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Camp stove

dchemphill1

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What is the best camp stove for the money? I will only be using 2-3 times a year but maybe more in the future with retirement. Propane or ???? How much extra fuel is needed, easy to refill on the road, etc.

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part of the answer to this depends on the type of cooking you need to do....for some a simple griddle would be enough, etc.

But if it was me, I'd get a camp chef 2 burner. Lots of flexibility to use it as burners, a griddle, etc. Good quality too. I wouldnt mess around with the 1lb propane bottles much, though you certainly can. a little 5lb refillable would last for a good long time and not take up much more room.
 

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With such limited use I wouldn't suggest spending much on the stove. I would first think about what you're going to need. If only making food that requires hot water or soups etc, maybe go with something like a Jetboil. If you want to cook on a traditional burner, go with a coleman, eureka, primus, or gsi. All four brands make 2 burner stoves at or under $100.00. The small 2lb propane bottles last a good long time. You can also get an adapter and run a refillable propane bottle as well, or some of the stoves will take butane which you can refill. If you find that your using it a lot more than you'll have a better understanding of what to upgrade at that point, although the stoves listed will last a long time with proper care.
 

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part of the answer to this depends on the type of cooking you need to do....for some a simple griddle would be enough, etc.

But if it was me, I'd get a camp chef 2 burner. Lots of flexibility to use it as burners, a griddle, etc. Good quality too. I wouldnt mess around with the 1lb propane bottles much, though you certainly can. a little 5lb refillable would last for a good long time and not take up much more room.
I second the Camp Chef 2 burner with a 5lb propane tank, but again this is going to come down to your specific needs. I'm feeding a family of 4 (often with a tagalong or 2), and love to cook so having a more robust and versatile setup is preferred for me, and worth the extra weight/space/cost. I can use the camp chef as a basic burner, a grill, a griddle, an oven, etc... perfect for the beach, tailgating, camping, etc... I even pull it out at home every once in a while just to use the griddle setup. If you're serious about your food, it's hard to beat this setup.
 

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2-3 times a year? MRE heaters or a camp fire. Money can be better spent elsewhere with that use case. Then again, I'm not the type to make grand gourmet meals while in the backcountry. For me, I'd rather have a more comfortable pair of boots and place to sleep than an extravagant meal prep setup.

So, like everyone else has already said, it depends on your individual priorities.
 

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dchemphill1

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Oncorhynchus

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For most camping trips I usually will take my trustworthy 2 burner Coleman propane stove. The one I have looks like this but instead of a burner and grill (shown in photo) mine has two burners.

Jeep Wrangler JL Camp stove 070285D5-CDF0-41A9-A36D-D162ED001FDD


The 1 lb propane tanks get expensive and are a pain to dispose of (I either have go through the process of disposing them as hazardous waste or destroy them with an axe before dumping them in the recycle bin). I looked into the DIY refilling options for the 1 lb propane tanks but they are sketchy. There is also a brand that sells refillable 1 lb bottles but have poor ratings by consumers. But the 1 lb bottles are purchasable everywhere and I always have a few in the garage for a spontaneous trip. I am considering getting a refillable 5 lb propane tank but would have to consider how I want to strap it into my vehicles and also be able to transfer it from one car to another. The Coleman stove has been very reliable over the 15 years I’ve had it. One thing I don’t like is that the attachment of the removable gas pipe into the stove can get cross threaded if you are not careful. I damaged a few threads before realizing it and backing out. I didn’t do enough damage to have to replace the attachment but now reattaching is even fussier than before. Not a big deal except when the weather is cold and my bare fingers have a lower degree of sensitivity than normal.

If you only go camping a few times per year and while temperatures are above 50 degrees, then a 3x to 4X less expensive, more compact and easier to use option would be a single burner butane stove. I’ve owned three of these in the last 20 years. They are mass produced in Asia with variable quality standards. This is not a lifetime purchase. Butane has the disadvantage that it won’t give you a robust flame when the temperature drops. Otherwise this type of stove is easy to use. The gas canisters function like cartridges which are spring loaded into a slot and the stoves have a piezo electric start built into them.

Jeep Wrangler JL Camp stove E9713308-4A34-4115-AE80-8F4FAF6DE5FB


I can’t speak to how easily it may or may not be to get butane canisters in your region but I buy my butane for this stove at the local Asian supermarket for about 1/3 of the price I find at hardware stores or sporting goods stores. That brings up a related point.

There is an accessory which costs more than the stove itself which I put to good use for dinners at home.

Jeep Wrangler JL Camp stove DB9D6304-6279-4E51-84F0-43A6ED99A666


Unlike the aforementioned stoves which you can find easily online and in stores, this Korean BBQ grill that is designed specifically for the butane stove is not easily searchable on the web so I include a screen grab of the item from Amazon. The manufacturers of the butane stoves typically will include a warning to not use them indoors so if you decide to grill at the dining table with this please understand you do so at your own risk. I have not taken the grill pan on camping trips because I prefer cooking over coals when it comes to meat at the campsite.

If I expect to be eating far from the car and I want a warm meal I carry food that is easily prepared using just hot water (either freeze dried meal or something like a can of beef stew that can be heated in a pot). In that case I bring along a MiniMo from JetBoil. Depending on where and when you buy, this little stove can cost you up to 2x of a Coleman dual burner and 5x to 6x of the butane burner.

It’s not as compact as an MSR Whisperlite or other similar backpacking stoves but if you are day hiking then the JetBoil is great. The JetBoil is not so great for simmering or other applications where you need to have good control over the heat level.

Jeep Wrangler JL Camp stove E318910E-105C-45F6-968E-E0FB35041484


Finally the last stove I use is the smallest sized Solo Stove. This is more of a novelty stove than anything else. It only requires biomass for fuel. It has a wonderful secondary burn design that minimizes smoke and efficiently burns fuel. Watch some YouTube videos to see the gasification stove effect. I carry this stove inside a 1100 ml pot with a tiny frying pan all in a mesh sack. Great for roasting marshmallows inside the vestibule of the tent on a rainy day, or for those times when you don’t want to get a full campfire going.

Jeep Wrangler JL Camp stove 005C50EE-512B-4D02-82CE-88BBAD789932


Lastly, I highly recommend RockSlide Engineering’s JL tailgate table. It is outstanding and the amount of surface area cannot be beat. And it often plays an important role when it comes to use of my camp stoves.


Jeep Wrangler JL Camp stove AD7E7E9F-60A2-42D2-B3B2-3875DE2B5ADD


This is a pricey accessory for a tailgate table (though less expensive than some others). The $60 Mopar knockoff tailgate table from Amazon is a serviceable alternative if you only want it to hold a few not so heavy items. I used it very briefly before switching to the RockSlide table due to the usefulness for other situations beyond just the use of the stove. You can tell from the photo what those other uses may be.
 
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RenegadeJeeper

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Have the coleman 2 burner with grill and burner and love it. Have the hookup for a 5 lb propane tank. 0 issues.
If it craps out I'll purchase another one.
 
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dchemphill1

dchemphill1

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For most camping trips I usually will take my trustworthy 2 burner Coleman propane stove. The one I have looks like this but instead of a burner and grill (shown in photo) mine has two burners.

Jeep Wrangler JL Camp stove AD7E7E9F-60A2-42D2-B3B2-3875DE2B5ADD


The 1 lb propane tanks get expensive and are a pain to dispose of (I either have go through the process of disposing them as hazardous waste or destroy them with an axe before dumping them in the recycle bin). I looked into the DIY refilling options for the 1 lb propane tanks but they are sketchy. There is also a brand that sells refillable 1 lb bottles but have poor ratings by consumers. But the 1 lb bottles are purchasable everywhere and I always have a few in the garage for a spontaneous trip. I am considering getting a refillable 5 lb propane tank but would have to consider how I want to strap it into my vehicles and also be able to transfer it from one car to another. The Coleman stove has been very reliable over the 15 years I’ve had it. One thing I don’t like is that the attachment of the removable gas pipe into the stove can get cross threaded if you are not careful. I damaged a few threads before realizing it and backing out. I didn’t do enough damage to have to replace the attachment but now reattaching is even fussier than before. Not a big deal except when the weather is cold and my bare fingers have a lower degree of sensitivity than normal.

If you only go camping a few times per year and while temperatures are above 50 degrees, then a 3x to 4X less expensive, more compact and easier to use option would be a single burner butane stove. I’ve owned three of these in the last 20 years. They are mass produced in Asia with variable quality standards. This is not a lifetime purchase. Butane has the disadvantage that it won’t give you a robust flame when the temperature drops. Otherwise this type of stove is easy to use. The gas canisters function like cartridges which are spring loaded into a slot and the stoves have a piezo electric start built into them.

Jeep Wrangler JL Camp stove AD7E7E9F-60A2-42D2-B3B2-3875DE2B5ADD


I can’t speak to how easily it may or may not be to get butane canisters in your region but I buy my butane for this stove at the local Asian supermarket for about 1/3 of the price I find at hardware stores or sporting goods stores. That brings up a related point.

There is an accessory which costs more than the stove itself which I put to good use for dinners at home.

Jeep Wrangler JL Camp stove AD7E7E9F-60A2-42D2-B3B2-3875DE2B5ADD


Unlike the aforementioned stoves which you can find easily online and in stores, this Korean BBQ grill that is designed specifically for the butane stove is not easily searchable on the web so I include a screen grab of the item from Amazon. The manufacturers of the butane stoves typically will include a warning to not use them indoors so if you decide to grill at the dining table with this please understand you do so at your own risk. I have not taken the grill pan on camping trips because I prefer cooking over coals when it comes to meat at the campsite.

If I expect to be eating far from the car and I want a warm meal I carry food that is easily prepared using just hot water (either freeze dried meal or something like a can of beef stew that can be heated in a pot). In that case I bring along a MiniMo from JetBoil. Depending on where and when you buy, this little stove can cost you up to 2x of a Coleman dual burner and 5x to 6x of the butane burner.

It’s not as compact as an MSR Whisperlite or other similar backpacking stoves but if you are day hiking then the JetBoil is great. The JetBoil is not so great for simmering or other applications where you need to have good control over the heat level.

Jeep Wrangler JL Camp stove AD7E7E9F-60A2-42D2-B3B2-3875DE2B5ADD


Finally the last stove I use is the smallest sized Solo Stove. This is more of a novelty stove than anything else. It only requires biomass for fuel. It has a wonderful secondary burn design that minimizes smoke and efficiently burns fuel. Watch some YouTube videos to see the gasification stove effect. I carry this stove inside a 1100 ml pot with a tiny frying pan all in a mesh sack. Great for roasting marshmallows inside the vestibule of the tent on a rainy day, or for those times when you don’t want to get a full campfire going.

Jeep Wrangler JL Camp stove AD7E7E9F-60A2-42D2-B3B2-3875DE2B5ADD


Lastly, I highly recommend RockSlide Engineering’s JL tailgate table. It is outstanding and the amount of surface area cannot be beat. And it often plays an important role when it comes to use of my camp stoves.


Jeep Wrangler JL Camp stove AD7E7E9F-60A2-42D2-B3B2-3875DE2B5ADD


This is a pricey accessory for a tailgate table (though less expensive than some others). The $60 Mopar knockoff tailgate table from Amazon is a serviceable alternative if you only want it to hold a few not so heavy items. I used it very briefly before switching to the RockSlide table due to the usefulness for other situations beyond just the use of the stove. You can tell from the photo what those other uses may be.
Thanks for the great ideas and thoughts.
 

Oncorhynchus

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A coleman 2 burner sounds about right for your use case! Those things last forever typically.
Like most things, they don’t make em like they used to. The new ones are a bit flimsier. If you want to keep it for a long time I’d recommend buying a mid-priced Coleman, not the cheapest one.
 

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Like most things, they don’t make em like they used to. The new ones are a bit flimsier. If you want to keep it for a long time I’d recommend buying a mid-priced Coleman, not the cheapest one.
Well that's disappointing, everyone I know with one all have ancient ones that are still kicking!
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