Gear review: Guyot Squishy Bowls

April 7, 1:58 PMSalt Lake City Outdoor Recreation ExaminerJared Hargrave

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Guyot Squishy Bowls at home on a rock table in Canyonlands

Serious campers and backpackers are always on the lookout for the next big thing among lightweight cooking gear. But rather than spend tons of cash for space-age titanuim pots and bowls, there is a new option out there. Silicon. Enter the Guyot Squishy Bowl.

I got a pair of Guyot Squishy Bowls for my birthday this year and took them out during a four day mountain biking trip on the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park. The Guyot Squishy Bowls were great from the beginning when I packed them into my gear box. They rolled right up and took up very little space. When I pulled them out after making dinner at camp, they unrolled right back into a bowl shape.

According to the Guyot Designs website, the Squishy Bowls are made from flexible food-grade silicone and are temperature resistant up to 400 degrees F. They come in three sizes (large, medium and small) and several different colors like celery and tangerine.

After cooking up some pasta, I poured the steaming hot noodles and sauce into my large Squishy Bowl and was pleased to find that I could hold the bowl with my bare hands without getting burned. If I had been using my old aluminum bowl, I'd have had to wear gloves or use a pot handle to hold it. The Squishy Bowl also has tall sides, which seemed to keep my dinner warmer for a longer period of time. When I was finished, the bowl was very easy to clean up. No food stuck to the silicone, so most of the bowl was wiped clean by simply licking it. A little camp soap and water took care of the rest and the bowl dried quickly.

If I had only one gripe about the Guyot Squishy Bowl, it would be that although food doesn't stick to it, other things do. Hair, dirt, sand, dust, and lint all at one point found its way onto the bowl, and no amount of dry wiping would remove it. Washing the bowl with water got rid of dirt and dust. But hair, which, if you camp with dogs, gets everywhere and it stuck to the silicone like a magnet. But if you have dogs, you're probably used to living with dog hair anyway so it's not a big deal.

Overall I think the Guyot Squishy Bowl is the perfect camping bowl. Its light weight and versatile packability will make it my go-to bowl for summer backpacking trips. They look cool, are fun to play with, clean up easy, and make breakfast or dinner on the trail even more enjoyable.