What fuel do you use for cooking? Write up your experiences here.

(You can also see the Carbon Footprint section to work out the carbon emissions for each type of fuel).

Gas

Most boaters use Calor Gas, as it is widely available from boatyards/hardware shops. Also available is 'Flo Gas', which is much cheaper but not as easy to find. It uses the same fitting as Calor gas, so it might be worth carrying a Flo Gas cylinder for when you do find somewhere to buy it.

Pros

• Easy and simple
• The cheapest option because gas cookers aren't too expensive (relatively speaking), you might even find a second hand one (see cons below).
• Relatively low hassle - all you have to do is find and transport the gas bottles! Often coal barges now carry gas and deliver to your door.
• Clean burning - no soot and dust.

Cons

• It's a fossil fuel, emitting carbon. It's also really nasty and polluting when they get it out of the earth.
• It can freeze - particularly butane.
• It is damp and can make your baot damp, ensure adequate vetilation.
• The gas bottles are heavy
• N.B. You need to take extra care on a boat with gas because if you do have a leak, gas sinks to the bottom of the boat as it is heavier than air. It can then sit in the bottom of your boat and cannot escape! If this happens it can be lethal for you and your boat. Drop a match and your boat could blow up. Saying this most people, including me, use gas for cooking. Just take care and be aware that this can happen.
• If you buy a second hand cooker to use on a boat it is more than likely it was used with mains gas. It therefore needs to have the jets changed in order to work safely with gas. These are sometimes hard to get hold of for 2nd hand cookers. You can buy new cookers that are ready for use with LPG.
• NB if you install a new gas cooker (whether brand new or second hand) it will need to have "Flame Failure Protection Device" to pass the Boat Safety Scheme - that is, the gas will switch off unless you hold in the knob while you light the burner. If you're buying a new cooker then you just have to ask for one with this device. If you're looking for a second hand cooker you'll have to pretend to the safety inspector that it's always been there and hasn't just been recently installed (the only way you're allowed to have a gas stove without the flame failure device is is to have an old gas stove already installed).

Wood

Pros

• You can get it for free - on the towpath, from a skip, or you can start managing a woodland. Even if you buy it in it can be quite cheap.

Cons

• You've got to saw it up!
• It takes time to heat up your hotplate / Aga / whatever your cooker is - and it makes your boat too hot when it's summer!
• If you buy in your wood you need to find out if it's from a really sustainable source - ideally it's a local, managed woodland, or perhaps offcuts from a local tree surgeon.

Charcoal

does anyone know of any charcoal burning cookers? Does charcoal work well in solid fuel cookers?

Pros

Cons

Diesel

The big question with diesel cookers is whether they work with bio-diesel (or even better filtered, used cooking oil)? Biodiesel is thicker than dino-diesel, and won't wick at all - so it could only work with a drip burner. Kuranda sell diesel cookers.

Pros

• Sexy.

Cons

• They're a real faff to light - up to half an hour. Most people seem to leave them on all the time.
• They are really, really expensive!
• I have a Wellas stove from Kuranda. It cost around £5,000 including fitting and worked for six months.
• The ceramic hob cracked within weeks.  The cooker is tiny, two milk pan sized rings and an oven too small for a pizza.  It wouldn't work if the battery state was less than 98%, a real pain when you're gagging for a cuppa first thing in the morning.  When it stopped working altogether the nice man at Kuranda told me that we had to take it up to High Peak in Derbyshire to let them decide whether we were responsible for damaging it. A long way from Wiltshire by sack truck.  Sadly I still have it, being far to idle to deal with the company. Put it down to experience.  Maybe you will see it on EBay, but don't even show the ad to your worst enemy.

Other cooking tips

• Using a pressure cooker speeds up cooking and saves gas. Additionally, if you go outside to release the pressure, you'll have alot less condensation than you would get from an steaming open pan.
• Storm kettles boil water quickly with very little fuel - waste paper and twigs, for example. This might be worth thinking about, in terms of reducing gas usage. A wholesome young man shows you how to use one here -  http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-use-a-storm-kettle