I’m generally a non camper but would like a simple effective stove/pan/kettle for biking events – what could you recommend please?

I’m not doing a roast, it’s going to be beans and tea for one and sub £100.

Ta.

http://m.gooutdoors.co.uk/campingaz-camp-bistro-2-stove-p396379

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/yellowstone-portable-gas-stove-p396293

£10.00 and an extra 15% off if you buy by 4th April. Stock up on some cheap gas while you’re at it.

I have one very similar in the van for any short overnight stops or, indeed, to just stop and have a cuppa.

I’ve got one of those I want a stove/pan type combo as is in fresh goods Friday this week know nothing about the quality etc hence looking for recommendations

What do you think a stove/pan type combo will do differently? They’re fine if you’re needing something a bit more compact, lightweight or efficient (though I still prefer a separate stove and HE pan – like the Crux/Terra). There’s no point in spending extra for something to take to an event in your car.

I keep a Msr titan kettle/pot in the van at all times, inside the kettle I can store a Optimus crux folding stove along with a small gas cannister, Gsi mini pot gripper, folding ti spork and most importantly my Gsi javalight coffee dripper, the kit gets used at least a few times each week inside the back doors of the van as I don’t have the money to waste on shite takeaway coffee.

Or you could buy the following and it’d work out cheaper than the above
Optimus crux weekend stoveset, just add a small gas cannister

Edit : doh!, just noticed the above in fresh goods Friday as mentioned

I’m a huge fan of the Trangia. It suits my nice sedate take on life. And it comes with a kettle 🙂

[url=https://flic.kr/p/FdAQAQ]Brew time[/url] by Simon Barnes, on Flickr

MSR Whisperlite.
Packs down to nothing and cooks stuff double fast . strangely it seems to have been the same price for the last 20 years since we bought the ones we have which makes them a bargain now.

The all-in-one stoves are great (I have about 4 stoves but only ever use the jetboil) but they’re best treated as a kettle in my experience.

For stability and ease-of use in your case I’d probably just get a remote canister stove and a pan set – easily had for your budget.

There’s a good comparison of lots of stoves here: http://thenextchallenge.org/camping-gas-canister-stoves/

(Disclosure, the guy who writes that blog is a friend and he has affiliate links on there – if you click through from his table he makes a tiny bit of cash. He does, however, use that cash to fund expedition grants for others).

Simply Scuba have some Trangia 27l Meths stoves for £45 – pans, Kettle & burner.

So whats the scoop on Meths vs Gas?

So whats the scoop on Meths vs Gas?

Meths – a bit slower, quieter, cheaper
Gas – a bit faster, noisy, more expensive and seems a bit wasteful (discarding empty metal cylinders)

For what you’re doing, pretty much any gas stove’ll do just fine. Canister top ones are less stable, so go for something with a tube between the burner and the gas canister – this sort of thing.

The all-in-one stoves – JetBoil and similar – are efficient and neat, but quite limiting if you want to cook anything that’s not dehydrated like eggs, bacon etc. Think of it as a glorified kettle and you won’t go far wrong.

Meths stoves are really slow and also hard to regulate heat with, whereas a gas stove is usually a lot more controllable if you need to simmer.

If you want something to boil water as fast as possible because you’re a self-supporting soloist, the MSR Reactor ones are amazing and I used one for just that, but only because I owned it already. Mostly it’s a snow-melting mountaineering stove.

But if it’s just for general cooking at races, cheap and basic gas stove from Decathlon or similar will be fine.

Meths stoves are really slow

3 or 4 minutes for a kettle of water is fine for me 🙂

I read the title as socialist camping stove…

not sure what I was expecting the find.

not sure what I was expecting the find.

An ex red army stove?

OK to it seems as though I’m sticking with my £10 cheap a la Scot R’s suggestion and buying a £12 Quecha pan set with a spork 🙂

3 or 4 minutes for a kettle of water is fine for me

I’ve always wondered on this. Just how fast do some folk need to boil water that 3-4 minutes is really slow. In a solo camping scenario at least.

I’ve always wondered on this. Just how fast do some folk need to boil water that 3-4 minutes is really slow. In a solo camping scenario at least.

I would assume it’s about the efficiency, fuel use and therefore how much fuel/weight you need to carry.

But for car camping one of those £10 go-outdoors jobs is perfectly functional if not quite as on trend.

I was really thinking in terms of meths vs jetboils, but as i didn’t type it that might not have been clear 😀

My first camping stove was a trangia, and I’ve been using it for 30 odd years now. They are stable and reliable but suffer a bit in the cold.
I don’t use it for every situation but its a damn good all round stove.

The go outdoors ones linked are annoying in any kind of wind. The good old camping gas ones that run on a small swappable bottle are great and easy for car camping.

I’ve got just about every type of stove from an MSR X-GK petrol stove which sounds like a jet taking off right down to home made beer can meths stove. All have their advantages and disadvantages. Meths is a bit slower and suffers in cold weather and you need a good windshield. Petrol stoves need careful handling. Gas stoves need the extra weight and waste of the cylinder.

For the OP’s intended usage a simple gas stove with tube between the burner and cylinder is all that’s needed. Get a burner that spreads the flame – the jetboil type stoves have a narrow flame which then needs a heavy pan base to spread the heat otherwise with lightweight camping kit you get food burning and sticking. Turn the cylinder upside down and you’ll get better performance when the cylinder gets less than half full (it’s because they contain butane/propane mix which vapourise at different pressures. When the cylinder is the right way up there’s a void formed which allows this differential vapourisation.)

I have a selection of alpkit pans and msr whisperlite stove. Gas bottle fits perfectly into the pan.

If you go down the Jetboil route, Alpkit have a great (and cheaper) alternative.

socialist camping stove…

Surely…

On the basis KJ01 will be with me at some point, I’ve bought a Trangia 27 Meths – its for evening meals and breakfast so time isn’t really an issue – hard anodised from Amazon prime at £65. 2 pans, a kettle the windshield and burner. I do have one of those cheap stoves and that will be useful when I want tea in parallel with the pot boiling.

Should last for years.