Self Heating Meals

brickmaster · Post by **brickmaster** » Fri May 21, 2010 8:40 am

Does anyone know where I can buy heater meals or a similar type product in the SF or Reno area.

We are flying in from overseas right before the event so can't buy them online in advance.

I know that Cabela's on I-80 right before Reno sell them but they don't carry the full range, or at least they didn't when we were there.

I've searched online for alternatives and I found that REI have a kit to heat water in a bag for freeze dried food:
http://www.rei.com/product/703589

This could work but it does seem a pain in the ass to carry water, heater & food, then have to wait to heat the water & then wait to heat the food.

We're looking to have something that we can stash in our backpacks, and not have to return to camp to have hot food, or have a tasty drunken meal in deep playa near dawn.

This isn't our weeks food plan but I do want more convenience than in previous years

Fire_Moose · Post by **Fire_Moose** » Fri May 21, 2010 8:54 am

yer right, seems like a pain in the ass. MREs are self heating right?

It's all about what yer willing to do. I, for example, am willing to carry granola bars, or beef jerky with me for my adventure snack

rodiponer · Post by **rodiponer** » Fri May 21, 2010 9:11 am

The heaters that come in military rations only need a little bit of water, maybe half a cup. The REI self heaters might be the same. The water just starts the reaction going, and so it's not like boiling water and then cooking food in the boiling water. It's more like getting the weird little heat packet soggy and then putting the food packet in the pouch up against the heat packet thing. So it's pretty quick.

Boijoy · Post by **Boijoy** » Fri May 21, 2010 9:45 am

Perhaps you can order the food you want from Cabelas website & do an "in store" pick up in Reno?

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Fri May 21, 2010 9:48 am

Most army surplus stores carry this for earthquake preparedness.

phil · Post by **phil** » Fri May 21, 2010 10:10 am

Have you asked Heater Meals whethere it's available in stores?
http://www.heatermeals.com/

[email protected]

Louise and I order from them online, so we've never bothered about stores. Heater Meals includes the water in their kit for what that's worth - most Burners have enough water to make their magnesium burn. :->

If you can't find heater meals in stores, check our page at
http://www.cieux.com/bm/quickMeals.html
which has links to similar products that you may be able to find in local stores.

Good luck and have fun!

rodiponer · Post by **rodiponer** » Fri May 21, 2010 12:33 pm

Phil,
Do you like how Heater Meals taste, or do you tolerate them for the convenience?

I like MRE's, but they are expensive and are much bigger meals than we want.

brickmaster · Post by **brickmaster** » Fri May 21, 2010 5:18 pm

Fire_Moose wrote: It's all about what yer willing to do. I, for example, am willing to carry granola bars, or beef jerky with me for my adventure snack

You're right, and thats how i've rolled in the past, but I think the thought of hot food at 3am is too appealing!

rodiponer wrote:Phil,
Do you like how Heater Meals taste, or do you tolerate them for the convenience?

I like MRE's, but they are expensive and are much bigger meals than we want.

The ones I've had were fine. Ease of use is the main attraction.

I considered MRE's there are too many calories per serving, even for BM.

I re read the REI thing and its not as complicated as I though. You put the water into the freze dried food, then put the whole thing into the heater bag. Takes about 20 per the website. Might be ok

Boijoy wrote:Perhaps you can order the food you want from Cabelas website & do an "in store" pick up in Reno?

This is something I didn't think of, but is a very good idea. I will consider.

phil wrote: If you can't find heater meals in stores, check our page at
http://www.cieux.com/bm/quickMeals.html
which has links to similar products that you may be able to find in local stores.

I did, it was through your page I found out about heater meals about two years ago. Very useful website.

Craftsmn · Post by **Craftsmn** » Tue May 25, 2010 10:35 pm

I like Tasty Bites Thai and Indian food in a pouch. (Yes they really are tasty) We often times eat it without heating it up with some pita. So you can take it with you and add a piece of pita for a meal on the go. But also good heated and over rice.

www.tastybite.com

You can go to their website and find the stores that carry their product. In San Fran and Reno

Snow · Post by **Snow** » Tue May 25, 2010 10:46 pm

1) place meal on dash during day
2) wait till your hungry
3) eat hot meal

SELF HEATING MEAL!!!!!!!

I used to do this working in BFE all the time. When I'd leave the hotel in the AM for the long drive there was nothing open but the gas station (usually battle mountain). Id get a frozen burrito and place on dash and it'd be piping hot by lunch/afternoon, even in the winter (OK, on really cold days it was lukewarm). Works best if left in the sealed clear plastic solar oven it comes packaged in. If working on a drill rig, just place foil wrapped food on rig manifold. Don't get it mixed up with the driller's food. Their wrath can be worse than DPW's.

TomServo · Post by **TomServo** » Wed May 26, 2010 1:59 am

MRE's are over priced... just get a steel bowl, some soup cans and several sterno cans.

mudpuppy000 · Post by **mudpuppy000** » Wed May 26, 2010 8:39 am

Hot meals as easy as:

1) Canned food
2) Clothes Hangar
3) Stick it in the nearest burn barrel, fire sculpture, mutant vehicle, etc, and take it out before it explodes.

BTW, I didn't know tasty bite made Thai food, that's freaking awesome.

phil · Post by **phil** » Wed May 26, 2010 9:01 am

rodiponer wrote:Phil,
Do you like how Heater Meals taste, or do you tolerate them for the convenience?

I like MRE's, but they are expensive and are much bigger meals than we want.

It's somewhere in between. I wouldn't choose to eat Heater Meals as a real meal, but they don't taste bad. I don't choose frozen tv dinners as real meals, too. What Louise and I rely on them for is meals during dust storms. Louise has hypoglycemia and can't go without a meal. If there's a playa wind storm, and we can't light up the camp stove, the heater meal is a legitimate meal for Louise (and me). (A note: heater meals have a shelf life of some years, so we go ahead and eat them at home as they approach and exceed expiration so we don't waste our money - they're taste is acceptable as is, and you can use your own condiments to add whatever additional flavor you want.)

MREs are made for soldiers in combat, and the MREs I've read the labels on provide pretty much a full day's supply of sodium, fat, calories, etc. in each meal. At our age, we can't afford to consume all that stuff then have two other meals a day. For many Burners, MREs would be a perfect fit, though, especially if they're operating 24 hours a day on that one meal.

The alternatives I've seen suggest it here all work, but if we're in a dust storm when it's meal time, Heater Meals can give us a hot breakfast, lunch, or dinner without having to light a fire and without sun on the dash.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Wed May 26, 2010 10:04 am

You can get Humanitarian Daily Rations (HDR):
http://www.mreinfo.com/us/current/hdrs.html

The actual military MREs are not legal for a civilian to possess (or hard to buy, anyway). The civilian version is probably lacking some superfood additive that would make citizens unmanageable.

Kinetik V · Post by **Kinetik V** » Wed May 26, 2010 10:27 am

I've taken Heater Meals but didn't like the taste of them, YMMV. Definitely try them at home first before relying on them on the playa. And while MRE's are no longer available....local Army Surplus places where I live have a "build your own" MRE kit....they sell the heater packs for $1, and you can buy pretty much any of the MRE entrees. The bean burritos have saved me during dust storms as I too am hypoglycemic. I always have a few of them stashed back for emergencies...they work.

phil · Post by **phil** » Wed May 26, 2010 10:56 am

> I've taken Heater Meals but didn't like the taste of them, YMMV.
> Definitely try them at home first before relying on them on the playa.

Absolutely. I've tried other makes of self-heating meals and gotten heartburn. Try a few different brands while you're safe at home.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Wed May 26, 2010 11:12 am

You can find MRE's for good prices at gun shows.

bm_cricket · Post by **bm_cricket** » Wed May 26, 2010 11:42 am

My $0.02.

I bring a few bags of Trader Joes metal pouched Indian food. I think it tastes fine. If I want it hot I leave it on the top of a car for half an hour. Any time I go out on the playa I just have one in my backpack. If I get hungry I snack on something. If I get really hungry I have a full meal. Who cares if it isn't hot.

On those "lets go out for champagne in deep playa" days I usually don't think a military ration will give it that decadent feel anyway. I've never done it but why not bring your camping stove and a potwith you? I'm sure it will taste better and you get to make enough to share with a few friends.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Wed May 26, 2010 12:35 pm

bm_cricket wrote:My $0.02.

I bring a few bags of Trader Joes metal pouched Indian food. I think it tastes fine. If I want it hot I leave it on the top of a car for half an hour.

That's exactly what I brought to my first Burn. If you leave it on your car hood, keep an eye on it.

swampdog · Post by **swampdog** » Wed May 26, 2010 12:46 pm

What's your goal here? Light weight/volume, minimum work, no equipment required? If weight/volume isn't a HUGE issue just about anything canned can be eaten cold and many taste pretty good. I've enjoyed canned soup, canned chili, Tasty Bites brand stuff, canned fruit. Also energy bars such as Clif brand, breakfast treats like pop tarts or 'breakfast bars' (which are really candy bars with a vitamin in them*). Any sort of crackery/cookie thing. Peanut butter. Shelf stable milk. Nuts/dried fruit/granola.

And as pointed out above, you can get things pretty warm on your car dash.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Thu May 27, 2010 7:37 pm

The actual military MREs are not legal for a civilian to possess (or hard to buy, anyway).

Really? I think THAT just made my case of 'em MUCH tastier! I always chuckle when reading the heater pouch..."a rock or something".

Post by **AntiM** » Thu May 27, 2010 11:38 pm

robotland wrote:The actual military MREs are not legal for a civilian to possess (or hard to buy, anyway).

Really? I think THAT just made my case of 'em MUCH tastier! I always chuckle when reading the heater pouch..."a rock or something".

The ones directly out of the supply system, no, you can't get those easily, but the commissary on base sells them. By the case!

They taste lousy and I have enough food allergies I don't bother with them. Back when we did eat them, I wasn't concerned with sodium. The old versions were loaded with it.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Fri May 28, 2010 11:10 am

Actually, they aren't really illegal:
http://www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/us-govt.- ... tions.html
Sorry for the buzzkill Robotland.

Some of the regular items like peanut butter traste like somebody crumbled a vitamin pill into them and they probably did.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Fri May 28, 2010 11:12 am

So I have a few of those heat packets and I've never known what to do with them.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Fri May 28, 2010 11:23 am

When you put water in them, they release dangerous hydrogen gas.
It's up to you.

dragonpilot · Post by **dragonpilot** » Fri May 28, 2010 12:53 pm

Ugly Dougly wrote:Some of the regular items like peanut butter traste like somebody crumbled a vitamin pill into them and they probably did.

It's not a vitamin pill...it's potassium nitrate. They gave it to us in Basic Training to keep us from getting a hard-on...it was sprinkled over the jello. There was always lots of left over jello...

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Sun May 30, 2010 6:28 am

Ugly Dougly wrote:Actually, they aren't really illegal:
http://www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/us-govt.- ... tions.html
Sorry for the buzzkill Robotland.

Some of the regular items like peanut butter traste like somebody crumbled a vitamin pill into them and they probably did.

Thanks, Dougly!!! I'm a huge Demotivators fan from way back!
http://www.despair.com/viewall.html

zachass · Post by **zachass** » Wed Jul 14, 2010 1:50 pm

bm_cricket wrote:My $0.02.

I bring a few bags of Trader Joes metal pouched Indian food. I think it tastes fine. If I want it hot I leave it on the top of a car for half an hour. Any time I go out on the playa I just have one in my backpack. If I get hungry I snack on something. If I get really hungry I have a full meal. Who cares if it isn't hot.

I just tried the Jaipur Vegetables for lunch. OMG. If the rest of the ones I bought are nearly this good, I'm going to live off of these.

Also, my office mate told me about the TJs corned beef hash in the same types of bags, and that is nothing less than EXCELLENT!

dr.placebo · Post by **dr.placebo** » Wed Jul 14, 2010 2:30 pm

I wish that I could read the title of this thread and not see self healing meals, then wonder what they are.

dragonpilot · Post by **dragonpilot** » Wed Jul 14, 2010 2:31 pm

From Playa Cookery by James Shearhart:

"Be warned that MREs are meant to keep a soldier alive and fighting, not to please the palate, or be particularly healthy for that matter. They are notorious for causing constipation, and eating a week's worth will do a digestive system some mischief..."

YMMV, just sayin'...