Prereq: learn about fuel.
Cooking in the rough is no challenge if you're prepared: finding the right camp stove, good mess kits and camp food. We'll start by looking at our choices for the top camp stoves below.
1. Finbar Folding Fire Grate
Not really a camp stove, but very cool. Brother Finbar McMullen, a Christian Brother and Environmental Awareness Instructor at Saint Mary's University, invented this ingenious way to cook while backpacking - the Finbar Folding Fire Grate. Set it on rocks or logs, light a fire underneath and start cooking. Folds to the diameter of a man's thumb. Drawback - you must find the manufacturer's website to get instructions for use.
Get real life user details in this review:
2. MSR Whisperlite Internationale Multi-Fuel Backpacking Stove
The MSR Whisperlite Internationale is perfect for the international traveler. With two self-cleaning jet options included, the stove can run on white gas in the U.S., kerosene in Quatar, or plain old unleaded wherever modern automobiles are sold. Backpacker named this their favorite camp stove in 2005, and I've used this stove in Colorado for years in all seasons without a single gripe. Fuel bottles, sold separately, come in several sizes for varying trip durations.- One jet allows use of white gas and aeronautic jet fuel; included jet allows kerosene and unleaded gas
- Weighs in at a totable 11.5 oz (without bottle)
3. Coleman 2 Burner Compact Gas Camp Stove
This stove is a monster compared to backpacker-weight camp stoves like those above; however, if traveling by automobile, the luxury of two burners in an easily stowable package far outweighs the weight factor. Though one of the cheaper base-camp rigs, the classic white gas Coleman "lunchbox" stove is capable of cooking multi-part meals. How many burners do you really use at home?
- 17.75" x 11.5" x 4.875"
- Refillable tank drinks 2.5 pints of Coleman fuel (white gas) in 2-7 hours, depending on whether you're boiling pasta or slow simmering camp stew.
