I have to put in a plug for my favorite summer stove:
The Firelight Esbit Wing Stove from
Backpacking Light:
...folded:
...fuel:
It weighs under half an ounce, and an ounce of fuel (two tabs) will boil a quart of water. Add an aluminum or titanium mug/pot, and your total system weighs in at less than 4 ounces -- about 100 grams! (Beware those canister stoves -- they NEVER state the weight of the canister, only the weight of the fuel inside.)
Each trip, I make a disposable wind screen out of a foot or so of aluminum foil.
I put the fuel (in a snack bag), lighter, wind screen (rolled up), AND the stove all into a single sandwich ziploc bag. The aluminum cup serves as both drinking cup and single-meal pot.
That ounce of fuel heats 3 - 4 single meals, since I blow out the flame when the meal is hot.
Here's what I've written before:
I bought the Mountain House freeze dried meals with four servings, and repackaged them into 3 zip loc bags. I found I wanted a little more of those meals than a "single serving".
I would pour the contents of the bag into the cup, add water, and set it on the stove. Some of the meals wouldn't completely fit into the 2 C cup, so I'd add more to the cup after I ate some.
My appetite was good enough that I started eating the gruel as soon as it got warm. So the meal was still heating as I ate. Once everything was hot enough, I'd blow out the flame.
That may sound a bit spartan or crude, since I didn't boil the water first, add the meal, and let it set the required number of minutes. But heck, sitting on a rock out in the middle of nowhere, tired from walking all day long,... It works for me!
Here's some good reading:
Lightest weight hiking gear and
Alcohol stoves
