If you're not cooking in temperatures below, say, 50F/10C, then I fully agree with Blast: Propane (or propane/butane) is the way to go. Very easy to use. No fuss.

Due to much higher pressure, pure propane comes in heavy canisters which are different from your lightweight butane/propane canisters. But when it's chilly, butane/propane canisters give up their ghost long time before a pure propane canister.

My impression is that anyone and his cousin can and will make propane burners that work well. You don't have to worry about fuel tank and pressurizing the system - just a valve and a burner. But then there are accessories... like pot stand, piezo-electric ignotion and such. And particular ultra-light stoves will give you a welding torch which will burn the food in the center of your pot if you're not careful. For the use you describe you're better off with a bigger diameter head that fans the energy out over a larger area.


In some areas I am so sceptical that it is probably borderline neurotic. I know dual-fuel or multi-fuel stoves have extensive track record & dirt time, but still I can't get comfortable with the concept. In my head, a burner is designed to run optimally on one fuel and one fuel only. But hey, that's just me. My impression though, is that most multi/omni/dual owners will converge on the fuel they're most happy with, and then stick with that.


Me, I use a propane/butane burner with a pre-heat loop (the one Trangia makes to go with their system - a single fuel burner, mind you). The purpose of the pre-heat loop (the fuel line has a loop that goes through the flames) is to evaporate liquid propane in the burner head, as opposed to in the gas canister. I can flip the canisters upside down and feed liquid propane/butane into the burner. This is NOT recommended practice and has some disadvantages, but it works as a charm for the experienced pyromaniac. It greatly extends the usability of the stove in mild and cold conditions.