Frontier UL Collapsible Pot - 1L

The Sea to Summit Frontier UL Collapsible Pot 1L is a solo cook pot that squashes down flat between meals. A hard-anodised aluminium base and lid sit either side of a food-grade silicone wall, so you pull it up to cook and push it down to pack. At 197.8 g it earns its place in a pack where every item is weighed.

Who it's for

Walkers, thru-hikers and bikepackers cooking for one. Sea to Summit design it for long, technical trips where a rigid pot is an awkward lump, and it slides into a frame bag, a pannier or the lid pocket of a pack without rattling. Think a week on the Australian Alps Walking Track, or a gravel tour through the Northern Rivers with the kitchen strapped to the bike.

Capacity and what it cooks

One litre is a solo-sized pot. Boil water for a dehydrated dinner and a hot drink, or cook the meal straight in the pot: minute rice, couscous, instant noodles, porridge, a soup with fresh vegetables thrown in. When it is ready, eat from the pot itself. It is shaped to double as your bowl, which means one less thing to carry and one less thing to wash.

A fill line pressed into the inside wall shows how high to go.

Materials and heat

• Base and lid: hard-anodised aluminium, which spreads the flame's heat quickly so you burn less gas and can turn a boil down to a simmer.
• Wall: food-grade silicone, BPA-free and certified to EU and FDA food standards.
• Handle: stainless steel.

By weight the pot is 54% aluminium, 24% silicone and 22% 304 stainless steel. All of it is non-PFAS.

This is a pot for water-based cooking. The base has no non-stick coating, and frying is off the menu: hot oil can climb to temperatures that damage the pot.

Packing and nesting

Collapsed, the pot folds down to a flat disc with the lid on top. Reverse the handle and it clamps the lid in place, so the whole thing travels as one quiet package. There is room inside the collapsed pot for small flat items such as a folded bowl and a spoon.

Set up to cook, with the wall extended and the handle out, it measures 25.1 x 14.2 x 9.2 cm.

Handles and safety

The Click Safe handle locks onto the pot with a click you can hear. Once it has clicked, you can lift a full litre of boiling water without the handle shifting, which is the reason Sea to Summit put stainless steel on a pot this light. The LidKeep, a small silicone tab on the lid, hooks over the rim so the lid hangs off the side while you stir.

Looking after it

Cook on a camp stove, not over an open fire. Keep the heat moderate and the pot full of liquid, and the silicone wall will fold and unfold trip after trip. Let it cool before you collapse it for packing.