cup works for you, these are perfect. If you want a bigger cup-cum-bowl, replace them. They’re cheap.

The Pot

Made of attractive grey anodized aluminum. That means that the material is coated in chemicals that keep bits of aluminum from seeping into the food, and also make it easier to clean and harder to damage.

At least, that’s the idea. Some manufacturers only anodize the aluminum on the outside, not the inside, of camping pots and pans. I can’t tell which style Gear4U does. All I can do is report on the ease of use.

And the Gear4U pot is excellent. Very, very lightweight, and it heats up quickly. Even if you leave food in it a while it’s still pretty easy to clean just by rinsing it in water. This is the big daddy, the main piece, of the 13-piece set we used: everything else fits inside (if you break it down exactly correctly, which I was rarely able to do!) and the lid goes on top.

The handle of the pot consists of two curved pieces that rotate back onto the outsides of the pot itself, making them take up virtually no extra room when packed away. They both have pieces of rubbery orange plastic on them which grind up against one another and form a kind of single, strong handle.

The bottom line: Strong, light, and easy to clean. A backpacker’s dream.

The Pan

Actually, I don’t think we ever used the pan. I’ve racked my brain while writing this review (and searched through my photos) but can find no evidence or memory of having done so.

The pan is made of the same stuff as the pot though, anodized aluminum, and the same lid fits on top of it. If you bring eggs and/or bacon or something, I’d imagine it will serve you fine.

The bottom line: Probably as good as the pot, though I can’t say for sure.

The Lid

What can I say? It’s a lid all right. Fits well and washes easily.

The bottom line: It’s a lid.

The Ladle

The white plastic ladle at first may seem unnecessary – just use the sporks, man! But in fact it does come in very handy for several reasons.

For one thing, the metal sporks could damage the pot and pan if you’re stirring or serving with them. (Despite the anodized aluminum; it’s not that strong.) Plus the scoop of the ladle is much bigger than the little mouth-sized sporks (or, of course, the flat spatula) so it makes serving gloops of hot food a breeze.

And anyway, the handle of the Gear4U ladle folds down against the curve of the scoop part and it fits snugly inside the pot for easy transportation. It too is BPA-free, meaning safer food for you and your brain cells.

The bottom line: This ladle weighs almost nothing, takes up almost no room, and is made from sensitive material that won’t harm the pot and pan. Plus it’s bright white, which gives you a break from all that dazzling orange.

The Spatula

A small wooden (ah, excuse me – bamboo) spatula with an abbreviated handle. This is good for stirring stuff or maybe for flipping pancakes if you’re getting fancy in the morning. It feels light as air, like balsa wood, and can move hot food where the wide-but-shallow ladle can’t.

It doesn’t fold or break down into any smaller size or shape, being a single piece of wood, but it is short enough to fit in the pot while transporting the Gear4U set around while still being long enough to be useful.

The bottom line: Not strictly necessary, but as part of the set it will probably come in very handy. Doesn’t break down, but it’s small anyway.

The Sponge

This is a thick and almost literally weightless round cushion of thin, stringy fibers. Presumably it won’t damage the surface of the pot and pan, but it does scrub pretty well. (Good for when you have caked-on soup on your sporks.)

We used our sponge for about half of the trip – drying it in the back window of the car between uses – but eventually replaced it. It was getting a bit grungy the more we used it so we finally gave up on it. My crafty travel partner instead knitted a small square piece out of special sponge yarn that we used from that point on. The difference was, we could wash the knitted piece in the laundry, but the little Gear4U sponge is hard to clean.

The bottom line: Ehh, the sponge works fine, but I question the cleanliness and sanitation of it. At least, after a while.

The Bag

Unshowy black canvas carry bag, with a drawstring and a little cinch to clamp it shut. It holds everything and effectively weighs nothing. Not waterproof, but why should it be?

The bottom line: It’s a bag.

Conclusion

There are other sets of camping cookware out there. The Gear4U is a contender; the price and its features make it a pretty attractive choice. You can get by fine with it, but you may find that one or more pieces aren’t filling your needs and you’ll want to replace them.

But because of the price and the general quality of the Gear4U Camping Cookware set, I still recommend it as a good base kit for one or two people, if nothing else. Keep the pot, pan, and the tools, and if you need to, find other cups and/or bowls. Many people who use the Gear4U set dislike the size of the cups and bowls, while others shrug and get by fine with them. After all, anyone interested in super-comfy camping probably will need more complex gear than this anyway.

The bottom line: Get Gear4U and feel happy about choosing it. I did, and I’d use it again, with the above caveats. The balance of quality and price means this is the sort of gear you can buy and toss into your bag without worry. You’ll be covered at your campground mealtimes with everything you need. (Just don’t forget to buy gas canisters and, unless you opt for the 14-piece set, the stove!)

You can see the latest Gear4U Camping Cookware prices here on Amazon, plus other options from other manufacturers.

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