Cooking on camping and backpacking trips has been made significantly more simple over the years through outdoor gear manufacturers recognizing the need for functionality in a much more efficient package. Gone are the days of bulky, heavy Coleman camp stoves — the latest models are made from lightweight, yet durable materials, and are designed to pack down into compact modules. Esbit stoves are the ultimate interpretation of the new movement in camp cookware, with the utmost attention paid to making them portable, affordable, and easy for anyone to use and supply. Here are just a few of our favorite models.
Esbit Compact Stoves
For a minimal investment — less than $20 — you can have one an Esbit stove that is ultra compact and can easily be tucked into a pocket and used at virtually any time. Both the Pocket Stove and Titanium Stove use solid fuel cubes, which are a great fuel source due to their portability and no-mess factor. One cube will typically burn for 12 minutes at 1400F, giving you plenty of time to boil water for a beverage and heat up some stew, and each ignites easily with the touch of a flame. Esbit’s Alcohol Burner is likewise simple to set up and operate, requiring only a bit of denatured alcohol to get the flame going, and the screw-top lid is sealed with a rubber O-ring so you don’t have to carry your fuel separately from the stove if you’re trying to save space and weight. Each is an efficient camping or backpacking stove, and will be worth more than their weight in gold on the trail!
Esbit Cook Sets
If you’re looking for a more comprehensive setup, Esbit still has you covered with their line of cook sets. The most simple is the Solid Fuel Stove and Cook Set, in which you’ll receive a solid fuel stove, wind deflector/pot stand, and a 19.8 oz pot with silicone-coated grips and a lid. When you’re ready to pack it up, each piece fits securely inside the pot for the ultimate in efficiency. The Alcohol Stove and Trekking Cook Set is a step up, including both an alcohol burner and a base for solid fuel cubes, and comes complete with a 33 and a 15.9 oz pot for a little more choice in cookware. And finally, the Alcohol Stove and Camp Cook Set is the premium choice, with 1.8 and 2.35 liter pots with heat exchangers for more efficient burn time, a brass alcohol burner with variable temperature control, windscreen, frying pan, pan gripper, pot holder, pot lid, and microfiber cloth to keep the grime at bay. This set includes a mesh carrying bag to keep everything together, but like the other cook sets, everything is designed to nest inside the largest piece so you don’t have to sweat the small stuff!
