GSI Outdoors  Glacier Stainless 1-Person Mess Kit

We purchased this in June of 2021 to use with a backpacking stove which has a micro regulator and simmer control. This mess kit was fine every time we boiled water in it and the "frying pan" top was very great to use, in this case, as a lid for the bottom pot. When we cooked regular food with a light coating of oil in the pan on simmer the larger pot bottom burned and dented in and then the same happened with the "frying pan". If you only boil water, this works very well for the price and you can store your backpacking stove and butane can stand inside once you discard the blue cup. Otherwise spend your money on one good pot and lid that will hold up to heat.

I saw this had pretty decent reviews so I decided to give it a shot. Ehh. I ended up using my jetboil for everything and getting creative when I would make eggs on my camping trip. The metal doesn't evenly disperse the heat so when using this on the jet boil stove (which it says it can be used for) The bottom of the pots got toasted. The flame only would heat things up in the center and the center of each of the pots started to buckle! This was only after using it twice. And yes I did agjust the heat to try to get it to "simmer" and alas no luck. I wouldn't recommend purchasing this item. Save your money and look into other options.

Not worth the money, this is only good for boiling water. The metal is so thin and flimsy it immediately burns whatever you’re trying to cook onto the pan and it will not come off.

I don’t usually camp with a mess kit as I’m usually only eating Mountain House meals. I have a GSI kettle for boiling water which I love. I use a pocket rocket stove and this kit fit on top just fine. I did not feel as if it was going to slide off if I turned away. I used the pot to Cook rice and beans and felt it boiled and distributed heat well. I used the pan to cover the pot to prevent heat escape and this worked well. I didn’t really use the plate or the cup as I have other gear for this so I leave those at home. This is a good kit for weekend warriors or car camping. Not sure if I would use this in a multi day backpacking trip.

They are stainless steel, they do fit together nicely and are stored in a mesh bag. But they are far smaller than I expected. They won't take up a lot of space in a backpack and their light weight, but if you build up an appetite and want to make a sizable meal, they're way too small.

This set is fine. I use it on a PocketRocket 2 stove and it gets the job done. It did develop scorch marks the first time I used it and doesn’t heat evenly, but I have successfully made multiple meals on it (TVP tacos, pasta sauce, TVP scrambled eggs, etc). I don’t use it to boil water, but I imagine it would take forever, given the size and poor heat distribution (I use a GSI Minimalist for this instead). I also replaced the plastic cup with an enamel one. On a positive note, there is plenty of room inside for some utensils, a single pouch of freeze dried food, or the Pocket Rocket (but not the fuel canister). The takeaway: you could do worse, but also much, much better. It’s adequate for an infrequent solo camper/hiker/backpacker.

I bought this last week and was excited to use it. The first meal was good. I boiled potatoes in the pot and use the skillet as a lid. The kit was easy to clean and I was happy for the carbs! However, my second use did not go so well. I tried using the skillet to cook a steak. The skillet warped and twisted itself while melting butter. I eventually got it flattened back out, but finding the "sweet spot" to hold over the fire to cook and not warp was definitely a challenge. I really feel like I should have just bought a cast iron skillet instead.

If you're just getting started with backpacking, this is a fantastic, cheap first cook set. I am still using it after a year and have only made minor tweaks to the original kit. If you replace the cup with a collapsible one, you can fit a small stove, fuel canister, dish soap, silicone scrubber, and one of those blue reusable towels inside with room for a couple other small knick-knacks. As is, you can still fit the stove and a couple other small things inside. The pot boils water quickly if you use the pan as a lid to keep heat trapped in there. Both have significant issues with hot spots and poor heat distribution, so cooking things like eggs is finicky. If you're patient and careful, you can hold the pan a couple inches over a stove on its lowest setting and overcome this. Even still, it will take a lot of time and fuel for delicate meals. The bottoms of this set will scorch pretty easily but don't seem to warp. If you don't mind the discoloration, that shouldn't be a problem. The cup is a pretty basic thing, made of thicker plastic than I expected. It doesn't insulate very well, so your tea/coffee will go cold if you don't drink it quickly. P.S. - The spoon-fork-knife thing from the UCO mess kits doesn't fit into this kit.

Used on my 10” Coleman cooker, perfect for small breakfasts and boiling water for morning coffee in jiffy. Easy to clean too!

I personally didn’t have a great experience with this set. It compacts together nicely, but it doesn’t have any way to lock in place. However, it does come with a mesh bag to store it in. We tried cooking eggs with the frying pan over a fire, but the metal takes an extremely long time to get hot. Also, the handle of the pan collapses for storage when squeezed, which is not ideal (I had grabbed the pan from the fire, squeezing the handle in the process, and our half cooked eggs dumped onto the ground).We also tried to boil water with the pot, which was unsuccessful.