If it is for family cooking, I would go with propane. It's simple, the parts are available in most sporting goods stores (Coleman, anyway) and even your kids can see the flames. Kids playing around may not see the alcohol flame, with scary results.

I have the old Primus Grasshopper single-burner propane stove, which hasn't been made for many years, and I love it. The only drawback is that it needs the longer, skinny propane tanks, unless I want to prop the short tanks up on books or wood.

With alcohol stoves, the advantage is the fuel versatility. Denatured alcohol from a paint store, gas line antifreeze, Everclear, etc, things that might be overlooked in a disaster.

Don't worry too much about using propane for cooking indoors -- people have been using natural gas and propane for cooking from those big tanks for years. The gas is scented, so if the tank didn't close and there's no flame, you should smell it.

Sue