The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: matchewed on July 18, 2014, 02:29:44 PM
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So in about a month I'm going to be camping for a few days. Normally I'd just go ahead and use some Instructable and build an alcohol or rocket stove or somesuch. However my GF and I have a plan to stay in a campground next spring for the spring/summer/fallish time frame when our lease is up in the spring. So I'm now considering something a bit more permanentish. Not really thrilled on buying a bunch of propane all the time especially if we're going to be doing a five month camping stint. I have while reviewing things come across the BioLite camp stove. (http://www.biolitestove.com/products/campstove/) Does anyone have any thoughts on it?
I'm sure we'll probably get a small charcoal grill during this time. Any other recommendations for long term camping?
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The electric charging aspect seems a bit gimmicky to me, but unless you have electric some other way (car, campground, a solar cell) it could be useful.
Otherwise, a rocket stove sans electric charger is about half the price IIRC. The basic design is incredibly efficient, even more than a charcoal chimney.
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We have been pretty happy with a Coleman Roadtrip grill. I have the grill, griddle and stovetop burner inserts, which makes it very versatile. I think you can get an adapter and run it off a 20# propane tank pretty easily as well.
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matchewed, that's a small stove designed for backpacking or short term camping. You'll be able to boil water but that's about it. Around where I'm at you can pick up a nice 2 burner Coleman stove on craigslist for $40 or so. Do like brewer12345 suggests and get the adapter hose (cheap on Amazon, very expensive at a sporting goods store). A 5 gallon (20lb) tank will last a long time. The Coleman should be large enough that you can cook pancakes, eggs, grill steaks, pretty much anything else you might do on a home stove.
We have been pretty happy with a Coleman Roadtrip grill. I have the grill, griddle and stovetop burner inserts, which makes it very versatile. I think you can get an adapter and run it off a 20# propane tank pretty easily as well.
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We have an off brand of the standard Coleman two burner stove. I quite like it. Advantage over Coleman was much cheaper purchase price. Disadvantage was when we forgot a part (propane hose) we could easily get a Coleman part, but not our off brand. So if ours ever breaks I will replace with a Coleman.
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long term, same place? used Coleman 2-burner. really the only answer IMO if you don't have to lug it around
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I like near unanimous decisions. Thanks for the advice everyone. :)
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Got a $25 coleman 425e from craigslist. Simple white gas stove. Should last a decent amount of time.
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I have lived/cooked off of stoves for extended periods of time. I used an MSR Whisperlite burning white gas and it was fine as long as I didn't expect much. I also used a coleman 2-burner, also with white gas. The Coleman white gas was a bit scary, to be honest. There were a statistically infrequent, but still too-often, occurrences of fireballs, and flames where they shouldn't be that I was happy to leave it behind at the end of the season. If you are starting from scratch, the propane coleman 2-burner with the 5 gallon tank is a much better solution. If you buy a used propane tank, make sure it is one of the "new" valve/tank designs as many places will not fill one of the old designs due to risk of overfilling. There are tons of pictures on how to tell them apart in a quick google search if you need it.
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I definitely suggest a Coleman two burner, for a home like style, supplemented with a homemade rocket stove for boiling water and back up. They use so little fuel, and just scraps lying around. We just pick up two handfuls of wood chips from where other have chopped wood and we're have enough to boil a whole pot of water. Believe me, ample warm water makes all the difference for long camping where you don't have a shower facility, and on the cooler days.
Use cotton balls for starter.
We built one just for fun out of a juice can, paint can, soup can, and sand for insulation. Tin snips were the main (only?) Tool. See U Tube...for ideas.
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Coleman two burner propane with 20 pound tank. It's a must have here in a hurricane zone.
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theoretical knowledge only (waiting to get home and try some of these out myself):
http://prepared-housewives.com/how-to-build-a-rocket-stove-and-impress-the-boys/
and
http://www.rootsimple.com/2012/03/a-rocket-stove-made-from-a-five-gallon-metal-bucket/