In light of the fire ban in Oregon I am wondering what options exist. Aren't there mre heaters or other things that chemically heat food? How many for a cup of coffee?
Jim

There are MRE heaters, and even civilian equivalents (Mountain House, I believe, for one), but I have never tried them. I have been in really dry conditions where any kind of fire was inadvisable. I have resorted to foods that didn't need cooking- nuts, GORP, cereal, jerky, etc. Usually it has been hot enough that I preferred Gatorade to coffee.

Not a complete ban on stoves--from the Deschutes NF website:


That means no homemade alcohol stoves, but canister or white gas stoves are OK.

The same ban exists in WA, except that on the east side of the Cascades no fires are allowed even in designated campground fire rings. Actually, that's normal for this time of year. Again, petroleum-fueled stoves are allowed.

This might sound dumb/obvious, but I'm guessing this means fuel tablets are out of question in respect to fire ban?

It really depends on the local jurisdiction; you need to check the rules for the specific jurisdiction you're visiting. But at least for the two area national forests I checked, Deschutes (OR) and Wenatchee-Okanogan (WA), the stove must be UL certified, which disqualifies wood stoves (except those with a chimney and spark arrestor), Esbit and alcohol. I think what they're really looking for is an on-off valve. The fire situation in the Pacific NW, after over 1,000 "dry" lightning strikes a week ago last Saturday and no measurable rain (except a few widely scattered showers) for over two months, is really horrendous, and the firefighters really have their hands full just with the ones close to populated areas. For fires in the backcountry, they are just closing access roads and trails and letting them burn, because there's no personnel (or money) to fight them. This might be a good thing in the long run, since a lot of the problem is due to past policies of putting out all forest fires, resulting in overmature, unhealthy trees. In the short run, though, it's a really ugly mess.

If ever there were a time to experiment with stoveless food preparation and learning to like cold coffee and tea, this is it!

Putting aside all the regulatory yada-yada, there are situations and times when a thoughtful person will recognize that any kind of flame is a really bad idea. It sounds like the current condition in the NW is one. GORP anyone?

The MRE heaters work by folding the heater envelope over a metal envelope of food (MRE serving). Add water and the chemical reaction releases heat. I suppose one could try to wrap the heater envelope around a thin walled cup holding water. I'll see if I can find one lying around and try it. Ironically, one of the by-products of the reaction is magnesium hydroxide, the active ingredient in some antacids. Cook your MRE and have antacid ready. OK, there are a few other things and it might not be food grade/pure.

In sunny weather a piece of aluminum foil could be used as a makeshift reflector oven.

I've often thought about a handcrank electric stove but I suspect the energy needed to crank would be too great to be practical.

I love camp stoves, and have a collection of the things but have never liked cooking when backpacking....to me, it complicates things and adds a large amount of weight to the pack. Melting snow, notwithstanding, call me lazy. IF I cook at all, it would be on Esbit or "cook fires".
Like Oldranger, I'll haul stuff that doesn't need heat. A hot meal is nice once in a while, though, on longer colder hikes.

Texas lost a large amount of it's park land to fire last year, like the rest of the country. Camper fires are simply not wise now, and our forestry workers don't need the extra worries.

Maybe it's time to develop flame-less technology, using heat packs or catalyst heaters. The problem I have with heat packs is the trash. I'm not a chemist but I wonder if there is a binary chemical that can be mixed in the field, sans the trash. Something like Aquamira for water treatment, mix equal parts of something in a reusable pouch and get heat?

Some one already mentioned this, but you could bring an appropriate sized solar cooker. In under an hour you could have a meal, depending upon the sun intensity, angle in the sky.... It would be good to be prepared for cold meals as well if you brought one. Likely your hot meal would be in the middle of the day if you did this.

It seems the MRE heaters I had are too old. They no longer generate heat.

A quick internet search indicates they can work to make hot coffee however. Also a couple of other flameless water heating options.

Beveraging technology—Hot coffee anywhere, anytime
DoD Combat Feeding Directorate brings hot coffee to combat troops
http://www.natick.army.mil/about/pao/pubs/warrior/06/marapr/index.htm

Trekmates – Flameless cooking flask
http://www.gearweare.com/review/trekmates-flameless-cooking-flask/

HeatStick flameless portable hot water heater
http://heatgear.dk/heatstick/

Trekmate and Heatsticks look like really good options. Heating water for freezdried, or heating foil packs of tuna/chicken/etc. is all I usually do anyway.

I was thinking of something catalytic like my Jone hand warmers or a catalytic butane soldering iron I sometimes use.
Jone warmers run on lighter fluid and run all day on a charge. A redesigned one should boil water for hours if the element was big enough.
The soldering iron catalyzes butane and gets plenty hot for solder (over 450F)....shouldn't be a problem to make something bigger. No flames, just an ember glowing in it's little chamber.

Nowhere near as robust and fast as an open flame but it'd get the job done.

Even with an approved (or any) stove, you need to use it in a clear space well away (several feet) from any vegetation and not on organic soil. It's also a really good idea never to turn your back on it!

I notice that this year the USFS is carefully specifying the kinds of stoves allowed. I suspect that last spring's Colorado fire started by a careless alcohol stove user really stirred up the fire-fighting establishment against alcohol stoves. I've seen gasoline-powered stoves turn into fire bombs, too, potentially worse than spilled alcohol!

I'm wondering if the little canister stoves are UL approved. I didn't find a UL label on mine. Of course I no longer have the box it came in, and the model (Primus Micron Ti) has been discontinued. Maybe I'm not legal, either!

You can rehydrate a lot of dried foods by soaking in cold water for several hours rather than using boiling water plus 15 minutes in a cozy. How the stuff tastes cold is another issue. It's probably a good idea to test it at home first. I know that hummus and some other bean dishes are good cold; so is tabouli salad (add olive oil and dried veggies to both). Cous-cous would be good with enough seasonings and flavorings. A lot of freeze-dried veggies rehydrate well cold (think salads). Dehydrated chopped spinach ends up as a green powder that can be used in all sorts of dishes, hot or cold. I can think of a couple of dishes that might be a disaster cold, but they are things I wouldn't eat anyway.

CAMPINGAZ TREK 270

"This is the world's first flameless stove."

http://www.bluedome.co.uk/trailwalk/trailwalk3.cfm?review=184&mascat=29&subcat=72

Seems like MSR's Reactor is a similar catalytic burner, and flameless.

FWIW Gerry had a catalytic cartridge stove in the '70s. I wouldn't call any of them flameless, from what I've observed there's still a flame, it's just not very evident.

When MSR was briefly making backpacking food, circa 5 years back, some of them had integrated chemical heaters. You'd pull a string and it would start the magic, heating it in the package. I had a few I took snowshoeing--it was a treat having something hot in the middle of the day with no work required.

Of course, they weren't cheap.

Cheers,

Ah, ok....hadn't seen that one. Now if someone would only make one for camp gas.

I have a kerosene heater that's catalytic and amazingly effecient, and hot. It's basically a big wick. No pump, and it has a hair trigger shutoff system if you so much as bump it. Just size that sucker down to Svea 123 size and off we go!

Only problem with those things is the fact that the catalyst is in the platinum group of metals. Expensive, like the catalytic converter in the car. I noticed the catylists in my soldering irons break down after a couple years, or heavy usage.

wow $402.00 and sold out...
Still don't know what heatstick weighs - doesn't matter I guess.
I'll take a coleman xtreme.
Jim

All the info you need about the Heatstick here :
http://www.thegearcaster.com/the_gearcaster/2012/05/heatgear-heatstick.html
Main part :
Weighing 380 grams (13.4 oz)in total, the Heatstick package includes the heating unit itself, water bottle, sleeve, igniter, and a rubber shield. One Fuelstick weighs 93 grams (3.28oz) and will heat around 9 liters of water.

The Heatstick retails for approximately $415 and can be purchased from the Heatgear website. A pack of 10 performance Fuelsticks will add a further $80 to your cost.


So it will cost you about $1 per liter of hot water
after the first 9 liters and $415

MRE heater
MRE heaters are light and cheap. I need to get an exact weight, but I hear they are less than an ounce. You can use them with FBC. Simply put the FBC inside the heater packet and add water to both. You would have to make sure the meal bag fit inside the heater bag, so that might take some trial and error. Of course, you could also lug around the full weight of an MRE entre for more convenience. Either way, it is pretty easy. I have never made coffee or tea with the heaters. I don't drink those. You would have to be creative. But I am sure you could figure a way to do it. I do know that they lose efficacy over time. I have a few 10 year old MREs that I am going through to get rid of. None of the heaters in those work.

Of course, the best thing to do with the heaters is make an MRE heater bomb.

I saw this and thought about this thread.

That looks like the same tech that the MREs use. They just made it more convenient for heating water. Now they just need to make one with a titanium insert, and a carbon fiber outer case.

For $5. And refillable.