Survival Aids – Stoves
One of the top 5 survival skills is being able to get your food and cook that food. Nowadays there are many survival aids which allow you to do just that with relative ease.
Modern design and materials now mean it is possible to have a very efficient cooking stove that is light and durable and will produce good heat with the minimum of fuss.
These modern stoves also use a tiny amount of fuel, normally just twigs, and are highly efficient at maintaining good heat for a longer time.
Why would you want a stove?
In the past cooking over an open fire was your only option and yes it works fine and is all well and good but we are talking Survival Aids that make your life easier – an open fire is great and often essential for some cooking, especially larger, more bulky foods but also for heat, drying clothes, to ward of animals or for physiological comfort.
But for purely providing a near instant, confined and controllable heat to boil water or cook on, an open fire is not the best choice by far.
If you are on the move and just want to heat a meal then an open fire can be the last thing you want to mess around with.
What are the requirements when choosing a stove?
Cooking stoves come in all shapes and sizes, are made from different materials and use various methods for producing a efficient and reliable long lasting flame that is suitable for boiling water and cooking.
But from a preppers view point they need to light, compact, reliable and easy to use. The choice of fuel is also an important factor when choosing a good stove for your requirements.
If you have to carry around bulky, heavy fuel containers as well as your stove it’s just not going to give you room for all the other essential bug out bag equipment they you need to have with you for successful survival.
What type of survival stove is best? 
As a prepper, ‘less is more’, and if you can reduce the amount you carry then you reduce the weight or leave yourself room for other items.
So, the No:1 choice has to be a stove that will work using a local foraged fuel source, ie: wood and twigs – so long as your near a tree or bushes, you have fuel, simple as that really – it’s a ‘no fuss’ energy source.
Generally there are only three types of fuel source, namely, solid fuel [wood, twigs, solid fuel, dry fuel tablets], alcohol and gas. However some stoves are capable of running several different fuel types which can be very handy.
Downside of using a survival stove.
The good points far outweigh the bad points here but there are some.
- The stove needs to be kept quite clean inside which means emptying the burnt ash and debris every time before reusing – not too much of a pain but needs doing for an efficient heat.
- The outside of the stove will get very hot, even the double walled stoves will get too hot to touch, so this means you can’t just get up and leave camp – you have to wait a bit for it to cool sufficiently to pack away
What survival stoves are best for preppers?
There are a few very very good ones on the market in the UK today that tick all the prepping requirements.
- Lightweight
- Robust
- Easy sourced fuel
- Compact
I truly believe that using any of the modern survival aids is the way to go when it comes to efficient prepping – yes, of course you must have a good knowledge of the top 5 basic survival skills – but it’s all about making your life easier and a survival stove will do just that.
Below is our Survival Aids for Stoves comparison chart for the top 6:
The guide below will help you choose the best type of survival stove based on your own personal preferences -
Use the up/down arrows to select the best combination of your requirements.
Choose from:
- Type
- Price range
- Overall size
- Compactness and folding
- Fuel type
- Weight
- Overall ‘value for money’ rating
