How much is stove fuel in your area

•••I might have to dig the Zip stove out or fire cook.•••

Several years ago prior to the current spike in fuel prices, the price of an 8 oz can rose from $3.49 to 6.00 in one grand price bump in my area. I immediately went to work learning to build alcohol stoves. Between alcohol stoves and my Bushbuddy, my canister stove has seen very little use since.

I got a good deal on 6 8oz cans of MSR, so it's been a while since I bought any, but last I saw, MSR 8oz was about $5 and a Jetboil 4oz was about $4. I now see Snow Peak in the stores and is about .50 less than the other prices for the same sizes. I've not used Snow Peak, though I may try it when I go buy more (soon). I've not looked to compare them for performance, but I'm wondering what difference there could be for fifty cents or are they just undercutting to get the sale?
FWIW, alcohol is definitely cheaper. If the alcohol stove was as easy to use on the road as the JetBoil is, I wouldn't have much need for canisters.

I wish they where $5 here in Australia, MSR 8oz canister A$12.00, Kovea 8oz A$7 and they are out of the same factory.

Tony

This won't do Stephen any good, but for those who use MSR or worse, JetBoil brand canister fuels — you can save money by simply switching to Snow Peak. I always go for the cheapest when I can't discern any difference. And in this case, I can't discern any difference.

Don't foreget the very cheap, simple & reliable, small Essbit tab. I think- perfect for a weekend hike and then alcohol for longer periods of time. Essbit tabs take a little longer to boil H2O but whos in a rush on a hike any ways.

Esbit is light, but it also leaves a lot of soot on the bottom of your cookpot, something denatured alcohol doesn't do. If you don't clean it off after cooking, that soot and funky smell find their way to anything it touches in your pack.
I use both, depending on my activities. If I plan to be moving quick and covering a lot of ground, I take Esbit. If it's a relaxing day, I use alcohol.

Christopher, I use a Hienenken 24oz can as my cooking pot-works very good! Then I just throw it away-RECYCLE!! escuse me. Then just wash the bag I stowed it in. Your right- on longer hikes I use a Vargo stove and denatured alcohol. no soot clean on long hikes. happy hiking

Back in the day when campfire cooking was the standard, the common recommendation was to rub soap on the bottom of the pot to facitate easier soot removal. Has anyone tried this with Esbit cooking? I know from my own experience using Esbit that the residue can be farily baked on and difficult to remove.

I have not tried the soap method. Usally if I am near a creek or lake I use sandy gravel or even pine needles, forest duff. I have brought in a 1×1 in. green scrubbing pad, then the pad gets nasty and I have to now store a nasty scrubbing pad. Now I just use sandy gravel. If you stay on top of the soot- it's managable.

Soap works, but it's too "fiddly". You're doing one extra task to avoid doing another. Hence my preference for alcohol. I'll use Esbit at times, but it's never been my favorite.

Just use the MPI tablets sold here.
They don't leave any residue.

Great point!!

So if I can get 16 ounces of water to boil on 1 oounce of alcohol and I get 128 ounces for 10.00 then it costs about 5 times as much to cook with esbit. I think that esbit may be in or above the cost realm of the canisters. The residue I can deal with – I was a fire cooker back in the day – its the smell that turns me off about esbit (and white gas). I will use the three canisters that I have left and go back to alcohol

Alitude- Which fuel does best at a minimum of 7,000 feet?
2 tabs to boil 2 cups, 2 oz.alcohal to boil 2cups, more canister fuel to boil 2 cups. Does any body have info. about the best fuels for altitude?

I don't think 7,000' of altitude is going to make much difference to the amount of fuel used. The starting temperature of the water on the other hand might!

I need to buy some of those MPI tabs. I'd never heard they don't leave a residue. If that works out, I'll have to make someone a deal on the 50 or so FireLite tabs I have left!
Thanks the heads up on this one!