Fueling Your Adventure: Tips for Cooking with a Backpacking Wood Stove on the Trail

Any backpacker should pack lightweight essentials that will make their adventure more convenient.

One of the things you should have is a backpacking wood stove that doesn’t require you to bring your own stove fuel! It’s also a very eco-friendly solution that only needs organic materials (which are naturally and easily available) as fuel.

This type of stove also adds to the rustic charm of camping in the great outdoors.

However, whether you’ve had your wood stove for some time or you’re a beginner who’s clueless about it, here are several tips you can try to make the most of it.

Choose Various Firewoods

The firewood you use at home for your stove or fireplace is still the best option when you’re enjoying outdoor adventures. That means dry, dead hardwood like maple, oak, and ash. That’s because these burn hotter and longer than softwoods.

Despite that, it’s also good to have some variety — so collect some softwoods like fir, cedar, and alder since they ignite more easily than hardwoods.

Take only fallen branches, twigs, and leaves, rather than taking them off living plants. On top of that, don’t collect anything thicker than your finger. If you can’t seem to find a lot of twigs, you can get at the wood inside larger fallen branches with a knife.

Make sure you collect enough firewood for your needs. It can be even better if you collect more than enough for your whole trip. After all, you don’t know if your next stop will have a lot of good firewood. Store your extra firewood in a waterproof container.

Remove Bark

Bark tends to hold more moisture compared to the dense wood it covers. As such, debarking wood helps it catch fire faster. If the wood is wet or damp, debarking makes it dry faster too.

However, this is something you should do only with branches rather than twigs since debarking twigs can take too much time and effort. Instead, just focus on collecting the driest twigs possible.

You might also come across dead standing wood with easily-stripped dry bark. You can use the bark as tinder to help start a fire.

Ensure Good Airflow

Check if your cooking flame will experience good airflow while you’re still preparing the fire bed. If you’re setting up on soft or uneven ground, dig some trenches under the stove to ensure proper ventilation.

To make the fire bed, arrange dried leaves and sticks loosely or in a crisscross pattern to give air enough space to circulate and prompt combustion.

Even when you’re adding fuel, ensure you’re not packing them in all at the same time since it will smother the fire. Remember to add fuel gradually and only as needed.

Most wood stoves have adjustable air vents and dampers that make it easier to control airflow too.

If you can, remove excess ash from the fire bed as well since ash buildup can obstruct airflow.

Start Small

Wait for the fire to catch on the tinder and organic materials you put on the fire bed. Once the fire is burning steadily, add your smaller kindling like thin twigs.

Softwoods are good beginner kindlings, too, since they catch fire quickly.

You can gradually increase the size and thickness of your kindling as you slowly build your fire. When building your fire, opt for hardwoods since they burn hotter and longer.

Let the flames grow and ensure they’re stable before cooking.

Preheat Cookware

Cast iron cookware would be the best option for a wood stove since it can easily withstand heat without retaining hot spots. Enamel and stainless steel cookware are also great options.

It’s a good idea to preheat your cookware before using it to ensure even cooking. It also reduces cooking time.

For easier cooking on your wood stove, you can also prepare one-pot meals, such as split pea soup and mac and cheese, which streamlines your cooking. It takes minimal cleaning when you’re done as well.

Be Mindful of the Wind

A strong wind might not kill your fire, but it can affect the efficiency of your stove. While wood stoves can burn hot, they’re still not as hot as white gas or isobutane canister stoves.

As such, when setting up your fire bed, do it in a small nook or behind a rock or log wall. You can even use your own body to shield the worst of the wind.

Split Pea Soup With a Wood Stove

Now that you know how to get a cooking flame going, it’s time to put it to the test with a steaming bowl of pea soup! This recipe is great for colder days and is easy to make.

Split peas, 2 oz.

Minced red onion, 2 tbsp.

Black pepper, 1 tsp.

Water, 1 cup

Chopped ham, 1 tbsp.

Extra water for soaking

Quick Instructions

1. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil.

2. Add the peas, pepper, ham, and onion and let it simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

3. Remove from the flame when peas are at desired consistency.

4. Enjoy for lunch!

Frequently Asked Questions

A backpacking wood stove is great to have, especially if you know how to bring out its fullest potential.

But for all its convenience, you might be wondering about a few things. Below are some frequently asked questions that can further help you with your wood stove.

What Can I Do if There Are Restrictions on Gathering Wood?

Not all places allow gathering wood — even dead wood.

If you’re required to have your own fuel, solid fuel tablets and wood pellets are good alternatives.

Newspapers work well too. To use them as kindling, you’ll need to roll them up into a tight tube and tie them in a knot so they don’t unroll.

They burn more slowly in this form compared to if you stuffed them in the fire bed as loosely bundled balls. However, you’ll still need to use them with firewood.

Surprisingly, potato chips burn well, too, because of their high fat content.

What Color Should My Fire Be?

Orange and yellow are normal colors for a fire. Sometimes, you may also notice blue flames. A blue flame is hotter than orange or yellow and indicates a complete burning of carbon.

If the color of your flame is orange, yellow, or blue, there’s nothing to worry about since they’re part of the natural burning process.

However, if you start seeing other colors (like pink or green), it may be a sign that other potentially harmful chemicals or compounds are also being burned.

How Do I Start a Fire After a Rain?

Look for wood that might have been sheltered from the rain. You can typically find them close to the ground under heavy brush, trees, and other natural coverings.

Also, remember that bark tends to hold more moisture than the actual wood inside! So, strip the wet bark to expose the drier inner layers. Even if they’re damp, they’ll at least dry more quickly.

Set everything up and try to light a fire. Focus on getting even just a small flame on your tinders, so you have something to build on. Then, follow the steps of gradually feeding your fire more fuel.

Once you have your fire going, you can place damp pieces of kindling around the perimeter of your stove to help them dry and add them later on.

Conclusion

Having a backpacking wood stove is certainly convenient. After all, you can find fuel for it on the trail.

From gathering a lot of the right firewood to shielding your fire from the wind, the tips and recipe above will help you make the most of your stove.

If you happen to find yourself in a place that doesn’t allow the gathering of firewood, there are still alternatives that can let you start a fire.

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