Bottom line is if you're solo or in a group it's a nice set to have and it will last you a long time.

The best way I found to prime the stove in winter is this: Get a tealight candle, and pull out the candle part, leaving the metal container. Keep this with your Trangia, it weighs almost nothing. When it's cold out, get your tealight warm, I use a mini bic lighter for a couple of seconds. Put a little alcohol in the tealight. Put the tealight on the Trangia "storage" cap to elevate it. Light the tealight. Trangia is a Swedish company who have constantly re-developed, updated and improved their Trangia stove design, using their prolific experience to become the natural choice for outdoor people. I started out with just the spirit burner and windscreen / pot stand and I carried it nested in my other cook-set. I was so impressed with the quality and durability that I bought the complete set and it is my first choice for cook sets and stove set up. I have cooked pancakes, stew etc boiled water and eaten out of it an it is just right. The stove is a bit heaver than my Gigapower but when you add up all you canisters windscreen fuel etc they are actually pretty close in weight. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches:Nothing beats a classic grilled cheese sandwich cooked on the Trangia pan. Spread butter on bread slices, add cheese slices, and cook on the pan until the bread is crispy and the cheese is melted.

Just pour a little fuel in the aluminum potstand of the 28, place the spirit burner in the potstand as you normally do with the lid off, and light the fuel in the bottom by inserting a lit match through one of the air holes in the side. This will not only pre-warm the spirit burner, but also light it after a while. If you pre-warm, use a windscreen, and leave the lid on the pot, you will get a lot faster boil times than most people would have you believe. When using a Trangia stove, the convenience of having pre-cut, pre-marinated, and pre-portioned ingredients will make your camp cooking experience even more enjoyable. So, plan, get organized, and savour the flavours of nature with delicious campfire meals prepared with love! I've used mine for day hiking meals, as well as our primary cook stove during a couple of winter storms where we lost power as well as getting us through a week without power during Storm Alfred in 2011. I've also dragged it along to our Relay for Life weekend to keep the coffee flowing for our team, everyone on the overnight especially appreciated the hot coffee and popcorn (lol this stove and Jiffy Pop are a dynamic duo!).

The canister is faster and easier. But the canisters are expensive, you don't know how much gas you have left (unless you time it and do some math), and you wind up with a bunch of partially empty canisters in your gear box. The Mini can be seen as a reaction to the soda can stove revolution. Compared to the excellent 25 and 27 sets, this is a minimal rig, which is still safer, more practical and reliable than most home-brewed alternatives. It still offers the facility to transport leftover fuel and comes with the snuffer/simmer ring, on the full-sized, brass burner. Things I dislike: I wish the simmer ring was more of a lobster claw design (meaning two leaves that open) as opposed to the single plate which ends up offsetting your flame under your pot. Anyway, to the Mini Trangia. The Mini Trangia is heavier and less efficient than many alcohol stoves. I feel though, that it's positive qualities make up for these negatives. Lentil Stew:Warm up with a hearty stew cooked in the Trangia pot. Combine lentils, diced veggies, tomato sauce, vegetable broth, and herbs like thyme and rosemary. Let it simmer on the gas burner until the tender lentils and the flavours meld together.It may seem silly for me to write this, but a few others on the internet claimed the lid was difficult to use when cooking because they couldn't get it unsnapped without burning their fingers! Veggie Stir-Fry:Whip up a delicious and nutritious stir-fry using the Trangia pan. Toss in your favourite veggies like bell peppers, onions, carrots, broccoli, and some garlic and ginger for flavour. Add in a sauce made with soy sauce, sesame oil, and honey, and cook until the veggies are tender and the flavours meld together. Here I will give you a list of recipes I love cooking when camping using my Trangia stove. These recipe ideas for the trangia stove will give you a greater appreciation of cooking outdoors. The Trangia cooking system allows you to cook excellent meals when out in the wild. Trangia Recipe Ideas:

In the cautionary side of things, like all alcohol stoves, you must use caution with the Trangia burner as the stove makes no noise if properly protected from the wind and the flame is nearly impossible to see in daylight. Often, only its heat lets you know it's lit. Be careful snuffing the stove with the simmer ring as you can easily burn your hand. The pot lifter is a bit short so it can be stored/hauled in the pot, but being a bit short it can heat up. Just be aware of that. So with my Trangia in "storage mode" I have in it: the stove, snuffer cap/simmer ring, the storage cap, potstand, potlifter, windscreen folded up, a three inch long strip of cardboard to ease lighting (not needed, but nice to have), and the tealight.

Summing up: Avoid, unless you will cook only in sheltered locations. Get the Trangia 27-1 instead, which is a great stove. The extra size and weight will be offset by greater fuel efficiency if your trip is longer than just a couple of days. Ok I have been out of the game for a while but it hasn't been that long anyway. I use to rough-it and cook over a fire but that has its problems like rain. So in my search for a stove I ruled out all petroleum based and pressurized fuels and that don't leave much.

Flip the pot stand upside down, and center it over the tealight. Place your stove on the upside down pot stand. In just a minute your Trangia will be warmed up, now just set the stove up like normal, and light it (you could also use the tealight to warm up water for a cup of coco instead of lighting the Trangia). Always practice safe cooking practices when using a Trangia stove, including keeping a safe distance from open flames, using heat-resistant utensils, and being mindful of wind conditions.The reason is that the windshield does not trap the heat in as soon as there is slight wind. Efficiency goes down the cellar, completely unacceptable, the stove gets EXTREMELY thirsty. Cutting a soda can into shape as an extra windshield makes it slightly better however.