Our plates, dishes and visitors mugs are a reduced melamine set from tesco. Found some more matching plates on a car boot. Mugs are slim pot ones from a charity shop that fit in the caravan mug rack. Cutlery are tesco value as the are lightweight. Pans are a cheap non stick set in the caravan and a Coleman nesting set for camping. The Coleman set is great as they are nice big pans and are non stick.
If camping its how they pack such as nesting and in the caravan its weight that I watch.
We use ordinary mugs, plates and glasses that were surplus to requirements at home. When the ex broke 2 plates, we bought a couple more from a charity shop for 10p each.
For some reason, we have melamine bowls. I seem to recall that they stupidly cheap in one of the supermarkets at the end of a summer.
We have a camping set of pans that all fit inside each other, so they fit easily in the crate of kitchen stuff.
We used to use melamine, but have now replaced it with Corelle, we only needed a 12 piece set without mugs for just the two of us.
I did look at Arc which is pretty much the same, but not quite, having said that you can buy Arc for a fraction of the price that Corelle costs, and if you can get to Makro they do Arc in packs of 6 for plates and bowls etc, no sets just individual, they also split packs for single items which may suit you, also choosing a pattern for Arc is easy in Makro as they only do Arc in White, which is what I went for with our Corelle set.
Arc like Corelle is not unbreakable, so just chip resistant check out the vids on YouTube, even Melamine can break at times.
And even though most camping shops sell Corelle the warranty inside the box says not suitable for camping, but that is just the Yanks covering themselves of course.
We've got a selection of plates & bowls ranging from 1950's Melmex tea sets in bright yellow and pale blue, Poundland enamel plates & bowls which are now starting to show signs off wear after being used heavily on Scout & Cub camps as well as family camps, some cheapy plastic plates from Sainsburys and I've ordered some Harfield plates & bowls which is the stuff they use in hospitals & schools. We take a couple of the stacking Ikea cheap mugs & my coffee press mug.
When my OH & I first went camping together I bought a picnic set from Debenhams, we used it for many years. The mugs split when we made a cuppa so they went in the bin and the plates slowly broke but we've still got the bowls somewhere in the shed!
About 10 years ago I bought a cook set from Millets which we've been using along with a cheap frying pan which gets replaced every year. The cook set frying pan is ok, but not wonderful.
Whatever happened to the brightly coloured plastic plates, mugs from the 1980's? Can you still buy them? My parents still have some mugs and the tea tastes normal in them whereas some melamine mugs make tea taste weird.
------------- A problem shared is a problem halved
We got most of our melamine set from a charity shop, a great place to find cheap crockery, we do use normal mugs and when we're towing they go in a plastic tub separated by cardboard so they don't get broken if there are any bumps!
We got quite a few of our better quality plates etc from the local charity shop and pans from Ikea. Cutlery I bought really cheap metal ones from Morrisons - lightweight and much easier to use than plastic.
There are some health concerns over melamine. The production process uses formaldehyde and urea and these chemical scan leach out in use under certain conditions.
We have had our old Mala melamine, bought from John Lewis since the mid 80's. We recently bought some new, more modern looking Corelle, but first trip out one of the mugs cracked, so we have decided to go back to using our melamine. We decided the risks were minimal, using it as we do.
We might use the Corelle if we had our grandchildren with us, because of the health risks.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Plates, cups & bowls???
