HeaterMeals introduces 3-year shelf-stable meal

Post by **kman** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:57 pm

Just posted this over in the News section:

HeaterMeals introduces 3-year shelf-stable meal
http://www.mreinfo.com/news/2007/02/21/ ... able-meal/

DangerousDave · Post by **DangerousDave** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 2:27 am

MMMM, that sounds good. I'll have the steak and mushroom sauce one.

Stef · Post by **Stef** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 12:14 pm

Steack & Mushrooms?
Is it the same as the MRE entree?

I had one Steack & Mushrooms pack (menu 1/2003) for lunch yesterday during a "business management" workshop: the restaurant was closed like all the snack bars around.

I can still she the faces of all the other trainees (eating their tuna & salad sandwishes or Granola bars) when the saw me opening my case, pulling the MRE from it and preparing the FRH and the entree bag

The were certainly looking for the hidden camera

Anyway, maybe I was very hungry or maybe it was really good but anyway I appreciated it a lot!

Post by **MCIera** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:08 pm

It looks like the HeaterMeal 3 is in a retort pouch and you heat it in a FRH like bag rather than in a tray pack with the bare FRH element in a tray. I think that's how they got the 3 year self life.

kman wrote:HeaterMeals introduces 3-year shelf-stable meal
http://www.mreinfo.com/news/2007/02/21/ ... able-meal/

SoFloAuthor · Post by **SoFloAuthor** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 11:19 am

I've always liked the Heater Meals food but that bare FRH in the tray was always an issue for me.

After he hurricane season of 2004 and 2005 Heater Meals were popping up all over the place in SoFlo.

I had one police officer tell me a tale of a case of the Heater Meals (bare FRH) getting soaked.....and causing the FRHs to heat up......a lot of hot food at once!

Glad to see they have gotten past the "trucker meal" mentality and pushed for longer shelf life......

Green peppersteak and the Lasagna are GREAT!

Post by **MCIera** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 5:10 pm

SoFloAuthor wrote:I had one police officer tell me a tale of a case of the Heater Meals (bare FRH) getting soaked.....and causing the FRHs to heat up......a lot of hot food at once!

I thought the heater elements in the Heater Meal packages required a salt water based solution to act as a catalyst to activate the heater?

SoFloAuthor wrote:Glad to see they have gotten past the "trucker meal" mentality and pushed for longer shelf life......

I can't say as I agree here as the Heater Meal appears to be marketed to a broader audience. The Heater Meal 3 does also include a tray for the food package to be emptied into for consumption. While there are people who may have a preference for eating the contents out of a pouch, I'd be inclined to think that the overwhelming majority of the mainstream public are more used to eating food out of a bowl or plate, hence the offering of products in retort microwaveable bowls or trays in the mass consumer market. I think that all of us here are aware that the retort tray products from Wornick, Heater Meal, Chef 5 Minute, et al, can be heated quickly in a microwave just as similarly packaged products from Hormel or Con Agra are marketed as microwaveable supermarket items. The familarity of the tray or bowl (or can for that matter) would seem to be more appealing to the general public who may be the recipient of such items as disaster relief victims. Don't most of the mainstream disaster preparedness guides (e.g. those from governmental OES agencies and the Red Cross) encourage the use of shelf stable foods that are familiar?

Post by **kman** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 7:28 pm

MCIera wrote:I thought the heater elements in the Heater Meal packages required a salt water based solution to act as a catalyst to activate the heater?

That's true - it does require salt water - but I wonder if the case got soaked with sea water. That would certainly be salty enough, wouldn't it?

MCIera wrote:The familarity of the tray or bowl (or can for that matter) would seem to be more appealing to the general public who may be the recipient of such items as disaster relief victims. Don't most of the mainstream disaster preparedness guides (e.g. those from governmental OES agencies and the Red Cross) encourage the use of shelf stable foods that are familiar?

You have a good point here, MCIera. I personally love the retort pouches because they remind me of MREs and in terms of packing and storing them, I think it's easier to stow a flat-pack than a bowl-meal.

But on the other hand, whenever I eat one of those Hormel meals, I really dig the bowl. It may be be a pain in the ass to get the microwaved cover off the top without burning your hands but that bowl is just the right shape and size to make eating easy. And don't have any problem getting all the food out of it.

And that reminds me, after I finished off that Swedish Meatballs Hormel meal this past weekend, I looked at the empty bowl and thought "wow...this could be pretty useful in an emergency situation" - I mean, whatever I might need a bowl for - water/food for the pets, washing up, etc. Those bowls seem to offer a few more options than the empty retort pouches.

Post by **MCIera** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:53 pm

kman wrote: That's true - it does require salt water - but I wonder if the case got soaked with sea water. That would certainly be salty enough, wouldn't it?

Ah yes, hurricane + Florida, that could indeed be more than enough to activate the heater. They could also be activated if the package sustained enough damage to puncture the water packet.

kman wrote:It may be be a pain in the ass to get the microwaved cover off the top without burning your hands but that bowl is just the right shape and size to make eating easy. And don't have any problem getting all the food out of it.

In addition to distributing the eat more evenly through the tray, perhaps that's why they suggest allowing the meal to rest for a minute after microwaving. When I used those retort trays at work, I found that the time to walk back to my office from the microwave was enough to allow the cover to be easily removed without any discomfort.

Post by **kman** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:38 pm

MCIera wrote:In addition to distributing the eat more evenly through the tray, perhaps that's why they suggest allowing the meal to rest for a minute after microwaving. When I used those retort trays at work, I found that the time to walk back to my office from the microwave was enough to allow the cover to be easily removed without any discomfort.

What?! Now you want me to actually follow the directions on those meals?

If it says "let stand for one minute to allow cooling", you're darned right I'm going to try to tip the top off of it the second it comes out!

Post by **MCIera** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 11:30 am

Of course not! If the directions were all that important, they wouldn't have put them on the wrapper which is the first thing that one discards

Actually the method to my madness is that in leaving the cover on the entree, it minimized the amount of food that I would have lost if I had dropped the tray on the way back to my desk.

The fact that the cover cooled down in the process was just a side benefit.

kman wrote:What?! Now you want me to actually follow the directions on those meals?

HeaterMeals introduces 3-year shelf-stable meal

HeaterMeals introduces 3-year shelf-stable meal

Re: HeaterMeals introduces 3-year shelf-stable meal