Most of the food I have around here (dry pasta, rice) requires cooking. I'm wondering what to do about a stove for when the power/gas is out. Basic goals:

1) It shouldn't use much storage space (I'm in a small apt). It doesn't have to be backpacking-tiny, just not huge. OTOH it should be big enough to hold a large pot for cooking pasta.

2) It shouldn't be unsafe to keep at home (gasoline scares me for this) and shouldn't require attention in storage (like adding fuel stabilizer). On the other hand, a multifuel stove CAPABLE of using gasoline could be useful.

3) It shouldn't cost too much.

Obvious candidates and their disadvantages:

1) Propane camp stove: the stove and a large propane bottle ends up pretty bulky.

2) MSR Whisperlight multifuel or equivalent: expensive, needs volatile fuel at home. OTOH I've always wanted a decent camp stove.

3) Solid fuel (Esbit) stove: fuel degrades, needs lots of stored fuel, the ones I've seen might not hold a 4 qt pot too well. OTOH they're cheap. Maybe this is worth looking into.

4) Alcohol stove: I've seen the tiny ones like you make from a soda can. Are there bigger ones that don't cost too much?

Thanks for suggestions and I wonder what the rest of you are doing for this. MRE's aren't that good a solution for 7-10 days; they take too much space, they're expensive, and if I had them at home I'd probably just use them when I'm too lazy to cook something.