Job description
The first priority for most people once they arrive at an overnight camping spot, after putting the tent up and laying out their camping mat and sleeping bag, is to fire up a stove and boil water for a hot brew. Once that’s done, you can start thinking about rustling up something more substantial for dinner.
What constitutes the best stove will depend on the kind of outdoor adventure you’re planning. For lightweight backpacking, fastpacking and bikepacking escapades, a small stove that’s light to carry and fits easily into a backpack is a top priority.
If you’re car or canoe camping, however, then weight is less of an issue, and the ability to cook larger amounts of food for a group might be a bigger factor.
Or maybe you’re just heading out for the day, to enjoy a picnic or a few hours at the beach, when a basic, affordable portable stove is a far better and safer way to sizzle some sausages than using one of those environmentally disastrous disposable barbecues.
Price and ease of use are also important considerations, as is the kind of fuel a stove uses, and how easy it is to source. The following three excellent camping stoves have all served me well in different situations over the last few years, and I highly recommend them.
TOP 3
Best for fast cooking
A proven performer in the wild, Jetboil stoves are famously fabulous for boiling water and heating food superfast and mega efficiently, but the new Trailcook 2L model also boasts super simmer control. Like all Jetboils, the cooking pot comes included, and the whole ensemble packs away neatly into itself.
Best lightweight
Even when you’re counting every gram to keep your backpack as light as possible, performance is important, and this is where the Soto Windmaster excels. Weighing well under 100g and capable of fitting within a camping mug, this easily stowable stove packs a powerful punch and never lets you down.
Best for car camping
Super stable, stoically sturdy and stupidly easy to use, the Trek Connect is an unfussy and sensibly priced stove that gets the job done quickly and properly, and is ideal for cooking up a storm for the whole family or friendship group. It comes with its own storage bag and will last forever.
Best stove for fast food
Jetboil Trailcook 1.2L / 2.0L
I have long been a big fan of Jetboil stoves, and my trusty Jetboil Flash is still one of the very first pieces of kit I will reach for when packing for a camping trip, or even a picnic.
The clever design of Jetboil stoves, with their rocket-like ‘FluxRing’ burners and integrated cooking pots, conducts heat highly efficiently and reduces boil times to seconds – especially when you use the brand’s own four-season butane-propane mix fuel.
No matter how extreme the environment you find yourself in, a Jetboil will deliver hot water for drinks or purpose-bought dehydrated camping meals quicker than any other stove on the market, and the Trailscook continues this tradition, offering 1.8 kW (6000 BTU/h) of power.
The downside to Jetboil stoves has generally been the limited size of the pot and the difficulty of controlling the intensity of the heat source, but both of these issues have been addressed and resolved with the new Trailcook models, which have a generous saucepan (1.2 or 2-litre sizes available) and really good simmer control.
The unit has a Piezo ignition, the pans boast folding, easy-to-use handles and the stove comes with stabilising feet. As with other Jetboil models, the whole set-up can be contained within the pot, which means it’s easy to pack.
At £219.99/£229.99 (US$179.99 / US$199.99) for the 1.2L/2L models respectively, the Jetboil TrailCook stove is an investment, but if my Flash is anything to go by, it will provide top performance for many years.
Best stove for lightweight performance
I’ve been using my Soto Windmaster 4-Flex Stove for several years, primarily for lightweight backpacking escapades when I want to carry as little weight and bulk as possible, and bikepacking adventures, when storage space is always extremely limited.
The arms on the pot-propping part of the stove fold in, and the tidy little unit is ultra lightweight – barely bothering the scales at just 87g/3oz, which is about the same as a good pair of hiking socks.
The burner and the 4flex pot support attachment can be separated, and the whole system packs away small enough to fit into a camping cup, so it really is super easy to pack and carry (by far the largest and heaviest element is the gas canister, and you can buy small ones).
Despite its svelte proportions, the Windmaster punches well above its weight when it comes to heating water or cooking food, with an output of 2800 kcal/h, 3260 W (11000 BTU) – powerful enough to withstand strong wind.
Beautifully made, it comes armed with a reliable Piezo ignition and the simmer control is decent too – the micro regulator and flame control knob enable you to limit or increase the power according to conditions and what you’re trying to cook.
Although you do need to purchase cooking pots separately, the Windmaster stove is reasonably priced (£64.99 / $69.95), and the unit comes with a storage pouch to protect it (and the pan) if you carry one within the other.
Best for car camping and picnics
Campingaz Camp & Trek Connect with Easy Clic
Camp cooking is not rocket science, and the vast majority of us will do most of our alfresco sleeping and eating in pretty non-extreme environments where all we really need is an uncomplicated but reliable stove that’s affordable, easy to use and does the job it promises to do (heat stuff up).
This perfectly describes the Camp & Trek Connect with Easy Clic model from Campingaz. We love everything about this stove (except perhaps the clunky name). It’s too large to take on lightweight backpacking missions, but tipping the scales at 600g, it’s not much heavier than a bottle of water.
It comes with a storage pouch and is perfect for outdoor cooking in a whole range of situations, from beach and backcountry get-togethers to car and canoe camping adventures.
With three sturdy legs and a generously proportioned cooking surface with a diameter of 15cm, the stand-alone design of the stove means it isn’t perched atop the fuel source, so it has a low centre of gravity, making it very stable even when you have a full pot on top.
The Piezo ignition is located on the fuel feeder tube, so you can spark it up without burning all the hair off your knuckles, and the 2kW burner heats water and food very quickly and efficiently.
Like Jetboil, Campingaz produces canisters of a very functional and efficient butane-propane mix fuel. This stove operates with CV300 or CV470 Plus gas cartridges, which are widely available in the UK and elsewhere, and the Easy Clic system of attaching the fuel source is very easy and safe to use, with a locking system for safety. Priced at £60, this stove is a bulletproof bargain.
Good to know
They’re all basically designed to do the same thing, but camping stoves come in myriad shapes and sizes, and with a dizzying range of design features, which you must match to your requirements and budget.
Some are simply lightweight water-boiling devices (which might be exactly what you require), while others are capable of more in terms of simmering and sautéing more sophisticated meals.
In terms of outlay, while a complete cooking set like the Jetboil might seem pretty expensive, it’s very useful to have a dedicated cooking pot, especially if the appliance integrates directly with the heat source, so very little energy is lost.
And if the whole thing fits together in one compact package – even better. The Soto and Campingaz models are considerably cheaper, but you will need to purchase pots and carry them while on the trail.
In general, it’s good to find a stove with a reliable ignition system like the Piezo (which all three of these stoves feature) that runs on a fuel source that’s relatively cheap and easy to find, like butane and propane.