# Trangia stoves



## Riding in Circles (23 Feb 2009)

I thought I would make this a seperate thread rather than hijack the fuel bottle one, I love my Trangia stove, sure it is a little bulky but no more than any other decent stove, I have tried them all, gas, pressurized paraffin, but the Trangia is the best IMHO, it lights in any weather, is stable and you can safely cook in the tent porch, plenty of options, I have a deep pan, frying pan and kettle, you can even do toast, fuel is easy to get. Many times have I set up in a windy field with other cyclists and been seen to be enjoying a hot cup of tea while others are still trying to light their gaz stoves.

I am aware there are cheaper copies which are just as good but it had to be genuine Trangia for me for one simple reason, when I was a kid I could not afford one but really wanted one so when I could afford it I bought one. It has travelled the world with me on cycle and motorcycle, up mountains and on canoe adventures, it is the one stove I would recommend to anyone without hesitation.

I'm talking about the meths version.


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## Chrisz (23 Feb 2009)

Trangias are indeed excellent bits of kit 

I've had one (meths powered) for years. When I first moved into my last house (unfurnished) I used mine for all my cooking for several months untill I could afford a cooker.

It still gets rolled out every now and again when we have the occasional power cut. Love 'em


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## Brock (23 Feb 2009)

Yep, I love our Trangia. It served us beautifully for months of camping and even the non stick is still as good as when we started. I carried a Greenheat tin as backup fuel in case of a meths shortage and did indeed resort to it on occasion.

Some pics:


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## campagman (23 Feb 2009)

How do you do toast on a Trangia? This could be useful at times.


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## Riding in Circles (23 Feb 2009)

campagman said:


> How do you do toast on a Trangia? This could be useful at times.



With one of these;




£1.99 from Wilkinsons by the way.


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## rich p (23 Feb 2009)

I think I must have missed something by the rave reviews the Trangia gets - I bought a mini Trangia a couple of years ago but it took 10 minutes to boil a couple of mugs of tea indoors so I went back to the Gaz. 
Was I just too impatient or is there a maxi version I should have got?
You can't all be wrong!


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## Redmountduo (23 Feb 2009)

They are the best.
Used them extensivley over the last 5 years. Never fail to light and nothing to go wrong. Using alchohol a brulee in Europe means faster cooking and less sooting. Oh and its mighty cheap.


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## stewie griffin (23 Feb 2009)

rich p said:


> I think I must have missed something by the rave reviews the Trangia gets - I bought a mini Trangia a couple of years ago but it took 10 minutes to boil a couple of mugs of tea indoors so I went back to the Gaz.
> Was I just too impatient or is there a maxi version I should have got?
> You can't all be wrong!



Are you in a rush when touring? When cooking, relax, have a beer


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## rich p (23 Feb 2009)

stewie griffin said:


> Are you in a rush when touring? When cooking, relax, have a beer



No, I'm a relaxed tourer
It's just that I'm an impatient tea drinker!

I'm willing to be convinced but if it takes 10 minutes to make a cuppa how long to cook a bowl of pasta?

At that rate it would take 2 hours to cook Brock's lamb cutlets (I like them rare)


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## Bodhbh (23 Feb 2009)

Brock said:


> Yep, I love our Trangia...


Jeez, you should work for their marketing department, they're great photos. I've had zero interest in cooking while camping, would rather either go to pub for a hot meal or eat museli etc inbetween proper stops, but that's a great advert for having a go at it for it's own sake.


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## vernon (23 Feb 2009)

rich p said:


> No, I'm a relaxed tourer
> It's just that I'm an impatient tea drinker!
> 
> I'm willing to be convinced but if it takes 10 minutes to make a cuppa how long to cook a bowl of pasta?
> ...



There'e lots of things that you can do while drumming up a cup of tea - the Trangia is the first bit of kit that I set up on reaching my pitch at a camp site. By the time the tent is erected, in much less than 10 minutes, the water is boiling and ready for mashing. By the time I've inflated the sleeping mat and thrown the sleeping bag into the tent the tea is ready.

It's possible to cook great meals in reasonable times with the Trangia. Pasta featured prominently in my LEJOG and JOGLE rides the quick cook varieties don't take long especially if they are put into the cold water and brought to a boil.


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## andrew_s (23 Feb 2009)

Brock said:


> Yep, I love our Trangia.
> Some pics:


some pics demonstrating the low heat output of the trangia.

I think something that had actually got past the raw stage might have been a better advert.

For rich p:
Once it's up to heat, stuff actually cooks just as quick. So your tea takes 10 minutes instead of 5 minutes, but cooking pasta or rice will still take only 5 minutes extra.


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## Brock (24 Feb 2009)

Bodhbh said:


> Jeez, you should work for their marketing department, they're great photos. I've had zero interest in cooking while camping, would rather either go to pub for a hot meal or eat museli etc inbetween proper stops, but that's a great advert for having a go at it for it's own sake.



Thanks. Food is a big part of travelling for me, I like to find local produce and delicacies and do my best to cook them.

The first is local lamb and organic garlic that came with its long green tops and mud from Chichester. The second is lovely big prawns and parsley butter in Isle de bugue, France and the last is a sizzling tin of Spanish octopus, somewhere near Seville.

A favourite of ours was pork chops with Roquefort and Normandy cider sauce which went down beautifully.

We found couscous or boil in the bag rice would cook and stay warm in the pan while the main stew or whatever cooked.


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## Brock (24 Feb 2009)

andrew_s said:


> some pics demonstrating the low heat output of the trangia.
> 
> I think something that had actually got past the raw stage might have been a better advert.



Well when the food is cooked I'm generally too busy shoving it down my face to be messing around taking snaps!

Here's a spicy chicken stew that has a bit of steam coming off it if that helps?


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## ASC1951 (24 Feb 2009)

Brock said:


> Food is a big part of travelling for me, I like to find local produce and delicacies and do my best to cook them.


Absolutely. The big advantage of a Trangia is that you can actually cook on it, not just blast heat into things. People who get wound up by an extra five or ten minutes probably shouldn't be cycle touring.


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## Chris James (24 Feb 2009)

ASC1951 said:


> Absolutely. The big advantage of a Trangia is that you can actually cook on it, not just blast heat into things. People who get wound up by an extra five or ten minutes probably shouldn't be cycle touring.



I don't know why anyone would go cycle touring when you can get to your destination much more quickly in a car


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## oxford_guy (24 Feb 2009)

Brock said:


> Yep, I love our Trangia. It served us beautifully for months of camping and even the non stick is still as good as when we started. I carried a Greenheat tin as backup fuel in case of a meths shortage and did indeed resort to it on occasion.
> 
> Some pics:



Are these pics of the larger "25" version? Thanks


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## Brock (24 Feb 2009)

oxford_guy said:


> Are these pics of the larger "25" version? Thanks



Yes they are.


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## Bodhbh (25 Feb 2009)

Brock said:


> Thanks. Food is a big part of travelling for me, I like to find local produce and delicacies and do my best to cook them...


Well all sounds good! Should be touring later this year with a friend who iirc has a Trangia so hopefully will get to test it out.

I do love my food also and the chance to try as much as possible of the local cooking as possible. If I can afford it will quite happily chomp thru a couple of 3 course meals a day, but not sure that'll be happening much this year with the state of the pound. Really can't understand why anyone would want to eat energy bars and the like when touring gives you the green light to utterly fill your boots with gorgeous proper food!


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## Riding in Circles (25 Feb 2009)

There were no non stick pans when I got mine, I may need to treat myself. oh dear....


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## oxford_guy (25 Feb 2009)

Catrike UK said:


> There were no non stick pans when I got mine, I may need to treat myself. oh dear....



Its definitely worth getting a non-stick frying pan, less so for the other pans


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## ASC1951 (2 Mar 2009)

I never bothered using the frying pan on mine - it's too far away from the burner to work very well and frying blathers everything in blobs of fat.


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## Brock (2 Mar 2009)

ASC1951 said:


> I never bothered using the frying pan on mine - it's too far away from the burner to work very well and frying blathers everything in blobs of fat.



Strange, I found the frying pan was generally too hot if anything, and why do you put blobs of fat in it?


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## ASC1951 (2 Mar 2009)

No, no, the blobs of fat are those leaving the frying pan in the direction of your tent and everything else around.

A lot of people seem to have a fetish about cooked breakfast. I'm as partial to grilled pig as anyone, but I've always found it not worth the mess and fuss when I'm camping.


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## Magna (4 Mar 2009)

Where do people get their meths from? 

How much do you pay?


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## Redmountduo (4 Mar 2009)

In the uk i used to get it from Wilkos or most hardware stores.
Around £1.80 a litre!
Much cheaper in France.


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## Magna (4 Mar 2009)

Anyone sourced it for less than £1.80 per litre?


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## OrbeaMartin (4 Mar 2009)

I find myself very loyal to my Trangia Stove. It's just one of those pieces of kit which seems so well designed and put together.
I think Brock should publish some recipes!! I don't do a lot of cooking, and find myself struggling to know what to do other the usual fried stuff or omlette.
Those chops look good.


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## Brock (4 Mar 2009)

OrbeaMartin said:


> I find myself very loyal to my Trangia Stove. It's just one of those pieces of kit which seems so well designed and put together.
> I think Brock should publish some recipes!! I don't do a lot of cooking, and find myself struggling to know what to do other the usual fried stuff or omlette.
> Those chops look good.



Actually we were thinking of posting some recipes, Kez noted down quite a few while we travelled. I'll have to dig out her notebook.


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## OrbeaMartin (4 Mar 2009)

Brock said:


> Actually we were thinking of posting some recipes...



Please do. That would be really useful. I've tried searching the net for ideas in the past and never found anything, even on the Trangia site, (unless they've updated it now).


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## eel28 (5 Mar 2009)

oxford_guy said:


> Its definitely worth getting a non-stick frying pan, less so for the other pans



second getting the non stick frying pan, had far too much 'trouble' with the original.


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