Besides having no noticeable and immediate environmental impact, stoves are much more convenient to cook on than an open fire. They produce instantaneous heat, are not dependent on dry wood for fuel, and don't blacken pots or make your food taste smoky.

There are oodles of stoves available and even more in which one can make on their own without much difficulty. The most popular however are commercially made canister models, followed by liquid fueled. Canister stoves are powered by cans of pre-pressurized fuel whereas liquid fueled types rely on the user to pour fuel in to a bottle and physically pressurize it. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

In need of a multi-fuel liquid stove? MSR has had the market by the horns. Take your pick from the classic Whisperlite International to the award winning DragonFly and others.

WARNING: When using any kind of liquid fuel stove, be sure to double or triple zip lock the fuel bottle and pack as far away from the food as possible. Even with no physical leakage, the fumes can permeate into and ruin your food supply. Yes, on one otherwise beautiful evening, we watched fig newtons and various other contaminated food go “poof” in the campfire.

Even the slightest of breezes can be detrimental to a stoves performance. To prevent unnecessary fuel consumption, use a windscreen. A closed cell foam sleeping mat makes one like no other. I hope it's obvious what can happen if measures aren't taken to hold it in place....

Alternative stoves

Here's my homemade Super Cat alcohol stove & fuel of choice. In controlled testing conditions, using a Vargo BOT 700 pot & lid, this stove boils 2 cups of water in 4.5 minutes with 1 ounce of 190 proof. Total burn time is 6.5 minutes. In the field, with homemade cone wind screen, it boils in ~5.5 minutes with a burn time of ~7.25 minutes. Weighs 1/4 ounce, took 10 minutes to make & cost .79 cents. In the background is my 4 fluid oz fuel bottle (Listerine "sample"). Tip: To keep even the thirstiest of boozers out of your fuel, drop your bottoms at camp & let them see the open bottle touch your naked behind. Specs: 3 oz alum cat food can with 15 holes in top & 10 bottom. How to: Print then tape Super Cat Zen template to can; use push pin to make pilot holes then drill out with 3/16" bit (can be done w/ fingers). Load with fuel to bottom of holes, light, let it warm up for ~20 seconds, carefully place pot on top, & cook!

There are multitudes of wood, tablet and alcohol stoves that can either be purchased commercially or made at home with minimal effort. These stoves vary from being nearly worthless to quite impressive.

Perhaps the most popular of these obscure stoves is the home made alcohol stove. They can be incredibly simple, surprisingly effective and weigh as little as a few grams. Furthermore, they can be made for free, sometimes in a matter of minutes and will burn potable Grain Alcohol such as 190 proof Everclear or Clear Spring (150 doesn't work very well). Of course, these stoves will also burn the less expensive alcohols such as Isopropyl, Denatured, and Methyl. The downside to these less pricey fuels are the various toxic chemicals they contain. "Klean-Strip Green" is a less toxic denatured alcohol but still contains poisonous chemicals.

The downside to these stoves is that they are not powerful enough for boiling large amounts of water. They work best for simple meals requiring no more than 2 cups of water at a time and for one or two people on shorter trips. To squeeze the most from these little stoves, the use of a windscreen and pot lid is crucial. Aluminum foil is very light and inexpensive. An aluminum pie plate or turkey roasting pan can also be converted. For something that's only a few grams heavier yet more durable and easier to stow, a very nice windscreen can be made from aluminum flashing.

Interested in making an alcohol stove? You're in luck as making these fun little units has become an obsessive hobby for some. As such, these "stovies" have shared considerable information on the Net. For those not wanting to wade through the expanse of it all, the below links will satisfy all but the most curious do-it-yourselfers.

http://zenstoves.net/
http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/SuperCat/index.html

For those who would prefer to buy rather than experiment with making their own, there are a number of folks selling these type of stoves and complete packages. They are surprisingly inexpensive with much of the guess work taken out through testing for optimization of components (wind screens/pots/stoves).

http://www.flatcatgear.com/
http://www.woodgaz-stove.com/
https://www.minibulldesign.com/ProductCart/pc/home.asp
http://www.packafeather.com/
https://www.traildesigns.com/

Another stove of interest is the home made wood stove made from a coffee can. I find them appealing because like the home made alcohol stoves, these can be made for free by anyone with materials that are normally discarded. While these wouldn’t be the most convenient stoves to use, they would be the lightest for long trips as one does not have to carry fuel. They instead rely on small twigs, which unlike larger wood for campfires, are easy to find under most trees…dry...even after rain. Despite the inconveniences of gathering fuel, tending the fire, and the blackened pot, I think it would be fun to experiment with one of these.

Like alcohol stoves, there are many different wood stove styles. Here are but a few:

http://zenstoves.net/Wood.htm
http://www.backpacking.net/makegear/falk-woodstove/index.html
http://www.jwbasecamp.com/Articles/Fire-Bucket/index.html

Utensils

Titanium spork, aluminum foil lid, & titanium pot. Very simple, compact & light at 2.5 oz. Note the holes in the spork handle. Am I nutty enough to drill those for weight reduction? Absolutely! But, those holes also serve another purpose: cooling. If the spork is left in the food being cooked, the handle will conduct heat. Hot handle = burned fingers. Holes = air flow = happy fingers.

Though just a touch heavier than the pot in the top pic, this is another option that I've come to prefer: A Vargo BOT 700 titanium pot with screw on lid. This makes for a much tidier set-up. The lid is also easier to clean than wrinkled foil. Lastly, the BOT works great as a mug & can even be used as a water bottle if need be. Everything in the pic easily fits inside the BOT: Stove, fuel, lighter, fold-away spoon, headlamp, flossers, toothbrush, and baking soda. I added silicone tubing to the handles to protect my fingers from the heat.

With all that is available, it’s easy to get carried away with cups, pots, pans, plates, untensils, and all the various other gizmos. However, a spork and a single pot with lid is perfectly adequate (careful with pot selection. If the lid overhangs the pot, it can catch some of the fire's emissions & make your food taste funny).

A metal spoon or spork is nice as it can be passed over a flame to disinfect. Bamboo is lighter and has a feel many find to be more comfortable in hand and mouth. For the pot…anything that’s metal works. I have even seen people use large cans with wire handles. The square bottoms aren’t the most efficient in terms of boil time nor are they as easy to clean as a rounded bottom. But, due to the fact they are free and weigh little, cans are attractive. One should be warned though. The downside to using cans is the interior coating, or more specifically, the chemicals used in these coatings, namely, at this time, BPA. BPA leaches in to what ever liquidity substance comes in contact with it. Heat intensifies the leaching and in the case of boiling water or cooking food, you may ingest very high concentrations. The levels of BPA in the lining will likely decline after a certain amount of use. However, to my knowledge, there has been no scientific studies showing the extent of this.

For these reasons, I would recommend against the use of a can for a cook pot. Remember too that there may be other chemicals besides BPA that could leach out of a can's lining. BPA is currently the one receiving the most attention in the scientific and legislative worlds. To learn more about BPA, click here.

If you do need new a new pot, and are on a mission to save every bit of weight possible, take a look Snow Peak. They offer one of the largest and lightest selection of titanium cookware out there. Their prices are very competitive as well.

Additional ideas:

• wrap the spork and all other pointy objects in a pair of socks or other clothing to protect your drybags from punctures. Alternatively, you can store a folding spork or spoon inside your cooking pot.
• should you need a knife, use the one on your pfd
• instead of a cup, drink from your water bottle
• if you like hot beverages, consider a multi-purpose metal water bottle like this or drink from the pan or use a taller and norrower mug-like pot
• use your pan as a bowl or eat from the freeze-dried packet

A rodent's payback for camping in his spot? Never leave your spork out overnight! .

Toiletries & miscellaneous
These things weigh little, take up a minute amount of space and will generally make life a little more pleasant. The following is what I take:

• small vial of baking soda for toothpaste
• toothbrush (w/ half the handle cut off & the remainder filled w/ holes)
• dental flosser/pick
• roll of toilet paper with cardboard insert removed
• towel...if there are hot springs

  Tired of looking for your headlamp in the middle of the night? Wear it around your neck & you'll never forget where you left it.....hopefully. Here's a headlamp necklace made from a $10 keychain light. The band is simply a piece of 1/16" bungee cord. Pull it up around the head & you're ready to go. Inexpensive, simple, light weight & functional.

• lighter
• mini headlamp

I put the toothpaste, toothbrush, and flosser in my cook pot along with the stove fuel. I generally carry the lighter and headlamp in my cook pot as well... though it is a good idea to carry the headlamp in your PFD pocket with a second lighter in case you lose your boat and have to spend the night out. The towel and roll of toilet paper goes in the lunch sack where it is easily accessible.

I don't take soap or scrub pads. Besides not being cordial to the environment, soap isn’t a must and creates unnecessary weight and bulk. This doesn’t mean you have to eat out of dirty pans and smell like a pig. Wet sand is as effective as anything to wash utensils (a small rock rubbing sand against the pan removes stubbornly stuck food) and if you're compelled, your body can be washed off in the river or, in hot springs if you are lucky enough to have them. If you like the idea of a towel, look at the Cascade Designs PackTowl. They are so absorbent, the 1 ½ ounce small version is adequate for effectively drying the entire body.