Gear: French Army Mess Tin

I don't really know much about history of this design, except that it is a French Army 1952 model, probably inspired by a British Pattern 37 mess kit instead of classical pot-and-pan design. French mess tin consists of three rectangular, thick aluminum pans with rounded corners, stowed into each other.

Downside of this solution is lack of the large main pot to be hanged over the campfire.In return you get a handy, compact design, better suited to fit into a rucksack, side pocket of a backpack, belt pouch or even cargo pocked on your fatigues than it's kidney-shaped counterpart.

Gear: Swedish Army "Trangia" Mess Kit

  

Sturdy, heavy and well-designed piece of equipment, with good reputation and a large number of fans in bushcraft/survival society, it is commonly named "Trangia" set, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't the only producer manufacturing it over the years. I've had sets with two different stamps myself (see below).

 

It comes in two basic variations: stainless steel (heavy) and aluminum (lighter, but still weighting around 1kg / 2 lbs empty). However, this is a full mess set rather than just a mess tin - beside the two-piece mess tin itself it contains a surprisingly heavy alcohol stove, fuel bottle and a sturdy windshield / stand.

It is a solid design, with few interesting solutions.