Reddit reviews Coleman PowerPack Propane Stove, Single Burner, Coleman Green - 2000020931

The 100% best solution is to have a propane burner along with a High Pressure Hose so that you can use normal propane tanks that you'd get for your grill. Then keep maybe 3 of those full and ready to go and that will maintain your ability to use your stocks for a good while. (Note: I didn't dig too deep into direct compatibility of those two items. I just listed them as an example so you could see what I was talking about.)

Barring that... it's a question of shelf life vs cost. Obviously MRE's would be one of the better options, but they're pricey and it's best to store them in cool environments which may not be doable for everyone. Mainstay 2400 Bars are available at Walmart for $5 apiece and are fantastic for BOB's due to their hardiness, but surviving on those for any length of time would probably be miserable.

Dropping into normal foods... yeah, a well stocked and rotated pantry is the way to go.

• Peanut Butter is high calorie, flavorful, and a thing most people can use regularly anyway. If you have forewarning you can try to snag extra bread from the grocery store. Barring that, YouTube how to make bread and get busy in the days leading out to the outage. I think whole wheats tend to last a bit longer, and I think things like wrapping the loaf in cling wrap then sealing it in Tupperware can help, but I'm not a baker so I can't say for sure.
  
  
• Canned meats are a good call as the next in lineup. Tuna is obvious, but you can get canned chicken as well. Add some crackers into the mix and whatever seasoning you like (I'm a fiend for Lemon Pepper ) and those are meals on their own, though a bit pricey. Spam and tinned ham, while less pleasant uncooked, are also edible.
  
  
• The good canned soups are fine right out of the can. Obviously they're less pleasant not being warmed, but that's actually something you can probably remedy to a degree just by having tea candles under them. There are also several camping stoves that do not require propane, and you can of course just have some sterno on hand too.
  
  
• After that... well almost anything canned can work. Refried beans or Baked Beans cold out of the can are edible if not the most pleasant way to eat them. Good return on calories for those, and if you have a large family they are available in #10 Cans which will save you a lot on cost. Canned Veggies can be added in to other meals without heating, though the calorie returns on them make them inefficient. Canned/Jarred Fruit on the other hand can be a delicious morale lifter.
  
  
• Bars of Velveeta keep for a surprising amount of time in the pantry, and there are about 2240 calories per full bar of them. That's another great option for throwing on crackers. Crack open a jar of salsa and add a bit to each cracker and that's tasty eating.
  
  
• While it's not my favorite thing ever, Summer Sausage is around 1600 calories for a pounds of it and is shelf stable for a while when unopened I believe, though check the packaging to be safe. I believe Hickory Farms Cheese/Sausage lasts for months, though if you're not eating it regularly I don't know how feasible it is to have on hand consistently or in time for a disaster like this.
  
  
• While the ideas could probably keep going, I'll end with trail mix. It's easily obtainable at a lot of locations, includes nuts, candy, and fruit so it's palatable, and tends to have a fairly high caloric return. Add in other snack foods like beef jerky, chips, and candy/energy/protein bars (also available at a lot of locations) and it should be fairly easy to find enough ways to get your daily calories in in the short term without needing to heat things up.

This is a double-burner stove that comes highly recommended. I have a Coleman single-burner stove.

• Hose and regulator to run 20lb tanks on 1lb appliances
  
• Adapter to run 1lb tanks on 20lb appliances
  

Memberships at truck stops don't really get you anything except a couple perks like free coffee after you spend so much money etc. If you fill on diesel, they give you a free shower but no go on regular fuel. I got a commercial card from pilot just by walking thru the 'trucker' door on the side and asking for a shower and telling them i didnt have a card. She gave me a commercial driver card (never asked for cdl) and put a free shower on for me.

Every time since then ive gone in and asked for a shower (prepared to pay) and given them my card they have given me a free one as a courtesy (not at the same one). Sometimes they ask if i filled up my truck today which i honestly reply no, i haven't filled up a truck today.

I pretty much lived at a pilot for a year, it was the kind that had a restaurant attached to it. I wouldn't advise abusing it like that, but i became close with the people who managed it from its opening day. But you can stay at any of them a night or two and they wont say anything. Of course as with staying at walmart, the right thing to do is buy supplies or food there if you stay. I bought a giant refillable mug and got a soda with it each time for $1.39.

You do not have to be a member to use the wifi, power or even sit and watch tv in some. They don't care. Some smaller truck stops do but not pilot or flying J. I heard loves is similar but i dont go there usually.

As someone who was in a similar situation as you, id advise scraping or begging/credit carding whatever to get 100 watts of solar ($164 kit + $90 29DC walmart battery + $20inverter) and a cooking setup in your rig asap. Your cost of living will plummet like a meteor after you can store and eat actual groceries.

Are you planning on doing more car camping in the future? Any plans on doing some backpacking?

For dedicated car camping, most people I know have a Coleman dual burner stove. They're relatively cheap and pretty reliable. Propane is cheap and efficient, you can even hook up a 20lb (with an adapter) and save some money over buying the 1lb tanks. They're good for up to 4 people, but more than that you may want to get a slightly larger one that holds bigger pots and pans (for future reference, it's fine for one person).

The dual burner stoves are great when there are picnic tables where you can set up; set up the stove on one end of the table and you're all set. You can just bring pots, pans and utensils from home, no need to go out and buy 'camping' specific gear. Standing and cooking on the dual burner is much like cooking at home, so overall it's pretty simple. However, if there aren't picnic tables, you'll need to bring a folding table since it's a bit awkward to cook on the ground with one of these.

If that looks too big, Coleman does make single burner stoves; one table top stove and one bottle top stove. They're OK, the bottle top isn't as stable, but if you don't have a table too cook on, it may be easier to cook on one of these while sitting on the ground.

Then there are backpacking stoves like the MSR Pocket Rocket 2. These are very light and run on Isobutane canisters (not propane). These are nice if you're just boiling water for freeze dried meals or doing light cooking... but since they're relatively small, you want smaller and lighter pots and pans. If you're thinking of backpacking in the future, you may want to go with one of these... but for the most part when we go car camping, we bring the big dual burner propane stove.

There are other types of stoves out there; butane table top, white gas backpacking stoves, alcohol stoves, wood burning stoves... but for price, performance and ease of use, the dual burner propane is usually the best option for car camping.

As for food, our menus don't change too much from what we'd eat at home... just options that are easier to cook on two burners. The big issue is refrigeration... I've got an old Coleman steel belted cooler that can hold ice for three days... so over two weeks, I'm going to have to make a couple of ice runs. In which case I'm probably going to stop at the grocery store as well, so our menu isn't set in stone. We may decide to eat dinner while in town as well (especially when hiking around Acadia in Maine ... lobster and blueberry pies). If you're going to be a week or more from a source of ice, then you'll need to have a good ice strategy, and you may have more meals with foods that don't need refrigeration.

Good luck!

edit: spelling

I cook with one of these. Works great. takes up very little room and a $3 bottle of propane lasts me a couple weeks.

Can you think of any reason why this would not work with creating starters? I'm trying to think of a way to safely support a 5L flask on their too. It looks like it would balance well enough

Edit: Actually, I may go this route instead...looks like it would balance better. Or this

Maybe this

Propane stove:

https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Powerpack-TM-Propane-Stove/dp/B0009PUS6M/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1466800272&sr=8-6&keywords=propane+stove

No, I don't feel nervous. The little 1lb propane bottles seem pretty harmless for the most part.

I cook eggs every morning. That's it.

The problem with cooking is cleaning... cleaning requires water. And I am very strict about my water use. So I only cook for breakfast.

Sounds like others have nailed the answers, but as others have mentioned propane and butane stoves might let you cook at parks or the like. Here's an example of a really small and cheap one, since space and money are scarce for you.

https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-PowerPack-Propane-Single-Burner/dp/B0009PUS6M/ref=mp_s_a_1_15?keywords=coleman+stove&qid=1566985725&s=gateway&sr=8-15

these things are available at most Walmarts along with the fuel.

Don't cook in your car... Toxic gasses.

For really light use (or heavy if you want) I like the single burner:
https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Powerpack-TM-Propane-Stove/dp/B0009PUS6M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1465607666&sr=8-2&keywords=coleman+single+burner+stove

I've been using one for 4-5 years.

Look at your meal plan and figure out if you're going to need more than one thing on heat at a time.