I'd never heard of this till today, but I just came across this product by Mountain House:

http://www.rei.com/product/703589/mountain-house-mountain-oven

A flameless heater. Some kind of chemical reaction that produces heat to prepare freeze dried meals. Reviewers say it works. I'm sure many of you know about this product, but I couldn't find a reference to it when searching the forums, which I thought was odd.

I'm thinking this would be a good alternative to a canister stove for weekend trips. I wouldn't even need to bring a pot.

Any thoughts? And can you tell me if one heat activation pad would heat two separate MH meals? :)

Looks like the same thing used in MREs, wich from the Marines I've talked to, are also really useful as handwarmers after dinner as they stay warm for a while.

Yes, I think it's the same principal. I'm looking for more information, but I'm still unable to find many people mention it here at BPL, and I'm surprised, because it seems like a viable alternative to a stove for a shorter trip.

According to your link it weighs 15 ounces. Will heat 5 meals. Costs $13.50.

Alcohol stove would weigh less. Canister stove a little heavier.

If that weight is true (possibly some weight can be shaved off, by replacing the little plastic bottle for instance, or using a lighter "oven"), it could still be lighter than a stove, canister, and pot combined.

An alcohol stove might be lighter still, and there are some obvious limitations and it's expensive to use regularly, but I'm thinking this heater may have merit for someone who doesn't already have an alchy stove. You lose the bulk of the stove and pot and simplify the cooking process a little.

I'd love to know if two double-serving meals can be cooked at once...that would mean two people could enjoy 5 full meals over a short trip (or more, if you bring extra heat pads).

Edited by berethorn on 03/22/2012 20:32:24 MDT.

this may not answer your question entirely, however, i take MREs as my meals when hiking (im army, so they are easy to get) and i regularly can heat up two entrees one after the other with one heater provided with the MRE. so if these are the same as the ones provided with MREs, i would imagine you at least do two meals with one heater. looks like the they are trying to market using one of the five they come with for jsut one meal. hope this helped a little, if not, sorry.