If you’re a jubilado and you’ve been camping all your life, you may have had a set of flimsy aluminum pots. Like ours, vintage 1970, guaranteed, even at the lowest heat, to burn water, their handles, without a thermal potholder, certain to burn your fingers.
When we bought Rove-Inn three summers ago after a camping hiatus that lasted decades, I tossed those aluminum hazards. And began a weeks-long search for quality cooking pots that wouldn’t burn our food or occupy much space.
Searching “Camping cookware/camping pots” was fruitless. “RV Camping cookware/camping pots” came up short. Sticking “quality” or “best” into the search didn’t help. Don’t ask me what combination of words finally led me to John and Mandi’s blogpost of September 6, 2014. As soon as I saw their photos and read Mandi’s review, I was in love with the Magma 10 Piece Gourmet Nesting Stainless Steel Cookware Set.
The set is high quality stainless steel so food cooks evenly and cleaning is a breeze. The pots nest so they don’t take up very much space but still provide plenty of sizes and enough pans that I can cook multiple dishes separately…Two lids are provided (one interchangeable for all the pots and an additional one for the larger pots) and two interchangeable handles are provided. The handle is divine. It attaches securely so you don’t have to worry about it letting loose if you tip the pot too far over (for example, to pour pasta into a colander) and is extremely comfortable to hold, no zigzag and no overheating…
Mandi was so right.
What do I love most about my pots?
Style and function.
They’re marine-grade stainless steel with tri-clad bases constructed with two layers of stainless steel with aluminum in between. Food cooks quickly and evenly.
We bought Magma pots with the Ceramica® non-stick coating. Nothing burns. Not even oatmeal porridge. And they’re easy to clean when I forget to turn down the heat and onions blacken (okay, mostly nothing burns). Ceramica® non-stick coating is also earth-friendly, non-toxic, PFOA and PTFE-free.
The selection (five pans, two lids, two handles and a bungee) is perfect for us. There’s a five-quart pot, good for pasta.
The ten-inch sauté pan cooks up chilli, bacon, pancakes… My go-to for cooking veggies, rice, oatmeal, etc. is the two-quart pot.
The three-quart saucepan, although the wallflower in the cook set, is more often used as a mixing bowl. Every morning Magellan heats milk for our lattes in the littlest saucepan, the hard-working one-and-a-half quart size.
Magma’s handles are ergonomic, easy to attach and remove, secure even when you’re holding the largest pot full of food.
I adore the way the pots and lids nest within each other. The entire set takes up less than a cubic foot of space! The purpose-designed felt liners that you place between each pot to protect the non-stick lining (bottom and sides)from scratches are an add-on that I highly recommend.
Magellan likes the bungee cord that holds the ensemble together. Because the Magma set travels securely in its original box, I often don’t bother with it.
The Magma pots feel good, they’re substantial and robust. Unlike our flimsy aluminum pots that seemingly bent out of shape in the wind.
And Magma offers various iterations—including exteriors coloured red (ugly I think) and cobalt blue (very nice but the classic stainless steel looks best in my opinion).
Who’s Magma?
Their tagline is The World’s Greatest Grills on Land or Sea. A California company started in 1970 by identical twin brothers, Jim and Jerry Mashburn, Magma makes the #1 boat grills in the world. Lynn and Ward owned Magma’s Del Mar BBQ (in 2002 and 2003 it won a gold medal from the American Culinary Institute for “Best Pedestal Barbeque”) as did our friend Gail; they’re great on condo balconies and can be seen on boats from Newport to New South Wales. Magma went on to make BBQ grill accessories, fishing tables, kayak/surfboard storage racks, Inno nautic gas cylinder lockers and gas fittings—and of course amazing, nestable cookware.
The Magma 10 Piece Gourmet Nesting Stainless Steel Cookware Set has won “Practical Sailor Gear of the Year Award and Editors’ Choice Award” plus “Good Sam Club Product of the Month.”
But you don’t have to be a camper or sailor to enjoy these pots. They’d be ideal for people living in small spaces or those who move frequently and don’t want burdensome possessions.
True love. I cringe thinking of the day we sell Rove-Inn and bid “bon voyage” to my Magma pots. By then, they—and I—will be vintage.
Navigation
Here’s the link to Mandi’s review of Magma pots.
Another review, this one from My Quantum Discovery.
Here’s Magma’s description of the pots and a link to the Company’s history.
6 Responses
I wish Sheryl liked camping just so we could get these pots!!
I love well engineered and well made, useful, things..
I finally found the perfect jackknife (it’s not Swiss; and it only has one blade)!!
Love the descriptions and details.
Can’t wait for your Blogs on Norway!
That trip would be one of my dreams!
Wade
RV’ing in Norway is very relaxing, particularly in the shoulder season (after Aug 20!) Maximum speed on the highways is 80 kph and no one seems to try squeeze a “bonus” 5 or 10% onto the limit. There are frequent pullouts and parking areas to enjoy the views. A great holiday if you are not in a hurry.
Well said Barry..I agree everything tastes better outside…love it. Happy glimpsing/camping. We still have the old pots but we don’t do so much camping anymore….
The pots in Hjulrundt, (pronounced “you’ll runt” and meaning “wheel around”), our Norwegian motorhome, are quite the contrast: flimsy and about to fall over on a loud laugh, pocked with holes and rather disgusting. But who’s complaining when you’re cooking oatmeal with wild Norwegian blueberries?
Great story and always a new bit of knowledge to share with the camping world. Looks like a great set and the size speaks for itself for space savingin tight RV spaces very nice.
Kind of the opposite in size and space is cast iron, especially Dutch Oven size, have seen some remarkable meals prepared with in and also on top of the lid when inverted, makes a mighty fine oven and is my favourite chilli pot. My cooking skills are very limited but I find the cast iron to be user friendly and you can combine its use to brown meat and then continue on into stews and chilli of course and soups are just an invitation to add to the pot.
Great share of the product and knowledge of usage, looks delicious, nothing but nothing beats eating in nature’s living room, always taste better too. 👍👍👍🌞🌞🌞
Nature’s living room, there’s a phrase I’m going to claim. Agree that cast iron is a winner but Magma has stolen my heart.