On our first camping adventure we ate off some enamel plates, and drank coffee out of enamel mugs. All the plates, mugs and kitchen stuff was all kept in a large rectangular plastic storage container with a lid. Our friends that we camped with even had crystal wine glasses wrapped up in tea towels to drink out of! Unfortunately one glass was broken, however the comment was that while lovely they were glasses that they wouldn’t normally drink out of so it didn’t really matter.
What plates are best for camping?
When it came to buying plates, bowls and mugs for our first camping trip I did a bit of research online to see what the options were and what would be the best. At the same time I was looking around op shops for either enamel plates and mugs, or corelle plates. In the end I think it comes down to your budget and personal taste. You may choose to just put together some of your existing plates and dinnerware out of your every day collection. My aim was to find something that was cheap, strong, looks good and was nice to eat off.
5 Things to look for in camping dinnerware:
- Strength and thickness of plate
- The look
- Cost
- Ease of cleaning
- How often you are going camping
Thoughts on various camping dinnerware plates:
Corelle dinnerware
Great option if you want the china type feel of a plate. Strong and light weight. While I would have loved this option they were expensive compared to the other options.
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- Triple layer strong glass highly resists chips and cracks
- Plates are lightweight and easy to handle
- Ultra hygienic, non porous and easy to clean plates
- Plates stack compactly, taking up half the space of ceramic plates
- Dishwasher, microwave and preheated oven safe
Enamel
Metal can get hot. Hard wearing, can be expensive. Limited colors available. I could only find white with a blue rim, or solid blue.
Plastic | Melamine
Nice to look at. Can be strong. Great option for camping. Can’t heat up in a microwave. ( Shouldn’t be a problem camping as you are more likely to be cooking on a fire or gas cooktop.) Some nice sets can be found here.
China | Stoneware
If you are not worried about the weight or breaking your plates you could just take your everyday dinner plates and bowls on your next camping trip
In the end I was in a 2 dollar shop and found some beautiful red plastic plates.
Cheap, strong, stack up well and nice to look at. I love them. We found a set of enamel plates, bowls and mugs at Big W and they have been great on our trips too.
China mugs to drink coffee out of is always nicer than enamel mugs.
Plastic wine glasses from Coles did the trick. Cheap and durable.