Not many products remain unchanged throughout history for almost 100 years. This is one of those rare products. Developed by the British just prior to WWII this British Army mess kit is an evolution of the vulnerable tin material mess kit from WWI, yet it is more compact, more versatile, more durable and easier to transport.

Rarely can a military mess kit truly serve as a 'cook kit'. This one can. This is because of the generous capacity of the two tins & the deepness of the tins. The large pan holds 1.5 litres and the smaller pan holds 1.2 litres.

However, make sure you position the pans where they are not going to be moved too much and where you can stoke the fire, or rake or push coals under the tins as needed. Otherwise you mat have spillage putting out you're fire.

The aluminium is heavy gauge, in fact so heavy it puts Trangia too shame. The aluminium is hard anodised. The handles are also riveted to the pans, the strongest form of bonding there is, especially for aluminium, which also enables them to be re-riveted if they were to ever fail.

The tins shape enables them to pack a lot of stuff inside them. Just use a leather strap to support them and place in a stuff sack.

There is simply nothing else out there as versatile, compact, as generous in capacity as this particular military 'style' mess (cook) kit. The pluses more than negate the negative for this kit. 5 stars. Highly recommend!