Originally Posted by
markf
...Alcohol stoves are easiest of all to use, you can make one from a pop can or buy one of the Trangia models. Trangia makes cooksets with windscreens and pot supports to fit their stoves, which speeds up cooking and saves fuel and spilled food. Trangias have a cap so you can keep fuel in them while you're traveling, unlike pop can stoves. You can get alcohol at hardware stoves or buy HEET (fuel line de-icer) in gas stations. ...
I LOVE Trangia stoves! In the time it takes by backpacking buddies to set up their fiddly MSR stoves, I'm already cooking. The Trangias work well (sometimes better) in the wind if you get a set with the integral windscreen, they are completely silent compared to any compressed fuel stove and the alcohol fuel is a renewable resource. No moving parts. Nothing to break. No spare parts kit full of o-rings, jets, etc. Just a dead-simple alcohol burner and a windscreen.
Sadly, Trangia stoves seem to be more popular in Europe and aren't easy to find here in the U.S. where everyone seems to want a rocket engine for cooking.