Crosse & Blackwell Self Heating Meals

As part of the ‘bivvy banquetting’ series featured on UK Match Angler, I thought I’d have a look at these offerings prepared by Crosse & Blackwell, supplied by www.heatermeals.co.uk.

Self heating meals are not a new innovation, indeed they have been around since 1897 believe it or not! Invented by Russian engineer Federov, they were originally designed for use by adventurers, explorers and mountaineers, before being developed further for use by the Military in WW1. Since then however, the concept has been refined to offer a wide range of ready meals and beverages to the hungry user.
Most, if not all of the self heating meal systems use a chemical base to produce an exothermic reaction to create heat to cook or warm the food within. The pouched meals generally use saline water and calcium oxide or magnesium/iron generators to achieve the required temperatures to ensure the contents are edible.

Now we know the history, what does this offer to the angler? Obviously, there is no need to carry a stove, burner or heat source of any kind; the food has an extremely long shelf life, suitable to throw in the car or van and forget about until really needed, it provides hot food in potentially dangerous weather conditions and the used generator can serve as a hand or body warmer when cooking is complete! There are many varieties available, so I’ve picked just one to investigate.....

www.heatermeals.co.uk has a comprehensive range of ready meals on their website, including vegetarian and halal options to cater for every option; today I’ve sampled the Beef Ravioli in Mushroom gravy.

Supplied in a handy pack with a spoon and instructions, it’s a simple way to get hot food quickly. Opening the packaging reveals a pouch of food, a small ‘bag’ of saline solution and the sleeve containing the chemical generator. The basic premise is that the food is placed in the sleeve with the generator, and the saline solution added before the whole thing is sealed for 10-12 minutes to heat up as the chemical reaction is initiated. Once the required time has elapsed, the meal pouch is removed and the top torn open to allow access to the food within; simple. Be warned though, these do get very hot!

The picture on the front of Beef Ravioli bore no resemblance to my meal as the company choose to use a generic food image, so don’t be too surprised! Once prepared, the food was very tasty, didn’t leak from the container, and had plenty of sauce, so wasn’t dry in any way. Many of the self heating meals from other brands can suffer uneven heating if not placed on a flat surface, but this was completely hot throughout and took exactly the time stated to be ready. In colder weather, users are advised to leave for a couple of extra minutes, but even extremely low temperatures do not affect the preparation of heatermeals.

Priced at £4.95, they are an excellent option for a standby meal when you forget to fuel your stove or run out of gas!

For more information on the Crosse & Blackwell range of foods please visit
http://www.symingtons.com/index.php