Before we get into this, both sets explained here were bought for use and this is not a paid advertorial. And YES it is another Front Runner product, but that’s because we like the quality of the product. If you’d like to add a review of a product you are using, we welcome your input. Contact Craig at craig@recreationalsociety.co.nz.
Stowing kitchen utensils is a pain. They will often be the chief culprits of those clinks and rattles when you’re driving. Some Recreationalists painstakingly wrap their knives, forks and spoons in tea towels. It works, and there’s a certain amount of double purposing with the tea towels.
Another good solution is a little storage box like the Sistema one pictured.
They come with a divider tray and only cost $9.00 and are available nationwide wherever Sistema is sold. We have used one in three different campers. They dampen noise well and you have the ability to grab the box to take it to a campsite BBQ station. The plastic handled cutlery in the box is from K-mart and cost $12.00 for a 30 piece set. And it feels like $12.00! In fairness it has lasted 6 years of camper use… it does the job.
As mentioned in the How To; Packing post, plastic handled cutlery is a really good way of reducing rattles.
It was time to upgrade the cutlery, further reduce road rattles and add some missing pieces.
The Front Runner Utensil Set goes a long way to sorting out everything you need in the camp kitchen. It retails at $99.00 so that’s 5x the investment of the previous set up. BUT it is a far more comphrensive kit with the addition of two large knives, a pairing knife, a decent BBQ spatula and fork, a nice little chopping board, a great serving spoon and a bottle opener. No can opener though. The nylon tool style roll folds into thirds to create a practical carry case… to trundle off to the aforementioned BBQ station.
First road trip in, we liked it a lot. The trident forks freaked us out at first but there’s no denying the handles of all the set fit in your hand well and feel better made. They are better made. The spoons are slightly oversized and this works really well for serving.
The carabiners are gold, and moving forward will probably mean once camp is set up the set will stay hung out.
The downsides… not many to be honest. And writing them also seems a little petty but here goes. It’s a tight pack, you have to be really vigilant that you don’t prick or cut yourself getting a piece out and returning after wash up. If you are using the set inside the camper you have to have a place to lay it out or hang it up. This adds another process; just making a cup of tea and want a teaspoon? Bit of a performance compared to opening a drawer.
Retail regret? No, not at all. The Front Runner set has refined our camping, better cutty things, better BBQ’ing and just that little bit quieter on the road.
You can check out the set at West Supply HERE
