Its time for a new outback cooking aperatus! 

Anybody here have experience with a "Jet boil" setup?  or should I stick with MSR?

I was thinking about a new Coleman 2 burner dual fuel for the trailer but i'm pretty sure that the darn thing would rattle and vibrate to pieces riding in my rigid trailer.

What do you guys/gals recommend?

I have a butane stove for the van that looks like these, but you can get them for $20 at Joe's:

http://www.chefdepot.net/butanestove.htm

http://www.nextag.com/Iwatani-Portable-Butane-Stove-62709247/prices-html?nxtg=6c480a1c051b-335C48BA0EAFC65D

It works great for vehicle-based camping. Craig has posted details of comparing various types of fuels for camp stoves. I have found the butane stove works well for us. It heats up water much faster than my previous propane camp stove.

Brian

John,

I have a Jetboil and I have an MSR XGKII white gas stove. The Jetboil is much easier to use, but is fairly worthless below freezing... especially if the cannister is more than 1/2 empty. I use the Jetboil in the summer, but I use the MSR XGKII as soon as I think it might drop below freezing. It's simply a question of ergonomics vs reliability. If I were to be taking off for a multi-month trip and could only bring one stove I'd still go with the MSR.

If money were no object and I were to buy a single stove today it would be the Primus Omnifuel Titanium. The non-titanium version is kinda heavy for a backpacking stove.  I like this stove because it burns any fuel including cannister fuels.  White gas, diesel, LP, Isobutane (like the Jetboil "Jet Power" or the Snowpeak "GigaPower" cannisters).  the non titanium version is about $129, and the titanium version is about $300.

Craig

I have changed to a less bulk is better mentality on the trail. I try to do simple 1 pan meals for the most part now that require little cleaning. For that, I bring a jetboil and a Colemean Peak1 Hiking dual fuel stove. This way I vave 2 sources of fuel for the weather and can use Unleaded if necessary. I also keep a Primus multi fuel stove in my search bag (about the size of my fist) that will run on Diesel, whathaveyou.

I am not big on the primus as a dedicated whitegas stove as everytime I light it, I seem to have a big dripping fireball for the first 5 minutes - probably user error.

I have been happy with both the Jetboil and Peak1, they do the trick, are easy to store, and can be kept inside your their specific cooking pots. If you do more full on meals with side dishes, they may be a bit akward though.

The kind of meals I cook with them are:
Frozen Meal in a bag, usually some chicken and pasta thing, helps keep cooler cold before eating and can be cooked in the bag in hot water instead of directly in a pan.

Premade home meal saved in vacuum packed "seal a meal" bags. Again drop it in pan of hot water, no clean up. Seal Pasta in separate bag as sauce to keep pasta from getting mushy. Stauffers Boil in bag meals were great for this as well but are harder to find now.

Mtn House or any add water meals including oatmeal packets for Breakfast. I keep extras for emergencies.

Hot dogs or sausage meals that can be cooked on the fire or stove.

This works fairly well for trips of 2-4 nights, and I don;t have to bring tons of stuff. I save the messier meals for the last couple days so that I don;t have to worry about doing a great job cleaning until I get home. As you can see, I hate doing dishes when camping and I can carry less water. I also try to treat myself to a good meal at a pub on the way home. It works great for myself and my son. If my wife came on more trips, I would probably jazz it up a bit more.

I like the compostable dishware (made of corn or sugarcane) so I can burn the dishes or take little space in the garbage box. I try to limit my trash output to an Ammo can or smaller weather proof gear box so that it doesn;t take much space, seals any smells inside, can be lashed down and won't break or drip in the vehicle. It is amazing how many days worth of Poly bags, disposable plates, and crushed pop/beer cans will actually fit in these small boxes. I keep lashed near the door so I can easily get to it to empty when I fill up with fuel.

my $.02

http://www.stalkmarket.net/infoSheet.htm

You can get it at upper end grocery stores.  There are similar products on the market as well but some have a shelf life where they start to break down.  These don't.  A friend (Disco I and Freelander owner) owns the company.  I'll grab some samples for our next gathering if I can.

You can literally use these and put them in the back yard under some wet bark or dirt, and go back in a few days and see that they are breaking down.  It happens pretty quickly but doesn't affect the usability as a plate or bowl.  I would not want to take a stack out in the rain, then put the unused ones back in the bag though...  Seems like you would want to keep them fairly dry until you use them.

Craig, do you realize that the titanium stove is only 65 grams lighter?

Nope, didn't realize.  It's still way cooler.  Titanium is cool just sitting on the table as raw stock. 

C

what about one of these alcohol stoves? It's titanium, weighs 1oz, and the lid can be flipped to serve as a base for an esbit tab

tinyurl.com/qw8rd

(oh ... and it's only $30)