Opening Devices
This category is more of what you eat and drink as to if it matters. But, when we aren’t looking at backpacking and the weights of small utensils I think being prepared to open anything is a big plus.
The items that are most needed are bottle openers, can openers, and corkscrews. If you aren’t going to drink wine or beer, then you may only need the can opener. There are a couple types of those. There is the hand crank one which is easier to use especially if you have to open the can all the way. Then there is the GI style which you have to open a can one slice at a time. If you want to look rugged and save weight, then the GI style is perfect. Otherwise I would suggest the hand crank.
There is another option. If you are going to want a bottle opener, I would highly suggest it, then you can look for a church key. They are the old bottle openers on one side and a pointy end on the other. The pointy end can be used similarly to a GI style can opener, but you have less chance of cutting yourself. Not only is this a little safer than the GI style, but it is two birds with one stone.
The last tool for opening things is the corkscrew. Personally this one I can pass up, I don’t drink wine and when I do I often drop cork into the bottle. So, tying to use a corkscrew correctly while camping seems like a lost cause to me. But, for those glampers out there there are a bunch of corkscrew options. There are electric ones, double handled ones, and even ones with bottle openers on them. This is all preference, but I would consider the electric one to be a dangerous choice because it could run out of juice at any time and also takes up a lot of space. I would probably go with a basic corkscrew to go along with my church key. One bottle opener, one corkscrew, and a can opener although not the easiest one to use.