Fuel for 5-night Trip

Easier? Probably. You just turn on the gas and light the stove.

We use less than a can of fuel for a week for the two of us…but we don't burn a lot of fuel—just a liter of water for breakfast, and another for dinner.

MSR Pocket Rocket, small pot…it's pretty darn light and easy.

Havn't crunched any numbers but it seems like this would be better for the first part of the trip but then have the weight penalty of the canister toward the end of the trip. As for ease of use nothing compares.

http://shop.jetboil.com/index.php/sol-cooking-ti.html

A four ounce fuel canister coupled with a pocket rocket, small ti pot and an excellent windscreen has consistently bought me six days(!)of cooking with fuel left over. The windscreen is key. I boil-only for one person, once for breakfast and again for dinner. These numbers assume that I don't cook breakfast on the first day and don't cook dinner on the last. Pretty darn sweet if you ask me.

Pocket rocket, micro rocket (new), or something similar. I can't speak for the amount of fuel you will need, but a good windscreen will help with fuel efficiency. Sounds like you have all the other essentials, so something small like a pocket rocket and fuel canisters is only a small added cost. The fire restriction is a real bummer. It's always my preferred method of cooking.

On a recent trip here in Alaska I took a 3.5oz canister (four season fuel, if it matters) and the MSR Pocket Rocket and heated about 5 liters of water over the course of two days for cooking and water sterilization. I would estimate the canister is still half full. The temps were about 50 degrees, with wind, and I didn't have an effective wind screen (I used a big rock and my body), so I wasn't being as efficient as I could have been.

I've also read articles that have expressed that when you get into longer trips the white gas stoves start to come into their element due to their higher efficiency. I know I love my old Dragonfly and would probably consider it as the stove carried for a 5 day or more trip with multiple people, esp. if I could split up the weight where one person carried the fuel, one carried the stove, and one carried the cook-set.

Thanks, guys. It sounds like an 8oz can (i.e., the can plus the fuel) may be the simplest solution here, plus a 3-4 oz burner. I think that still beats 16-20 oz of alcohol.

The lightest stove/fuel combo I've found is my Caldera Cone Sidewinder W/ ESBIT fuel in teh Gram Cracker tab holder that comes with the stove. 2 1/2 ESBIT tabs per day.

Next lightest is the butane fuel/light burner combo.

Now, there's an idea: do you think the esbit would work with the backcountry boiler?

I haven't had the best luck with the esbit in real world conditions, but the boiler is a more efficient burner than the typical stove.

Also, would the esbit gum up the boiler.

David, I personnaly don't care for the smell and mess that it makes. Usually, if there is a fire ban, alcohol, esbit, and wood are all excluded from your choices.

Canisters are equivalent in weight with Alcohol within a 4oz depending on whether you can stretch your canister. Only the distribution of the weights is different. More at the start with alcohol, less comming out.