I’ve purchased the Stanley Adventure Camp Cook Set, which is a 24oz steel “kettle” (big freaking cup shape) that has a lid that can lock in place and a fold out handle, as well as two plastic cups that nest inside it. I’ve seen it in stores and online, doesn’t cost a lot regardless of where it comes from, and my hope is that it proves useful on future camping trips.
To date I’ve had smaller steel cups when I head out (see image, the two cups to the top left). My normal use is to heat water directly in these over a butane burner, propane burner, electric burner, or grill in the cups which tends to go toward making instant coffee, ramen noodles, and any number of other just add water type things. This worked wonderfully until a winter camping trip to Cheaha State Park caused a rethink. The issue was while using a butane burner, that had been quite successful at creating boiling water in the cups on other occasions, I was losing heat rapidly since the cups don’t have lids and the temperature was in the 20s.
This led to purchasing a camping tea kettle for about $5 from Walmart. I think it solves that issue of losing so much heat to an open top. But it is bulky and doing something as simple as heating a cup of water for hot chocolate then requires multiple containers to complete. So this one “kettle” which is basically just a slightly larger version of the cups I enjoy, has a lid with little steam vent holes and should play the dual roles of container with a lid I can heat water in and container I can use the water in after it is hot.
I didn’t buy it for the two nesting plastic cup things that come inside of it, but I’ll keep an open mind and try them out in some capacity. I figure if they don’t increase my joy while camping or whatever and wherever this cook set goes I can store other items in the “kettle” instead. I’m trying to keep in mind that this thing is only 24oz and I’m used to hauling around Nalgene bottles usually around 32oz, so it’s going to feel small. That said a quick test just revealed that if I ditch the cups I can shove one camping friendly stemless wine glass inside and a bottle opener! Not a bad scenario for how I like to camp.
Update (late 2022): I’ve used the Stanley Adventure Camp Cook Set more than anything else for beverage level things while camping now. While I started camping trips with small wine glasses and coffee cups, I eventually realized I could scale it all back and use the green cups inside this set for both. Makes even more sense since anything used in the wilderness has to be washed, and by limiting the dishware I bring I end up having less dirty items to clean. While wine cups have entirely been replaced in favor of this set, I do sometimes find a use for a Stanley Quad-Vac mug that keeps my coffee locked in and hot on super cold outings. But your run of the mill weather, this set handles everything for me.
