A portable stove is a stove specially designed to be portable and lightweight, as for camping.

Safety

• Careful when cooking with an open gas flame near your tent, or near dry wood or grass.
• The fire risk cannot be stressed enough. Never cook inside a tent.
• Always have a pot holder for hot saucepans handy.
• Make sure you know how to turn the gas off and can reach the valve at all times.

Equipment

For hikers, the equipment will have to be minimal - you can buy tiny little sets with a saucepan, cup, plate and cooker all packed into a kit the size of a large tin of beans.

For those short on funds, but convinced an open fire will be allowed wherever they are going, various cheaper versions can be bought or made out of bits of sheet metal, stones, and bricks. Don't forget, though, that for an open fire, you will need wood or charcoal, which may be hard to come by in amounts small enough to carry.

Don't forget matches or a lighter, in a plastic bag or waterproof container.

Saucepans and Frying Pans

Aluminium is light, but very difficult to clean, and doesn't keep the heat. Take at least one of each. But there is no need to buy special 'camping' pans. In fact, the good ones from home are best for camping, too, if you have sandwich-bottomed pans. They are easier to clean and save gas. Only an option for car-driving campers, though.

Cups & Plates

There is no need to buy special crockery. It is far nicer eating off china than off plastic. So use up old plates this way. The only advantage of the traditional tin plate is that it is lighter and unbreakable. The disadvantage is that you might burn your knees when balancing a plate of hot food on them, and the taste of aluminium is unpleasant in conjunction with some foods - it is said by some to cause Alzheimer's.

Cutlery and Gadgets

Indispensable are:

• At least one good knife which will satisfactorily cut bread, meat, fruit, veg and cheese.
• A tin opener.
• A corkscrew - one of these should have a bottle opener attached, if not, that might be useful, too.
• Scissors.
• A wooden spoon.
• Knife, fork, spoon and teaspoon for each person.
• Washing-up liquid and a dishcloth.

There are two extreme ways of catering for your family on holiday (apart from eating every meal in a restaurant):

1. Take absolutely everything you are going to need for the whole holiday and pre-cook as much as possible.
2. Take nothing but salt and tea bags and buy and eat each day what you are going to need.

For families with caravans, the first option is quite realistic, while those travelling by car may find a solution somewhere in-between.