Kimelah

Hey folks!

I'm planning (more than a) few short bike tours next summer to local provincial parks (Northern Ontario, Sudbury). Most of them are 2-3 days ride there and back, due to needing to work during the week, but maybe taking the friday off. I'm also planning on biking to Manitoulin Island, and that'll be a five-day trek there and back.

I'm trying to plan things out right now, and am looking at the issue of food. I know I can probably buy stuff along the way, but if I'm stuck with dehydrated foods, I am wondering what would be better in terms of money: carry a mini fuel tank with me along with the camping stove (which I've yet to acquire), or buying firewood at the campsite and hoping I can get a fire going to eat.

Money is an ongoing issue as I'm a (starving) student right now, and am hoping to get the same full-time job I had last summer at my local college which is quite easygoing on the "take days off work" allowance, albeit unpaid.

Or is there a third option I'm not seeing? being a wannabe bike tourer.

bhchdh 

Google alcohol stoves, they are simple to build ( being a college student you should have plenty of raw materials ), light weight, and easy to use.
Fuel is cheap and available, Heet gas line treatment is often recomended.
https://zenstoves.net/Stoves.htm

iohan.gue

One ~$10 fuel can will last you a while, especially if you only use it to boil water. I think that's better than having the hassle of buying wood, which can also be less reliable.

As for food, if you are okay eating the canned stuff (fish, chef boyardee sphaghetti, etc.) its much cheaper! Oatmeal is always good, so are noodles (and you won't use too much fuel to prepare).

RoadTire 

I do not know the wood acquisition rules for the parks, but aside from that I would carry some sort of liquid fuel stove as a backup. You can make or buy inexpensive alcohol "stoves" which are nothing more complicated than a fondue burner, and carry a small bottle of detantured alcohol. Or get a cheap sterno-based stove. Also, for cooking over wood, if the parks do not have fire grates, consider a hobo or tin can "stove." Again, it's nothing more than a can with holes acting as a small firepot with your kettle above it. Check out the BushcraftUSA.com forums. You can get as lost there as you can here on Bikeforums.

martianone

Having trekked and camped a lot in the Algonqiun Park, I'd suggest a small stove.

Kimelah

Thank you for the quick responses.
So, alcohol stoves, definitely gonna look into that. If I can avoid buying new stuff and just reuse old stuff, I'm all for that. And kijiji can be a good 'friend'.
As for food, I have some dietary restrictions, like no grains. And lots of fat. So I tend to eat a lot of bacon and eggs. I was considering carrying some fried bacon and boiled eggs, maybe some jerky.

gorshkov

I don't know the region you'll be camping, but a camp stove will be much easier and faster to cook over. A good camp stove (can't address the alcohol stove, since I've never used one) is much easier to start than an open fire in windy conditions. Camp stoves are much easier to start when it's raining too. And there's the issue of burn bans. Those are a pretty regular part of the summer in the West, not sure about Ontario. Again, I don't know those parks, but i've rarely seen firewood for less than US$3 per bundle. If you cook over a fire even 4 to 5 nights, you will have exceeded the cost of a cheap stove.

Kimelah

Fire bans are a very good thing to consider, even in northern Ontario. Thanks for that reminder.
Alright, stove and fuel it is!

djb

Id keep an eye out for a used but good condition small stove, thats always another option. I've never used the alcohol ones , use white gas, but in any case, doing your own food will be less expensive than dehydrated store bought stuff. Take a look at a website like MEC to get an idea for dehydrated meal costs, and do keep an eye out for kijiji , craigs list or whatever for used stoves. Or of course play around with the catfood tin DIY ones, and Im sure at a Salvation Army type place you might find some aluminum small pots/camping kits that will do the job. I personally have always made a mess of cooking eggs on my campstove, hard to clean after, and am an oatmeal fan.
Have fun trying out stuff, both making an alcohol stove or whatever and trying out cooking on it. Whatever you do, it certainly doesnt need to be expensive to do the job.

ps, if its raining, I wouldnt want to only have a fire as an option, not when you are hungry at the end of the day.

mdilthey

I had a tiny titanium wood stove. It worked, but I was getting ulcers from feeding twigs and relighting it to boil water over 15 minutes... I switched to canisters to lower my stress.

stevepusser

I've made hard and soft boiled eggs, plus scrambled, over my alcohol stove without much drama. Those little ceramic-coated aluminum 5 in. fry pans are cheap and light. Also boiling omelets in plastic bags works great and there's no cleanup afterwards (there are many warnings on the net about plastic releasing DEADLY TOXINS! at boiling temps, but really, there's not much to back up the claims.)

Bundles of wood are $5 or more at the camps around here, making a stove much cheaper. The cheapest would be your own little wood-burner stove that runs on twigs, chips, or charcoal, at the price of needing more attention.

ak08820

Another option is to use a gas canister stove. LPG canisters are readily available in camping stores and for a 1-person weekend camping only, a canister should last whole summer. Only drawback is the bulky canister, but may be a propane torch cylinder which is narrower could work better.

This is the most inexpensive stove I have come across. https://www.amazon.com/Ultralight-Bac...=camping+stove

fietsbob

Yea , Summer, when in Oregon it's not raining , for a month or so, then it's Fire season ..

then, no open wood fires.

chefisaac

I did a lot of research into stoves before buying and I love my alcohol stove. My recommendation is to have a wind guard and to practice with it a few times before going out. Know its limits and your limits as an outdoor cook with this simple stove. For fuel, go with denatured alcohol bought from store like Home Depot or Lowes. Works great. Also carry a small kit for spices so you can change up. You can make and eat cous cous every night and change up the spice combo every night and your good to go. Cous cous is cheap and so easy to make. Thats just the tip of the iceberg.

bikenh

Check into the rubbing alcohol stoves as well. You can build them yourself at home. The thing you have to remember is you have one key critical measurement. The height between the top of the stove and the bottom of the pot is 1/2 inch. It seems like a lot of the methanol stoves you need around 1 inch separation for best performance. The rubbing alcohol is cheaper and burns just as well. You have to watch the gap though or you will get sooting on the bottom of the pan when using rubbing alcohol. Look at the design concept by Flatcatgear on youtube and there was a post a few weeks back here on the touring forum that listed another video on an even easier rubbing alcohol that you can build using nothing but discarded soda cans.

wahoonc

Alcohol, liquid fuel/gas, wood, compressed gas. My favorite wood stove is the Storm Kettle, not particularly light but damned effective. I usually carry it in conjunction with a Trangia alcohol stove. My other liquid fuel stove is a the MSR Whisperlite International.

Aaron

chefisaac

I love the Trangia alcohol stove!!!!!

fietsbob

MSR Whisperlight is OK, I brought mine, refueled with regular unleaded, at the petrol station
for a few Bits... 50P

their Midsized fuel bottle goes well in the 3rd , under the downtube bottle boss' ...

3 days ? lots of beer/pop can alcohol stoves can be found how to make on the web.

then you just need a plastic bottle with the Alcohol in it.

denatured or still 'natured' , White Lightnin' 190 proof .

mtn.cyclist

I recently got this little propane stove but I haven't tried it out yet. Very cheap on Ebay or Amazon. I'm sure it wil be fine for boiling water and other light weight cooking tasks. Search for "ultra light camp stove".

budfan08

Biolite camp stove, absolutely phenomenal wood burning stove that works in all weather. It has an electrical fan that smolders the wood to keep the fire smoking hot as well as recharges the battery and your electronics with the heat the unit produces. Ya get a wood stove that utilizes natural resources and is very easy to use, I would highly reccommend looking into one!

ClemY

When I have done self contained touring, I have always carried a liquid fuel stove. Some prefer alcohol. Some prefer propane. I have always carried a white gas stove. The stoves I carried were capable of using Coleman fuel, pump gas or diesel, just to be on the safe side. I usually only use it to heat food or water. I don't really cook on mine.

One reason I carry a stove is so often there are prohibitions on fires in parks and campgrounds where I have stayed.

bikenh

Actually, you'll find my solution a bit different. I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail back in 1997. I didn't carry a stove. I ate cold everyday. I admit I don't have a sense of taste or smell so I can eat the same thing day in/day out without hassle for eons of time. On my first trip last year. The first stretch of the trip I ate cold as well. So far I haven't carried a stove with me last year or this year. Yeah, on the second and third legs of the trip last year and all of this years trip I just ate in restaurants. I could quite easily get away with no stove/restaurant though. Since I waste away the evenings surfing on the web while on the road I do have the tendency to go somewhere for supper that has free wifi.

rifraf

How long would you have to keep the fire going to charge something?
It takes a slow stove (alcohol) only around 5 to 10 minutes to make a large bowl of porridge.
What are you going to charge in that time?
I use a gas canister stove for tours under a week called a MSR Pocket Rocket but if buying new now I'd get the Kovea Spider review (for its light weight and compactness, but mostly for its stability in use.
For trips of a longer duration I've the choice of Trangia alcohol stove or a Primus Omnilite (multi-fuel).
I like the way the Trangia stove comes together with two pots, one person kettle and very basic fry pan so despite it not being able to utilise my stovetop espresso it would get the most use.

So for tours with the Trangia, I now take coffee bags (like Tea bags) available here in Australia and New Zealand, instead of espresso coffee grinds.

The Primus Omnilight handles the espresso pot fine and can utilise gas canisters as well as kerosene (jet fuel) or any of the petrol like fuels ie coleman fuel, white spirits, un-leaded, naptha etc.
I dont run it on automotive fuel due to the danger of the carcinogenic additives.

For charging things I'll stick with my Son28 dynohub and E-werk set up.
To compliment my current syslem I've just purchased but yet to properly trial a:
https://www.amazon.com/MP-S2300-23000...ywords=MPs2300
I've only received it a few days ago and so far its looking promising as a useful tool.
I've run my old power hungry compaq v2418au laptop for a couple of hours on it.

I'm hoping the power pack can double the hours of my new apple macbook air laptop which I've just bought for touring and net access.

sknhgy 

I just ordered one of these. About $6 + .99 shipping. Can't beat that. I am a tea drinker so I need something to heat up a cup of water, quick and easy. This looks like it could be just the thing. I use homemade cat stoves. Hoping this will be a step up from that.

martianone

Ps, consider a Coleman single burner dual fuel Sportsman stove; burns Coleman fuel or no lead gasoline.
have toured and canoe tripped with one for quite a few years, probably not the most compact or light weight stove, however it works well and takes cheap fuel.