stove thread

[VanFan]

Can you tell us more about the homemade jobby, please?<br><br>Vickie

 

[RJCooper]

I had a sheet 3' x 7' of 1/8th inch stainless steel from a commercial kitchen I remodeled.&nbsp; I took a tape measure, a grinder with a cut off wheel and some hinges and rivets.&nbsp; I measure my stove and made a folding bread box.&nbsp; I place it over the stove grill, campfire coals or the flame thrower and bake.&nbsp; IF I need to adjust heat, I just remove or add a heat source.&nbsp; Pretty simple.&nbsp; If it gets to hot, just open the door.&nbsp; I use a heat laser for monitoring the heat.&nbsp; <br><br>I have burnt some cookies and bread, but my batting average is about the same with a regular oven too.&nbsp;

 

[VanFan]

Very cool.&nbsp; Thanks!

 

[Curtis]

Solar ovens have interested me for a long time.<br><br>You folks who use them, are they fairly easy to use?

 

[fantym1]

Hi Curtis - I made 1 like the $5 solar recently posted & it's very simple - slow cooks like a Crockpot on low. Haven't tried bread yet. Be sure to wear good sunglasses tho d/t reflected sun glare

 

[poprouge]

I'm a car camper/tent set-up kinda gal. &nbsp;By far my favorite stove is the folding firebox. &nbsp;Just because of the sheer versatility of fuel sources. &nbsp;I do own a couple trangia stoves which work very well with it. &nbsp;Yet there are so many options for fuel some of them more economical &nbsp;than others, from twigs and leaves, to long burning options wood pellets and charcoal mixture (I've even seen someone burn toilet paper in a pinch). &nbsp;I wanted a stove that I can use no matter what my fuel source might be, and I haven't been disappointed. &nbsp;

 

[BigT]

I use a Brunton "Raptor" with the 8 Oz Isobutane/Propane canisters.  It's a carryover from my motorcycle-camping days when I needed something compact and light.  
I use it with a 1.0L Primus "EtaPower" pot and fry pan/lid.  I like this system because when not in use, the gas canister and burner both fit inside the pot so they don't take up any extra room.  (Space is at a premium in a Transit Connect).  
When the 4, 8.0 Oz canisters I have run out, I plan to replace them with a larger capacity tank and design a recessed mount in my kitchen table/counter to better support the system.  I'm not sure how many hours of use to expect from the 8 Oz canisters, but I'm guessing not a lot.  

I really don't do a lot of actual cooking, I just heat things up like soup or water for tea.  Maybe the occasional pot of Oatmeal.  

 

[akrvbob]

Very good system for the minimalist!
Bob

 

[cdiggy]

I use a Brunton "Raptor" with the 8 Oz Isobutane/Propane canisters.  It's a carryover from my motorcycle-camping days when I needed something compact and light.  
I use it with a 1.0L Primus "EtaPower" pot and fry pan/lid.  I like this system because when not in use, the gas canister and burner both fit inside the pot so they don't take up any extra room.  (Space is at a premium in a Transit Connect).  
When the 4, 8.0 Oz canisters I have run out, I plan to replace them with a larger capacity tank and design a recessed mount in my kitchen table/counter to better support the system.  I'm not sure how many hours of use to expect from the 8 Oz canisters, but I'm guessing not a lot.  

I really don't do a lot of actual cooking, I just heat things up like soup or water for tea.  Maybe the occasional pot of Oatmeal.  

That raptor is a nice setup. I have MSR pocket rocket for backpacking which is similar. Now I use a primus (don't know the model but it has a bigger burner and a little heavier) I found after testing both that the heavier primus with a wider pot boiled water with way less fuel making it a better choice to backpack with. Those rocket stoves are fast but burn fuel quicker and have a more concentrated flame which can burn food. Motor cycle touring I always used the pocket rocket and backpacking would be the primus depending on how long I was hiking. A two week trip I found it lighter to carry less fuel and heavier stove and pot. Less then one week I carried the rocket because one can would last the week which made it lighter then the heavier stove. All that is a moot point for van dwelling, saving space is almost always better. Personally I use propane cause it is cheap and readily available and weight is not a concern. I have a collection of stoves for different applications. Outdoors whith the van I use a white gas stove, indoors a propane stove. Backpacking and cycle touring I use the rocket or the primus with a homemade Pepsi g alcohol stove as a backup. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. Living in a step van I have some extra room to store things people in smaller vehicles just don't have the room for. Eventually I will downsize.

 

[accrete]

I enjoyed the reread of this thread and since it had been a couple season's since my last post I wanted to update our camp kitchen thoughts.

We still use the single burner butane stove as our main cook stove as we did at my OP. Though we've added a few fun things in the mix.

Stovetec Firefly...
At that time ~2013 we also had a Stovetec Rocketstove for outside cooking. We liked it WHEN there was wood available. We've since sold it and replaced it with the Stovetec Firefly  latern-stove and run easy to find wood pellets. A couple cups of pellets with burn for over an hour and be down to a couple tablespoons of ash at most after. Ads a nice ambiance to night time use since we don't do full blown camp fires in our mostly soggy PNW.

Ikea Hobo Stove...
Some time ago I ran across several youtube videos of peeps using Ikea Utensil holders for camp stoves. So I did a google and grabbed this model off amazon for a few bucks. What fun! I get about 30 minutes of flame time and another 45 minutes of hot coal time out of 2 cups of pellets. Nice hand warmer, and will boil 2 cups of water at under 3 minutes with outside temps in low 40's in our titanium kettle.

The other thing we have in the camp kitchen is an Optimus Polaris multifuel stove. We burn white gas (camp fuel) or regular automotive gas in it. Nice addition and use it if we have big meals (read long cook time) on the menu. At ~$3 bucks a gallon for regular gas it makes for an economical stove outside.

In the SHTF category we still have a collapsible wood stove ( Siege Stoves ) and also a Kelly Kettle.

Lots of fun camp kitchen gadgets!

In our full time rig we use an electric induction cooktop for ~95% of our cooking. The rest is in a convection oven.

Cheers,
Thom

 

[highdesertranger]

I like that Siege Stove. I really like the toaster that hangs off the side. highdesertranger

 

[accrete]

+1 on the toast accessory. And Ken, the designer, has some fun ideas.
Good quality simple camp stove items and service is fast.

Didn't get to toaster accessory with ours as we already had  _this one_ in camp.

Thom

 

[Canine]

Stovetec Firefly...

In our full time rig we use an electric induction cooktop for ~95% of our cooking.

Instead of using gelled alcohol, have you used wadded up newspaper to coax a fire from the pellets like when starting charcoal briquettes for a bbq grill? Have you used charcoal briquettes instead of pellets?

What is the induction cooktop that you use?

 

[accrete]

Instead of using gelled alcohol, have you used wadded up newspaper to coax a fire...?

What is the induction cooktop that you use?

Greetings,

On the gelled alcohol with pellets?
I tried a product called "Lightning Bug" fire starters before the gell. Epic fail. The pellets didn't even begin to catch. When I read the reviews of the Firefly the negative reviews were from peeps who used everything but gell to start things. I think they were right! I am open to suggestions, and will try the paper idea.

On induction cooktop?

We bought a NuWave at a retailer about 5 years ago and it is in use everyday when in the big rig. Very easy. One thing I will say when reading the specs is that the low and medium settings (from 100 degrees through ~200) are relatively low draw ( under 500 watts ). Once you go over about 240 or so it jumps to 800w and beyond. That said, I almost always start on low at about 110 for things like warming up soup/beans/quinoa. In ~5 minutes it's warm enough for my tastes. For things like chicken/steak/etc in a ceramic pot/pan we rarely go above the medium setting. It just cooks to quick for our liking. YMMV...we really enjoy cooking with the induction cooktop. Sure we had to grab some new IC ready pots/pans, but it wasn't any big deal.

: ) Thom