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| Tester Information |
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Name: Rebecca
Sowards-Emmerd
Location: Los
Altos, CA
Age/Sex:
28/Female
Height: 5'5"
(1.65 m)
Weight: 125
lb (57 kg)
Email:
rebecca@backpackgeartest.org
Website:
http://www.calipidder.com |
Most of the
time I am a weekend warrior style backpacker, although I like to get out
on longer trips a few times a year. California has such variety in scenery
and terrain that I am never lacking in a place to visit, and most weekends
find me off in the mountains exploring new (to me) trails and peaks. I
follow lightweight, but not ultralight, backpacking techniques, but am
known to carry a few luxury items from time to time. In addition to
traditional backpacking I enjoy snowshoeing, skiing, and snowcamping, as
well as long dayhikes, geocaching, and peak climbing. These activities are
enough to keep me busy year-round in the great state of
California.
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Product Information |
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Name: Light My Fire
Outdoor Meal Kit
Manufacturer: Light My
Fire
Manufacturer website: http://www.lightmyfireusa.com/
Year of Manufacture:
2006
Listed Weight: 11.3
oz/320 g
Measured weight:
11.1 oz/315 g |
 
The Light My Fire
Outdoor Meal Kit is a nesting set of camp kitchen
gadgets. Packaged into a triangular container, the kit
includes two plates, a spork, a cutting board/strainer, a cup with lid,
and a waterproof storage cup. |
| Field Report |
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Field Conditions:
During the Field Testing
period I have had the opportunity to use the Light My Fire Outdoor Meal
Kit on five trips for a total of nine nights. The field conditions
spanned from snowy and freezing cold to hot and sunny. It was used
in car camping as well as backpacking situations. The specific
locations and conditions were:
1. Calaveras Big
Trees State Park: Car camping overnighter in the snow over the first
weekend in April. Temperatures were around freezing and there was a
continuous rain and snow falling during the evening while we were
preparing dinner in our snow kitchen.
2. McGurk Meadow,
Yosemite National Park: Overnight ski trip to a snowy
meadow in the middle of April. Conditions were similar to
those at Calaveras, temperatures around freezing with fog and light
snow.
3. Lassen National
Park: Overnight snowshoe trip to camp on the flanks of Lassen Peak
and enjoy the full moon on the snow. This was in mid-May, and the
first warm snowcamping trip of the season. We had clear skies, hot
sun, and not a drop of rain or flake of snow!
4. Santa Cruz Island,
Channel Islands National Park: Three nights of 'backpacking' in an
established campground. A ferry shuttled us to the island and we had
to hike all of a quarter mile to our designated campground, where we set
up for three days and had many of the luxuries of car camping, including
water spigots, picnic tables, and varmint boxes. And the cooler that
we carried in! Although our boat ride across was foggy, it was
hot and sunny for our three days on the island.
5. Lava Beds National
Monument: Three nights of car camping in the National Monument's
campground, where we had a fire pit, running water, and a picnic table for
our camp dining pleasure. This was over the July 4th holiday weekend
and temperatures were hot - in the 90's F (32+ C) during the day and
no lower than the mid-60's F (~18 C) at
night.
Cooking Style:
In addition to location and weather, it is important
to note the kind of meals that I made using the Light My Fire Outdoor Meal
Kit. My husband and I have a few favorite recipes that we
typically stick to when it comes to backpacking meals, the favorite of
which is fajitas. This is what we eat when we are going out on a
single night trip, or if we are car camping and have a cooler to store the
ingredients. It isn't a lightweight meal, but it is quite a yummy
feast for a first night out! Preparing the fajitas with the Outdoor
Meal Kit is as follows:
 Backcountry Fajitas, Rebecca and David style
1. The night before leaving on the trip, slice a raw chicken
breast or lean steak into strips. Put them in a freezer bag and leave
in the freezer overnight.
2. Take a tiny baggie (available at
hardware and craft stores) and add the spice mix - salt, pepper, chili
powder, garlic powder and cayenne pepper to taste.
3. Put some
olive oil into a lightweight eye dropper style bottle.
4. Put
the baggie and olive oil in the backpacking food bag, along with a fresh
red pepper, a red onion, and a few tortillas.
5. In the morning
when leaving for the trail, remove the freezer bag of meat from the
freezer and wrap it up inside paper towels and clothing inside the pack.
6. Make sure to pack a frying pan!
7. Once in camp and
ready for dinner, start the stove and get out the frying pan. Heat
some olive oil and dump in the meat, which by this point should be
partially thawed but still cold.
8. While the meat is
cooking, use the Light My Fire Outdoor Meal kit cutting board and a sharp
knife to cut up the onion and red pepper. The two plates make
convenient storage bins for the sliced veggies.
9. When
the meat is cooked, add the spice packet and the
vegetables.
10. Cook until the onions are done but the peppers
are still slightly crisp.
11. Eat with tortillas, each person
using one of the plates from the Light My Fire Outdoor Meal Kit.
This meal works nicely as a backpacking or a car camping meal. In
the photo to the left, I am preparing the food for cooking over the fire
(using a frying pan placed on the fire grate seen in the background) while
car camping at Lava Beds National Monument. When backpacking, it is
just as easy to cook the same meal over a camp stove.
Another meal I have made using the components of the Outdoor Meal Kit
is hobo packets. This is a meal best done while car camping, and is
one of our car camping staples. The idea is to wrap the ingredients
inside a double layer of aluminum foil, seal it up, then lay the packet on
hot coals so it steams the ingredients inside. Ingredients are
usually meat (beef or chicken) and miscellaneous veggies (potatoes,
peppers, onions, and mushrooms work best), with a liquid spooned over the
ingredients for flavor and steaming purposes (I use onion soup mix).
When making this in a campground the Light My Fire Kit was useful. I
used the cutting board, and used the various pieces for storage of the
vegetables and meat as I cut them up.
I also used the kit for standard backpacking food. I made my
morning oatmeal in the lidded cup, and also used the cup for holding
freezer bags as I added hot water to them to rehydrate a meal. The
utensil I used for all meals was the kit's all-in-one utensil.
Field Observations and Answering the
questions from my Test Plan:
My overall feelings about the Outdoor
Meal Kit are a bit conflicted. I really like the features and
flexibility of this small and simple kit, but at the same time it is
overkill for backpacking. I love that I have everything I need for a
successful car camping trip in this tiny and compact kit, but 'tiny and
compact' takes on an entirely different meaning to me when I
backpack. I have tools that work just as well for far less
weight when backpacking, but I find it to be incredibly useful
for our rustic style car camping; instead of packing bowls,
plates, a cutting board, etc, I can toss this small kit in my kitchen
supplies bag and be done with it. If I could cook on the components
- for example, if it was made of titanium - I think this kit would be
much more useful for backpacking. But as it stands, I still have to
bring a vessel for cooking on or boiling water in, and in the name of
lightweight backpacking I prefer to eat out of those containers instead of
carrying an additional plate or bowl (or entire kit, in this
case)!
Going back to my Initial Report, I had several questions that I hoped
to answer during the test period. These questions, as well as my
answers up until this point, are below.
- Are the pieces easy to clean? I'm specifically concerned about the
holes of the strainer.
Answer: I usually wipe the pieces clean
after using them in camp. If there is water available I will use a
damp paper towel. I haven't had any problems removing food bits and
stains, but I have been careful to wipe the pieces down soon
after using them. Food hasn't been allowed to dry and adhere
itself to the material.
- Will the plastic retain the scent/flavor of food?
Answer: Unfortunately, the plastic retains some scent. I
have been cutting onions regularly with the cutting board and it now
smells like onions, even after being cleaned with dish detergent several
times. The cup also smells like fresh onion soup, after using it
to mix some up for making hobo packets a week ago.
- Will the plastic stain with food colors, especially if I cook
something acidic, such as tomato-based sauces and meals.
Answer: There has been no staining on the yellow or grey
plastic.
- Will the plastic cutting board get scratched up easily?
Answer: I have been using a Benchmade 530 knife (tested here
on BackpackGearTest) for cutting, and it has left scars in the cutting
board. This is fine - it means the board isn't dulling my
knife. I just have to make sure I clean it carefully.
- How convenient are the pieces of the set for my typical camp
cooking?
Answer: I use the cutting board, plates, and all-in-one
utensil regularly. I have not yet used the strainer, and I don't
use the cook cup or storage cup often.
- The measurement markings are simply labeled '1', '2', and '3'. What
volume does each of these numbers correspond to?
Answer:
I have not measured this yet. I always carry Nalgene bottles and
use the markings on those bottles to measure water.
- Will be used in cold and hot weather - how does the plastic respond
to differing conditions (especially the softer, more pliable
spork).
Answer: I have not noticed a difference in the
plastic's behavior from conditions ranging from below freezing to the
summer heat.
- Washing - I'll run it through the dishwasher, but it will mostly be
hand washed. If I use it on multiple days what is the best way to clean
it in camp for repeated use?
Answer: As mentioned above,
I wipe the set clean after using it in camp, usually with paper towels
and water, then hand wash it with dish detergent at home. I have
yet to send it through the dish washer.
- How useful is the knife? Can it really cut though anything, or will
it wear down/dull quickly?
Answer: The knife is
mostly useless. I carry the aforementioned Benchmade and use it
for anything that really requires the use of a knife.
- Is the small cup really waterproof?
Answer: I
filled the cup with water and set it upside down for about an
hour. There were no leaks.
Additional observations:
- There is enough room inside the kit to store my knife and lighter.
- I do not cut meat on the cutting board since I want to keep it as
sanitary as possible. When camping I cannot clean it with detergent
immediately.
- The bright color makes it easy to keep track of the pieces around
camp.
I will continue to use the kit throughout the Long Term test period,
but I think it will be used mostly for car camping. As fun and
useful as this kit is for 'gourmet' style backpacking, it isn't useful
when I want to go lightweight.
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Read more reviews of Light My Fire gear
Read more gear reviews by Rebecca Sowards-Emmerd
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