While on D of E you will need to cook your food and boil water, there are various cooking stoves available on the market but D of E do have some specific guidelines on this.

Long time favourite of the D of E is the Trangia cooking stove, available fuels for these are methylated spirits or gas. Gas is the more expensive option but is also safer, easier to use and easier to clean after use, the downside of this is the gas canisters are quite bulky to carry. Meths can be a little more awkward to use and burns without a visible flame, the danger of this is not realizing that it is still lit and trying to top up the burner from a meths bottle with disastrous results, young people need clear guidelines from their supervisors whatever method they are using to cook as safety is paramount.

For a group you will need a Trangia between every two or three people, no need to carry one each, the load can be shared between the people using it, one person might carry the gas and another the stove.

The stove is easy to set up and pack away, it all fits back inside itself and uses the frying pan as a lid with a strap to hold it all together. It’s also one of the more compact cooking systems and is fairly resistant to wind and rain making it an ideal cooking stove for young people on their D of E expedition.

Before using any other type of cooking stove, make sure to check with your D of E provider to make sure that they are happy for you to use it.

Most Duke of Edinburgh providers will have and be able to supply suitable cooking stoves for you to use while on your expedition.