We have been taking Coleman fuel and cooking with single burner Coleman stoves for years. Thinking about switching over to a double burner propane stove and bringing small Coleman bottled propane canisters.

Question is how many small propane bottles would I need for a week of camping for two people?

It would depend on your cooking style and what you are cooking. If you are cooking from scratch with raw ingredients you will need more. Boil and dump meals you only need hot water. I would say if you are cooking on one burner two meals a day for a week you want two green bottles of propane. If you really want to nail it down do a test burn at home and calculate the burn time to your planned meals.

Propane bottles present weight and disposal problems due to the steel bottle and valving. And mostly limited to 14 and 16 ounce bottles.
A 16 ounce propane bottle weighs 2 pounds.
Isobutane is under much less pressure and so a lighter and easily disposed container.
A 16 ounce isobutane bottle, 23 ounces,
Liquid fuels, Coleman Camp fuel is sold from pint size to gallon, the bottles/tanks reuseable.
16 ounces of Coleman Camp fuel in a 20 ounce capacity bottle, 22 ounces.
I have much use with all 3 versions and find ounce to ounce cooking both temps and useage roughly the same with all 3. An 16 ounce propane, 16 ounce isobutane, 16 ounces Coleman Camp fuel cook the same and for the same amount of time.

How much fuel in ounces do you take for the current stove?

butthead

Our group also cooks over a single burner Coleman. If we think we will do a lot of cooking or have a larger group, we take a second single burner. Heavy... Yes. But very reliable.

hello butthead, I think we crossed paths with you a couple of years ago on Knife Lake. I think you we're on a solo trip. After reading your post I think we'll stick with the single burner Coleman. Thanks to all.

DP oops

butthead

drrick: " hello butthead, I think we crossed paths with you a couple of years ago on Knife Lake. I think you we're on a solo trip. After reading your post I think we'll stick with the single burner Coleman. Thanks to all."

Yes sir and you survived the rains!
A cheap and quick solution to a double burner is to get a pair of Primus Classic Trail stoves, 2 burners, lighter and more compact than a suitcase stove and redundant in case of a failure.

butthead

Two

Personally, I like the double burner propane stove. We base camp, and as we were getting the girls to love tripping, food was a big factor and a part of our family's tradition. Fish tacos with refried beans and Spanish rice, for example, is a two-burner meal at least. Point is, we eat well. I figure 2 bottles per three days and have never run out. Percolating coffee uses more; we go instant.

lundojam: "Personally, I like the double burner propane stove. We base camp, and as we were getting the girls to love tripping, food was a big factor and a part of our family's tradition. Fish tacos with refried beans and Spanish rice, for example, is a two-burner meal at least. Point is, we eat well. I figure 2 bottles per three days and have never run out. Percolating coffee uses more; we go instant."

Absolutely! It all depends on what you want to carry. Example drrick met me on the South Arm of Knife, I had started at Cache Bay went north thru the Falls Chain south thru Agnes to Prairie Portage heading to Seagull Lake. I don't see many toting a suitcase Coleman 11 days thru that paddling solo, but I do carry a suitcase stove on base camps myself. 32 ounces of fuel for a group of 4 for 3 days is very close to my personal solo usage with any of the 3 fuels I mentioned. I carried 8 ounces of isobutane for the trip described, had a partial 4 ounce at the end.

butthead

butthead: "A cheap and quick solution to a double burner is to get a pair of Primus Classic Trail stoves, 2 burners, lighter and more compact than a suitcase stove and redundant in case of a failure... "

butthead:
Would you have an idea of the fuel comparison of the Primus Classic burner using isopro canisters vs Coleman Dual Fuel 533 using white gas? ie: we know how much fuel we bring for the Coleman; what would be the equivalent amount needed for the Primus?

or, is Primus fuel different than what's in my MSR isopro canisters?...

My goal is always to cut a bit of the weight, and I think that replacing our Coleman 533's would be one way to do that.

Not a lot of difference, I interchange ounce to ounce switching fuels between butane, isobutane, propane, and Coleman fuel. All close in BTU content 4/8/16 ounce canisters, 110/230/460 gram canisters (with minor labeled differing amounts depending on maker).
" is Primus fuel different than what's in my MSR isopro canisters?..." not much. Some varying amounts but base contents are butane/isobutane 60-80%, propane 20-40%. Higher propane is better for cold conditions, high isobutane better than butane in cold.
Id just use the amountv in qounces of Coleman and take the same in canister, due to lighting efficiency the canister is a bit more efficient, except in cold.

butthead

Thanks, bh. I knew you'd have the answer.

Wow Butthead that's great information. After you paddled by our campsite over towards Eddy Falls we headed to Ameber Lake. And man did it rain
Hard. Caught SMB by the dozens the next day .

drrick, I had snow squalls crossing Alpine and Seagull going out! Crappy weather, trip to remember!

butthead

I've used almost exclusively white gas since the 1970s. I used propane as a back up on two trips. I use white gas because I find it easy to work with and I don't have to carry empty, (ostensibly) disposable canisters out with me. I liken proprietary fuel stoves to razor blades: the razors may be cheap.... they get you on the blades.

Mike

I use isobutane (propane/butane blend) cartridges with a JetBoil and bring a couple of these little stoves you can get for $8 on Amazon. You CAN refill the isobutane tanks with propane and/or butane and save a ton of money, if you like living on the edge and at your own risk. You can find youtube videos about it. The cheap stoves work excellent, never had an issue. If you do, you will have a backup. They weigh next to nothing, and can simmer quite well.

I go 14 days 2 people with 2 of the extra large cans of the isobutane and one of the little cans that fits in the Jetboil, and have never run out.

Joe

Every. Single. Trip. We Find someone's discarded propane bottles hidden somewhere on a campsite, and Every. Single. Trip. We carry them back taking up our own pack space for someone else's greed. Got you at Iron Lake last year whoever it was!

I use a pocket rocket for my iso-pro fuel. It takes up almost no space, weighs nearly nothing, needs no attention after I've got it going, and gets a good boil on pretty quickly. The solo stove takes longer to get a boil going, takes constant tending, you gotta throw in sticks and pine cones every couple of minutes, but when you're cooking eggs or fish, something that needs constant tending anyways, it makes no difference to pick up your skillet and throw in another stick every couple of minutes. The best part is the nostalgia, there's something magical about using a tiny fire to cook. Not to mention the fuel sources are infinite in the BW, 1 trip's handful of twigs and pine cones is all the fuel you need. I use the pocket rocket to boil water and cook things that need to sit in water, solo stove does most thing out of a skillet.

Iso-Pro fuel is just so easy. It maintains a constant pressure when you get it going, will run until the can is empty which I'm always surprised how far fuel goes. You just screw it on and turn it on. It can be used in freezing temperatures. The fuel canisters are dirt cheap, they take up space but in my experience the most I've ever used was 2 of the small cans boiling water for 6 people over a 5 day trip, and I still have the majority of the fuel in the 2nd can.

With that said I think the best method is to use a combination of fuel sources. My perfect sources being isopro fuel cannisters, as well as a solo stove (wood fuel). The solo stove is a slower cooker and takes a lot of tending, but everything I cook on it is high-tending as well like eggs, fish, bacon, usually I gotta flip em by the time I need to add more fuel, etc. It's also infinite fuel so if you don't have to cook in a hurry, or you're not going anywhere, you don't have to burn up your other source of fuel.

I would bring a small backup stove of whatever your fuel choice is for the primary, or a field maintenance kit for your stove/knowledge how to clean & rebuild...

1st trip we actually carried in a mini grill thing that doubled as a stove. Between going to a more compact backpacking stove (Windpro) and fuel we probably shaved a few pounds of dead weight. I hate propane cylinders for backcountry use because once empty each one still weighs a pound and takes up the same space. Isopro cans, on the other hand, once empty can be crushed by way of any of the heavy and flat rocks that are abundant up there. I use JetBoil's CrunchIt tool to ensure cans are empty and to cut several holes in the top to aid with crushing.

Gearguy you just convinced me to get a twig stove. Think I will get an Emberlit just because it folds flat and space is tight...

Joe

joewildlife: "Gearguy you just convinced me to get a twig stove. Think I will get an Emberlit just because it folds flat and space is tight...


Joe
"

I bring along an Emberlit every solo (along with a small single burner and one small canister). I use the Emberlit often, and I never finish off the little canister. They are easy to assemble and take up almost no space. The fuel for the twig stove is everywhere!

Dave

Just ordered an Emberlit Fireant Stove, You'all have been very helpful.

drrick: "Just ordered an Emberlit Fireant Stove, You'all have been very helpful."

Rich