“One size fits all” stove/camp cooking setup?

[TexomaPowerboater]

I bought an O'grill, used it twice. It works well, but cleanup is not fun. Going to try foil underneath burners next time. I put a cast iron griddle on it for breakfast cooking, which works well. Much better pack size than most grills. I like how it has a cover that closes and can pretty much cook in any weather. If your just starting out I would get the totes and a good fold up table much like the one poster posted photos of. I'd wait to buy any of these expensive chuck boxes or stoves until you are camping 5-10 times a year and can justify it.

I also have the coleman duel burner stove and a camp chef portable fire pit with a cooking grate tripod. I've never cooked on the camp chef, but thought it would work well for a dutch oven or any other pots. Kind of dual use.....can use as firepit or stove.

 

[INSAYN]

I've moved away from propane stoves, and back to multi fuel (white gas/unleaded) Coleman two burner.
If you are not particular about it having to be "NEW", check your local Craigslist for one. In my basic effort to get my setup, I eventually ended up with 5 of these things, as I find them so cheap and in really great shape.

The plus side to using these is that you can prefill the tank with white gas at home (Crown from Walmart is least expensive), and then carry one or more refillable red 32oz Coleman fuel bottles for additional fill ups for longer stays (like weeks).

But, honestly if you are only camping for a weekend, one tank of fuel will easily last for all your cooking each day. Just need to make sure you pump up the pressure prior cooking again. Easy peazy!

In a pinch, (or on purpose) you can also use regular unleaded fuel. It just has the strong fuel smell to deal with.

Now for grilling on this stove, I have found that this works very well.

 

[REDONE]

Yup!
just like INSAYN, I picked up three from CL, in one Saturday afternoon all for under $50 total. I took them all apart thinking I'd build one good stove and have leftover spare parts. Turns out I cleaned them up, put them back together and they all worked beautifully! The only difference I could see between the duel fuel (silver tank) and coleman fuel (red tank) was that the duel fuel has a stainless steel generator tube. I kept that one and since the other two were clean and working, I sold them for $50 each on the CL, doubling my money and getting a free stove out of it. NOTE: Everyone I know with a red tank stove has used gasoline in it with no ill effects, so you definitely CAN use gas in a coleman fuel stove when necessary.

I also don't bring extra fuel for weekend trips, the tank on both the stove and the lantern is more than enough for two evenings and two breakfasts. I used to use a red 20oz. MSR bottle for extra fuel. I went on an 8 day trip one time, so I skipped that and just brought the gallon, and just kinda stuck with the gallon since I got used to packing around it.

I neglected to say it in my first post since I agreed with Neil D., but backpacking is a whole other animal. There's no reason to use backpacking gear when you're car camping. I honestly don't recommend backpacking with small children either. They have all the common sense of a chihuahua and they prove Murphy's Law every time you blink. My wife and I both used to be avid through-hikers (I use that term because "backpacking" is often used to describe college dropouts experimenting with homelessness ) These are the stoves we used:

I liked my liquid fuel because it didn't add empty fuel containers to the trash I was hauling around, and one tank would boil water twice a day for a week straight. But my wife's Firefly is definitely lighter, smaller, and cooked faster (light it and cook, mine I have to let heat up until the flame turns blue). I don't think either is adequate for car camping. Backpacking stoves are benchmarked by how fast they boil water. Backpacking you eat food with high energy density and minimal prep (like freeze-dried dog vomit labeled "Lasagna"). That's no way to eat if you don't have to.

As for the "hairspray stoves", as an engineer I really don't like them. They are banned in a couple of countries (Australia most notably because they were hugely popular there) because they explode under normal use and without warning. I'm not your momma and I'm nobody to tell anyone else how to live their life, but just do your research before you buy one.

 

[rnArmy]

I've used a basic two-burner Coleman propane stove for years (decades actually) and I love it. Easy to transport - easy to use - is actually quite thin when the lid is folded, and I like the side wings (especially when it is windy and you're trying to cook). And those little one-pound propane cylinders last a long time. It goes on all my camping/adventure trips.
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If you want to get a little fancier, go with a propane stove/oven combo like this one from Camp Chef. I'm not the biggest fan of the burners (the flame ring is a little too large in diameter for my taste [but that's just me] but otherwise it cooks-up what I want), but having an oven is awesome. You can make muffins, biscuits, pizza, etc. It is kinda bulky and takes up some space, but if that's not an issue (we had a small Jeep-type trailer for our gear) it is awesome to have when camping. I'm sure the kids would like some tater tots cooked up in the oven for dinner. Picture hot blueberry muffins fresh from the oven in the morning. You can often find them on sale for well under $200 from multiple sources.
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http://www.cabelas.com/product/Camp-Chef-Outdoor-Camp-Oven/1203053.uts
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I remember that meal in the picture - we were up in Alaska: Chicken alfredo with noodles and garlic cheddar biscuits (one of the first meals I cooked with it).
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And yes; have a solo set-up, and a family set-up. And figure some stuff will go with either set-up. If Momma and the kids aren't happy... you won't be happy. Keep them well fed when camping. I enjoy eating well when camping.

 

[pluton]

2 burner propane for car camping...it's too easy...and they're relatively cheap. I have a basic Coleman 2 burner that won't die.
For backpacking, well...I find that the freeze-dried food hasn't improved in 40+ years.
The hairspray stoves always seemed like bad design. Putting the fuel that close to the flame cannot be a good idea.

 

[Happy Joe]

I agree with the opinion on hair spray stoves.
Here is another vote for the Coleman 2 burner propane; packs into vehicles pretty easy, is light in weight yet is big enough for most things, runs from either canned propane or a tank (by using an hose and regulator).
Since we is just me now; I went back to the old Svea 123R, white gas, backpacking stove for morning coffee, can't really recommend it (or other tall backpacking stoves) as it/they can be quite tippy, especially with a 5-6 cup coffee pot on top; and while single burners have been used for group feeding, its a lot of hassle.
For the last several years I have been looking for a smaller non-backpacking replacement for the Coleman 2 burner/Svea unsuccessfully (the drawback with most is the lack of a good integral windscreen)... I'm almost to the point of disassembling and cutting down a Coleman propane 2 burner to make a single burner....are you listening Coleman?

Enjoy!

 

[Kerensky97]

I prefer white gas hands down so it's a 2 burner Coleman for me, but the new stands suck. Find an old 60s-70s Coleman aluminum stand on ebay.

As for the Chuckbox for my kitchen I just went to the local container store and bought a plastic bin, some drawers and dividers that fit in it and then use it when it's tipped on its side. The most expensive thing in there is the old MSR cookset I hijacked from my backpacking gear. The bowls and cutlery are mostly cheap thrift store stuff, then upgrade as need be.
I did get a nice vacuum Yeti Tumblr, 10" cast iron skillet, and decent chef knife. The rest I think you can get away with dollar store gear. Make sure you have: spatula, aluminum foil, whisk, can opener, and paper towels. I've forgotten each at least once in my camping life and it was a pain to go without.

No Pics. I got video of it in action, skip to 5:15 to see what's in it.

 

[RobRed]

I've run through several stoves; a couple of Jet boil, MSR dragonfly, a few Coleman, Camp Chef and partner steel.

The ones that I kept:
- Partner Steel (primary)
- MSR as backup and water heating device. Sometimes you don't need to cook a meal.

Both of the above travel with me on outings.

- Coleman single burner plus grill sits in the garage ready for duty should a special need arise or as back up to the PS.

Cool Video @Kerensky97

Here is a Shot of my camp kitchen... I wouldn't expect anyone to jump off the cliff like I did:

 

[Rezarf <><]

Buy a Coleman two burner, go make some memories!

 

[StreetsofCompton]

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful and detailed posts. given the common consensus and affordability for a Coleman 2 burner, I'll give it a shot and see how it goes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sn_85]

I have a Camp Chef Everest and a Tembo Tusk. Have been using the Tembo tusk more since it's kind of all in one.

This kit looks cool too. From the makers of the iKamper. Basically a roll away kitchen all in one. I think this would be good for some family car camping trips
https://www.ikamper.com/products/da50150d-da2b-4742-be62-81e51778ca0f

 

[altaboy]

Coleman 2 burner white (or dual fuel) stove is the ticket.

Plus, you can change out the regulator to propane in 1m. Why?



These days (especially out west....like Cali), you are hard pressed to find spots that allow camp fires (think Montecito/santa barbara). Thus, to get the "feel", one needs a propane fire ring....which turn requires a 20lb or so propane tank:-(. One can run an extension from tank to propane regulator. Carry a small can of coleman fuel as emergency back up!

can also run of small propane cans as well.

Safety: Make sure you "liquid" soap test all connections....ask me how I know.

 

[dman93]

OK, I've read all the comments here and should probably just make my own decision, but I'll toss this out for the ExPo collective wisdom. I owned a two burner Coleman white gas stove decades ago and got tired of pumping, spilled fuel, dry leather seals etc, and switched to a very reliable Century propane stove. Unfortunately the regulator on that failed after about 20 years, while we were in Mexico, and I was unable to find parts, so purchased the only kind of stove available in San Felipe, a cheap butane aka &#8220;hairspray&#8221; stove, which worked great in Baja. On my next trip, at higher elevation and much colder, it was really marginal. Not to mention that I wrapped it with a windguard to improve performance, probably subjecting myself to immolation if it overheated and blew up. But I didn't know that until reading this thread and then the Australian safety warnings tonight. So I should probably get a new stove, and would be fine with a newer Coleman or other &#8220;cheap&#8221; propane stove. But ... I don't like the disposable bottles, and we have an MSR white gas backpacking stove, so I do have white gas around, and I found a Coleman 413H white gas stove in a local 2nd hand sports shop, barely used, for $25. Although I couldn't find a propane camp stove in Mexico, the 1lb bottles were readily available, presumably for tourists ... is white gas readily available in Mexico and Canada? I'm leaning towards white gas, but my wife thinks the propane is much easier/cleaner. For propane 2 burner, what's the best choice (cheap but reliable, not Partner)? BTW, I could not find a regulator/hose assembly for my Century stove back here either ... I tried to hack together an assembly using generic Stansport parts but there were too many swaged together fittings to be able to make a connection to the stove. So, for my next stove I also want something generically repairable. Thanks.

 

[Rallyroo]

and switched to a very reliable Century propane stove. Unfortunately the regulator on that failed after about 20 years, while we were in Mexico, and I was unable to find parts, so purchased the only kind of stove available in San Felipe, a cheap butane aka &#8220;hairspray&#8221; stove, which worked great in Baja.

I have a Century dual burner propane stove too. I chose it over a Coleman at the time because it was more compact height wise for easier packing. I just got back from Baja couple days ago. While down in Baja I noticed the rubber on the propane hose was starting to show cracks. I'd say the stove is about 17 years old so the stove did provide good service for those years.

BTW, I could not find a regulator/hose assembly for my Century stove back here either ... I tried to hack together an assembly using generic Stansport parts but there were too many swaged together fittings to be able to make a connection to the stove. So, for my next stove I also want something generically repairable. Thanks.

You're scaring me. I went to the Century Stove website and didn't see a replacement regulator 1-lb propane hose. I'm going to try calling them.

 

[dman93]

^^^ I guess the moral of the story is &#8220;don't take your Century stove to Baja&#8221;. Our hose assembly failed at the pressure relief valve, spraying propane as soon as we screwed in the canister. I disassembled it and checked for an obstruction, no luck. But the way the hose was swaged on so I couldn't figure out how to swap it out. No NPT fittings or compression fittings I could unscrew. I'm sure a splice and clamp might hold pressure but I didn't want to risk it, so I tossed the stove in the steel recycling bin. It gave many years of good service.