Wayfayrer Hot Food Kit - First Bite

Preparation is dead easy. Simply rip the top off the heating pack envelope, slide the foil meal pack inside - you need to fold over one of the edges to fit it - then add 40 millilitres of water and stand well back... okay, really you fold the top over and leave it sitting for 12 minutes.

The water sets off an exothermic reaction in the heating pack, so don't go trying to eat it by mistake. There's mucho fizzing, steam and a nasty metallic smell like shorting out iron filings with a battery. After 12 minutes we removed the food packet, cut the top off and ate the contents which were nicely hot.

The chicken casserole we tested is a mix of dried chicken with potato, carrots, peas and onions in a 'creamy sauce' and was a bit like an extended, thicker version of a Heinz Big Soup. To be honest, we'd not eat it by choice at home, but it's significantly more edible than some of the lightweight dehydrated camping food we've used in the past and a real step up from a bowl of pasta with a bit of tuna mixed into it .

Of course you're saving weight by not needing to carry a cooker, but the flip side of that is that you can't brew tea or coffee and you also, if you're wild camping, need to carry out the debris. We weighed the debris at a not inconsiderable 110 grammes including all used sachets and the heat pack.

There's a downside too. We weighed the debris left over from our chicken casserole feast at a hefty 110 grammes, all of which you'd have to carry out with you. An MSR Pocket Rocket stove weighs 84 grammes, though you can add around 250 grammes of gas to that as well.

You also need to bear in mind that at 400 calories odd, you'll need a load more calories from somewhere. To put that in perspective, a 70-gramme Clif bar or similar provides around 250 calories and for the weight of a Hot Food Kit, you could have around five bars or 1250 calories. Of course you'll miss out on the morale-boosting lift of warm food, but there are more efficient ways of carting around the carbs.

If you're after sheer convenience though, perhaps for a hassle free overnighter, then this makes reasonable sense. Of course there's always the pub...

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Discuss this story

Alastair Dent

These selfheating meals sound like a lousy idea for hiking - but maybe an excellent thing to carry in case of emergency winter bivvis.

What do you think?

Posted: 10/06/2003 at 09:46

Ben Rees

Judging from the article you can get more calories for the same weight with energy bars and the like. A hot meal may be nice, but in an emergency in winter you will need energy and plenty of it.

Much as I like Wayfayrer products the idea of a self heating meal sounds more like a gimmick.

Posted: 10/06/2003 at 12:13

Alastair Dent

I thinking more of if you end up bivviing and are staving off the cold - the heat pack could be shoved inside your clothing - then you get the heat inside from the food.

The calories are pretty low, aren't they?

Posted: 10/06/2003 at 16:36

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