There are a lot of different outdoor stoves available. Choosing the “right” one is less about finding the best stove nut more about finding the one that fits your style. Before getting overwhelmed by the variety, it can help to ask yourself:

• **Where will I use the stove? **
  • Different fuels have different availability in different regions of the world.
  • Some stove types are prohibited e.g. due to fire bans.
  • Harsh environmental conditions might rule out certain stove types.
• How will I use the stove?
  • Will I just boil water for tea and freeze-dried meals? Or do I actually want to cook?
  • Do I want jet-like stove with maximum power and a realistic chance of burning your Rice Pudding, or do I enjoy slow-cooking to the sound of nature?
• Does money play a role?
  • Some fuels are more expensive than others, while others are essentially free.
  • Same story for the stove itself: some are pricey pieces of precision engineering while others can be self-made.
• How often will I use the stove?
  • A setup that makes sense for a weekend trip might be a terrible choice for months in remote regions.
  • Weight, efficiency, and fuel costs start to matter a lot more the longer you carry and use the thing.
• How important is sustainability to you?
  • Most popular stoves run on fossil fuels. However, there are alternatives.
    • Do I want to leave no trace?
  • How much waste do you produce?

All of these questions help narrow things down. In the end, the single most important difference between outdoor stoves — and the one that shapes most of their strengths and weaknesses — is the type of fuel they run on.

Stove Type Overview

Below you’ll find an overview of the four main stove types and our rating of their most important characteristics.

Stove Type	Weight & Packability	Fuel Availability	Efficiency	Ease of Use	Environmental Footprint
Alcohol	++	++	-	+++	+++
Gas	++	-	+++	+++	-
Multi-Fuel	-	+++	++	+	+
Wood	+++	++	+	-	++
Rating all available stoves of one type within a single category is, of course, imperfect—for example, an upright gas canister stove packs much smaller than an inverted one and so on. Still, we think these comparisons give a useful general orientation. Keep in mind that the ratings reflect broad tendencies rather than exact values and inevitably limited by the places we’ve traveled and include our personal judgment. Check out the details about the different stove types by clicking on the according stove type in the table. As always, different views and friendly counterarguments are very welcome!

Our personal preference

As we said before, there is no right stove for everyone. The choice depends on the conditions a stove will be used in—and, of course, on personal preference. For our long-term travels in South America and Europe, we chose a stove that works with both alcohol and wood. For us, this is the perfect compromise: most of the time we carry very little fuel, and sometimes none at all, yet still have access to almost unlimited fuel (dead wood lying around). It also allows for slower cooking with less burned food, quieter cooking sessions where we can enjoy the sounds of nature, is inexpensive, and further minimizes our environmental footprint.
Of course, this setup also comes with its downsides. Cooking with wood undeniably requires a certain love for fire to enjoy the process despite the extra effort and the smell. It also doesn’t work well in very wet conditions or in places without vegetation and would be dangerous in dry vegetations. That said, we’ve often been surprised to find sufficient dead wood even in environments that initially seemed almost plant-less. For situations where cooking with wood is to dangerous, impractical or inappropriate (or we are just a bit lazy), we use our alcohol stove as a backup. Or prepare one of our #no-cook recipes.