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In a motorhome, on club outings, family camping, or on sporty weekends with car support, you are usually less concerned with low weight and minimal packing size, but much more with providing hungry campers with food. If you’re looking for a fully-grown cooking facility for several large pots, you won’t be able to do without multiple cookers. Even outdoor gourmets, who enjoy a big meal in peace on a well-tended camping site, will appreciate a two-flame cooker.
What is important for multiple cookers?
Cons: Two-burner camping stoves are less all-terrain than their light and compact siblings. “Light” models such as the Primus Tupike can be carried a bit far for a picnic, but the 4.5 kilos are still too much for a full-grown tour. In such a case you are better advised to use the “second cooker” from the small camping kitchen below.
Outdoor stoves
So-called “outdoor cookers” are an optimal solution for all those who transport their outdoor kitchen mainly or also in a rucksack, waterproof bag, bicycle bag, or similar. The single-flame cookers convince with relatively small pack size, low weight, and a very flexible field of application. The decisive differences in the selection of suitable camping cookers are primarily fuel and construction.
Gas cooker: Inexpensive & convenient with a good heat output
Gas cookers are ideal for trekking, a bicycle trip but also a cozy camping weekend. They are inexpensive to buy and convince with a good performance. Even the operation of a classic gas cooker is very easy: screw or plug together and off you go! The flame can be regulated very finely via the gas regulator.
There are also differences in the gas cartridges to be used, which take up more or less space depending on the model. Depending on the cooker, you will need piercing cartridges, valve screw-in cartridges, or valve clamp cartridges CV (Campingaz). However, these are not equally available in all parts of the world. This can be remedied by using an adapter to operate the cooker with “both-and”.
The use of a gas cooker is also highly recommended at higher altitudes. It does not need to be preheated, gas weighs less than petrol and other fuels. You can find more detailed information on this topic in our shop purchase advice for gas cookers.
Multi-fuel cooker: Powerful & cold-resistant
Multi-fuel cookers or gasoline cookers hardly differ optically from gas cookers with external supply lines. They also score points when handling large pots with a stable stand. The cookers can be operated with petrol, paraffin, diesel and – depending on the model – gas. Regardless of your destination, you will find a suitable fuel source almost everywhere. As a rule, multi-fuel stoves burn very powerfully and also in very cold weather, whereby petrol has the best heating power.
Cons: When using diesel or petroleum, caution is advised due to soot generation. In caravans, cabins, or the vestibule of a tent this can sometimes be problematic. As a further disadvantage, the operation is somewhat more difficult: Start-up takes longer and the maintenance or cleaning effort is higher with petrol stoves.
Storm cooker: Robust, cheap & reliable
For spirit stoves, a brand name has become synonymous with an entire product category: Trangia. The lightweight aluminum storm cookers are particularly interesting for bad weather campers: as cooking sets, they are designed for one to two or three to four people. In addition to burner and wind protection, the respective pots, pans, pot tongs, and/or kettles can be perfectly stowed away in each other for the smallest possible packing size. Trangia cookers are powered by the spirit (ethanol), which is available in almost every drugstore or pharmacies is available. The cookers are very low maintenance and easy to clean.
One disadvantage is the lower heat output of spirit, which is also more difficult to ignite in cold weather. On the other hand, regulating the flame also requires some practice.
Ultralight cooker
Camping yes, cooking no? If you don’t need more than an espresso or a cup of tea in the morning, you can also manage with a minimal camping kitchen. Because of the uncomplicated handling, the relatively low purchase costs, and the good performance, we still recommend the proven and above described gas cooker for the small camping kitchen.
Hobo and solid fuel cookers: cookers for specialists
The situation is different when “minimalistic” refers to weight and packing size or the maximum camping adventure in the wilderness. If you equate camping with Survival or do not have sufficient luggage capacity, you should look in the category solid fuel stoves:
