i feel like many people discourage foraging for wood fuel for your stove. it is the oldest method of creating a heat source for cooking. it can be quite efficient (around 7 minute boils in moderate humidity conditions) and works great when paired with a pot cozy to finish hydrating you meals. there are downsides with every fuel source but wood stoves are just as viable means to cook food as any other fuel set up for cooking
with the proper tinder and kindle foraging skills you can find enough dry fuel to boil water in any conditions as far as Im concerned. you can usually find it right on the trail while your walking and collect it while you hike during the day. evergreens always have dry tinder and kindling underneath the lower boughs that often has some sap on the larger kindling to help with your fire. pair this with a wad of toilet paper and you have your fire starter now all you need is a handful of finger sized pieces of wood. in the winter when there is snow on the ground and the humidity is low, all the dry wood that is deadfall is sticking up out of the snow at underbrush hight on the forest floor and because the deadfall branches are sticking up vertically often, there is a low surface area for snow to accumulate on. and during wetter months it is really not difficult to find a handful of dry sticks during the whole course of the day. yes you will be carrying the weight of your fuel each day, but it is less than carryigg muliple canisters or a weeks worth of alcohol. i am a big fan of wood stoves because fuel is everywhere and it is a cheap and viable method to cook with anywhere there isnt a fire ban. and one last thing to note is that on a long distance hike, you often are forced to purchase more fuel than your carrying capacity and you often wind up leaving costly fuel behind. good luck and i hope some of you looking into this option dive in and enjoy the many rewards of using wood for your stove fuel.
happy trails
treefingers