Cooking overseas, what stove to take?

[Zane]

Hi, I was just wondering what people use as their stoves when touring overseas (particularly Europe). I am planning a trip around Europe for an undetermined period of time and was just wondering what kind of stove would be best. This is mainly for access to fuel, is Metho easy to get hold of in most places?

Cheers!

[il padrone]

Here's a great resource for meths users , from a world travelling couple.





I've just come across this stove burner for Trangias that I would seriously consider if I was going to do a lengthy expedition.

[Zane]

Wow! That is an amazing chart! Seems like meths is pretty easy to get a hold of! Yeah, I've seen that Trangia attachment around before. It is pretty much just like any other liquid fuel stove e.g an MSR Drangonfly. They don't seem too bad either because they can run on white gas as well as various liquids you'd get from a petrol station.

[Zane]

Another question that raises it's head is cooking safety in tents. Trangias are pretty darn safe because of their small flame. I've never cooked with anything like an MSR Whisperlight in a tent, I've used them out of one, but they seem rather dangerous.

[apsilon]

IMO no stove is safe to use in a tent. Potential build up of fumes not to mention that all camping gear tends to be nylon or some other synthetic all of which are highly flammable plus many become sticky burning paste when lit. What would've been a mild burn can quickly become a severe burn when it sticks to you and continues it's slow melting burn. Cook outside.

That said a multifuel stove is the obvious choice. It'll burn any liquid that's flammable, it's just a question of how much smoke it produces doing it but in a pinch it'll work on anything. Take a maintenance and cleaning kit with you however as a dirty burning fuel will clog things up. The down side is if you're travelling by air the fuel bottle can be an issue. Some will refuse to carry them if they smell of fuel when emptied and will require them to be thoroughly washed and aired for days if not weeks. The old trick was to fill them with water but in these days where any liquid is questioned that probably won't be acceptable either.

[il padrone]

The down side is if you're travelling by air the fuel bottle can be an issue. Some will refuse to carry them if they smell of fuel when emptied and will require them to be thoroughly washed and aired for days if not weeks. The old trick was to fill them with water but in these days where any liquid is questioned that probably won't be acceptable either.

This may be an issue whether a multi-fuel stove or Trangia, as most people I know prefer to carry their meths in a suitable fuel bottle (trangia bottle or one of the Sigg fuel bottles) rather than a thin plastic bottle. I believe the airlines have developed suitable cleaning/packaging protocols to enable such stove fuel bottles to be transported.

I have yet to face this scenario so time will tell how I deal with it.

[RonK]

Hi, I was just wondering what people use as their stoves when touring overseas (particularly Europe). I am planning a trip around Europe for an undetermined period of time and was just wondering what kind of stove would be best. This is mainly for access to fuel, is Metho easy to get hold of in most places?Cheers!

Have a read through this thread.

[onrbikes]

We use an MSR whisperlite and love it.
In remote places like central asia or even India, bad fuel is the norm. No meth or other fancy fuels, and at high altitude you'll always have trouble. It comes with a good cleaning kit and is easy to take apart.

as for the pots, we just picked up some stainless ones from the op shops that fit together good, The aluminium sets are light and look good but can barely feed a child let alone 1-2 hungry cycling adults.

We have yet to be denied the bottles on the planes. wash them out with cola, and let dry. Mount them on the bikes with the tops off, and box the bikes

[elStado]

Hi, I was just wondering what people use as their stoves when touring overseas (particularly Europe). I am planning a trip around Europe for an undetermined period of time and was just wondering what kind of stove would be best. This is mainly for access to fuel, is Metho easy to get hold of in most places?

Cheers!

My brother is in Germany and we're looking to do a tour next year. He's looking to buy either a MSR Dragonfly or Whisperlite International and use the white gas/Shellite with it as it is supposed to burn cleaner and more effectively. Apparently white gas is widely available and relatively inexpensive around Europe.

[il padrone]

One type of stove and fuel that is very widely available in Europe (but not much anywhere else) is the Blouet/Camping Gaz - in particular the puncture cans like this



Fuel canisters are available in all sorts of small local stores and supermarkets. The disadvantage with these is that once fitted the stove burner must remain on the canister. Apparently they also now make stoves to use screw-on canisters, but I don't know about their availability.

[satanas]

Way late post but thought I'd chip in anyway. My experience has been that metho is easy enough to get gold of in Europe, North America and Oz/NZ, but there's IMHO zero chance in India/Nepal/Pakistan/China.

If going to India/Pakistan/Nepal there are basically three options:
1. Use kero with a multifuel stove or buy a (heavy, but cheap) stove locally. Kero *WILL* be dirty and jets will clog frequently, so something like an MSR "Shaker Jet" or equivalent is vital.
2. Use petrol. Much easier to light (especially at altitude) and less smelly and dirty, but jet problems as per kero.
3. Gas canisters were reliably available in Kathmandu (and maybe Pokhara), Leh, Manali (and erhaps elsewhwere in India) and probably in Gilgit, etc in Pakistan in 2009. These have the gigantic advantage that, unlike liquid fuels, they are not subject to contamination. Next visit there, whether cycling/trekking/ski touring I'll be using gas.

Note that in India and Pakistan most of the time I'd be buying prepared meals, not cooking, so the stove wouldn't see daily use (except skiing). If on a long tour traversing many countries I'd be more inclined to use petrol if I wasn't sure what would be available - but make sure you can clean the jet easily without having to turn the stove off!!!

Still, metho is hassle free as long as it's obtainable where you're going. (I wouldn't bother using anything else here.)

YMMV.

[Meditator]

I've got a camping gaz stove top. If you are going to europe it would be soooooooooooo much more economical and better value to take one of these than buy something flash like the MSRs. If the gas is widely available then definitely i'd go with this option. The top fitting is so cheap.

I don't think that not being able to take the top off the bottle is a significant disadvantage. You learn to work(pack) around such things.

That said this set up would not be recommended for developing countries where stoves like the MSRs and trangias come into their own. Camping
Gaz is a french company i think so its likely to be widely available all over. If there are two of you travelling, i'd take one stove top each. You can't really afford to do that with an MSR.