How many cannisters do you need? We decided to get some empirical data to assist in answering this timeless question.
We selected two commonly used stoves that would represent what many people on the trail are using; a Jetboil Zip (integrated pot with heat exchange) and an MSR Pocket Rocket (open stove). We conducted a simple test to see how much fuel they each used to boil 250ml and 500ml of water. We selected these two volumes to represent a person travelling solo (boiling 250ml at a time), and a couple sharing a stove (boiling 500ml at a time).
| Fuel used to boil 250ml | Fuel used to boil 500ml | |
| Jetboil Zip | 4g | 6g |
| MSR Pocket Rocket | 6g | 12g |
Now, for the purposes of answering the question (how many cannisters do I need?), we assumed an average hiker might do 4 boils per day; morning cuppa, morning porridge or midday cuppa, rehydrate the evening meal, evening cuppa. We worked out based on these 4 boils how long a 100g, 230g and a 450g canister would last.
Jetboil Zip | 1 Person, 4 boils of 250ml/day days/canister | 2 People, 4 boils of 500ml/day days/canister |
| 100g canister | 6.3 days | 4.2 days |
| 230g canister | 14.4 days | 9.6 days |
| 450g canister | 28.1 days | 18.8 days |
MSR Pocket Rocket
| 1 Person, 4 boils of 250ml/day days/canister | 2 People, 4 boils of 500ml/day days/canister |
| 100g canister | 4.2 days | 2.1 days |
| 230g canister | 9.6 days | 4.8 days |
| 450g canister | 18.8 days | 9.4 days |
Of course, this is just a guide. We did the test in perfect indoor conditions*; wind, chilly temperatures, nearly frozen water in the mornings, big cups of coffee and a whole range of other variables will play out to alter the amount of fuel used. But hopefully the information here can assist you to make an educated guess as to How Many Cannisters Do I Need?
* We set up the stoves inside. The ambient air temperature was 25 degrees C, the water starting temperature was 15 degrees C. We weighed the canister before bringing the water to a vigorous boil, then weighed the canister after to get a figure for the amount of fuel used. We used a Trangia Hard Anodized aluminium pot on the MSR Pocket Rocket for good efficiency of heat transfer.
