I hadn't given much thought to how I was going to cook meals when I started my trek across the country. For the most part I thought I'd be eating at restaurants--dollar menus, when restaurants had dollar menus--and eating packaged foods. A friend suggested that I consider buying MREs (meals ready to eat); after doing some research I came to the conclusion that eating MREs were not going to be in the budget. A Couchsurfing host I stayed with who hiked the John Muir Trail showed me a video of something called a cat can stove. At first I thought it was a joke, then I watched the video; making a cat can stove was simple and inexpensive--far less expensive than something from a camping supply store. I was carrying my gear in a backpack and didn't have room for anything more than what I had with me already so held off on making one.
In Las Vegas I stayed with another Couchsurfing host who knew about the cat can stove and helped me make one. By this time I had switched to using a bike trailer/stroller to carry my equipment--much more spacious than a backpack. I used the cat can stove to cook meals all throughout the remainder of my trek; in it I cooked beans, rice, mac & cheese, soup, a lot of ramen, and various canned pastas that I would get at the dollar stores.
Here it is, in all it's glory: how to build a cat can stove with professional backpacker, Andrew Surka.
Me using the cat can stove for the first time. And a road mishap.