You should look into Alcohol stoves. Safe to store and easy to find fuel for. HEET from any gas station or denatured alcohol from the paint section from any walmart. Stored forever too.

You can even make your own stove with minimal tools for a true emergency.

http://zenstoves.net/

After reading this post, and going back and doing a search on previous ETS posts in regards to alcohol stoves, I built a few Super Cats over the weekend (I have lots of cats so plenty of empty cans to experiment on).

I was amazed at the output and the simplicity to build. Durability is an issue, but for the weight, if all you do is boil water, for instance, I don't think they can be beat.

Just google "alcohol stove" and you can find dozens of designs. The zenstove.net website is great for downloading hole templates and also has the designs of many of the most popular versions.

If you want durable, build them out of tuna cans.

I intend to experiment with several different cans, to see which by composition or height/width vaporizes and burns the best for the cookware I have.
Tuna is definitely one of the cans I have set aside, along with a steel mushroom can, and of course different hole configurations and a sturdier/wider can as a wind shield for the cat cans.

But the utter simplicity of the cat can (3 oz) is remarkable.

"...Durability is an issue..."

If you want durable in a home made alcohol stove, make a poor man's White Box Stove from one of the aluminum beer bottles. Those bottles, and the resulting stove, and much tougher than an aluminum can. Stove works better too...

I found this link from zenstove.net that Jakam directed me to earlier but if you haven't, check out http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/SuperCat/index.html

Just for cat stoves, he has seemingly researched every detail from hole placement to can materials. It's very well done.

Yep, that's the guy- I made my first one by eye, no measuring, just a hole punch and a pair of pliers, was boiling water in literally less than ten minutes from removing the gluey stuff to pouring the alcohol. It didn't burn perfectly (evenly), and I used a wide vessel (old aluminum camp pot), and still got results.

Now I want to go back and really refine it, like he did.

FYI- I got a template for his exact hole pattern off of zenstoves.

IMHO propane is one of the SAFEST fuels you can keep around your house to use for cooking. (Aside from wood) You could hold a blow torch to a propane tank and nothing would happen for a bit, if you do that to wood even it could ignite and start a big fire. You can move propane easily, take it with you easily, etc.

We use propane already so in a disaster it's what we will continue to use. If we need to we could cook on our wood stove too.

IMHO, charcoal and newspaper and matches is a good back-up and a mini-bbq. Not really anything there that will be unsafe to store... no lighter fluid needed.

I'd go for a wood burner. Can always find wood, dried grass, etc to burn. As for the various gases and such, well that could be problematic.

For the most part coleman fuel will be good when you need it.. if your using it for a lamp or stove.. kep in mind that is not the same as an internal combustion engine.. so start stocking up..

Next is Kerosene.. i know in larger cities its not as common but up here in ND we can get it at the pump.. so you can get 5 gals at a time for, it runs about the same price a diesel(little cheaper but not much) There are additives that take the smell out and can acutually smell like vanilla or whatever.. so no worries there, plus it is very stable and when stored properly (tightly sealed in the proper container) it will last basically forever..

Propane is great but you have a large investment on cylinders but if you watch yard sales and stuff, you can pick some up cheaply from the people who are not thinking about the future, you can have enough on hand to run the grill for a long time. and with Propane as long as the cylinder doesnt leak it will last forever which makes it a great choice for the emergency generator if you can store that amount..

Coal also lasts forver but you need to keep quite a bit on hand to last you.. a friend of mine use to heat his house with coal and it would take like 5 tons for a winter here in ND.. but that is heating the whole house, keeping it 70 degerees, not survival.. so its do-able and safe.. the wife shouldnt squawk to much about that..

Wood is good, should be seasoned a while to burn the best and once again its safe, but doesnt last forever... it can get over dry which will cause it to burn very fast. but you should have some way to use wood so you can burn the furniture and stuff if you need to.. a barrel stove or something..oh and pick up a few axes and be able to sharpen it..