Camping Stoves (or similar)

[Mischievous12]

I think the food/fuel crises and now power outages in some parts of the country have focused my mind.
I always top petrol tank when it's down to half
I have some shelf stable food tucked away and maintain good stocks as routine (fortunate)
Wind up/solar/battery powered torch/radio/charger
Have batteries.
Have head torch and couple spare milk bottles.
Candles, long matches, deep candle holders.
Warm things (extra duvet and blanket, warm clothing)
Food that can be eaten cold (uht milk, cereal, tinned fish/beans/sweetcorn)
Spare tin opener

Pondering on food/water heating. There's a very cheap (£4.99) emergency stove on amazon but review suggests fuel tablets may be toxic.
Also seen camping stoves which use wood twigs, pine cones etc. Maybe worth getting one plus start a little wood stash?

Any thoughts/recommendations?
We have a garden so not necessarily needing to be safe to use inside.
Just to heat water/soup etc really

Wonder if worth getting a barbecue. Can't afford generator

What do all you fine folks here on this board do?

I used to take a little solid fuel one to festivals. They are essentially firelighters, so yes they are chemical, but you will be heating a pan or mess tin, not the food directly. They are good for quicker things like tea, beans, bacon etc. Never tried using for anything requiring longer cooking and that's not what they are designed for.

You can get gas camping stoves for less than £15 which are much longer lasting. Can also be taken to the beach etc when on holiday for hotdogs / burgers / tea.

www.millets.co.uk/15895048/campingaz-camp-bistro-2-stove-15895048

Or yes, a BBQ is a great idea as it's useful outside of prepping. We have a gas one with 2 cylinders - 1 full and 1 attached so we never run out.

Interesting, thanks. I went down a bit of a rabbit hole and found '22 ways to cook food without electricity' which I've just tried and failed to link. There was a particularly impressive one involving a can of tuna in oil, some toilet paper and a match. But it still needs a pot stand which is more costly than a camping stove. Looks like fun though!

I saw that one, @FusionChefGeoff, tempted. Would not be fussy, no plans to do anything grand just heat up what we have.

Interesting point about the little solid fuel one @Usuallyhappycamper I might get one anyway as cheap, to tuck away and someone in the family will probably use it for camping at some stage.

@FusionChefGeoff

You can get gas camping stoves for less than £15 which are much longer lasting. Can also be taken to the beach etc when on holiday for hotdogs / burgers / tea.

www.millets.co.uk/15895048/campingaz-camp-bistro-2-stove-15895048

Or yes, a BBQ is a great idea as it's useful outside of prepping. We have a gas one with 2 cylinders - 1 full and 1 attached so we never run out.

One of these. I’ve had mine for years and a few years ago was without power and used it then. So reliable.

Thank you @Ritasueandbobtoo9 it's always useful to read experiences of these. I couldn't figure out how it worked ( I saw it on the argos site last night so I'm pleased to see 2 people on here mention them) Thanks

The canisters aren't that expensive if you buy from eBay and last quite a while. Get a thermos flask as well so that any spare water you have boiled will stay hot without needing to waste any more gas!

I have a couple of the gas coolers like @FusionChefGeoff and @Ritasueandbobtoo9 mention. I also have a two ring version with a toaster which is handy for longer term cooking. I also have a jetboil which boils 1l water in 100 seconds (www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15895308/jetboil-flash-20-cooking-system-15895308) which is great for using with dried foods and making hot drinks. It is incredibly fuel efficient but not cheap to buy! I was on camp with someone using one of those burners where you use sticks and it was great.

*gas coolers not coolers!

I started out with a 1 ring gas stove, relies on small canisters of gas so I have 11 of those in the shed. (I used roughly 1.5 canisters for 2 nights camping with dd doing a few teas/coffees, bacon breakfast, and dinner).

I also have a mini charcoal bbq (well 2, 1 from mountain warehouse and a slightly better one from Aldi's middle aisle), which are perfect for camping. Because they are charcoal, they can be used to burn ordinary wood if need be (just keep the fire small and controlled).

But my treat to myself was a Kelly Kettle. This is great for boiling water, but as I also got the pot stand, I can put a pot on when the kettle is on it or use the hobo stand part to have a pot when then kettle is not on the fire. It only uses small sticks and pine cones for a small fire, but is remarkably efficient. I have cooked dinner on it in the garden a few times for fun.

At home, we have a gas bbq with a lid, which is very useful for outdoor cooking.

And we also have a log burner that is a narrowing square shape, so I have put a bbq grill on top to cook before...it works but it's very high above the fire to be efficient, and it's not a great design to manage the fire anyway because of the small opening at the top, but that small opening is the reason it can work in an emergency.

Apart from using small pots that transfer heat well (camping type pots or thin cheap ones not the heavy based ones you'd use on the normal cooker), there are other ways to think about cooking.

Skewers or sticks holding chunks or strips of meat, fish, veg, fruit etc.
Tin foil parcels holding smaller pieces or somewhat liquid items (we do mushrooms in butter on bbq at home, or small pieces of fish, carrot, onion and potato together as a meal on camp etc).

Also potatoes wrapped in foil can be put amongst coals to bake with any kind of fire or charcoal bbq.
Look up chocolate cake in an orange to see how to bake an individual cake in an orange peel shell.

And also have a look for things like
Back woods cooking, scout cooking outdoors, camp cooking,for ideas and recipes.

Agree with having a flask for any spare hot water.
And if you have a fire/charcoal bbq (rather than gas), both while it is getting going (so it is lit and going but still flames and not ready to cook food directly on - charcoal coals not yet grey, or wood still burning and not made embers), and once you have finished, put a pot of water on top to heat. (Or other pots where food is sealed away from smoke/flames). To make the most of the fuel while you have it - get it hot for flask and washing up before the fire dies away entirely. (Especially when you have no power).

Ive just bought a little camping stove in the black friday sale from Blacks as it is something that has been worrying me for a long time only having an electric stove. It is just a one ring burner and it was £13 in its own little carry case. I also bought a stove top kettle for £6 and 4 x 4pack of propane canisters for £5 each. £4.95 p&p. All delivered and im very happy with them. Hope i will never need them but they are here if i do.

The little hexamine stoves (fuel tabs) are not that efficient and smell bad even the ones using gel really aren't that great either and you wouldn't want to use them indoors. The small one ring picnic stoves which use cans of gas are good, however there have been some dangerous ones around of late. If you can afford I would go for a pocket rocket 2 which use Isopro and which heat a pan of water really quickly. Just remember to use a kettle or a billy can/pan with a lid on to make the most of the heat. Barbecues are good if you aren't in a rush, but as someone else said can be used to heat water once you have finished cooking (just not indoors).

never ever use a camping cooker or bbq indoors.

but having said that you can get 2 ring camping stoves cheaply and the gas bottles are also not too dear.
it's enough to keep hot water bottles filled and a flask full of hot drink & warm water for washing.

The primary risk from using a camping stove indoors is carbon monoxide poisoning- you can buy a detector for £13 off Amazon which will last 10years.

Also you might set fire to your house- be careful with fire.

If you're prepping be realistic with yourself: are you going to stand in the horizontal sleet every time you want a cuppa/food/water to wash/wash up? I suspect the answer is no. You are able to mitigate risks if you understand them.

Out door cooking may need a wind break to shelter behind or a sheltered spot in the garden. Definitely have plenty of flasks/food flasks to put heated up water and food in so you cook once or twice only per day.

Think about a hay box or wonder bag. Boil the pan on the BBQ then tuck it up somewhere well insulated to finish cooking.

Pool resources with the neighbours. Cultivate good reciprocal relationships and share the load of cooking.

Store food that is quick to heat up so you are not outside getting cold for too long. (Tinned veg, tinned curry, soups, just add boiling water noodles, cous cous, cup a soups) nothing requiring stuff from the fridge or freezer. (Store milk outdoors or on a window sil) dried noodles are quick to heat up.

Think about keeping heat in. Pin lightweight fleece blankets to your curtains. Draught Excluder on the doors. Door curtains. Get proper lined curtains not just blinds. Insulate the loft and loft hatch.

Camp in the living room together.

Cous cous: put cous cous and spices (turmeric, cumin, ginger, garlic,salt) and sultanas and chopped dried apricots in a dish, add boiling water, cover (and insulate) add seeds once fluffed up (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame)

Curry: tin curry, tin peas, tin carrots, sachet of rice, feeds two people.

Tinned tomatoes, tin sweetcorn tin peas, tin tuna, two sachets of rice, feeds two or three people. Swap tuna for chick peas for vegetarians.

You can prepare it all inside and bung on the BBQ in camping pan.

I have a disposable BBQ or two, a small stand (8 inches high) and spare charcoal in the garage as there is not much room with the car in there to store stuff.

Prompted by this & the other similar thread, I've finally ordered a single ring campingaz stove. I have a (probably fairly uneccesary) nervousness about storing gas canisters - I don't have a garage so it's either an uninsulated/unheated she'd or in the house. How do you all store yours safely?

@FoolShapeHeart That is the one i have and im really happy with it. We have 16 gas canisters for it and we store these outside in one of our brick outbuildings as DH was nervous about storing them in the house.

@FoolShapeHeart

Prompted by this & the other similar thread, I've finally ordered a single ring campingaz stove. I have a (probably fairly uneccesary) nervousness about storing gas canisters - I don't have a garage so it's either an uninsulated/unheated she'd or in the house. How do you all store yours safely?

Me too. I've been wondering what people do as well

I keep my 1 ring gas stove in the garden shed, along with the spare gas cannisters I have for it. I prefer that to indoors, we don't tend to have particularly low temperatures to worry about, but I can still get it easily there. My 2 mini BBQs are in there as well.

I keep my torches and lanterns in the house. And my 5l water barrel (empty, but available to fill if needed).

But the rest of my camping gear is in a storage unit about a mile away - it is walkable even in bad weather, but the company may not open it, and I may not want to have that hassle at the time. I'm more of a "shelter in place" kinda gal, than getting my Bug Out Bag ready.

I've never needed a stove as I mainly just camp at festivals, but I'm so relieved it's arrived! I'm wondering if wrapping the gas canisters in layers of bubble wrap would insulate them sufficiently, as there'll likely be extreme temperature fluctuations in the shed. I really don't want them in the house as I have a young child (as well as my nervousness around potential explosives 🤣🤣🤣🧨💥🔥🧯🤣🤣🤣)

For outside cooking, I'd look at one of the small wood stoves used by back packers. They fold down to nothing & can heat up food and water with a few dry twigs. As a back up, something like the BCB fire dragon is also light-weight and small and uses the sold fuel tablets mentioned above.
You can buy all sorts of grills etc for camping use over an open fire, they'll all work perfectly well outside in your garden, especially if you identified a sheltered spot with some cover to build a permanent camp fireplace.

I just bought my mother one of those Camping Gaz stoves. It will be kept in the garage with the spare cylinders.

We are lucky as we cooking and heating in the event of power cuts, even long ones is unlikely to be a problem. We have an lpg range in the kitchen, solid fuel fires and stove. Plus a selection of gas and petrol camping stoves stored in an outbuilding. There’s an lpg fridge and oven out there too.

@etulosoba that sounds ideal! Your place for the apocalypse? 😏
Mine is for potential power outages, especially as they're in the sales then it's a manageable investment for a bit extra peace of mind!

Rocket stoves are pretty good if you have lots of twigs in the garden. Great for heating water and cooking stews on. They also make quite nice patio heaters.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_stove

Get a Cobb! Expensive but brilliant, the best camping item I have ever bought.

I have used the solid fuel tablets, and while they work, honestly it's a miserable experience sitting in the open getting cold wet, and miserable waiting for them to boil water for a brew.

These days I have a couple of different camping Gas stoves (I prefer the type that you can screw on and off of the stove, rather than the puncture type). One of those cheap briefcase-style stoves, and a double ring/grill burner that takes the larger gas cylinders (mine takes the green cylinder used in Patio heaters).

I have used camping gas cookers in the house, but then I have a gas cooker anyway in the kitchen, with no problems. Saying that I would never use any flamed cooker in an enclosed space such as a basher or vehicle.

My spare cylinders are stored in an unheated (but dry) garden shed. The local garage where I buy my replacement big cylinders from keeps them in an outdoor cage, often covered in snow.

A big vote in favor of flasks, a quick hot drink can be a great moral booster if nothing else.