Allotment cookout with our Outbacker Firebox tent stove
Post by John Rush.
I am, I must confess, a fan of loafing about around fires of all kinds. I am also a fan of bacon. While these are a fairly well-established male clichés, our new camping hobby has given me a chance to look into new, and ever more sophisticated, ways to indulge these harmless pleasures. With this in mind, imagine my delight to be offered an opportunity to take a look at an Outbacker Firebox tent stove.
The Outbacker Firebox is a robust, compact little wood burning stove that has been designed to be fitted into any fire retardant shelter-be it a boat, shed or tent. It is well made and feels sturdy and tough. We got ours with the intention of using it with our Bell Tent Boutique 4m bell tent for an early season camping weekend, but we just couldn’t wait to give it a little test. As soon as we got it, we decided to use it to power up a Sunday morning breakfast cook-out up at our friends’ allotment.
The Firebox is dead easy to set up and use. The whole unit takes up about the space of the foot well in the back of a family car and only weighs 12kg, so it can go almost anywhere. The stove fits into a custom holdall that comes supplied with it (The stove pipe sections store and transport inside the stove body and the legs fold into the base).
An optional water heater that houses round the stovepipe is also available and comes with its own carrying bag. There are some cinch straps on the stove bag so that you can lash the two things together for easy carrying, which is handy. You could, of course, drop a flat-bottomed kettle on the stove for hot water if you wanted, but, personally, I think it’s worth paying the bit extra for the water heater, as it boils up your water for hot drinks, while simultaneously keeping the top of the stove free for the main event: In our case, a frying pan full of top quality dry cured bacon and sausages! Get in!
Lighting the stove is easy-A bit of newspaper, a fire lighter and a handful of super dry kindling had my stove thumping out heat in no more than five minutes. Instant cooking heat for a pan is supplied by removing the hot plate cover and just dropping the pan over the exposed flames. We had the smell of bacon drifting around the allotments in no time.
Despite its diminutive size, this stove chucks out a toasty 3kw of heat, so it makes a very cosy outside heat source for a group of people to sit around. The design of the firebox makes the burn highly efficient, so after the initial lighting off, there is much less smoke than generated by an open fire, or even a chiminea. Such smoke as there is, is drawn and whisked away through the stove pipe and the burn is so clean that I really couldn’t see a problem with this being used in camp sites, picnic grounds or even a fairly modest garden.
The Outbacker Firebox is a fun and multi-purpose bit of kit. It would make a luxurious addition to a canvas tent, a useful heat source for a backyard craft cave or just a portable cooker for a number of outdoor activities. We’re going to be taking ours with us on some adventures over the next few months, so expect further updates as to its uses. I can’t help but feel that it has already become my favourite bit of outdoors gear by a country mile. Now where’s the rest of that bacon..
We were sent the Outbacker Firebox tent stove for the purpose of this review. This post contains affiliate links.
Post linked up with Tried & Tested.
What a great piece of kit, I bet you have had so much fun with that. Perfect for the allotment. Mich x
Oh wow how cool is this stove – love that is sturdy but portable!! Perfect for camping or picnics this summer
Laura x
That does look like a great thing to have over the Summr especially – we just use portable BBQs lol x
Oh wow, your outdoor stove looks impressive! I would love something like that.
What a robust stove if you go camping. I love the vintage feel of it and it is great that it is portable as well x
This is just incredible and when we had the allotment, this would have been perfect for everything we needed to do x
Wow this is incredible, must show it to the hubby he would love something like this for days away, fishing trips or for us even on a long day out with the kids, love it and so clever
It is a really, really useful little stove. I didn’t even realise they made small portable stoves until my husband showed me this. Safe to say it’s a family favourite.
That looks so great, especially if you’re going out camping!
This looks great. Would be a perfect addition to our camping accessories
What an amazing little stove, a bit more sophisticated than the gas stoves I used to take camping. I love the idea of a portable wood burning stove 🙂
#TriedTested
It’s a pretty great little piece of kit! There’s something so fun about a wood fire!
WOW it looks fab and I think it will be a fantastic addition to your canvas tent. No more cold camping trips for you!
haha.. I’m such a baby about the cold so hopefully this keeps us nice and toasty!
Food always tastes better outdoors, this looks a great way to make a day of being outside and well fed too! #TriedTested
That’s a fab piece of kit and perfect for cooking outdoors. Those bacon and sausages do look very yummy – I feel quite hungry just looking at your photos! 🙂 #TriedTested
Ooooh what a great piece of kit! My husband loves camping, and cooking outdoors – this would be ideal for him! Thanks for linking up with #TriedTested
Oh wow! That does look like fantastic fun! Perfect for camping!
#TriedTested
What an amazing piece of camping kit! I imagine this is brilliant once set up and you’re cooking in the great outdoors. Great review
What a fantastic little piece of kit to take a way with you! I shall have to suggest this stove to my mum and her boyfriend as they go camping 3-4 times a year!
This looks fab! We are trying out camping for the first time (as a family) this summer so will keep this beauty in mind. Might need to start with a sleeping bag first 😉
That is the coolest way to have food on the go, haha! I need one of those for the beach with friends, such a good idea xx
I love being around outdoor fires too!! I love anything outdoorsy because we don’t do it so often! This tent box stove looks amazing and a really great tool for camping families!
We love the great outdoors and my husband loves fire. So this would suit us. #TriedTested
I’m a big fan of alfresco dining in all forms – Sunday morning allotment breakfast sound a joy. I’m sure the other people around were super envious!
Thanks for sharing your review on #TriedTested this week x
haha.. I’m not sure if the other allotmenteers were envious or just thought we were crazy! (Not sure all the wild kids running around with their shirts off helped our cause either!)