Best Long Handle Spoon for Backpacking 2024
Last Updated: February 28, 2024
Choose an ultralight long handle backpacking spoon for eating freeze dried meals
Dig to the bottom of your freeze dried meal bags with ease using a long handle spoon for backpacking. The average ultralight long spoon in this guide weighs just .6 oz, and is 8.7″ long. We cover models made of titanium, aluminum, plastic, and even bamboo.
Jump ahead to read our long handle backpacking spoon buyer’s advice. And while you’re here, don’t miss our other backpacking cookware guides, including stoves, pots, mugs, water bottles, filters, trowels, freeze dried meals, and food.
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Ultralight Long Handle Spoon Quick Picks
- Most Highly Rated: TOAKS Titanium Long Handle Spoon With Polished Bowl
- Editor’s Choice: Vargo Titanium Long-Handle Spoon
- Lightest Weight: Sea to Summit Frontier Ultralight Long Handle Spoon
- Top Pick: MSR Titan Long Spoon
- Most Sustainable: Gossamer Gear Bamboo Long-Handle Spoon
- Best Extendable: JetBoil TrailSpoon
- Best Budget: GSI Outdoor Essentials Spoon – Long
Long Handle Backpacking Spoon Comparison Table
Make/Model | Price ($) | Weight (oz) | Length (in) | Material |
Sea to Summit Frontier UL | 13 | 0.4 | 8.3 | Aluminum |
GG Long Handle Bamboo | 7 | 0.5 | 8.3 | Bamboo |
Vargo Titanium Long | 15 | 0.5 | 7.5 | Titanium |
Jetboil Trail Spoon | 10 | 0.6 | 7.5 – 10.3 | Plastic |
TOAKS Titanium Long | 11 | 0.7 | 8.6 | Titanium |
MSR Titan Long | 18 | 0.7 | 8.4 | Titanium |
GSI Essential Spoon Long | 5.5 | 1.0 | 9.9 | Plastic |
Backpacking Spoon Reviews
TOAKS Titanium Long Handle Backpacking Spoon
It’s hard to imagine any backpacking spoon scoring better user ratings than the TOAKS Titanium Long Handle Spoon. At time of publication it averages 4.7 out of 5 stars on 145 reviews at REI Co-op. The $11 price point is lower than we expect to see relative its ultralight and ultra durable titanium construction. Plus, it features an upward tilted bowl for ease of lifting food out of a meal bag.
- Price: $11
- Weight: 0.7 oz
- Length: 8.6″
- Material: Titanium
- Pros: Good value. Durable. Ultralight. Very highly user rated. Upward bowl tilt makes lifting food out of a bag easier.
- Cons: Marginally lighter models exist.
Vargo Titanium Long Handle Backpacking Spoon
Being the lightest long handle spoon in the titanium backpacking spoon family, this Vargo shoveler is our high performance editor’s choice pick. The titanium build is durable and never leeches chemicals. And of course, it features a slightly upward titled bowl for ease of spooning upwards and out of a freeze dried bag. It’s plenty long enough, but technically an inch shorter than the average long handle model. However, this can be beneficial in that it shaves weight and makes it easier to store in whatever pouch/pocket/empty space.
- Price: $15
- Weight: 0.5 oz
- Length: 7.5″
- Material: Titanium
- Pros: Ultralight. Lightest titanium model. Durable. Upward bowl tilt makes lifting food out of a bag easier. Shorter length is more stowable.
- Cons: Expensive. An inch shorter than the average long spoon.
Sea to Summit Frontier Ultralight Long Handle Spoon
At just .4 ounces, the Sea to Summit Frontier is the lightest long handle spoon in our round-up, and replaces the beloved Alpha Light Spoon in S2S’s lineup. It has a very slightly upward tilted bowl for dredging the bottom of freeze dried meals, but could benefit from a slightly steeper angle. Its also stackable, if you want to pack a set for the whole family!
- Price: $13
- Weight: 0.4 oz
- Length: 8.3″
- Material: Aluminum
- Pros: Ultralight. Lightest long handle spoon.
- Cons: Less durable than titanium. Bowl end could use a bit more upward tilt.
Gossamer Gear Bamboo Long Handle Spoon
Now here’s an interesting take – behold the Gossamer Gear Bamboo Long Handle Spoon. Not only is bamboo a highly sustainable material, it’s also one of the lightest weight and most affordable. But we do spot a few downsides including a rougher surface, lower durability, shorter lifespan, and how the bowl end is extra high volume. May not work as well if you have a smaller mouth. Nonetheless, we love this spoon! Great idea, Gossamer Gear!
- Price: $7
- Weight: .5 oz
- Length: 8.3 oz
- Material: Bamboo
- Pros: Sustainable. Ultralight. Great price.
- Cons: Thick bowl. Rough texture. Less durable, shorter lifespan than metals.
MSR Titan Long Spoon
Everything about the MSR Titan Long Spoon is top tier, especially the price tag. It’s basically as good as either of the other performance titanium backpacking spoons. But even for titanium, $18 is quite the ask when similar models exist at the $11-15 price range. Yes you still get the titanium durability, upwards titled bowl, and full length handle. It has it all and the quality is high. However it’s nearly the exact same spoon as the TOAKS model, but for an over 50% higher price. Thus despite it being a legitimately great spoon, we’re only lukewarm as to its value proposition. MSR fans will love this one, and it’s a green light from us if you can pick it up on sale. Otherwise, you might as well save a few bucks and choose the TOAKS or the Vargo.
- Price: $18
- Weight: .7 oz
- Length: 8.4″
- Material: Titanium
- Pros: Ultralight. Durable. Upward bowl tilt makes lifting food out of a bag easier.
- Cons: Lighter models exist. Most expensive.
JetBoil TrailSpoon Backpacking Spoon
Until the advent of JetBoil TrailSpoon most variable length utensils were fold-open. But this one extends by locking into three different length notches, ranging from 7.5″ to 10.25″. Weighing in at just over half an ounce and for $10, it’s not a bad value or weight proposition, and you even get the siliconized rim and upwards tilted bowl. We don’t have much experience with this one, but speaking generally, more parts = more failure points, and we’d class this one as less durable than average. The siliconized edges can also rip or get dinged. And it’s easy to get food bits stuck in the sliding extension mechanism. An interesting ultralight design, but not our first choice until proven otherwise.
- Price: $10
- Weight: 0.6 oz
- Length: 7.5-10.25″
- Material: Plastic
- Pros: Ultralight. Good value. Silicone edges are good for scraping bags and bowl. Variable length.
- Cons: Less durable. Food bits can get stuck in extension mechanism. It’s almost long enough at base to not require extending.
GSI Outdoor Essentials Long Spoon
If you want a long handle spoon without breaking the bank, choose the GSI Outdoor Essentials Long Spoon, because it only costs $5. You even get the siliconized edge, which is great for scraping the bottom of a pot or bag. Downsides are the weight – at one ounce, it’s nearly 2X the average weight of other models in this guide, and solidly an inch longer than average. Frankly, it’s unnecessarily long, and may be harder to find a good storage pocket for. But the price is right!
- Price: $5.5
- Weight: 1.0 oz
- Length: 9.9″
- Material: Plastic
- Pros: Lightweight. Great value. Silicone edges are good for scraping bags and bowl.
- Cons: Not ultralight. Arguably too long, more difficult to stow. Less durable.
Backpacking Long Spoon Buyer Advice
Why most backpackers should choose a long handle spoon
For most backpackers most of the time, a long handle spoon is the right utensil for the job. If you eat freeze dried meals, choose a long spoon. If you cook with a tall and narrow pot and eat out of it, use a long handle spoon. It makes eating out of the bottom half of your vessel much cleaner, and your fingers wont brush against the oily/wet/sticky top half sidewall of a meal bag.
Why choose a titanium backpacking spoon
A titanium backpacking spoon is the lightest weight, strongest, most durable, and most expensive option. Titanium is harder than steel, aluminum, plastic, or wood. And titanium is lighter than steel or aluminum. It never leeches harmful chemicals or micro plastics. Because of its strength-to-weight ratio and performance qualities, it is one of the most sought-after metals, and thus is also the most expensive. That’s how economics work.
Why does my backpacking spoon have an upward angled bowl
The purpose of the upwards tilted spoon bowl end is specifically for eating out of freeze dried meal bags. Unlike bowls which are much shallower, meal bags require a much more vertical approach angle as you dip the spoon in. Halfway between a traditional table spoon and ladle, this design serves the purpose of assisting you in lifting food out of the bag without food falling off of your spoon as you pull back in a somewhat vertical orientation.
When not to choose a long spoon for backpacking
If you eat directly out of a shallow pot or bowl, a regular length spoon will be more user friendly, more cost effective, more packable, and slightly lighter weight. The entire point of long spoons is that it makes eating out freeze dried meal bags and deep/narrow pots easier. If that’s not what you use, then you simply don’t need a long handle spoon.
Why spoons are better than sporks
The backpacking spoon vs spork debate is settled, and spoons win in a landslide. Let us count the ways:
- Spoons are better for eating wet food. Most backpacking food that requires a utensil is comprised of small pieces in a wet sauce. There are not large chunks to be speared. But there is always leftover sauce or bits to be scooped out. The fork portion of a spork is essentially wasted on backpacking food.
- A spoon’s bowl end holds more volume than a spork, which squanders some of its carrying capacity on pointy tips.
- Sporks are prone to poking things. They can tear a whole in your ditty sack, puncture a freeze dried meal bag, rip through polyester, and all sorts of other minor calamities
- Because of the shallow ending points, sporks aren’t actually good at spearing anything, even if there were things to spear. We estimate that 95% of spork-based action is just using it to be an inferior spoon.
- Sporks are worse than spoons at spooning and worse than forks at forking, they’re bad at everything and good at nothing.
Avoid Double Ended Spoon Fork Hybrid Utensils
We recommend against choosing a hybrid ended utensil. That is, the type where one end is a fork and the other is a spoon. It sounds good in theory, but ends up being harder to eat backpacking food with and more likely to puncture something. Spoons, on the other hand, are easier to eat with and safer to pack. It’s just not very user friendly to have a fork prongs pointing up at your while you eat with the spoon end 95% of the time. In closing, the fork prongs are nearly useless, add weight, manufacturing cost, and breakage points, damage surrounding gear, and creates a less friendly eating experience. Just choose a spoon!
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