If you’ve ever run out of gas mid-hike, the On Track Meals Flameless Heater Bag promises to get you out of trouble, offering a simple, flame-free way to heat up your dinner when you’re off-grid and out of options. We sent one to Explorer Joanna to find out how it works.

 

Every outdoor Explorer can agree that there’s nothing worse than running out of gas or not being able to light your stove when you’re out in the elements. This nifty product from Australian-owned On Track Meals is a Flameless Heater Bag to help you out while on the trail.

I took one with me on an overnight trip to Binna Burra to figure out how it works, the pros and cons, and to eat a delicious dinner. Let’s see what happened!

 

Eat Like A Backcountry King, Joel Johnsson, hiking, food, lightweight, cooking, cliff, gas stove, joel, hiking food

Realising you’re out of fuel after hiking up for the perfect view would be the worst…unless you had a flameless heater bag | @aesthetics.of.adventure

How does the Flameless Heater Bag work?

The On Track Flameless Heater Bag is called an MRE heater, which is a form of self-heating food packaging. A similar product is used by the U.S. military to reheat ready-to-eat rations (MRE = Meals Ready-To-Eat).

It’s a single-use bag that gives you the option to cook your ready-to-eat meal in under ten minutes, without a stove, and using just 50ml of water. Whaaaaat?!

Each bag contains a mix of aluminium powder, calcium carbonate, sodium carbonate, and calcium oxide that reacts with water to generate heat, reaching temperatures up to 100°C. Keep this in mind when you open your heated sachet or you’re on track for a buuuurn. You also need to wait for the bag to cool before disposing of it in a regular garbage bin.

Thankfully, the heater bag itself is simpler to use than understanding how it works. Here’s what you do:

  • Inside the ziplock heater bag is a heating pad
  • Unwrap the plastic from around the heating pad (newer bags won’t have plastic as it’s being phased out) and place it back in the ziplock bag with your sealed ready-made meal, making sure the heating pad sits behind the meal bag
  • Add 50-60ml of water to the indicator line on the ziplock bag
  • Seal the bag using the ziplock, making sure the bag is standing upright and leaning against something sturdy so that steam can escape from the little holes at the top
  • Wait 7-10 minutes before unzipping
  • Enjoy!

 

This is what it looks like before you seal it up

When is a Flameless Heater Bag the best choice?

There’s nothing worse than at the end of a long day discovering that you cannot get your gas burner to light or that – cue panic! – you’ve run out of gas. This situation is where the Flameless Heater Bag shines.

It’s a great option for hiking in national parks with fire restrictions, in places you’re not allowed any flame or gas stoves, when the weather is atrocious, or you’re just short on water. It’s also a relatively lightweight backup in case you run out of gas.

Want some meal inspiration? The We Are Explorers team taste tested the full range of On Track Meals!

 

No stove? No worries, just follow the instructions and you’ll have hot food in a hot ten (minutes)

Pros & Cons

Did it heat my meal? Yes. Was it as hot as I expected? No, but it was definitely warm and I still enjoyed my spag bol. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this, and it was entertaining to watch the bag almost come alive, as steam billowed out the top.

 

Piping hot steam billowing out the top

 

After ten minutes or so you can carefully open the ziplock back and check if the ready-made meal is heated up enough. If it’s not quite hot enough (I may have been a touch impatient!), then place it back in the bag for a little longer.

Pros

  • Lightweight – weighs just 10g
  • You can put two ready-to-eat meals in one bag
  • You can use these bags to cook anything that can withstand temperatures up to 100°C
  • The bag stays hot for a long while, so if it’s cold you can wrap it up and use it as a hand warmer or place it in your sleeping bag as a hot water bottle – well wrapped up of course!

Cons

  • The bags are single-use only and made of plastic
  • Can’t be taken on a commercial plane in either cabin or checked luggage (annoying for interstate hikes)
  • Needs to be propped up well as it expands very quickly and will tip over

 

Hot meal. No gas. Is this the future of camp cooking?

Keen to give them a go?

Grab individual Flameless Heater Bags from Wild Earth for just $3.45. Or head to Ultralight Hiker where a pack of five retails for $16.20.

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