Review: Fozzils Snapfold Bowl

Recently, life has expressed itself with some downright massive swings. Which, for anyone past, say, 21 (a not entirely arbitrary number), is likely understood. And when those big swings pendulum too and fro, I pivot to my reductionist side and try to see it all (at least the swings) through the usefulness of a Venn diagram. I’m keen on seeing what rides in the middle, where those two somewhat opposing sides overlap. Which, oddly, is what I thought of when I began formulating my thoughts for this review of the Fozzils Snapfold bowl. The Snapfold bowl sits flat, 9 x 10 inches, and is an engineered near-square of flat plastic (BPA free) with seams/creases that fold together with snap closures to create a bowl (assembled as a bowl, the dimensions are 5.5 x 6 x 3.4 inches). It is pretty ingenious. It weighs 40 g. I know, I know, length, width, depth in Imperial units, and weight in metric! I need to formalize the style guide. 

The first question here is, why review a bowl? On overnight trips for objective skiing or multi-day traverses, a bowl might come in handy, but it may not be entirely necessary. Thus, the Venn diagram. Let’s imagine you are on a trip requiring at least one full day to approach and return. Meaning you are not on the ski/board equivalent of a raft trip, you’re not taking a heli or ski plane into some LZ for objective skiing. You’ll be doing a strict human-powered endeavor. Let’s call it at least one full day in and out to move all your stuff. If you’re carrying all your stuff, you’ll want to have less stuff. 

On multi-day trips, I don’t bring a bowl. I have a janky old plastic cup with a volume of roughly two cups. I use it for warm drinks. And once the drinks are down, if oatmeal is on the menu, which it usually is on these trips for breakfast, I plop my oats, nuts, and other goodies in the cup and gag it down. 

With this established as my norm, the Fozzils bowl doesn’t seem essential. A few years ago, I took a point A to Point B stroll in Wyoming with two friends. And we packed two Fozzils bowls. Neither Fozzils bowl was really used on that trip. I’m really unsure of what happened. But I do know it was cold. And for some reason, we couldn’t get the snap closures to remain snapped together. If the flat, highly-engineered piece of plastic doesn’t remain bowl-shaped, it’s not a bowl. We hypothesized at the time that the plastic was too new, too rigid, and unpliable. So I went about my coffee, tea, and oatmeal eating business using just my cup. But, since the Fozzils bowl sits flat, I decided to slide it into the bottom of my pack and experiment with it when I returned home. 

After completing this review, I checked the FAQs on the Fozzils site and found this: “Cold weather tip—Due to its low moisture content, this material performs particularly well in cold temperatures in comparison to other plastics. Fozzils will, however, stiffen in the cold, which adds pressure on the snaps. This may make a snap difficult to close. In cold weather, give the folds a good squeeze/pinch, particularly near the base, during assembly. This will reduce pressure on the snaps and will not harm the items.” 

So there you have it. Maybe this is the reason for our fumbling. If you are taking a Fozzils bowl on your next cold-weather adventure, maybe place it in your sleeping bag to keep the plastic more pliable. 

I’ve been home, or close to it, for about 1.5 years since that trip. And wouldn’t you know it, I’ve come to appreciate and use the Fozzils bowl. Part of my spiritual evolution in adopting the bowl is that, for some reason, the plastic folds easily, and just so. And the snaps snap!, into place, and remain secured. 

I swear I am not getting soft—I really do try to keep my pack weight a bit below 30 pounds for a four-day, cold-weather, live-in-the-snow effort—but I am also trying to come up with strategies to reduce, or negate altogether, my oatmeal-induced gag reflex. I have found that if I have some coffee to immediately chase my oats, nearly mid-chew, that takes care of it. (As an alternate strategy, I should try to add some No Normal coffee paste to the oatmeal and see if that does the trick, too.) Which means I can use the Fozzils bowl for my oats concoction and my proper cup for the coffee. 

Anyhow, I’ve come to rely on the Fozzils bowl as a lightweight, easy-to-pack bowl. It’s also easy to clean when it’s unsnapped: you can literally lick any food detritus off when it’s sitting flat. You can also clean it properly with soap and water. But for minimalist sake, we’re not packing proper soap. The bowl also features measuring lines, in case you need them to properly hydrate whatever is in your bowl. Sometimes ratios matter. The bowl material is also heat-resistant and pretty darn cut-proof. Fozzils claims you can use it as a cutting board. Hmmm. That’s probably true. However, if you are carrying all your stuff on a big ski/ride trip and need a cutting board for meal prep, perhaps you have too much stuff, or the meals are too complicated. No shade. Just saying.  

The Fozzils bowl is most likely coming with me on my next multi-day ski tour. However, I’m still a bit hesitant with snap closures when it comes to hot liquids, or any liquid for that matter. I’m fine pouring hot water into the bowl to mix with my oatmeal. I’m just not 100% fine using it as a cup for coffee or tea, although I suppose you could use it for that function. I’ve done some testing. The oatmeal and other semi-solid foods stay put, meaning they remain in the bowl when two of the four snap closures are undone. And I’ve filled the bowl with water, held it in a way that places undue stress on a snap, and I cannot get the snap to unsnap. That’s promising. However, in places like the Alaska Range, especially at higher elevations, with the cold temperatures, you may want to consider a Fozzils alternative.

The biggest upsides of the Fozzils bowl, as I see it, are its lightweight and packability. Currently on the Fozzils site, the Bowlz (a package of two bowls) are out of stock, but they retail for $11.95. You can find them online or sometimes at your local camping, hiking, or mountaineering store.