Best Budget Camp Cookware Set

Price: $26.95

Weight: 1.5 lbs (680 g)

Components: 1L pot; 8″ pan; universal lid; two bowls; folding stainless steel spork; soup spoon; wooden spatula; cleaning sponge; nylon travel bag

Materials: Hard-anodized aluminum, stainless steel

Cooking Surface: Hard-anodized aluminum

Packed Size: 8.1″ x 8.1″ x 4.5″

Boil Time: 3:45

Best Use: Camping, Backpacking

What We Like: Low price, Lightweight, Easy to clean

What We Don’t: Pot, pan, and bowl are small, Would replace spoon with second spork

When it comes to getting a lot for a little, you simply can’t go wrong with the MalloMe Camping Cookware Mess Kit, retailing for only $26.95. This 10-piece mess kit includes a 1L anodized aluminum nonstick pot and nonstick 8” pan, with one cover that fits both. It also has two BPA-free bowls, a stainless steel folding spork, a BPA-free folding soup spoon, a short wooden spatula, and a sponge. All of these items can be self-contained inside the pot and pan, and there is also an included storage sack that enables you to keep your gear more protected or hang it off your pack if desired. Although there were a couple of things we would change about this cook set to make it slightly more versatile, we were still very impressed with its lightweight and well-constructed design that performed well for both camping and backpacking. Its amazing price-to-performance ratio made this an easy selection for Best Budget Camp Cookware Set.

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See Our Best Camp Cookware Review HERE!

Cooking & Cleaning

The MalloMe set performed near average compared to the other camp cookware sets in our review, which is actually fairly impressive when you consider that many of these other sets are double or even quadruple the price of the MalloMe. The main material used is hard-anodized aluminum, which cooks more evenly and cleanly than titanium or stainless steel but still can’t match sets that utilize a true nonstick coating like Teflon or ceramic. Boil time was 3 minutes 45 seconds, which is just a bit faster than the MSR Quick 2 System Cook Set, which retails for $99.95. Our only real issue with cooking in the MalloMe is that it’s not large enough to produce a great deal of food at once; for solo campers this shouldn’t be an issue, but two people may need to suffice with smaller meals or multiple cooking sessions. Some users have also noted that the lid for the pan may not be a perfect fit, as there was a bit of wiggle room on the edges.

Weight & Packability

This low-budget set continued to impress us when we analyzed its packability. At only 1.5 lbs (680 g), the MalloMe is very competitive as a backpacking set; it beat out all of our MSR sets besides the 1 lb. Ceramic 2-Pot Set and even came in lighter than the Sea to Summit X Set 32, which has superlight silicone walls for the X-Pot and X-Kettle. All packed up, the dimensions for the MalloMe are 8.1″ x 8.1″ x 4.5″, which is fairly average for a set of this nature. The pot rests inside the pan and acts as storage for the bowls, utensils, and sponge, with a bit of extra space left over to fit a backpacking stove; by opting to leave the bowls and cutlery behind, that space could easily be used for a fuel canister as well. You may also want to consider packing in a thin towel as well, as the items inside have a tendency to rattle while you’re on the move.

Durability

While not as durable as stainless steel or titanium, the MalloMe’s hard-anodized aluminum proved reasonably capable in our durability tests, and should be able to resist scratches and dents as well as warping from excessive heat (however, we would not recommend using it over an open fire). The pot and pan are especially well-protected from dents during transit due to the fact that they nest inside one another.

Features

There is a wide range of features that come with the MalloMe, but we weren’t too sure about some of the accessories that they chose to include with this set. As previously mentioned, the pot, pan, and lid are accompanied by two bowls, a stainless steel folding spork, a folding soup spoon, a short wooden spatula, and a sponge. While we appreciated the sheer number of items in this budget set, we found the metal spork and plastic soup spoon to be strange inclusions, and would have preferred a pair of high-temp nylon sporks to increase the set’s overall versatility. The bowls were also a bit too small for our liking (4.5” in diameter and 1.5” tall), and we found ourselves simply eating out of the pot.

One feature in particular that blew us away was the handles for the pot and pan. Both of these items have a built-in, two-piece handle that’s flush to the outer walls when packed away and swings out on hinges when in use. It’s a truly brilliant design feature that’s much simpler to use than the pot grabber or detachable handle included on the MSR sets; in both cases there is only one handle shared by both cookware items, which can prove cumbersome when preparing larger meals. The MalloMe handles are also vastly superior to the flimsy silicone pads on the Sea to Summit X Set 32.

The Bottom Line

The MalloMe Camping Cookware Mess Kit perfectly illustrates that you don’t need to spend an arm and a leg to enjoy some backcountry cooking. Lightweight, durable, and capable at cooking, this set has one of the highest price-to-performance ratios of any in our 2021 review, and it even includes some impressive features you won’t find on high-end sets. Although it could potentially function for a night of car-camping, it’s simply not cut out for large parties due to its small size, so we found it much more suitable for solo backpacking.

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