Is the FRH a mistake?

[Ruleryak]

Huh, I had no idea that there was this much of a dislike for the FRHs! It's consistent and reliable when used within say a decade of manufacture, cooks much faster than hexane tablets, and can cook while you're moving (try that with a folding stove and canteen cup). There's no flame to produce light or endanger other equipment (c'mon, no one has ever set anything at all on fire or burned themselves with a folding stove and fuel tablets?), and the only byproduct is hydrogen gas and water vapor.

And as for the whole "can't make a hot drink with them" - has anyone tried? It's easy! All MREs today come with a hot beverage bag and the modern FRHs have zero trouble heating up an entree and a hot beverage simultaneously. There's absolutely no danger of contaminating the water by using the FRH to heat it. Maybe I've had magic FRHs and everyone else gets duds, but I can honestly say I've heated well over a hundred meals if not two hundred with FRHs and have never felt like they didn't do the job they were designed to do.

And sodjer - the FRH isn't a bonus for civvies. Natick went to a ton of trouble to minimize what goes in an MRE to reduce waste and wouldn't put the FRH in there if it wasn't intended to be used.

I'll admit, the biggest problem with the FRH is putting in too much water. That line is there for a reason. Even a little over the line and the heater just wont get hot enough. I definitely don't think it's too hard to hit the line on the dot and/or pour out any overage if too much gets in the pouch. If they're used correctly they work exactly as intended.

[dirtbag]

And the newer FRH's are Super hot compared to the old style ones.
That said, I always have some kind of single burner, backpack style stove in every vehicle I own...
And tea
And coffee
And hot chocolate
And soup
I'm an old Boy Scout..... Be Prepared!

[housil]

and can cook while you're moving (try that with a folding stove and canteen cup).

I guess this is one of the main reason, to eat on the move.

We already figured out, that old FRH become ineffective with their increasing age. I´m current eating 2003/2004 MREs and had several FRH that worked only poor or didn´t at all. But 2009 heater always worked well.
The outside temp is also factor. As colder it´s get, as less is the FRH working.

I like the idea of the FRH, but also use cooker+cup or any other heater first.

I'm an old Boy Scout..... Be Prepared!

Yes!

[sodjer]

ruleryak, you ve picked me up wrong,i think the frh, is in there for people who don't normally use mre s not just civvies (i listed more),ill bet most squaddies field stripping mres dump most of their frh s(barr say 1-2)and use other means to heat food.(canteen heater ,jb,or crusader system

[Daithi]

As a Brit squaddie with some 20 years experience the idea of heading out without at least a hexi cooker and tabs is just cringe worthy. It's part and parcel of the webbing packing always. Something to eat, something to drink hot and something to cook in and/or drink out of. The daysack always has at least the rest of the 24 Hour Rat pack in it, along with a gas burner, normally one of MSR's pocket rockets. The FRH is OK and bearable if you really can not use naked flame in an OP. But in most other situations you can cook properly and there is time, even just a hot brew can be done in less than 5 minutes.

If it's cold, you need hot food and drinks to keep you going.

[dirtbag]

Being able to have a quick hot drink on a cold day is a great morale builder.

I really like the Brit rat pack, with the large 'Brew Kit".
All the bean entrees, not so much...
Rather than the MRE's 'make one drink, very messy'...Not well thought out !

[Horsesoldier]

I always had the sinking suspicion the FRH was fielded less for noise/light discipline or convenience on the move and more because the powers that be didn't really trust the Joes with open flame.

[RockyRaab]

Perhaps rightly so, too.

I'm of the far distant school that saw golf ball-sized lumps of C-4 explosive being used as heating fuel. It worked great, too - until some dim bulb stomped on it to put it out. Sometimes, it cost him a foot. (Or at least that was the urban legend.)

As I said in the OP, I understand the reasoning behind a flameless way to heat chow, but still feel that the circumstances where such a method is REALLY needed are few and far between. For 90% of all other meal opportunities, a stove would be better not only for the hot food and drink, but for morale. My opinion.

[dirtbag]

Yep, I carry at least one backpack type stove in every vehicle, along with the other 'necessary's' , water, coffee, pot, and most important, TP...
Oh, and a couple of MRE's...

[jfko6]

I believe I am qualified to offer some background on the FRH.

The FRH was developed around the time of the Gulf War and appeared to have come into use after Gulf War 1 (it was a short Police Action, anyway). I was the recipient of any early one with training.

More importantly, a study was done during the war on feeding the soldiers. There was in fact a lot of food wasted so science came into play. It was found that if the food was Hot more of it would be naturally consumed. Hence, the FRH was born which was a nice little invention.

I haven't run into too many problems with its use like others have mentioned (doesn't mean I won't) but generally have been able to make the MRE pouch piping hot the way it should be.

In the Military, guys like to run the bandwagon to see what the other guy is doing before he does something. I found if you are able to get your meal Hot, make it hot. As the study above shown, the more calories the better when you are doing field work that strains the body.