MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR GAS

For mild weather cooking a standard mid-sized 250g cartridge should last two people between four to five days. For winter use where snow has to be melted you'll use double that. Fuel efficiency is primarily down to maximizing heat output (using a windshield and not overloading the stove's heat output) and the type of cooking it's expected to do. Food that requires no simmering or lengthy cook times will extend the life of your fuel greatly. Food like Supernoodles, couscous and Smash are staples of the gas frugal cook. Try and mark on the pan how much water is needed for different foods so you don't end up heating one litre of water when half the amount would have been sufficient. When using micro burners it's a good idea to keep your pans small so the flame heats the whole cooking surface. If it's cold, once the Propane has burnt off you'll see a drop-off in performance. If you are unable to warm the canister it's best not to overload the stove by trying to heat lots of water, as the water may cool faster than you can heat it. This scenario sees you sitting for half an hour for two litres of water to boil when you would be better cooking four half litre pans of water instead.

A good way to extend your fuel is to have cold or just warm drinks (not boiled), like fruity power drinks, as you don't gain much from a hot drink apart from a morale boost and having spare gas is a bigger morale boost on a climb than heating water only to let it cool again before drinking.