desert dweller
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Post by desert dweller on Sept 27, 2018 11:09:31 GMT -8
Has anyone tried these? GearjunkieNo Stove Needed: Omeals Self-Heating Backpacking Meal Review By Kyle Nossaman on September 26, 2018, 12:55 pmOmeals are fully cooked self-heating backpacking meals. From the outside, they look like typical freeze-dried backpacking meals. The brand’s resealable bags have only one unique feature: a “steam vent” in the upper right-hand corner.
What’s more noticeably different, though, is what’s inside the bag. Included with each Omeal are a heating element, a utensil bundle (spoon, napkin, salt, and pepper), and a silver food pouch. link
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Sept 27, 2018 12:24:45 GMT -8
Every meal comes with all those extras? Too much unnecessary weight it seems to me other than for a weekend. Much like MREs.
Then again on weekends I’ve often brought Chinese takeout. Still lighter than my canister for ten days out.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Sept 27, 2018 13:28:42 GMT -8
Included with each Omeal are a heating element, a utensil bundle (spoon, napkin, salt, and pepper), and a silver food pouch. I.e., a boatload of dumpster-fodder. I can see a use for them maybe in a few narrow circs, but that kind of thing is just too wasteful for me, as well as probably heavy? (Kind of like MREs).
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Sept 27, 2018 13:36:31 GMT -8
Plus: 8 oz food, water included (these are MREs). That's not much of a meal, IMHO. Heck, some of the dinners we carry and eat weigh 8 oz or more per serving *before* we add water, and most take a cup or more of water--i.e. 8 oz. So my take is that these would be a viable option only in a case like the reviewer had, where water was very hard to come by, and you are going to be carrying most of it anyway.
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mk
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Post by mk on Sept 27, 2018 17:38:20 GMT -8
I was looking at these just today at REI. They were a little heavy, I thought. Plus - cold coffee? Ewwww.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Sept 27, 2018 17:40:34 GMT -8
Vehicle breakdown emergency stores?
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Sept 28, 2018 16:27:46 GMT -8
Vehicle breakdown emergency stores? Yeah—winter travel safety supplies, that sort of thing. Or, for that matter, desert travel supplies, except I don’t get out there except by intention, which means I’ll have food and water. But people who live where there is a real winter do well to keep food in the car, along with an extra blanket or two and (for those who commute in dress shoes) sensible shoes.
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Sept 28, 2018 16:31:02 GMT -8
Yeah—winter travel safety supplies, that sort of thing. You need the water to be liquid to make the heater work. Probably not a good winter safety supply.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Sept 29, 2018 6:57:06 GMT -8
Yeah—winter travel safety supplies, that sort of thing. You need the water to be liquid to make the heater work. Probably not a good winter safety supply. Maybe. But you don’t need much liquid, and it doesn’t have to be potable water (or water at all, I think). You could pee in it. Or keep a bottle of vodka in the supplies... wait, wouldn’t want to waste that!
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Sept 29, 2018 20:07:54 GMT -8
That's a good idea I might not of ever thought of. A little gross.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Sept 30, 2018 5:38:21 GMT -8
That's a good idea I might not of ever thought of. A little gross. Not my idea. I saw it somewhere--maybe in an ad for this very sort of thing.
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Sept 30, 2018 7:11:16 GMT -8
Still I would prefer a couple of ounces more no cook food than a couple of ounces heater bar.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Sept 30, 2018 12:06:28 GMT -8
Still I would prefer a couple of ounces more no cook food than a couple of ounces heater bar. Yah: my vehicle stash is all bars for easy entergy.
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Post by Moonshae on Dec 31, 2018 16:00:38 GMT -8
I took some of these on a hunting trip earlier this month. Compared to the half-frozen ham sandwiches I'd eaten every year before that, having a hot meal that didn't need a stove was very convenient. I also kept the hot bag between my boots afterward and it helped keep my toes warm. They're also pretty tasty. That said...
The downsides are too limiting for backpacking: The food is already fully hydrated so they're a bit heavy, they're only 200-250 calories each, they're fairly pricy ($8-$14 per pack), and since the heating pouch absorbs water, it's probably heavier after being consumed than before. Plus, the element stays hot enough to boil water long past when you've finished eating, so bagging up your trash becomes a hassle since you need to wait for it to cool. You also need a separate trash bag since the cooking pouch has holes to release steam and they will leak.
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rangewalker
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Post by rangewalker on Jan 3, 2019 15:39:58 GMT -8
The amount of packaging waste is just unbelievable with those things! And the public who leaves those damn half burnt MRE's behind in the wilderness should be flogged. Plus the questionable chemicals for the reactions necessary to produce heat.
And yes, I have packed in some of the Indian retort, drop in boiling water bag, meals including pre cooked rice on day and half trips. And they can be luscious. A BRS or micro Snow Peak stove and a 900 ml TI pot with 2X calories 2 serving meal from Taste of India would come in at the same grams. And the stove going make breakfast and coffee the next day. And a third of the waste.
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