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Reviews > Cook and Food Storage Gear > Cooking Accessories > Light My Fire MealKit > Owner Review by Kathleen Waters

LIGHT MY FIRE MEALKIT 2.0

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BY KATHLEEN WATERS
May 12, 2017

OWNER REVIEW

TESTER INFORMATION

NAME: Kathleen Waters
EMAIL: kathy at backpackgeartest dot com
AGE: 66
LOCATION: Canon City, Colorado, USA
GENDER: F
HEIGHT: 5' 4" (1.60 m)
WEIGHT: 125 lb (56.70 kg)

Living in Colorado and being self-employed, I have ample opportunities to backpack. There are over 700,000 acres/280,000 hectares of public land bordering my 71-acre/29-hectare "backyard" in addition to all the other gorgeous locations which abound in Colorado. Over the past 15 years, my husband John and I have also had the good fortune to hike/snowshoe glaciers, rain forests, mountains and deserts in exotic locations, including New Zealand, Iceland, Costa Rica, Slovenia and Death Valley. My hiking style is comfortable, aiming for lightweight. I use a tent (rainfly if needed). Current pack averages 25 lb (11 kg) excluding food and water.

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Manufacturer: Light My Fire of Sweden
Year of Manufacture: 2015
Manufacturer's Website: http://www.lightmyfire.com
MSRP: N/A
Listed Weight: 13.5 oz (384 g)
Measured Weight: 14 oz (397 g)
Listed and Measured Dimensions: 7.6 in x 7.6 in x 2.4 in (19.4 cm x 19.4 cm x 6.1 cm)
Colors Available: Lime/Yellow, Red, Cyan/Blue, Green, Orange, Fuchsia & Black
Colors Reviewed: Yellow, Blue, Green & Fuchsia

Other details:

* Material: PP- polypropylene, Spork made of Tritan, Harness made of TPE - Thermoplastic elastomers (rubber)
* BPA- free
* Made in Sweden

DESCRIPTION

There are several pieces that make up the Light My Fire MealKit, starting with the largest piece which can be used as a plate or a bowl and is covered with a lid that can also be used as a plate. The lid/plate will hold up to 17 fl oz (500 ml) and the plate/bowl will hold up to 30 fl oz (900 ml). These two pieces fit together and are the "container" for the remaining pieces.
MealKit

Inside the main box are two SnapBoxes, one is oval, the other is the original triangular shape. The "original" SnapBox will hold up to 6 fl oz (170 ml) and the oval SnapBox will hold up to 11 fl oz (320 ml). The SnapBoxes have tightly-fitted lids to make them waterproof.

A Pack-up-Cup, folds down accordion-style, has its own lid and measuring lines to hold 9 oz (260 ml) maximum. A fifth item is a very unique combined strainer and cutting board. Lastly, there is a Spork. All the items nest perfectly in the triangular shape of the lid and bowl. The whole kit and caboodle is then securely held together with a slightly stretchy three-band harness.
Nested parts of MealKit
Meat Kit Nested "Parts"
Separate parts
What's Inside the Meal Kit

LOCATIONS AND CONDITIONS

In early May of 2016, I spent 10 days in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area/ Grand Staircase Escalante-National Monument, Arizona/Utah.
Terrain: rocky slot canyons, sandy (dry) river washes/ravines and steep slick rock.
Elevation Range: 4900 ft (1500 m) to 5200 ft (1600 m)
Temperature Range: During the day never above 65 F (18 C), averaged 58 F (14 C) and dipped down to a low of 42 F (6 C) at night.

In September 2016, I spent two weeks with my son and daughter-in-law camping and hiking in the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Banff and Jasper National Parks (Alberta, Canada), and Glacier National Park and Custer-Gallatin National Forest (Montana, United States of America).

Location and condition details for the above two weeks were:

Custer-Gallatin National Forest - Moose Creek Flat
Terrain: we base-camped in a valley besides the Gallatin River, but day-hiked to mountain lakes for fishing as well
Elevation range: 5700' (1700 m) to 7500' (2300 m)
Temperature range: 35 F (2 C) to 65 F (18 C)

Banff/Jasper National Parks-
Terrain: ah, mountains. Rocky, heavily treed mountains
Elevation range: 4500' (1400 m) to 10,000' (3000 m)
Temperature range: 22 F (-6 C) to 70 F (21 C)

Glacier National Park
Terrain: high, rocky mountain trails
Elevation range: 4600' (1400 m) to 6600' (2000 m)
Temperature range: 45 F (7 C) to 65 F (18 C)
Dinner in Glen Canyon
Waiting for Lunch in Glen Canyon
Lunch on Continental Divide
Continental Divide at Monarch Pass
Lakeside Lunch in Montana
Lakeside Lunch in Montana

Closer to home, I spent time in Eagle, Summit and Fremont counties on hikes and snowshoe trips. Elevations and terrain are as follows:

Fremont County, Colorado (my home "range") - this area is in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with elevations ranging from 5500 ft (1700 m) to 9900 ft (3000 m). The terrain is mostly rather rough with lots of mud, loose rock and huge slabs of granite rock. Vegetation is scrubby pinon pine, Gamble oak, juniper, cactus and prairie grasses (or weeds, depending on who is talking!).

Eagle and Summit, Colorado Counties - Breckenridge/Avon/Vail/Minturn - Rocky Mountain (proper!) with elevations ranging from 7400 ft (2260 m) to 11400 ft (3480 m), generally rather steep dirt or snow-packed trails winding through ponderosa pine and aspen forests.

Coloradan weather conditions when in the wilds ranged widely from cool and dry, to cool and wet, to down-right cold!

FIELD USE AND PERFORMANCE

Whenever I am on the trail, backpacking or in camp, food is always part of the experience. We rarely venture out without food and I don't mean just energy bars and gels though we certainly use those as well. I mean home-cooked lunches, snacks, and hot dinners and on overnights hot breakfasts. So in my backpack there is usually more cooking equipment and dehydrated meals than clothing.

I've used the flat-until-folded-up sort of dishware in the past and they work decent enough and take up very little room. The MealKit does take up more room in my pack but makes up for that by providing safe transport of spices and condiments in the SnapBoxes. The rigidity of the MealKit also protects fragile foodstuffs while packing in to camp or a lunch destination.

Using the flexible harness securely keeps all the surfaces that come in contact with food covered and clean until I use the Kit and once the meal is over, even if I can't/don't thoroughly clean out the bowls/plate, I don't have to worry about food bits getting strewed around the inside of my back.

During use, the sturdy bowl and plate hold a good portion of food and I never have to balance the dishware to keep it level. One-handed juggling works just fine!

The triangular shape is rounded at the corners so food does not end up trapped or "wasted" in the corners. A scrape of the Spork gathers up each morsel.

The MealKit is comfortable to hold both hot and cold foods without undue heat transfer from very hot foods. It does not keep food hot, but does not seem to absorb the heat and cool the food off either. Also, should I have to interrupt my dinner - "wait, I need a picture of that moose!" - putting the plate over the bowl does help keep my pasta or soup edible longer.

I found I use the SnapBoxes for actual food transport and eating from most often on day hikes or day hikes from a base camp and the rest of the MealKit on overnights and in base camps as dishware. On day hikes, I will pack foods separately in the SnapBoxes - such as GORP and cheeses - and carry a dehydrated meal for cooking and serving at lunch. This makes for a very nice "lunch box".

CARE

No special care was taken in the washing, drying and storing of the MealKit components. The Light My Fire website indicates that the Kit is dishwasher safe and after a backpacking trip, I have made the effort to put the Kit into the dishwasher using regular dishwasher "cubes" for a thorough cleaning. On the trail, if it is a day hike, normally I did nothing after using except to make sure everything was back in place and secured with the harness so no food remnants would spill/leak out. On overnights where the Kit was going to be used more than once in camping situations, I'd swish some water around (if it was available) and /or wipe with a small kitchen camp towel.

At home, after washing, I would let the Kit pieces air dry completely before packing up and storing on open shelves in my gear closet. The Kits stack nicely, so all four of mine take up minimal space.

Not that I carry a microwave (!) even to a base camp, but according to Light My Fire, the MealKit is microwave safe!

After months of use, the Meal Kit still looks great with no breakage, cracks, scratches or stains!

STARRING ATTRACTIONS

1.) Compact and versatile
2.) Cleans up easily
3.) Sturdy and very durable
4.) Stackable

MINOR DISTRACTION

1.) Can be tricky at first to put the harness back on.

SUMMARY

To be totally honest, when we first received the Light My Fire MealKits at a media function about 15 months ago, I thought they were "cute" but didn't think I would get much use from them. By early summer, I was using them all the time! They are just great to use if I am packing a lunch at home for a day on the trail and they are great to pack for use on backpacks or base camp situations for all my meal needs. Now, everyone in my backpacking family has one and we each have a different color to make it easy. We all absolutely love these MealKits!

Definitely recommend them for anyone who needs a portable solution for meals. Hmmm, these would make a great gift for my school-aged grandkids!

Kathleen (Kathy) Waters

This report was created with the BackpackGearTest.org Report Writer Version 1.5 Copyright 2017. All rights reserved.

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