Utensils including a knife, fork and spoon

If you intend to cook any meals at all or even pick up the materials for a meal at a deli or grocery store then you will likely want to bring along some basic utensils.

Like so many other things it is possible to pick from an enormous selection. During my first tour I carried a metal fork, knife and spoon that I picked up from a department store's camping section. At the time I was quite pleased with my selection and to be honest the utensils worked out well.

By the time I set out to go around Lake Erie my needs were still the same but I caught the weight bug somewhere along the way. As a result I picked up some light weight utensils made out of a type of plastic called Lexan. The new utensils worked well for my needs, are significantly lighter then the old ones and seem to clean up just a touch easier.

There are many types of utensils you can take along on your bicycle tour from a complete set containing a knife, fork and spoon all the way to a single utensil that can act as all three at the same time.

At this point if I had to pick up another set I would look for utensils that are lightweight, durable, flame and heat resistant along with being easy to keep clean.

Jamie Arlen provided the following suggestion about an easy way to carry your utensils so that the utensils, your gear and even yourself are protected from the sharp points often present on these items.

"In many many years of camping, one thing that has always stood out as an excellent idea for the kitchen is one that my parents learned about in a campground in Ontario.

As part of your kitchen gear, you'll find that you've got a variety of utensils - even in an ultralight camping kitchen.  Many of these utensils are sharp or sharpish.  To protect the utensils, make a protective pouch for them using a piece of soft absorbent cloth (in the olden days it was a tea-towel, these days I'd suggest a synthetic camp towel).   Lay the cloth down and fold it in thirds, the bottom piece gets tacked down and sewn with slots for each utensil.  The top folds over to protect the utensils and the entire package is rolled up to eliminate clinking and to protect the bag that the utensils are stored in."

Submitted by Jamie Arlen

Maxime Lachance added the following comment(s):

Maxime Lachance suggested updating this article to include chopsticks providing the following quote as the reasoning behind her suggestion.

"I suggest adding a comment about the versatility of chopsticks while camping:

• Chopsticks are very cheap, pack easily and are lightweight
• You can eat almost everything with them (including the ramen noodles that many cyclists eat while on tour)
• You can use them to mix and turn almost everything in your frying pan
• You can get new ones in almost every chinese buffet that you find along the road (and there are a lot of them in North America)"

Submitted by Maxime Lachance

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