Classic mirror selfies never go out of style. The lameness is palpable.

22.3.2018

Hello there, beloved Steemian!

Fancy seeing you back here for another installment of the camping trip that just keeps on giving. My last article gave you the amenities run-down at Wombeyan Caves campground. This time, you're in for a bit more of a treat, with far less c's and b's (hint: go and read the previous article.)

There's more than one way to cook a vegan sausage. In fact, here are three methods we used while we were camping.

Swedish Reliability: The Trusty Trangia Stove.

During the last camping trip away to Coolendel and to Gambells Rest prior to that, I’ve taken my Trangia stove. My Dad bought me this little beast when I was about thirteen or fourteen and I’ve had it ever since. It remained intact until I created a very special learning experience for myself.

While camping at Coolendel, I made the mistake of trying to bake potatoes in the Trangia without anything other than potatoes in the pot. The flame continued to heat the aluminium cooking pot until it reached it’s melting point (660 C/1221 F) and the pot literally came apart as I attempted to lift it off the burner after it caught fire.

Don't underestimate the heat from an alcohol burner and don't leave stoves unattended!

Don’t cook anything without using a liquid to absorb the heat. The Swedish make some of the finest cooking stoves known to man, but they require some forethought and general understanding.

What I love about the Trangia stove is that the cooking pots and pan, burner, pot lifter and wind break (containing little legs to cradle the pot) all nicely nest into one another. The clean burning use of alcohol fuel also means you aren’t breathing in any PM2.5 found in wood smoke. Alcohol stoves are also extremely quiet, until your water comes up to a rolling boil, then all you hear are the bubbles gurgling and popping on the surface of the water. Flames may leave a black residue on the base of the pot.

A solution to aid with the clean up of blackened pots is to liberally smear dishwashing detergent on the bottom of the pot prior to cooking. It acts as a barrier, won't catch fire and easily washes off.

Upsides of the Trangia stove include portability, cheap ($3.50 for a litre of methylated spirits), clean burning fuel and no need to lug in firewood (or search for it, as is the case with the Biolite). The only downside I can think of is that it doesn't have the roaring ambience of an open fire.

El Cheap 'n Cheerful: Portable Butane Stove.

Cooking some vegan sausages on the butane stove frees up the Trangia for coffee and tea duties in the top left of the photograph.

A couple of years back, I picked up one of the cheapest stoves around. This style of burner is very easy to use and gets the job done. We like the option of being able to cook food while the water’s boiling for a tea or coffee and having this cheap and definitely cheerful option makes cooking easier. I think I bought mine from Bunnings for about $20. These stoves use butane canisters that cost around $4 for a pack of 4. For our three days away we used up one cannister and began on the second. They don’t entirely deplete, but the flame loses it’s intensity. the last ten percent of gas is fine for simmering, just not boiling water.

The downside to these stoves is that in windy conditions, they’re awful unless you have a good windbreak. I guess you could cook on the ground next to the esky.

Thermoelectric-Techno-Beast: The Biolite CampStove.

I am very proud to have bought one of these mini-fireplaces. It’s a fun camp gadget that uses the physics of thermoelectric generation (differences in heat to create electric charge) to replenish a battery that runs a small fan that constantly blows air into the combustion chamber. The result is a very intense, relatively clean burning flame perfect for cooking. Excess electricity can be used to charge other batteries, phones or run LED lights via a USB port on the orange battery module.

I’ve mentioned the Biolite before in a previous article in relation to near to smokeless cooking. However, the Biolite isn’t perfect and if not tended to correctly will smoke up the place quicker than you realise.

When the high setting is activated, the stove will consume a lot of fuel, but will boil half a litre of water in a few minutes. It’s pretty hot stuff. Around the campsite there wasn’t a great deal of wood and in fact, you’re supposed to bring your own wood. I only realised this when I read the back of the NPWS leaflet upon returning home. We spent ten minutes scouring the dry creek bed for fuel and only burned about half of what we collected.

Apparently we only have the right to 'a peaceful relaxation' after 10.00pm.

Unless you're into camping gadgets, you aren't likely to really ever consider buying a Biolite CampStove. The idea behind these was for hikers to use portable stoves in places that have abundant fuel, not for car campers. They are an expensive novelty, however I'm glad I bought it, nonetheless. I'm even tempted to buy the newest model, the CampStove 2, but alas, I'd rather spend the money on another new Trangia stove than another Biolite.

If you're DEAD SET on using a wood burning campfire and absolutely refuse to camp without a fire, I think I may have a compromise.

After checking back on Biolite's website, I found the Biolite Firepit. I don't own one, but if we begin camping more often from our car, this may just be worth forking out the USD$199 for. The video of it enthralled me and, WOW, does it look sexy! I think this may just solve the solution of very smoky campsites.

Final Campstove Verdict.

If you couldn't see where this was headed, I'll give it to you straight. Of my three stoves, if I could only take one, hands-down, the Trangia would be my winner for it's portability, reliability, durability and clean burn. The fact you can still cook in high wind is also incredible. The caveat here is that I already own one.

If you're looking to dip your toes into car camping, just get one or two of the cheapy butane gas stoves. They are significantly less than the price you can pay for a single Trangia stove which can fall in the range of AUD$99 and AUD$279 depending on the stove model and where you buy it.

For those with a bit of extra cash and want to support a company trying to clean up the kitchen air in developing countries, Biolite make solid kit out of Brooklyn, NY.

That's our installment for today, I'll see you again tomorrow!

All the best,

Nick.

All content is original.

Disclosure: This article was not a paid promotion and was not self-upvoted. Nor were there any affiliate links.

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