I've gone back and forth. Used to eat out of either the freeze-dried food bag, or ziploc bags I repackaged the meals into. Then I started to just reheat in my pot, but found cheesy meals (which I love) a bit of a pain to clean, so I'm back to eating out of bags. But I put the bag into a plastic cup, and roll the sides of the bag down around the cup, to make eating easier and more enjoyable.