1. Know your numbers
As a baseline for fuel consumption in the backcountry, it’s important to calculate how many people will be on your trip, and how many hot meals and hot drinks the group will require. If some members take their breakfast cold, you’ll need less fuel, whereas firing up the stove for a morning cup of joe will cut into fuel consumption in the long run. This is easiest to determine by multiplying the amount of people in your party with the amount of hot meals, then adding the number of hot drinks the party is planning on.
This number will give you a rough sense of about how many liters of water* you’ll need to boil. *If you’re cooking a meal that doesn’t require boiled water, still count that as a liter—the stove use time is likely about the same. Once you’ve made this estimate, use the chart below to determine how many ounces/grams of fuel your stove uses to boil 1 liter of water. Then do the math for total ounces/grams of fuel. Keep in mind that this is a rough estimate, but it gives you some scope—a place to start. Adverse factors like low temps, melting snow, and wind can end up requiring 3-4 times as much fuel as your baseline number. So next, we’ll look those criteria and how to adjust our baseline number according to them.
| MSR's Conventional Canister Stoves | Water Boiled (per 1 oz. / 28 g of fuel) |
| MicroRocket | 2L |
| PocketRocket 2 | 2L |
| PocketRocket Deluxe | 2.1L |
| WindPro II | 1.8L |
| MSR's Liquid Fuel Stoves | Fuel | Water Boiled (per 1 oz. / 28 g of fuel) |
| WhisperLite Universal | White Gas | 1.3L |
| Kerosene | 1.6L | |
| IsoPro | 1.8L | |
| WhisperLite International | White Gas | 1.3L |
| Kerosene | 1.6L | |
| WhisperLite | White Gas | 1.5L |
| Dragonfly | White Gas | 1.6L |
| Kerosene | 1.7L | |
| Diesel | 1.7L | |
| XGK EX | White Gas | 1.5L |
| Kerosene | 1.7L | |
| Diesel | 1.9L |
| WindBurner Stove Systems | Water Boiled (per 1 oz. / 28 g of fuel) |
| WindBurner 1.0L Personal Pot | 2.3L |
| WindBurner 1.8L Duo Pot | 2.3L |
| WindBurner 2.5L Sauce Pot | 1.7L |
| WindBurner 4.5L Stock Pot | 2.7L |
| Reactor Stove Systems | Water Boiled (per 1 oz. / 28 g of fuel) |
| Reactor 1.0L | 2.3L |
| Reactor 1.7L | 2.8L |
| Reactor 2.5L | 2.8L |
2. Conditions affect consumption
Traditionally stoves are tested at sea level in 70°F (21°C) temperatures with no wind. But these conditions are rarely the case for most of our backpacking expeditions. Seasons (and their fluctuating temperatures), altitude, and wind are big players in a stove’s overall fuel usage. In general, water temperatures reflect air temperatures, meaning the warmer the ambient temperature, the warmer the water and the quicker it can boil—and the less fuel burned.
Cold temperatures also affect the fuel canisters by causing their pressure to drop. Upright-canister stoves usually work down to about 20˚F (-6.5°C). But the farther the mercury drops, the more the stove struggles and more fuel used. (For this reason, stove systems and liquid fuel stoves are go-to’s for winter use.)
When it comes to altitude, the higher we go, it turns out, the faster our water will boil, but raw food will actually cook slower—much slower. For every 18°F (-8°C) drop in boiling point (roughly the change from sea level to 10,000 feet / 3,048 meters), cook time will double.
Finally, wind is a major consideration. For open-flame-burner stoves (like the PocketRocket), a 5 mph (8kph) wind can cause as much as three times more fuel use in a given cooking period.
3. Water availability
In the high alpine, melting snow often becomes our main water source. This adds another step to our water boiling process and additional stove time, which increases fuel consumption. Cold water from glacial streams and ponds will also increase boil time, so keep that in mind.
Check out our blog post for more detailed information on this topic,