Portable camping stoves as outage cookers

A portable stove is a cooking stove designed to be carried and used away from a fixed kitchen — originally for camping, picnicking, and backpacking, but equally useful when the household range is dark. Portable stoves cover a wide range of designs and fuels, including pressurised liquid fuel (white gas, kerosene), pressurised gas (propane, butane, isobutane), unpressurised alcohol, solid-fuel tablets, wood, and combustion of refined gels.

For a power outage, the most common household-friendly options are a single- or two-burner propane stove fed from a 1-pound or 20-pound tank, a butane cartridge stove of the type sold for buffet use, and small backpacking stoves running on isobutane or alcohol. Each trades capacity, fuel availability, and indoor-vs-outdoor suitability differently. Propane and butane stoves intended for camping are generally rated for outdoor use only; using them indoors poses a carbon monoxide risk and can violate manufacturer instructions and local fire codes. A handful of catalytic indoor heaters and dedicated indoor butane stoves are designed and marketed for indoor use, and those should be used only per their specific labelling.

For outage planning, the practical questions are how many BTU per hour the stove produces (which determines how fast it boils a pot), how long the on-hand fuel will run that stove (a 1-pound propane bottle typically yields 1.5–2 hours at high), and where the stove can safely be operated. A garage with the door open is not outdoors; carbon monoxide accumulates anywhere the combustion gases are not freely venting. The simplest rule of thumb is to cook outdoors on a porch, patio, or open carport, then bring the food inside to eat.