Gear Review: Fozzils Bowls
By Mike Hawkins
It has been a long day – one of the most demanding climbing days you have ever experienced. Your legs are wrecked. Your back is sore and you have small bruises on your hips from your hipbelt. You have sunscreen caked into every nook and cranny, but even that didn’t keep you from getting a slight burn. Your dogs aren’t just barking, they’re howling. Now that you’ve finally made it back to camp, you still have some chores to do: put on dry clothes; secure the guy-lines on your tent; melt snow for water; make dinner; and finally, clean your dishes.
What if I told you there was a fool-proof way to skip the most atrocious chore in mountaineering, perhaps even the world… doing the dishes.
Fozzils Bowls snap together origami style, allowing a flat, packable sheet of plastic to turn into the perfect backcountry bowl. As long as you plan your meals appropriately, you will never have to do dishes in the backcountry ever again.
Plan for meals like oatmeal, couscous, or dried potato pearls that cook in a matter of minutes. Add the base ingredient of your meal to the Fozzils Bowl, then pour hot water from your pot and let sit for 5-7 minutes. For pasta, cook and drain the pasta as usual, then add it into your bowl – there will just be a small amount of starch residue left behind on your pot.
After your base ingredient is prepared, add any additional tasty treats to your Fozzils Bowl; pesto, curry, olive oil, peanut butter, and other messy foods are plenty welcome. Once everything has been gobbled up, unsnap the bowl and lick the flat plastic sheet clean.
Pros: No mess, no waste, and no doing dishes. Beneficial for LNT kitchen practices. Keep it unfolded and use it as a plate for making sandwiches. Fozzils Bowls are super light and pack flat (stow it in the hydration reservoir pocket in your pack’s back panel).
Cons: Snapping system can be finicky, especially in colder weather.
Bottom Line: These are a dream. Sit back and relax while your buddies clean their dishes. There’s nothing left but to break into the dessert!
