At this Practical Travel Gear blog, we love items that can squish down for packing but will transform into something larger when you need them. These camping plates and bowls from Sea to Summit are right up our alley and they’ll even pass the double-duty gear test as well: you can turn over a collapsed plate and use it as a cutting board.

The bottom is a hard, heat-resistant nylon that will hold up to a lot of abuse. When the plate or bowl is flattened as in the photo above, it’s like a disc golf piece. (I wouldn’t advise throwing it and letting your dog jump for it though.) Then when you pop it open, the sides are made of flexible silicone that will withstand temperatures of up to 300F degrees. So no problem with hot stews or oatmeal in the wild.

It’s all food-grade and BPA-free of course. With the novel design and colors, these things were a huge hit with my daughter when I pulled them out on a camping trip. So much so that she wanted to show them to her friends and eat lunch out of them when they took a break from playing.

I’m more concerned about practicality and these X-plates and X-bowls (as the company calls them) are very well designed. With a solid base, even the smallest size isn’t very prone to tipping. Because the sides are flexible, you can bend then to pour from one container to another. Since the sides are so slick, clean-up is a cinch. When you get back to your home base, you can even toss them in the dishwasher.

The bowl holds 22 ounces, but only weighs 2.8 ounces (80 grams). Because the plate has a larger base, it weighs 5 ounces. I also put the cup (well, X-mug) in the photo here to show how they all pack together. That one will hold hot coffee or soup fine. If you’re a party animal in the woods, Sea to Summit also makes the X-shot in a shooter size.

You can pick up the Sea to Summit X-Plate camping plate and bowl combo for under 20 bucks at Backcountry, Rock Creek, or Summit Hut. They come in different configurations and colors, so shop around to find the combination you need.

See more Sea to Summit product reviews