I know it is not easy to ask ( what is the best ... ) however I am looking for the most effiecient stove (ounce for ounce, or pound for pound) among stationary stioves and portable ones.

In stationary stoves ( to be used at home when stay-in-place scenario) what is the stove that gives most calories ( or BTU's) per ounce of fuel ??? In portable stoves ( which can be used in bug out scenarios) what is the stove that will give maximum heat BTU's per ounce of fuel AND stove ?

for the best no frills info try Zen Stoves
http://zenstoves.net/
for knock down-drag out go arounds by my stove buddys try.
http://www.spiritburner.com/fusion/index.php?
just on my own from trying out a heap of stoves and fuel i would go for a Coleman Two burner "suitcase stove for home use,white gas/Coleman fuel seems to give good bang for the buck and is easy to get and use.the newer camping stoves with the pump in the fuel bottle and a small burner work very well,whisperlite type stoves,MSR makes some fine stoves.Jetboil is another.i would stay away from stoves that use a Gaz cart,no cart-no stove.there are stoves that will burn just about anything but need jets changed.some guys would direct you to the old Army stoves but parts become a problem..i know what you are driving at in your question but there are so many in's and out's on stoves and fuel that to say "this is the one" is just about impossible.

Backpackers have similar concerns about lightweight, portable stoves. You have three basic options - gas cartridge stoves (Pocket Rocket or similar), alcohol stoves, or solid fuel stoves (Esbit). What works best (is the most efficient for the weight carried) depends upon the length of trip.

Alcohol is the lightest for trips of less than four days, more or less. Stoves are very light, as little as an ounce or less, and are frequently made from soda popcans. There are also many commercial stoves available - the classic alcohol stove is the Trangia, weighing all of three ounces! These stoves will take any of the various varieties of alcohol, so it is not difficult to find something that will boil your water. Alcohol is not as energy dense as isobutane, one of the more popular of the gas cartridge varieties.

Gas cartridges have a threaded valve onto which is screwed a burner head. Operation is simple - screw on the stove, open the valve, light, and start cooking. You do have the dead weight of the cartridge to drag around, so this rig becomes lightest only on longer trips, more than four days or so. The cartridges can be hard to find in small towns. Operation is almost as simple as using your kitchen stove.

Solid fuel "stoves" can be the very lightest - something like the Titanium Tri Wing stove features by Hikin' Jim as stove of the week holds the Esbit brick which is lit and you get to cooking, although realistically you are pretty much limited to boiling water. You can improvise a stove from tinfoil if necessary. Esbit is not necessarily found in small towns.

With all of these, efficiency is increased by proper use of a windscreen and suitable cooking pots. You want a lid on whatever pot is boiling water to avoid squandering fuel. Carry a few sheets of aluminum foil for making a windscreen.

The short answer to your question is a Trangia Mini 28 cookset, a quart of alcohol from the hardware store, and a pop bottle used as a fuel container (suitably marked), plus windscreen. If you wish, you can augment this with a Pocket Rocket from MSR and a few isobutane cartridges. It works well with the Trangia cookset, which is adequate for one or two people.

These systems work well, down to about freezing, more or less. In colder conditions, you want to go to any of several liquid gas stoves, which are heavier but put out the necessary heat that allows you to melt snow.

Don't forget the campfire, for which you only need carry a match. It is the lightest of all, but is not suitable for all conditions. It will warm you as well as your food, and it serves as an admirable signaling device, if you wish to be found.

Just a followup comment - Canoedogs is absolutely correct. What is important is familiarity and experience with whatever "system" you adopt.

BTW, for stay at home and car camping, I like to use box stoves rigged to use propane gas from the larger (25 pound) tanks. This is the same fuel that runs my barbecue grill. Once established, it is the easiest of all to use, even in very cold weather. You can also set up a system to run gas lights and multiple appliances. The gear is heavy, but at home that is not a consideration. Just be sure you have no leaks! The valve on the propane tank is a good safety device for that..

I'm not sure about the most efficient, but the easiest car (and home) camping stove might be theColeman classic propane stove. I use alcohol when camping, but these have recently caught my eye for emergency home use. Ease of use and the fact you can use most normal sized household pots is a big plus. Anyone have experience with this stove?

I have one and it served the role of home stove back-up reliably for many years. We also took it on extended car trips; it isn't so big that I can't find a place for it. Not really a back-pack stove. Reliable, just like cooking on a regular gas stove.

Now that we have a gas stove at home, it doesn't get as much use. But for any type of situation where the weight and size is not a problem, it would be my first choice.

For a back-pack stove, I have an ancient Svea 123 that I have also found totally reliable.

I have decades of experience in all conditions with the similar Coleman liquid gas stove. I have used the propane model too and it is very good. The thing is though, in an emergency situation, you can't suck propane out of your truck or lawnmower gas tank.

It is solidly built and has a heavy grate, two burners, and a large windscreen. It burns readily available Coleman fuel or regular gasoline. The heat is fully controllable for each of the two burners, and you can use your regular cookware on it. It is virtually bullet-proof, folds up to briefcase size, and tucks away. Should any part ever wear out, replacement parts are available and cheap.

There is always the regular propane gas barbeque grill with side burner and standard tank, although I worry about the availability of refill propane in a large scale emergency. On nice summer days, I already have to stand in line at the gas station waiting for a propane fill, and paying through the nose to boot. An option if you live in an area where there is natural gas service, you can get a gas conversion kit for your grill, and have a gas quick-connect outlet installed on the back of your house. If you live in a rural area and have a big propane tank, you can have a gas outlet installed too. I would have a gas company technician do these installations for safety reasons.

Powered by 2.5 pints of fuel - 2 hour burn time on high, 7.5 hours on low

14,000-BTU total cooking power (7,500 BTU on main burner and 6,500 on auxiliary burner)

At $60, the Coleman multi fuel suitcase stove is a great emergency home and truck camping option.

Don't have much more to add that others have not already posted.

Over the years and through numerous power outages,I have found that either the Coleman propane 2 burner or Coleman gas stove that Byrd mentioned work great. For the propane stove, it is handy and a worthwhile investment to purchase an adapter that allows these stoves to connect directly to a 20lb propane tank or to a propane distribution tree. I also have the MSR Pocket Rocket stove and usually have 4-5 fuel cartridges on hand. This stove probably gets used the most due to it's easy setup / operation and is very fast at boiling water.

If it were a longer term (and unlikely) situation where running out of propane or other fuel might be an issue, we have this stove that is made out of a safely purged propane bottle. It holds a surprising amount of smaller wood inside and the chimney pipe has a spark arrestor in it. It is not the fastest at heating water (about 12 minutes for 1-1/2 L depending wood used) but works great for heating cans of soup, pasta, cooking eggs etc.

There is also some chimney pipe that I put together and this stove has been used to warm my friend's outfitter tent in the fall where temps were just below freezing.

Teslin, that is a slick stove! How tricky was the conversion?

Teslin, you been reading my mind? I'm recycling a couple of 30 pound tanks as liners for some antique (and gorgeous) coal/wood parlour stoves I was given.

Before anybody breaks out the cutting torch: my understanding is that the tanks should be purged by airing for a week, and then completely filled with water (several times?) before doing any initial cutting. This helps keep you out of low earth orbit.

Very easy...I purchased the stove already converted 2 years ago.

There is a large outdoor show here every year and one of the vendors sells these stoves for $60.00 which I thought was a very good price. I had talked to the vendor for quite some time and he told me that the stoves take about an hour or so for him to put together (excluding the purge time and paint drying time.) He also makes a couple of different models and also had a couple of larger drum stoves that I was interested in. At last year's show, I looked for his booth and could not find it so I am hoping to see him at this years show in March as I wouldn't mind getting a larger stove.

I wonder if he takes trade ins. The reason I asked is that I have a couple of propane cylinders that are nearing retirement age; that would make a nice recycling project.

For indoor home emergency I use one of these;

http://www.gasproducts.co.uk/acatalog/Natural_Gas_Double_Gas_Boiling_Ring_with_FFD.html

to boil water I would use a Simplex No4 Kettle (the one with the built in heat exchanger base). The heat exchanger on the base of kettle makes all the difference in increase efficiency by a wide margin. The Esbit and Primus Etapower pots are also extremely efficient at transferring the heat to the water.

http://www.simplexkettles.co.uk/acatalog/Standard_Kettles.html

When using a standard 15Kg LPG bottle this will allow me to boil approx 1.25 metric tons of water.

I love the stove. It would be great for a big ice fishing shack. Also, I have an identical bow saw hanging on my garage wall.....I think :-)

Lots of good stove options here. Now for my two cents.

For a backpack portable (i.e. bug out on foot) stove, I'd choose the MSR XGK. Why? Well, for one thing it'll burn just about any liquid petroleum product known to man: Coleman Fuel, kerosene, jet fuel, Av gas, auto gas, diesel, fuel oil, naptha, etc. The first two will burn best, but the others will work. What fuels will be available in a bug out situation? Auto gas and diesel are widely distributed, and you can siphon from a gas tank as has been mentioned. Now the rougher the fuel, the rougher it is on your stove. If you're going to use non-standard fuels, they'll work, but make sure you've got a good maintenance kit. I would think the "Expedition" kit is the one to get.

The XGK has an excellent reputation (although no stove is 100%) as a "takes a licking and keeps on ticking" stove.

HJ

In cold weather, I would agree with you 100%, but if temps are only at freezing or slightly below, I would go with an alcohol stove. The reasoning is similar. The stove can handle a variety of types of alcohol, ranging from Everclear and high proof booze down to hand sanitizer. The basic stove is much lighter and is so simple a caveman can do it. Personally, I find that last characteristic very reassuring.

If you and I ever bug out together, we will be set for anything.

lol

Yeah, an alcohol stove is a good choice. Dead simple. No pump or anything to go wrong. For the weight and size of an alcohol stove, why not throw one in your kit.

I'm thinking that liquid petroleum fuels will be easier to find in a disaster/emergency. There's a gas station on practically every corner, and every vehicle's tank is a potential fuel source.

HJ