So after doing some searching, there doesn't seem to be much discussion on cooking stoves. When I used to backpack with my dad we had a MSR Whisperlite cook stove that seemed to work extremely well. I was wondering if anyone had other recommendations for stoves and/or just cooking advice.

It really depends on what type of cooking you are going to be doing and during what time of year. If you are simply going to be boiling water for drinks and rehydrating meals then you could easily get by on a simple alcohol stove, these are very lightweight, small and relatively inexpensive (< $30) or you can make one yourself at home.

If you plan on doing more than boiling water in the 3-seasons then canisters stoves are great. The MSR Pocket Rocket and Snow Peak Giga Power are two popular and cheap alternatives, they cost $40 brand new and weigh in at around 3oz. My Pocket Rocket has done everything from boiling water to frying fish and making pancakes without a problem.

For winter camping, then liquid stoves such as the Wisperlite are the only way to go. As you know they tend to be more expensive, bulkier and heavier. Although my father-in-law swears by his and still brings it regardless of the conditions.

After reading about that it says you get ~1 hour of burn time for every 8 ounces of fuel, but a canister is only 4 ounces of fuel. So I assume that means you get ~30 minutes of burn out of one canister? Has this been your experience? That seems like an awfully short amount of burn time for a canister.

There are an awful lot of variables to your question such as your cooking needs (cooking verses boiling), the starting temp of your water and the air temp. The wind and how much water you are boiling also has an effect.

If I am just boiling water once in a morning for coffee and oatmeal and then one boil for coffee and dinner then I can easily get 7-10 days out of one small canister. When I fly-fish and backpack, then I will cook fish for lunch pretty much every day (on top of the above) and thus, one small canister will get me through a 3 or 4 day outting. In which case I will just throw a big canister or two small ones in pack so I don't have to worry about it.

There is a current thread going for burn times:
http://www.backpacking.net/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=124268#Post124268

What is the total weight of the stove, windscreen,a big cannister and two small ones.

- MSR Pocket Rocket weighs 3oz with no case. 4oz with MSR case.
- My heavy duty homemade foil windscreen weighs 0.5oz
- Small Snow peak fuel 3.9oz*2 = 7.8oz
- Large fuel 8.8oz

These are base upon my own figures produced on my own scales.

The first time I used my Pocket Rocket, I cooked for about two days and then decided to flare off the remaining fuel before discarding the canister at the end of the trip. The canister ran for more than 45 minutes at full blast before finally expiring.

I recently cooked for five days, just boiling water, nothing elaborate, on one canister - just about two thirds consumed.

Thanks for the numbers. Old ranger is maybe saying you don't need all that fuel.
My woodstove/chimney at very near the 21 ounces might look good to a backpacker in winter or if he stayed out for a week or so.

As I said, if I am just boiling water a couple of times a day then you can easily get by with one small canister. I only take two small canisters or one large canister if I plan on doing more than just boiling water, or if I will be cooking for two or more people.

NB: These days if I know that I will just be boiling water, then I just take my Caldera UL system which weighs almost nothing, relatively speaking.

Generally speaking, your lightest options are (from lightest to heaviest)

0) three rocks and a twig fire - you carry nothing. not really practical in many places and definately not LNT - but appropriate in some situations.

1) Esbit tablets - good for boiling water, not so much for cooking. have a nasty fishy stink, but light, and useful.

2) alcohol stove - usually homemade from cans, sometimes purchased - genrally only used for boiling water, stove can weigh very little - fuel heavier than esbit or other options.
(I use this most of the time, and for example, I'll take 500ml of alcohol for 8 days on the trail...

3) Canister stove - MSR pocket rocket, snow peak gigapower, etc. - stove heavier than alcohol, fuel lighter, but fuel container heavier. Generally lighter Max Weight for more than 6-7 "person days" of water boiling morning and night type cooking. - can usualy simmer or do fancier cooking than water boiling. I use a snow peak on occasion..

4) Liquid fuel stove - white gas, kerosene, etc. Heavy, bulky, etc. best (and probably only sane) choice for very cold weather when melting snow for water, because they use the least weight of fuel per btu of anything above. Some can simmer
well and work for gourmet type cooking. (I use these in winter or for laaaarge groups. I own a Whisperlite, SVEA 123, MSR XGK, and Borde Bomb) i've used the svea and the borde in the last year. I use the XGK as a kerosene burner in a specialized hunting spike camp situation, and the whisperlite for large hiking groups.

If you want to really geek out, some good analysis is available at zenstoves.net, and Sgt Rock has some good stuff too.

Like so many pieces of backpacking gear, it depends on various factors that you have to weigh and prioritize for yourself, i.e., cold weather use (or not), total weight (including fuel and fuel container), speed of cooking, type of cooking and control desired (or not), "fiddle factor", availability of fuel, local restrictions, etc etc.

It will also depend a lot on what you like to eat, and if you are satisfied and happy with certain types of food. My cook kit is very minimal (a very small pot and alcohol stove) because I am very content with coffee, tea, and dehydrated meals that i only add boiling water to.. I do boil water for both breakfast, and dinner.

My decisions might be different if I

1) did a hot lunch making 3 hot meals a day.
2) did not to either hot breakfast, or hot dinner, therefore reducing myself by one hot meal a day
3) How long my hike is
4) Do I have to resupply on the way.

All that affects how much fuel I'll carry per day - which can
change what I might prefer for a stove. Frinstance, if I'm heating up more, a canister stove becomes a lighter (max weight) option faster compared to alcohol or esbit. If I have to resupply along the way, and I'm in canada absolutely nothing beats an alcohol stove. I can get methyl hydrate in the smallest gas station in the smallest fly speck of a town anywhere in canada. - not so with isopro/butane canisters or even white gas.

The other thing is that I'm not generally "cooking" anything, just boiling. Were I taking food I needed to cook - either because I prefered that ( I have friends I hike with who simply haven't found a good set of boil and dump food that they like ) or because I was, for example, doing a lot of catch and eat fishing, supplementing my food with trout, Then I
might carry something different. (This would lean me towards a canister or white gas stove)

If the same as above, but I'm in an area where fires are allowed, and it's remote enough I'm not too worried about lnt, that will also change the equation (and I might take only a small alky stove and do my "cooking" over an open fire.

In the winter, I take a bomber stove and a ton of white gas to
melt snow for water.

So a lot of it depends on where you're going, and what you need the stove to do - that itself is partly dependant on where you are, when, and you yourself, what you like to eat.

It also depends on how much you like to play with your toys

Lightest is no stove, fuel, pot, bowl or spoon.
Home dry fruit and jerky, add nuts and bars.
Eat out of ziplock backs while hiking down the trail.