Trangia Camping Stove Review

For the camper or bushwalker who is conscious of the need to keep the weight and size of their equipment as low as possible, the Trangia stove is the Swiss Army Knife of cookers (or it would be if it wasn’t Swedish).

In its most basic form, the Trangia gives you a metholated spirits burner, two aluminium bowls and a small frying pan which all fit within the stove itself for convenience. A small kettle can be added and will also fit within the packed appliance.

Depending on your need for lightness, you can opt for aluminium or titanium cookware. The aluminium may be lined with stainless steel on its internal surfaces. Last time I checked, there were three sizes of Trangia stove available.

This stove is quite capable of working in windy conditions and by using metho, is fairly safe. Metho can be easily purchased from a wide range of stores. Other fuel options can be explored including butane and multi-fuel burners. A major camping gear shop will generally have some of these on hand. The stove will cook faster with butane but the downside is that you have to carry and dispose of butane canisters.

A useful accessory that you can make yourself is a toaster. All you need is some strong wire (eg a clothes hanger or fencing wire) and some stiff wire mesh such as a repacement mesh for one of those simple stove top toasters. Bend and secure the stiff wire into a circle of a size suitable to drop onto the pot holders when they are at their lowest position. Leave enough wire to curl back over the top of the mesh to make a platform for your piece of bread. Now bend the mesh to fit over the circle. It’s easy and works well but try not to burn your fingers!

This kind of cooker has been around for over 50 years. You can still replace individual components if you lose or damage them.

Ours has been used extensively on motorcycle trips and on long and short camping trips. It is often the first thing unpacked when we reach our campsite so that we can boil a kettle for tea while we get our site organised. We generally try to pitch our tent close to a free outdoor table and use this as our base for cooking our meals.

From a safety point of view, always wait until the brass burner is cool enough to handle before adding more fuel. The flame may be difficult to see and you risk a serious accident if you inadvertently pour metho onto an active flame.