Cooking with a Camping Stove
This is the 2-burner camping stove I use when the power is out. It looks a lot like some Coleman camp stoves, but the manufacturer is actually Century Tool & Manufacturing. It's branded with the LL Bean name.
I use a 20-pound propane tank for fuel for this stove. I have some extra tanks in case I run out. Of course, you can also use 16.4 oz. propane cylinders, which are a lot more portable.
Note that this stove is for outside use only. It should NOT be used indoors.
Features of this Propane Camping Stove
This particular stove has two 10,000 BTU burners that are each 3-3/8" in diameter. It has a pressure regulator that is supposed to improve performance in cold weather.
As you can see in the photo, there are "wind shields" that you can put up on the sides of the stove. These actually work pretty well on a windy day.
You start the stove with a piezo igniter, so no matches are needed. And it has a drip tray which makes clean up easier.
If you're using 5,000 BTUs (50% capacity of one burner), the box says a 16.4 oz propane cylinder will last 4 hours and an 11-pound tank will last 47.7 hours. Doesn't say how long a 20-pound tank will last, but my calculations say that it would last for about 87 hours of cooking - at 50% capacity.
You may need to get an adaptor to use this camping stove with the 20-pound tank. I know I did. And you can also get a cook stand to put the stove on. I've never bothered, but I can see how it would be handy.
How Well Does it Work?
I've had this stove for about 8 years and have had no problems so far. Never had trouble starting it and never had a burner go out due to windiness.
I did make the mistake of leaving it outside in the rain - for a period of time. I thought, being camping equipment, it would be fairly rustproof. However, after a while it started to rust a little. So now I store it indoors.