Camping is a popular activity among millions of Americans in the United States, especially during the summertime. Camping is great for anyone looking to get away from the stress of day to day life. Whether you plan to go camping by yourself and explore nature or go to a lake with your family for the weekend, you’re going to need a few essentials for your camping trip. When you’re backpacking if you are one who looks forward to cooked meals and does not want to eat dry foods every day in the wild, you will want to bring a portable stove. Below we look at six different advantages to using alcohol stoves for camping.

1) The materials needed for an alcohol stove are inexpensive

An actual alcohol stove can be purchased for just a mere $10 or you can make your own alcohol stove. All you need is a three-ounce can of cat food. Once it is empty, remove the lid and round off the sharp lip by folding it over with a pair of pliers. Use a handheld hole puncher to cut a row of holes around the top of the can. The holes should be about an eighth of an inch apart. Punch a second row of equally spaced holes under the first, but offset them so that the centers of these holes sit under the gaps of the first row. Then, you have to build the windscreen from aluminum foil to go light and cheap. Cut a sheet that is three inches longer than the circumference of your pot. Then, fold it in half, fold down the edges, and make sure to smooth out the air between layers. Fold it in half, then fold down the edges, making sure to smooth out the air between layers.

2) Fuel is easy to find

Most people burn denatured alcohol in an alcohol stove (called meths overseas), which you can buy in any drugstore or hardware store, making it very easy to resupply during a hike. This also makes them great for international travel, especially in countries that don’t have outdoor stores that sell specialized fuels.

3) Alcohol Stoves are Light and Portable

The majority of alcohol stoves weigh less than two ounces and you can even make an alcohol stove that only weighs a few grams.

4) Using Alcohol Stoves Never Require Maintenance

Most alcohol stoves don’t have any moving parts and never require any maintenance. There are no hoses or pumps or fuel lines that need to be cleaned, maintained, or repaired.

5) Using Denatured Alcohol is Safer

Using Denatured Alcohol is a lot safer to use than other kinds of backpacking fuel because it won’t flare up into an explosive fireball like white gas stove when you fill a small alcohol stove up and light it. Alcohol stoves are easy to put out by snuffing them out and you won’t smell like gasoline if you spill it on your clothes.

6) Denatured Alcohol is an Environmentally Friendly Fuel

The creation and packing of alcohol don’t have the same toxic by-products that are created during the manufacture of white gas (which is super refined unleaded gasoline), isobutane canister gas, or hexamine solid fuel tablets. Alcohol is still made using a natural fermentation process, although on an industrial scale.