Other uses for FRH's?

[MCIera]

I was wondering if anyone has used FRHs to heat commercially available food products (something in the manner of Heater Meals.) In addition to Heater Meals, there seem to be other products like those from Alpine Foods, EverSafe, and Mountain House that appear to be using one of the Tru Tech (FRH 2nd Generation) pads to heat retort foods that are tray/bowl packed. One that came to mind were the Hormel/Dinty Moore tray packed retorts, or some of the ones marketed by Con Agra under various names. Of course if the product doesn't come in a box (like those from Hormel,) one would need some sort of container to keep the heat in.

[kman]

You should check out The Epicenter's MRE page:

http://www.theepicenter.com/mre_militar ... o_eat.html

A little ways down the page, they've added some suggestions for how to use the hot beverage bags and even the FRHs. In some of the pictures, they show a small cooler where they've thrown in a couple of FRHs. It looks like it generates a lot of heat.



And I really like their hot beverage bag ideas:

[Nawt]

Hi there, I haven't used them for warming up 'commercial' food but have used it to clean the drain of the sink. .

I'll explain it. SOmetimes when the drain is a little clogged up or if it doesn't drain the well anymore. I took the FRH, and dropped the stuff (without plastic) down the sink, adding little water. Since it produces quite some heat, it dissolves the grease that cloggs up the sink. (I even think it is able to burn the hairs.) Leave it for a little while and then flush it all away.

Note that I don't recommend doing this since I'm not so sure if the stuff is very environmentally friendly. But neither is the some of the other sink cleaner. But it appears to work. (I've used it when I was out of the regular stuff).

I got the idea from a Dutch 'sink-drain cleaner' called "Crofty". It works in a similar way. But I don't use the sink cleaner to heat up a meal

Bye Nawt.

[MCIera]

Heh, it looks like things may have come full circle. I should have mentioned that my though was motivated by Epicenter's page. The HBBs actually do work quite well with an FRH, and can be used just like an MRE package for heating if filled with 7-10oz of food, (e.g. a individual canned food item.)

My thought was to use a commercially packaged retort trayed item and invert it on top of an FRH for heating, like one of the commercially marketed self-heating items. The method of my madness stems from the fact that these commercial items with familiar brand names might be more appealing to civilian volunteers (like CERT members) and those who do not have an interest in military rations. Additionally, the general populace is less likely to balk at a $2 item that they can find in a supermarket verses a $4-7 self heating item with an unfamiliar brand name that they might have to order through a web site. My only past experience with similar products was a Heater Meal demo from about 10 years ago, and I forget if the sealing on the tray was similar to that which is used on the current retail products. I guess I'll try it with one of the commercial packages and see what develops.

You should check out The Epicenter's MRE page:

http://www.theepicenter.com/mre_militar ... o_eat.html

[MCIera]

We have a similar Sodium Hydroxide based product called Drano.
But you might want to try boiling about a gallon or so of water in a stock pot or some large cooking vessel and then just dumping it down the drain. It usually does the same thing with none of the harmful environmental effects.

I got the idea from a Dutch 'sink-drain cleaner' called "Crofty". It works in a similar way. But I don't use the sink cleaner to heat up a meal

Bye Nawt.

[MCIera]

Just thought I'd post an update to my thought of using an FRH with commercial retort tray products. The short version would be that it works just fine.

Tried it two ways.

1. The Epicenter method of activating a FRH in the bag and then placing the tray pack (film side down) on top of the FRH, in a soft sided cooler bag (actually I placed a piece of cardboard underneath the FRH in case it got too hot for the vinyl material of the cooler.) Left it there for about 15 minutes and came back to a hot tray pack (required a little stirring to even out the heat.) Used a Marie Callender 10oz Beef Stew retort meal.

2. Tried the method that is used with some of the commercial self-heating meal products. Used a 12oz Chef Boyardee Cheese Ravioli item. Found a styrofoam tray, like the kind that is used in supermarkets for meat. Took the TrueTech element out of the FRH bag and placed it on the tray, wet it down with 2oz of water, put the tray item (again inverted) on top of the heater element and then shoved the whole assembly back in the box that it came in (it was a tight fit with the addition of the foam tray and the FRH. Vapors billowed out of the box as one would expect. Again I left it for about 15 minutes and the entree was heated through, actually it was a little hotter than needed and I had to let it cool down a little before consuming it.

I think the only caveat here is that since the military FRHs can be activated with just water instead of a salt water solution, it's probably not a good idea to have the heater elements outside of the bag until you are going to use it.

[kman]

Cool experiment MCIera. Do you have a digital camera? It'd be fun to see pictures.

I'd also be interested in hearing if your method works for one of those Hormel meals - you know, the kind that are around $1.78 at Wal-mart and come in a plastic tray. I wonder if that plastic would melt?

[MCIera]

I have a camera, but it would be a case of reinventing the wheel. The images wouldn't be any different that what you've already seen with a Heater Meals picture or any of the other "self-heating" meals that are currently being sold on the market. The concept itself is exactly what Heater Meals, Alpine Aire, La Briute, and others are currently packaging, in addition to the Mountain House Oven. The only difference here is that the heating element being used already had the corrosive catalyst so that the use of salt water isn't necessary.

It will absolutely work with the Hormel/Dinty Moore entrees that you find at Wal-Mart or at most supermarkets. The packaging is the same kind of tray and film that are used on the two Con Agra products that I used (as well as that used by the vendors of the self heating meals.) The only drawback is that Hormel decided a while back that marketing those entrees in the box would not appeal as much to the shopper and the displayed tray pack would make it easier for the consumer to envision what they are getting. As such, you'd have to find a box of your own to contain the residual heat or use the Epicenter method of putting it into a small insulated container (cooler.) No need to worry about the plastic, those containers will usually withstand temperatures in excess of the 400ºF range and are supposed to be able to be used in conventional ovens up at temps up to 400º (see the tray that is used for a TV dinner as an example.) And if you take a look at the picture of the contents of that La Briute meal in the FAA study that I referenced in my other posting the FRH element from that meal will look very familiar to the ones that you'll find in a 2nd generation FRH. If you enlarge the image a bit, the name of the manufacturer TrueTech Inc becomes pretty readible. Methinks I've stumbled onto a "make your own Heater Meal" method here?

Cool experiment MCIera. Do you have a digital camera? It'd be fun to see pictures.

I'd also be interested in hearing if your method works for one of those Hormel meals - you know, the kind that are around $1.78 at Wal-mart and come in a plastic tray. I wonder if that plastic would melt?

[SoFloAuthor]

Ok guys (and gyrls)

Here's the skinny......the Hormel, Dinty Moore, most of your prepackaged ready to eat meals, are coming from the plants that process MREs....labels are different.

Look at the line-up menu for Dinty / Hormel bowls....Pot Roast, Spaghetti, Turkey, Meatloaf (MRE 2006 menu?) Maybe

Look at the labels, they say DISTRIBUTED by NOT manufactured by.

You can be sure the bowl on the Dinty or Hormel is the same package material used with the Eversafe bowl meals which used the FRHs in a different color bag (yellow)

If you want to know where your food comes from, type in the USDA number on the seal printed on the box......mystery solved

True Tec owns the patent on FRHs I believe as well

Ever thought of wrapping an FRH in a wet towel and use it for heat on a bad back? Works good! Lasts about a half hour to 45 minutes too

[MCIera]

Mucho thanks! That does help a lot.
Perhaps I could pose a couple of questions to you, since I'm kind of a newbie at this.
Also, I rearranged your post a little to consolidate the points that I had questions about, hope you don't mind.

Here's the skinny......the Hormel, Dinty Moore, most of your prepackaged ready to eat meals, are coming from the plants that process MREs....labels are different.

Look at the line-up menu for Dinty / Hormel bowls....Pot Roast, Spaghetti, Turkey, Meatloaf (MRE 2006 menu?) Maybe

Look at the labels, they say DISTRIBUTED by NOT manufactured by.

If you want to know where your food comes from, type in the USDA number on the seal printed on the box......mystery solved

The UDSA link was really helpful. I looked up a couple for Armour and Hormel retort packaged products.

The Armour ESTs listed a company in Iowa that processed under the brands of Dial, Armour, and Hartford House

The Hormel/Dinty Moore ESTs listed Rochelle Foods in Rochelle IL processing under the names of Dubuque and Hormel.

Unfortunately the ConAga packages don't have the EST on the outside of the package, but are stamped on the trays inside of the package.

So do these processors also process and package the MRE entrees for companies like Wornick, Sopakco, Ameriqual, et al? Also, weren't the Hormel tray retorts already on the market prior to 2006?

You can be sure the bowl on the Dinty or Hormel is the same package material used with the Eversafe bowl meals which used the FRHs in a different color bag (yellow)

Wasn't this material also used for various frozen food items so that they could be heated using either microwave or conventional ovens prior to their use for thermostablized foods?

True Tec owns the patent on FRHs I believe as well

I thought True Tech was a trademark name belonging to The HeaterMeals Company which was originally a subsidiary of ZestoTherm Inc. the makers of the first genration of FRHs. It appears that The HeaterMeals Company is now owned by Innotech Products dba The HeaterMeals Comapny. Isn't TrueTech the branding that is used for the 2nd generation of FRH's in addition to the versions that are activated by salt water that is marketed to the retail market?

Ever thought of wrapping an FRH in a wet towel and use it for heat on a bad back? Works good! Lasts about a half hour to 45 minutes too

Great tip! While my use of first-aid more often requires one of the chemical cold packs, that's great information to have in case I need to administer some aid to my aged decrepit back and there is no other heat source around. Really appreciate that one.