Looking for a small lightweight decent quality camping stove for a family of 4. We’ll be car camping and making simple meals.

I like the look of the Jetboil genesis fold up system but it didn’t seem to be available in UK and a bit pricey. Also like the idea of a skottle but can’t find those in UK either.

Ideally:
Max two burners – one would probably be ok.
Low down – really don’t want any top heavy thing with kids charging about
Don’t need a grill
Small gas canister rather than the big 5kg things.
Doesn’t need proprietary pans etc. especially not aluminium pans.
Up to about £150

Any recommendations?

How small a bottle. Are the 2.7kg bottles small enough? Or do you want the disposals only?

2.7kg cylinder https://www.towsure.com/campingaz-907-refillable-empty-gas-cylinder?utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=CjwKCAjw_b6WBhAQEiwAp4HyIJt_kO4WuyubCvU6VFV9yNMV-kem4Y32xqu5w1eHeDKvdeYWcP7T4hoChl0QAvD_BwE

Anything from the cadac range seems to be massively popular. My dad used to use a double burner set up for us but I’ve declined the offer of using it because it’s huge and I wouldn’t use it much.

Have so far managed with a multifuel converted trangia 25, then have a briefcase stove if I need another burner

Just got a Cadac 2 pro. Impressed so far. Can get a regulator to use small bottles too.

I’ve never had any problems with the cheap suitcase stoves. Downside is that the gas canisters don’t last long, so could be an issue for longer trips.

Cadac 2 Pro here as well, well under budget even with the small canister adapter. The grill plates are really good. I use it as a BBQ at home now

We have the CampinGaz Chef and the grill is rubbish, don’t bother.
You can get quite small CG cylinders like the R904, though they’re not much more economical than the small disposable cylinders, but better environmentally.
The most economic way is to use a Calor cylinder, but they’re all quite big.
Otherwise you can get these that use the small cylinders, and are compact, though you may lose some of the stability that you get with a larger stove –

https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/16235480/campingaz-camping-kitchen-2-cv-double-stove-16235480

Cadac safari chef. Its awesome. Probably the best bit of camping gear I’ve ever bought.

Camping Gaz Party Grill. Just bought the CV 400 model. Love it.

Used it loads, both on the beach, at our caravan and at home. Will boil pots, coffee pots as normal, you’ve then got a normal grate, then a reversible griddle/hotplate, and the top doubles as a WOK. Done usual BBQ food on it, boiled the mokka pot, stir fry, griddled veg and even managed to cook some small pizzas on it.

Really portable and great on the beach.

Can you use multiple pots on the party grill?

…

Campingaz Bistro for us, you get through the gas canisters but available everywhere. We tend to take the Instant Pot with us for longer holidays if we’re on electric hookup, we’re veggie so plenty of chilli, curries, pasta, etc.

Cadac type look great if you do meat, friends do most things on it.

The Cadac 2 Pro and chef are both on sale at Go Outdoors

Cadac

This adapter for EN417 cartridges work with both
Hose

There are three of us, we had a Chef which was great but there was never enough room for a BBQ etc. so we got the 2 Pro instead. Loads more room and two burners is a bonus and it is actually easier to pack on trips due to it being flat. You can then have big bottles at home and use it in the garden.

I have a Coleman multifuel (actually Unleaded or Coleman Liquid whatever that is) 2 pot burner. It’s in drastic need of a service but runs on sod all (6h per fill) and can be left for years between uses. My dad got it about 20 years ago when I was racing and they still sell the same version today.

https://www.colemanuk.co.uk/stoves-fuel/camping-stoves/unleaded-2-burner-stove/SAP_3000000396.html

Downside is when you run the second burner the first loses power but I guess that’s true for anything without a regulator. Upside is obviously that unleaded is cheap compared to gas and plentiful.

Takes a little bit of getting used to but once you have it sussed it’s no bother. Worst you can do is flood it and you just need to pull the tank off until its evaporated off.

party grill here as well, made our old 2-ring burner completely redundant. Great, flexible piece of kit.

edit : to answer the multiple pots question – at a real push, yes, but I’ve never tried. There’s a heat spreader with it which helps the whole surface get an even temperature. Someone’s done 2 little coffee things on top of ours before, so you could probably do 2 little pots, but not massive ones.

We have a briefcase style cooker for cooking and one of those tiny folding gas stoves for boiling a kettle. The briefcases just take far too long to boil water but are fine for everything else. And both are cheap, and you’ve got 2 stoves.

I like the form factor of the party chef and the cadac version. But am I right in thinking that the grill and plate is non-stick aluminium?

I’m trying to avoid anything with toxic forever chemicals and my wife will point blank blank refuse.

I have the Jetboil Genesis. Bought it in the USA. It’s great, gas is really controllable and it packs down nicely. Was not cheap though, and had a slightly unusual gas fitting, so can be a bit of a pain to get gas that fits here in the UK. I keep meaning to find a way to rig up some kind of adapter, but have half a dozen or so gas canisters so no rush!

I have a Coleman multifuel (actually Unleaded or Coleman Liquid whatever that is) 2 pot burner. It’s in drastic need of a service but runs on sod all (6h per fill) and can be left for years between uses. My dad got it about 20 years ago when I was racing and they still sell the same version today.

https://www.colemanuk.co.uk/stoves-fuel/camping-stoves/unleaded-2-burner-stove/SAP_3000000396.html

sir (or atleast sirs dad) has taste. quality bit of kit. so cheap compared to gas canisters aswell. that and a webber go anywhere and i reckon i could live off grid.

Curve ball how about a pair of trangia 25s with the duossal stainless pans option? Compact and you can use one if you want to do a solo trip etc. Very windproof and stable and with the gas burner really simple to use

I looked around at one for ages, lusting after lots of the US style ones like the GSI Outdoors Selkirk.

In the end we opted for an Outwell Olida – feels a little filmsy but for the price is really good.

If it’s boiling water mainly, then a kelly kettle is fantastically efficient and cheap to run.