Cooking while you are camping can be a challenge but modern camping stoves can make it a bit easier. Sometimes it is fun to cook over the open fire, but you are quite limited as to what you can cook and with no control over the intensity of the flame it can make mealtime problematic. Luckily there are plenty of cook stoves to use on your camping trip.

While the old Coleman stove used propane, today there are many choices in fuels for cook stoves. Butane, propane, gasoline, white gas and even a mixture of propane and butane can be used. You can even buy stoves that allow you to use different types of fuel on the different burners.

Probably your best bet for a camping stove is one that uses propane. It burns clean and doesn’t have any smell but the prices have been going up so it could be costly. Another fuel that is becoming more and more popular is white gas - it also burns clean, doesn’t cost a lot and is easy to find.

Fuel cannisters come in a variety of sizes. While you might be tempted to buy a large cannister so you don’t run out, keep in mind that you are camping and bringing a lot of gear with you so space is at a premium in the car.

Two burner stoves are what most people use for camping as they let you cook on two burners - boiling water for veggies on one and cooking meat on the other. You can even prepare spaghetti in the campsite with one of these stoves! You can also buy special pots that stack so you can actually be cooking in 3 or 4 pots on the two burner stove.

You can buy these stove in different sizes, large ones for camping with a big family or small ones that are perfect for backpacking. You’ll have to choose which one is best for you considering your own cooking needs and space constraints.

Camping stoves add a bit of convenience to camping and allow you to enjoy a larger variety of foods at the campsite. Don’t worry, if you feel like you are “cheating” you can always go back to using the open fire in the fire pit.