Most emergency cooking stoves are collapsible, and you can fold them to form a small and compact size which you can carry around. To set up the stove, you need to reorganize and attach the parts to reconstruct the stove. Most of these stoves come with a detailed instruction manual, which makes the process very simple. You can also attach barbecue grills and cooking grates to fit and hold different sizes of cookware. After the setup is complete, you need to fuel the stove to start a fire. Most survival cooking stoves are versatile and can use a wide array of fuels from propane or butane canisters, solid alcohol tablets, to organic fuels like dry hardwood, dry twigs, leaves, and branches.