This past weekend some friends were camping at a nearby lake, we spent a day/evening visiting them.   They had an item that I found to be just brilliant, might be common knowledge to some, was new to me...  a purchased log with six slits cut all the way thru the center.  Give the self starter wick thing a light and get a nice fire for a couple hours, log burns from inside out.  After seeing it in action and pondering the concept, I kept thinking why has no one done this before, it just works so well.  No wood gathering or fire tending required (good and bad points to that).

They can be had at TSC in my area, also in most big box stores and some smaller retailers, as shown on the web site below.