Sterno folding stove and fuel?

[Indigo Hawk]

So I'm just getting a sense of things I might take with me and I saw the Sterno folding stove at Walmart. Is this too much for just boiling and heating water for meals and coffee/tea? I keep seeing alcohol burning stoves mentioned and I do plan on looking those up too.

[Feral Bill]

Don't do it. Heating water for dinner on those Sterno stoves is a career. There are better options.

[Tuckahoe]

Don't do it. Heating water for dinner on those Sterno stoves is a career. There are better options.

1+ this!

I actually use sterno quite a lot with a Tommy cooker for Great War living history. It's only good at warming water enough for coffee. You'd be retired and on social security by the time it actually boiled the water.

[SteelCut]

I tried this *once* in Scouts in 1974. I'm still waiting on the water to get hot....

Plus you'd probably never find it at most resupply locations unless you could get to a Wal-mart.

Lots of discussions on alcohol stoves on here. Much better route if you want a stove on a thru hike.

[Old Hiker]

Pocket Rocket.

[Moosling]

So I'm just getting a sense of things I might take with me and I saw the Sterno folding stove at Walmart. Is this too much for just boiling and heating water for meals and coffee/tea? I keep seeing alcohol burning stoves mentioned and I do plan on looking those up too.

This might help a lot of good info and ideas. http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/SuperCat/

[swisscross]

We used them in Scouts and ate many a cold meals.
I still have mine (hard to believe it is almost 40 years old) with all my old gear.
Still have my old Scout mess kit too.

[Indigo Hawk]

Oh wow. Alcohol stove it is.

Speaking of mess kits, I was thinking of getting a 5 piece one that I've seen a few times. I'm not a huge fan of only having a pot or pan type thing.

[SteelCut]

I use the SnowPeak Mini Soloist pot. I left the cup at home. I made a insulated coozy that the pot fits into from a reflectix windshield sun screen that helps "cook" the food once the stove is put out. All this plus a few freezer bags for the more messier cooking was more than enough to do the cooking I do. I'm a hiker not a camper so the "mess kits" and their extra weight don't appeal to me.

[Indigo Hawk]

I was thinking that the weight would be a lot too but the kit I'm looking at is 10.4 oz. The little extra weight doesn't bother me.

[Tuckahoe]

There are so many better choices for a cooking set up than those ol Coleman 5 piece cook sets. You're getting 5 pieces and 10 ounces without any real capacity -- especially that all important cook pot, with only 16 fl oz capacity. My other issue with the cook pot is that it is squat and wide and rather unbalanced.

I can can appreciate that you're not a one pot sort. But you can really do better --

Right now I think the best deal going is this Chinese made anodized aluminum cook set that -- http://www.ebay.com/itm/151489824113...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

It is $11 and change, weighs 8 oz, while the pot has a 5 cup capacity and the fry pan/cup has a 2 cup capacity.

I recently paired this with a BRS 3000T canister stove and a Light My Fire spork for a total stove set up at $30, for a kid I have been mentoring.

Personally I use alcohol, with a DIY stove, and a 12cm Imusa aluminum pot -- I like the simplicity of a single pot.

[zelph]

Yes, get an aluminum Folding Sterno Stove. Good choice. Can be used for small twig fires also.

[Indigo Hawk]

I'm glad there's a better set out there. I was worried about the one I was looking at falling apart eventually.

[Five Tango]

I tried one once a long time ago.Threw it away once I learned what alcohol was all about.

[Five Tango]

I tried one once a long time ago.Threw it away once I learned what alcohol was all about.

Maybe I will just wait until Zelph introduces a super light weight wood burner and spring for that when it happens.....

[Hoofit]

Pocket Rocket.

I'll second that....it's just the empty can burden when you're out in the woods but the Pocket Rocket served me well for fourteen hundred miles.

[Indigo Hawk]

My dad is going to help me make the alcohol stove. I'm not particularly good with metal DYI projects. Does anyone here use a windshield for it? If you do is it collapsible or not?

[Five Tango]

You can learn all you ever wanted to know about alcohol stoves from YouTube.Be sure to check out Fancee Feast stoves.I personally like my Zeph "Go To" stove with the nifty simmering collar on it.The flame pattern that thing puts out is about as perfect as you can get on my 1.3L Evernew pot.Be careful not to get the "alcohol stove addiction" or you will have more stoves than you can ever use before you know what happened............lots of nice alcohol stoves out there you can make or purchase.

[zelph]

You can learn all you ever wanted to know about alcohol stoves from YouTube.Be sure to check out Fancee Feast stoves.I personally like my Zeph "Go To" stove with the nifty simmering collar on it.The flame pattern that thing puts out is about as perfect as you can get on my 1.3L Evernew pot.Be careful not to get the "alcohol stove addiction" or you will have more stoves than you can ever use before you know what happened............lots of nice alcohol stoves out there you can make or purchase.

Glad you're liking it. It comes with a 6"EZ-Fold windscreen. Once my inventory is gone, I won't make anymore. The heavy duty Venom bottles are no longer made ;-(

[vamelungeon]

I had a Sterno kit when I was a kid too like a lot of others here. I made an alcohol burner but here's what I use now- the Trangia Mini set- http://www.amazon.com/Trangia-327508...s=trangia+mini