Here’s an item that may seem to be out of left field, but it comes directly from a truck driver who says he’s “about had it with expensive greasy spoon cuisine.” Victor Goertzen, a columnist for our own highwaySTAR magazine, says he has an alternative — at a whole two lb, it’s the Spenton ‘WoodGas Campstove’. As Victor puts it, “Pack a kettle and fry pan and stock the fridge, cuz now you can have a camp-style cookout wherever you are.”

This stove will run on any sort of organic combustibles (although the manufactured pellets are more efficient) and uses a two-stage process to burn cleanly and efficiently. It does produce trace amounts of carbon monoxide, so it’s best not to do it in the cab.

You fill it with fuel, light it using tinder or starter fluid, and a battery pack (2AA) powers a fan that is essential to the second-stage gasification burn. There’s very little smoke, and it burns from the top down, making mid-burn refueling fairly simple. Once burning it’s ready to cook in two minutes.

The fan has two power settings to control temperature, and there are set screws in the combustion chamber to adjust for varying altitude. Out of the box this football-sized unit is calibrated to produce the heat of a range element at home.

The stove itself sells for US$55, but the whole kit, including solar battery charger and starter gel, can be delivered to your door for under US$90.