GSI folding tongs, plastic plates and Light My Fire Sporks

[Grant Lamontagne]

I've been putting a lot of my camping gear to work lately, and I'm counting it as outdoors cooking, even if it's indoors!

I'm currently in mid-move at the moment, which has lasted a lot longer than it was expected to because of my broken ankle.  I was expecting to be here temporarily to fix up an apartment and rent it out again, and as such I didn't unpack anything.  I was using paper plates and dollar store disposable cutlery along with my Primus LiTech pot and pan set.

Well, I was running out of paper plates and melting through a lot of cheap plastic forks cooking bacon, so I decided to upgrade some of my eating supplies since I'm running out of plates and cutlery.  And, since Mountain Equipment Co-op is on the bus route that stops in front of my house, and traveling to other places is difficult, I decided that was where I would go to get the things I wanted.

The main things I went for are the GSI Pivot Tongs.  I'm not sure how much benefit there is to having them fold in half since they would probably lie pretty flat at the best of times, but so far they work better than the cheapo plastic fork I was using for cooking bacon!  Also, they feel like an actual kitchen implement, not the cheapo flimsy kind of thing that you get for occasional camping use.

What I wanted for a plate was a couple of the Snow Peak Titanium plates but they aren't stocked at my local MEC so I made do with two of the significantly cheaper GSI Cascadian Plates and so far I have eaten breakfast and a couple of Pizza Pockets off them and they don't seem to do too badly.  The lip is significant enough that you could probably eat messier things (like chili- I'll report back after lunch!) off them without a problem, but doesn't seem to get in the way of eating normal things.  I got one green one and one blue one just for variety.

Lastly I picked up a couple of the Light My Fire sporks, although I'm not sure they qualify as sporks since the fork and spoon are at opposite ends rather than being combined.  Anyway, they worked well enough for eating scrambled eggs this morning and ravioli yesterday, but pretty well everyone has one of these anyway, so there's not much point in reviewing them.  If you don't have one or haven't tried them I suggest you get one and give it a shot.  They aren't the greatest out there, but they are very good, and cheap enough that it won't ruin you financially to give it a shot! 

That's it for now- I'll post more as my experiences grow.

Def

[Gareth]

Those tongs do look good.

[AimlessWanderer]

They do indeed

[Grant Lamontagne]

They work remarkably well too.  As I said, just like normal tongs.

And, I found a good use for their foldiness- if I fold one side up I can ose the other side as a spoon for stirring.

Def

[Grathr]

The thongs look like a nice design.

[rishardh]

The thongs look like a nice design.

+1 Will look for them the next time I am at an outdoors store or department.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I've been using them for all my cooking needs since I started this thread and they are still exactly the way they were when I brought them home.  No cracks,  no scratches, no loss of springiness, nothing.

I really like these tongs and I have found a use for the folding part- I fold one side and use the other side to stir stuff in a pot. It's slightly more awkward than a traditional spoon, but not enough for me to bother getting a stirring spoon too.

These tongs are too good to pack away with my camping gear and only be used occasionally.

Def