It’s that time of year to start planning for summer camping trips. Yes, it seems early but you should always plan to plan they say. Camping locally will be a big thing again this year and we plan to do as much as possible.

One thing we noticed last year was while trying to eat out of those dehydrated meals is that you needed at long spoon. And a fork and sometimes a knife. All three of these in metal adds to our weight and we are ultra-light hikers. So this piece of swiss-army style cutlery looked to do the job. And it’s perfect for Bring Your Own Cutlery (BYOC) as well.

This camping spork utensil set made by UCO is a full-size fork and a full-size knife/spoon combo. The tricky cool part is that this cutlery can be used separately or connected end-to-end for use as a prep and serving piece or digging to the bottom of the foil food bags. The spoon and knife nests securely with the fork for storage and transport. An included bungee tether can be used to attach set to a backpack or mess kit. Made of dishwasher safe BPA and phthalate-free they are high-strength with reinforced glass nylon for durability and temperature resistance. And your choice of 7 colors!

UCO Switch Spork 2-Piece Integrated Camping Utensil Set from Amazon

We love Bring Your Own Cutlery (BYOC) around here. Whether it’s camping, picnicking or at the office, it’s very handy to have your own cutlery that you can trust will do the job. And be clean, especially these days.

A lot of readers have sent us in the direction of this portable & reusable stainless steel travel cutlery set from Outlery. They raised more than $2 million on Kickstarter and Indiegogo and actually brought this product to the general market. Well done!

The key here is that it all fits into a little tin that is just 3.2 x 2.5 x 0.8 inches and fits nicely into a pocket. But once assembled you have a full length of 8.3 inches of cutlery. Made of stainless steel that is CNC milled and screws into a good fit.

And once you are done with your meal, just pour some water and wipe it clean with a napkin before storing it back in the tin box.

The knife is serrated so it is not TSA safe for carry-on. But you can leave that at home and take the fork and spoon. Flatware that travels!

This part is kinna fun:

“What’s the purpose of the silicone turtle in my set?”

“One of the reasons we created Outlery was to play our part in helping marine life. Included in each set is Frankie, our resident turtle, to remind us that every time we use Outlery, we prevent a plastic fork from ending up in the oceans.“

Outlery | Portable & Reusable Stainless Steel Travel Cutlery Set With Case from Amazon.com

Bring-your-own cutlery (BYOC) is something we are passionate about here at The Cutlery Review. These days the demand is driven by health concerns but we are forgetting that the driving force early on for BYOC was environmental concerns. The disposable single-use plastic flatware and straws seems to have returned for now but let’s hope it’s not part of the new normal.

The wonderful folks at Duebest asked us to try their reusable wooden cutlery set and straw with cleaner and case. Right off the bat we have to mention the packaging for the shipment they sent us. No plastic in sight, no bubble wrap, nothing. Everything was recycled and recyclable paper packaging. We were impressed.

The set includes a fork, knife, spoon and chopsticks made of hand carved sustainably sourced teak wood. Each piece is a wonderful piece of carved artwork made by artisans in Bali, Indonesia. The flatware is 6.5″ long, so it’s not tiny and good for adult sized hands.

The knife itself even though made of wood is one of the better, sharper and more functional we’ve seen of the plastic and wood knives over the years. The fork isn’t very “stabby” but functional all the same. The spoon has a good bowl to it.

Also included in the linen/cotton blend carrying case is a glass straw with cleaning brush. Having a clear glass straw is nice, but don’t stick this case in your back pocket for fear of breaking the straw.

We can heartily recommend Duebest’s wooden cutlery set. In our house this will be replacing the existing metal camping set that was scratching our cookware.

Available at Weduebest.com