MRE Heaters

[Flashpoint]

Suck. For me. Does anyone get them to work well? I've got a case that is 10 years old so I'm eating that which is still palatable (most of it) but I've tried two heaters following the directions to the letter and meh.. neither one hardly did jack. I remember in the past never being impressed with them but these just flat do nothing, or almost nothing. Could they just be too old? I would think the heater would last longer than the food.

 

[dman24]

Ive never used them to actually heat the food. We always put them in a soda bottle with a little water and watch it pop. Makes a pretty loud bang. My dad said when they were in California for some training they would do it to scare coyotes.

 

[The Dude]

Are you leaning it on a "rock or something"?

 

[Beef15]

They have always worked pretty well for me.
Not quite burn you hot food, but beyond room temp by a fair margin, at least half of it...
Slow as all hell though. Gas like crazy.
I would venture age doesn't matter if they were all sealed up in the main bag still, some of the MREs dad had were 15+ years out of date when we had them.
I'd have to look at the directions to know if we diverged at all.

 

[Burt Gummer]

They’ve always worked great for me. I slide the box that the entree was in back over top of the bag . I’ve had things come out steaming

 

[Long_Hunter]

You may just have a bad batch...most have worked really good for me as well, but occasionally I would get one that would heat next to nothing.

 

[DRFury]

Only add water to the fill line AFTER you place the meal to be heated in the heater bag. Too much water can make them not work as well or at all. I place them back in the box the meal came in with the top folded once over inside the box to hold it closed without creating an explosive seal. Stand it mostly upright leaning against a rock until hot.

 

[specops56]

Old ones can be very slow to start but will work once they do. Adding a pinch of salt to the water will usually perk them up.

Terry