If safety and cost are concerns, one should consider Esbit fuel tabs. They are hot and safe - cost may vary from one place to another. In emergency situations, or even relatively moderate recreational use, fuel cost is a fairly trivial item in the overall scheme of things.

Incidentally, look around your house carefully - there are all sorts of things that will burn very capably. My favorite is alcohol based hand sanitizer - Purell is 62% ethanol. It burns much hotter than Sterno.