The Camping Stove, one of the camping essentials.

A stove is one of the camping essentials. There’s a whole range of camping stoves available now. Check out our reviews of four of the top stoves for the camping kitchen.

Trangia – this is great for those of you who want to travel light and are likely to encounter all weather conditions. All the pans, lids, handle and burner fit together to make a smallish round block that can tuck into your pack. They are made from aluminium, so are nice and light, and some sets even come with a non-stick variety so you don’t spend hours scrubbing them clean. The fuel used is meths, so you’ll need a separate bottle to keep it in. 

Campinggaz – these stoves come in all shapes and sizes from the simplest single ring gas burner to a proper waist-high stove with two burners. Campinggaz is particularly well known for its freestanding single ring burner. The flame is adjustable so you can get water boiling pretty quickly if you need to. The gas bottle is easy to change and available in most campsite shops. The burner also comes with a built in wind protection. But it is quite bulky.

Coleman – this company is also well known in camping circles. However its gas cartridges are more compact that those of Campinggaz. They come apart nice and fast and are easy to pack away when you are on the move. Coleman prides itself on this stove as the ultimate for lightweight hiking as it cooks fast (one litre of water boils in under three minutes) and can cope with a range of extreme temperatures. Coleman’s range also extends to a three ring burner which can go flat on the ground or up on a table.

MSR – these multi-fuel camping stoves are great for anyone who does a lot of travelling, as the ability to use different fuels is a real advantage as anyone who has tramped through endless camping shops abroad looking for the right fuel knows! It is more expensive but the obvious benefit is that is can burn white gas, kerosene and even unleaded petrol! It also folds up and packs away into a backpack without a problem.