Heating up MRE w/ Flameless heater?

[someuser]

Just a question to the folks who ate a lot MREs, and I feel like I am not using the heaters properly.

So I have be using some of my heater out in the bush, but I noticed that the entree and side doesn't really get "hot" using the heater. Even leaving the entree and side inside the heater for like 10 minute the meals stills feels cool. I used the same amount of water as the bags tells me, but does putting more water or less makes the heater hotter? Should I actually leave the entree and side inside the heater until the white pouch doesn't produce heat anymore?

Since I thought that I wasn't using the heater properly, I have been heating the pouches in water like IMPs. Boiling the MREs in water seems to work the best as it get steaming hot when I open them.

I guess I could try and warm up the entree and side inside my jacket pockets 1st then use the heater. My best guess when I warm them up 1st with my body heat and then the heater should bring out the best result.

Thanks for help again guys.

[MCIera]

Varying the amount of water used to activate the FRH is not the answer, you should used the prescribed amount (about 1 fluid ounce.) The FRH is intended to raise the temperature of a single retort pouch about 100 degrees Fahrenheit above it's current ambient temperature. That being said, the FRH does continue to produce residual heat following it's intended usage, so you could indeed use it to heat both an entree and the accompanying side dish. Direct contact with the white chemical packet is preferable as you would not lose heat to the plastic outer bag, however it is unlikely that you'll be able to insert both the entree and the side dish into the FRH at the same time, so at the very least you'll have to heat one (preferably the side dish) outside of the FRH.

To summarize, you'll probably have better results if you use a longer heating time since you're heating a larger mass of food product. Additionally, you will probably have more efficient heating if you turn both of the retort packs over to deliver heat to the other side at some point in the heating process, rather than relying on the heat to dissipate through the packet. If you have the facility to boil water to create a water bath, it is probably a more efficient and reliable means for even heating, especially when you are heating larger quantities of pouches. I seem remember hearing of the use of a communal tub (pot) of hot/boiling being used to heat both MRE entrees and those commercially available Hormel retort cup entrees ("lunch buckets"?) during Desert Shield/Storm.

[dirtbag]

Also, if you are using the older style FRH (the cardboard one), it'll take alot longer to get hot, the heating chemicals are somewhat different than the newer type.
The new ones will get hot very fast, you don't have much time to put everything back into the box before you get burned!
In very cold situations, using TWO FRH's, one after another is recommended.

[Treesuit]

Depends on the FRH, whether your using a older style or newer style. The newer green ones should not take that long to heat up and cook both sides.

[someuser]

Thanks for the insights in using the FRH to heat up the MREs. I have been using the green bag flameless ration heaters which should work way better then the older ones. Well after reading what you guys says I can safely conclude that FRH will only warm up the food instead of making them "hot". To make the entree and side "hot" I am going to try using 2 FRH as prescribed here by dirtbag. Normally I do get the chance to heat up the pouches in water so I do have a lot extra heaters around.

Thanks again guys.

[dirtbag]

One of the newer FRH's should make the entree too hot to touch...

I wonder whats happening?

[Ruleryak]

Thanks for the insights in using the FRH to heat up the MREs. I have been using the green bag flameless ration heaters which should work way better then the older ones. Well after reading what you guys says I can safely conclude that FRH will only warm up the food instead of making them "hot". To make the entree and side "hot" I am going to try using 2 FRH as prescribed here by dirtbag. Normally I do get the chance to heat up the pouches in water so I do have a lot extra heaters around.

Thanks again guys.

All I can offer is my advice on how I get my FRHs to work every time and hope that it's helpful because I and I'm sure many of us know for a fact that these things can get your food to the point of being hot enough that they're inedible until they cool a bit. What I personally do is put the recommended amount of water into the pouch with the heater portion held above that point. then I fold over the top and lay it down flat so I can help work the water into the heater. If it absorbs all of the water I add a tiny bit more and let it absorb that too. Then I stuff in the meal pouch, fold it over and stick it in the box as it heats to the point where I can no longer handle it. All I can guess is that the FRHs that you're using are more than ten years old or than they're not getting the right amount of water (enough to be thoroughly damp with no dry patches, but not enough for excess water to be leaking out). If you have the cardboard-cased ones with the granules inside they're pretty much all useless at this point as are the type where it's like a gray brick that's in its own separate plastic-lined sleeve inside the heater pouch. These things didn't last forever and exposure to oxygen helps them corrode so many of the older ones will get to a luke-warm point at best and never really cook like the newer ones will. Sites like the Epicenter sell them pretty cheap in bulk if you want to get ones that are only a year or two old.

[cablemonkey]

are you timing them with a watch? 10-15 minutes is a long time to wait when you're hungry. I find that my main problem with the FRHs is that I don't wait long enough. If I can, I like toss the whole thing in boiling water for 10 minutes. That way I know it's going to be steaming hot when I open it up.