Gas double burner. How easy/safe are they to set up and is it worth the effort?

[Lovecat]

I started camping many, many years ago in a very minimalist fashion, with a tiny 2 man ridge tent that would nowadays would be marketed as a pet kennel, so all I had to cook on was a camping gaz bleuet (one of those screw on things that go on top of a titchy campinggaz bottle).

Over the years I have accumulated a lot of cooking stuff, including a tripod and campfire grill, and have had an abortive flirtation with a trangia (Meths! Invisible flames!! Can't tell if it's run out of fuel!!! Scary!!!), but my go-to cooking appliance when campfires aren't allowed/for sheer speed of boiling a kettle remains the bleuet, now supplemented with one of those single burner suitcase jobbies that work off the aerosol cans of gas so that I can cook and boil water at the same time.

However, the bleuet is ancient and getting very wobbly in the wind, so I've been considering dispensing with the 2 separate cookers and getting one of those double burners with a grill thingies (partly in the hope of being able to make toast). This though opens up a new and scary world of big gas bottles and hoses and regulators. Basically I'm afeared of them. I'm wondering if it would be worth it or if I should carry on with what I'm doing (where at least I KNOW what I'm doing, iyswim).

Could some kind person hold my hand and talk me through EXACTLY what I would need to get, as though I were a small child with ADD, and tell me the best place to get the stuff from? We have a proper camping shop not too far away but I don't know if they sell the gas as well as the cookers, also a rather intimidating hunting/fishing/drink your own piss type of place that does bottled gas but not the cooker, so recommendations of where to get the whole lot in a one-stop shop would be most welcome.

Thank you lovely MN campers :)

Can't help you lovecat but marking my place cosmi also need handholding through this minefield

We have a camping gaz double burner, no grill though, but you can get them with a grill. Ours came with the pipe and connector attached, so just buy the blue gas bottle and screw it on. Very easy really, just check from time to time that the screws on the metal clips that hold the pipe on are nice and tight, so the clip is firmly holding the pipe on. Bottles are expensive to start, but next time you swap for a new one at much lower cost. As for toast, no idea about the grill, but we bought one of those toaster racks that go over the burner.....truly useless, sorry!

We have a Camping Gaz Camping Chef double ring stove with a little grill burner underneath, had it about 15 years and it's great. It takes a medium sized canister which you just screw on. The whole thing fits into its own carry bag. We use it for the occasional festival although the gas canister is a bit big for some festivals. Very civilised to have 2 rings. The toaster bit is slightly fiddly to light (ours is matches rather than self igniting, but I think the modern ones have ignition) but it does work. Ours came with everything fitted. I am a real baby when it comes to gas but it seems pretty foolproof.

www.amazon.co.uk/Campingaz-c69487-Camping-Chef-Stove/dp/B0014BSDXU

Buy from camping shops/calor gas shops/the internet. I would go to a proper shop, they tend to lurk on out of town business parks.

It's definitely a car camping thing but I have lugged it to the festivals that allow the gas canister. What with that and my whistling kettle I am completely set up :-)

Thank you!

Yes, I bought one of those toaster racks, Lifestoo and what a waste of money (and bread)!

Having perused another thread today about cooking in a tent with the gas bottle outside, can anyone tell me what the 'soap bubble test' is, please? I'm getting worried now...

I quite like the look of this: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OUTWELL-CHEF-COOKER-3-BURNER-STOVE-WITH-GRILL-CAMPING-COOKING/201112801061?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D23775%26meid%3D8144451829483220361%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D10165%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D251514384884&rt=nc but its quite pricey (albeit more sturdy looking than others I've seen). Also I am hesitant to buy online and it seems to be a discontinued model elsewhere...

I have been using our Camping Chef double burner cooker for 8 years and never done a soap bubble test, whatever it is.

That Outwell cooker does look good. Better than the Camping Chef - but it is x2 the price. I might get that rather than mu cooker if I was buyng afresh now.

I've yet to experience an integral camping grill that makes decent toast. I'm not sure what toaster racks you're discussing upthread but we have the Bright Spark toaster which goes over the burner and is bloody brilliant.

Ok - so although you've got a load of 'stuff' (haven't we all) you sound like you're a minimalist camper at heart. From (bitter) experience I'd suggest that you'll probably hate the whole double burner and large bottle thing - I did after a while. Making toast (very slowly, one slice at a time) wasn't enough to justify the extra volume and weight and pain of setting up for me. I've moved to two tiny folding burners - very low to the ground, very stable and the gas canisters are separate. Like this one, although there's also a vango one the same: stove

I also use one of these with my 'outback oven' - not that easy to get hold of in the UK, but occasionally on ebay, like this one: outback oven

• why make toast when you can make CAKE! (and a million other cook things)

I like my double burner and it does make lovely toast. If you're camping with a family for more than one night then I wouldn't dream of taking anything less. I've never had any problems setting it up etc. and I've never done the soap bubble test either. The bottles are expensive - about 50 quid initially- but then you exchange them so it's fine. The gas works out to be cheaper. I have a little gas canister one that I use if we're just going overnight but it runs out of gas after just a few brews - I woukdnt fancy cooking a meal on it. So, it depends how long you're going for and how many of you, really.

Sorry, to actually answer your question, you need the cooker itself which comes with a pipe and then you buy the gas bottle separately and attach them together - which isn't difficult to do- I'm sure someone in the shop would talk you through it. When you run out of gas - they last ages - you take the bottle to a place where they do refills and they swap it for a full bottle.

Ah, badger, I have an Omnia for cake and garlic bread and such. Any cake you like as long as it's doughnut shaped...

Thanks quark and Anna, that's very useful to know. I think I need to go to a proper shop and have a look.

Vivi funnily enough I've just been looking at that very device online - good to know it works!

We've got a camping gaz double burner and it's really easy to set up and fairly idiot proof providing you following the instructions, mainly closing the gas bottle valve when not in use and not storing in the tent.

Get an empty bottle to exchange for full from eBay or a Facebook group. You can usually get them for a couple of ££. I have a spare or three in Gloucestershire!

One comment on the trangia, you can get a gas burner for it which is infinitely better than the meths one.
We have the camping gaz double burner and grill which is good for car camping for more than a couple of days. I like the toast!