Ah, come on now! I already said that in my neck of the woods there are often big stretches with no services and that I personally refuse to do without coffee, but stoveless doesn`t mean you starve. As long as a guy (or girl) is willing to drink cold coffee, he could get by easilly without one. I could live a long time quite comfortably on fig newtons and peanut butter sandwiches as long as there`s coffee to chase it with. Stoveless is a reasonable option, just not for me.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3401/...ec1e35.jpg?v=0
This was a really tasty breakfast, but without my hot tea those pringles would have clashed with the fruit. I love my pepsi can stove.

Who is disagreeing with you?

I had the same 'Huh?' moment.

I also have questions about the 'cold coffee' comment. Where do you get 'cold coffee' from if you can't brew it? Buy it along the way and carry it all day? Thanks but I need the water in my water bottles during the day. If I could get coffee from somewhere before going to bed the night before, why not just go there to get hot coffee in the morning?

If I gave both of you a "Huh?", then it looks like I misunderstood your posts. Cold coffee was a joke.

Mueslis have gone a long way in freeing me from the need to cook.

Sometimes I still do, though, and usually choose to use the MSR Whisperlite International, with white gas whenever possible.

Primus makes some multi-fuel stoves that look even better than the MSRs in some ways (including lower center of gravity).

They (as well as MSR) also make cookware with integrated heat exchangers that are built into the cookware, which allow you to get approx. 50% more mileage out of your fuel. This saves weight, fuel, and money.

Using a pot cozy can extend the mileage even further.

***

Going stove-free can save a lot of time. If you add it up over the course of days and weeks and months, it is a substantial savings. It can also save the weight and bulk and mess of stove, cookware, fuel, maintenance kits, fuel bottles, etc.

You can also eat right away, when you are hungry; and bad weather is less of a problem. There are also a number of other situations that make cooking impractical or disallowed, but in which stove-free, cooking-free, ready-to-eat foods are practical and convenient.

If you extend the range of options -- if you discover a wider range of good foods that do not require cooking -- it can be much more satisfying than if you have a more limited range of cooking-free foods.

I've used this for over 25 years http://www.centurycamping.com/stoves/trail/ & light it w/ matches. Got a new one on close out at Wally's last year (the "Century" brand is US made, they went cheap Chinese) for $9.

Been through the arguments over & over, but this'll out perform them all, especially in colder weather, doesn't weigh any more than the white gas stoves if you include fuel AND bottle(s). Plus I can REALLY cook (controlled simmer or heat fast) with it. As long as the bike or canoe is hauling it the slight loss of space doesn't matter to me, backpacking is different.

Now for those of us who are coffee nuts... try this... http://www.ineedcoffee.com/06/coldhome/
look around the site for other cold brew methods. This is quick, easy, inexpensive, and makes a nice concentrate (just add water, hot or cold).

As I say to a lot of people, it's a tour...skip the de France part:rolleyes: What's the rush? Gotta be somewhere in a hurry?;)

Honestly, for me, cooking while on tour is part of the experience. I've found, over time, that I can't eat too much at once while riding so the evening meal is when I eat most. In the morning, I only boil water for coffee because I don't want to do dishes before hitting the road. But both times are times for reflection. While dinner is simmering (I tend to cook rather elaborate meals, sometimes using several pots even when solo), I write my letters home.

In the mornings, I like to sit and read my book over a cup of coffee before starting the day. I'm in no hurry. I on tour. I left the de France part at home:D

Gotta have the coffee!! Maybe a 12 step program could resolve this but I refuse to go coffee less in the morning.

All my gear fits on my bike and has a purpose. With a mountaineering background I'm all to familiar with suffering. Don't choose to do it on a bike. So I use a tent and not a bivy. I use a thermarest and not a hardman pad.

Plus I love to cook. Camp cooking is fun and forces you to be creative.

For me, carrying a stove and cooking is as much about function as enjoyment. I eat a lot of food when I'm on tour. I mean, A LOT of food. I like to come back from a tour within a few pounds of my normal bodyweight. And I enjoy touring the remotest areas I can find. Suffice it to say I generally find myself in the middle of nowhere pretty often, and I don't like to stop except for when I want to. If it's late afternoon, and I want to push on and make another 10 miles but I know that if I do, I'll end up where there are no services, that's fine. But I'm gonna want to eat when I get there, and a peanut butter tortilla and cookies ain't gonna make it. And I know I'll want to eat in the morning too. When you have the basic equipment to cook up good food no matter where you are, you have more freedom. I don't have to plan my mileage around services (as much).

Do any of you have serious beefs with the simple pop can stove? I don't see a reason to go out and buy a fancy stove with a ton of moving parts and possible ways to break when I can just make one for the cost of two cans of Coke.

They're so cheap to make, you might as well make one and try it out. One of the guys I met at a campground was using a pop can stove... or trying anyway. It was pretty windy that evening. I cooked dinner with my Jetboil stove, ate, and cleaned up before he managed to get a small pot of water boiling.

It will cost you virtually nothing to try them for yourself before you commit to a tour with one.

easy foods i really like
Quinoa, eggs
and
Meal Pack bars.
www.mealpack.com
meal pack bars are pretty darn awesome.
they have about 400 calories each
56gm of carbs
16gm of protein

quinoa is amazingly light
a cup is a large amount to eat. honestly. it expands, and a cup of dry quinoa is a ton. typically 1/2 or even 1/4 cup and 2 eggs is pretty good. a meal pack bar and a cup of decaf green tea for desert.

I have an MSR stove that's seen many mountaineering expeditions over 25 years and melted down gallons of snow water. But my personal favourite is my Optimus Hiker. I've had it for almost 40 years and it has a certain iconic position amongst my camping impedimenta.

Mine has the original brass fuel tank (lovingly polished with Brasso) and the tin box has been repainted with heat-resistant silver paint many times. It is dented and worn from a hundred adventures (once falling down a cliff!). It is heavy, but it is my friend. We have a warm relationship, older than any other single piece of gear. On my bike, it has boiled many a pot of pasta and brewed a thousand cups of tea. It has seen the wilds of Alaska, Yukon and Northern BC.

It will be in my will.

Edit: It occurs to me that my Optimus is actually the old "8R" model, featured in this video. I also have the mini priming pump (which should not be left in place during operation).

I am a huge fan of my Pocket Rocket. Canisters last quite a long while with the kind of cooking I do, but they are not available everywhere. I can brew a cup of tea and oatmeal water in about two minutes. The weight of an alcohol stove is trivial and one can be concocted while on the road if butane canisters are scarce. One can also carry a few Esbit tablets and they are readily available on the road. They also do not leak or spill.

I always have a stove or the means of building a fire when on tour or out in the hills. It's simply part of general preparedness - like a basic first aid kit. And, besides, I really, really like my morning cup of tea.

a lot of interesting ideas here! as for me, I don't like hot beverages and don't care about coffee, nor is hot food a big deal to me, its rare I will cook stuff even at home. I'm happy with a pack or two of dry ramen. Not that I dislike a nice meal, but just for myself, I'm no happier whether I have it or not.

I backpack with a Primus isobutane-cannister stove with the piezo push-button ignitor. Stove head rides inside my water-boiling pot/tea kettle, screws onto the cannister, crack the valve, push the button, and voila, it's burning. Granted, I'm just heating water for drinks or to add to freeze dried or food-dryer-dried food, but I'd guess from breakfast to dinner it boils a gallon or so of water, and an 8-oz. (net) cannister lasts 2 of us for over 5 nights. When I get a cannister, I weigh it, then sharpie-mark the tare weight of the cannister on the bottom, so I can track how much is left. Whew, far too technical for biking. But, if you're subsisting on gourmet Kraft mac-n-cheese from boxes, this would work.

I also made a couple of cat-food can stoves and bought a high-zoot popcan stove from a company in Oregon, mostly because they had a really cool bent-wire stand to hold pots on, and sold the setup with a heavy aluminum foil windscreen. Very light, does the job, lacks the on-off-simmering versatility of the Primus cannister stove.

For touring I think I'd pack a cat-food can stove and a popcan stove (the penalty of the extra 2 ounces is so minor). The windscreen REALLY helps keep the heat near the pot. If doubling or tripling regular aluminum foil doesn't make a stiff enough screen, get a turkey-roasting aluminum "pan" or a drip-pan for the bottom of the oven and cut it up with sturdy scissors; I'd fold/hem the edges to make it less likely to cut your hands or panniers. You could fold the short edges to make an interlocking hoop just a bit bigger than your pot.

Google for "pop can stove", cat food can stove, etc. and look around at the ultralight backpacking gear sites, you'll find all sorts of clever things.

To carry the fuel, (backpacking, again) I got a measuring/squeeze dispensing fuel bottle. One of the things about these little stoves is that they don't like to be filled too far.

Have never owned a Trangia but their ability to simmer by partly covering the burner could be nice.

One thing about alcohol stoves -- you can't see the flame unless it is really dark outside.

DON'T bother with the "jetboil" and other "systems" -- too much $$ for too little gain.

how do you pack eggs when touring? do you just buy a half dozen from a store some time before setting up camp an use the carton?

I just went backpacking in the Smoky Mtns, carrying my old Coleman 442. I love the stove, but it is damned heavy! This might not be as much a concern on a bike trip, but I still would like to have a lighter option.

When I got back I tried making a penny stove, and it worked great on the first try. It boils 2 cups of water in less than 5 minutes, and the simmer option will keep it going for another 15 minutes. I doubt I'll ever use the Coleman on a trip again.

I think they are fine for simple cooking for one or two people. Simmering or frying are tricky but possible via a simmer ring, a diffuser, or just raising the pot higher. Also since the stove itself weighs only half an ounce you cold carry a second one built specifically for simmering. Maybe use a V8 can and smaller and/or fewer holes?

Depending on the weather eggs can be kept for up to a month with out refrigeration, so you should have no trouble keeping a half dozen until you use them. Sailors often smear them with a light coat of Vaseline. Some sources recommend turning them over once a day.

Bike touring I don't think you need to do anything special other than trying to avoid breakage.

Also you can just hard boil them all the first night. Hard boiled they keep at least a few days if not cracked. Again, oiling or greasing them may help.

My mother subscribes to a chicken magazine and that recommends storing eggs point down I think for maximum freshness.

Another MSR fan here...I've seen lots of posts on stoves (and I can personally vouch for the pocket rocket) but not many on cookware. MSRs blacklite is the cats balls. It's a little spendy, but feather weight. And I mean so light you won't even realize you've got it in your hand. Great product. I must admit that Kelty kettle looks interesting...hmmm.

It's one of the worst piece of gear I've ever bought. The non-stick coating is way too soft. They don't make it anymore for a good reason. You need something hard-anodized to last. GSI Outdoors cookware is cheaper.

I love the Pocket Rocket, but beware of poor fuel availability if you ride across the middle of the US. It is possible to have fuel mailed to you via general delivery, but there are special labeling requirements and you are limited to 3 canisters per shipment. See my Trans America journal for details. Scroll down to the "What Worked and What Didn't" section and look for details there.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/staehling2007