It’s always hard to figure out how much fuel to take on a hiking trip. We often pack way too much, and end up bringing half a litre of fuel back with us. It’s annoying to look at that unnecessary weight when you’re unpacking at the end of the walk. But on the other hand, this is much better than running out of fuel while you’re still on the trail.

We thought it was time to get a bit more scientific about our fuel planning. When testing the recipes on this website, we have measured roughly how much camping stove fuel we used. In the ingredients section of each recipe, we have recorded the ‘units of fuel’ required.

What’s a ‘unit of fuel’?

There are a lot of different camping stoves out there, using different types of fuel. We’ve defined a ‘unit’ as roughly the amount of fuel needed to boil 1 litre of water *.

We use a large Trangia stove. For our stove, 1 unit = 40ml of fuel. How much fuel does your camping stove need to boil 1 litre of water?

Pack extra fuel

This isn’t an exact science, so you should only use the recipes as a rough guide to how much fuel you will need. We tested the recipes at room temperature at our home in Sydney, so please bear this in mind if you’re walking in cold conditions or at altitude.

Also, don’t forget that you’ll need fuel to make hot drinks, heat water for washing up etc. And on top of that, always make sure you pack some extra fuel, just in case.