A famous German RU-vidr (Outdoor) found the original patent wich barocook uses for the heat packs. It’s a Japanese patent and the bags contain 80% Aluminum powder and 20% Calcium oxide both very fine. Add maximum the double amount of water by weight in relation to your dry mixture. I’m European so I can give you an example in grams: mixture of 50 grams contain 10 grams calcium oxide and 40 grams aluminum powder mix it and add 100 grams of water. Reaction starts within 15 seconds and reach high temperature.Costs about 70 cents to heat a meal instead 2 bucks.
It is a cool little thing for sure. One of the most valuable pieces of advice I got on gear was to test it in advance of real-world use. My kids loved this process because it meant dad was going to be "test camping" in the back yard. We test everything from hammocks to "Fancy Feast" hiking stoves. It really is a lot of fun. Nice content thanks!
Great timing for me, thanks :) I know you have been using the Barocook, and so it has been on my list to consider. As a prepper, I like options especially anything that is low key and ultra easy. So seeing a detailed presentation about it helped me go ahead and add to my cart (through your link). Curious if you come up with a DIY heat pack. The packs are back on Amazon as of 3/3
Thanks for demonstrating and explaining that flameless cooker. I started following your channel a few weeks ago, and as you used the cooker, you didn't discuss its operation until now. Thanks for that.
I watched your video of Old Mike while I took a break from pulling out my Teardrop Camper to get ready for a trip later in March. I was glad to see more than just mre content and I enjoyed it. You answered all my questions I had about the cooker in this video already thanks
We bought our first Barocook back in 2014 or 2015, we had a young person who was going camping with the scouts, and the challenge was to have the ten essentials+. Our young scout (12/13 year old) was trained to use this product prior to the camping event. We planned with her to have enough heat packs for 7 days event though the event was only planned for 4. We sealed the heat pouches in food saver bags, along with the camping food they were designed to cook. It worked so well that her troop leaders asked us to come in and teach a class after that camp.
I ordered an 850ml and 1200ml, saw these year and half ago, getting them mainly for lunch at work when the weather gets cooler, long walk to the break room microwave( most uncomfortable chairs must have been designed by Satan) in the plant and even longer walk from break room to my car with very comfortable seats (on my feet all day) but short walk from my department to my car, but also I'll use them camping mainly as a backup to my butane stove or when it's not convenient to breakout the stove and cookware. Hope to stock up on the heat packs, yeah they're a bit pricey but getting to relax comfortably and enjoy a hot meal for nearly my entire lunch time is worth it to me ☺️
Awesome! I absolutely love mine. So many ways to use it and I don’t think the packs are so expensive that it makes the cooker impractical. Wouldn’t want to use it three meals a day but for the times I need it I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I love that you're introducing people to this method of heating (not cooking) food in their office or even the passenger seat of their car as they travel about before meal time. Good on the trail also. I've used mine in my wife's hospital room several times during a 20 day stay, while she recovered from a stroke. Chunky brand soups and Mountain House meals make a nice change from hospital food when you aren't the patient. I'd like to make a few suggestions to you about how to get the most from this product and others like it. Firstly, you don't need the whole system in some cases. Barocook and others sell the heaters along with very thick resealable zip pouches that allow you a very flat and packable alternative to the plastic bowls. They remind me of the resealable pouches that shredded cheese comes in, or frozen shrimp and other fish. Real thick and zip sealable. I actually save those type pouches for using in this way.. (run 'em through the dishwasher or boil them) The only mod required is to poke a small hole near the top for steam to escape. The Mylar bags that coffee beans come in are excellent for this re-purposing. In the factory varieties, you drop in a heater pouch, fill the bag with whatever you want to steam-heat, (not loose food, but packaged food) that will fit in there, add a little water, seal it and let it do its thing. I've even just put a whole can Chunky soup in the bag, can and all. Gets too hot to eat, if you're indoors or if you wrap it in a sweater or blanket, outdoors. It's a more reliable and efficient FRH. Anything that is retort packaged can just be dropped into the bag. Hormel Bowl meals, precooked rice dishes by Uncle Ben and meat pouches found in Walmart or Kroger, both at the same time. Anything that's packed like an MRE meal, that can be found at the grocer's, will work. MH and Peak freeze-dried meals can have their water added a few minutes ahead of time, soak a bit, and then be dropped into the zip bag, with a heater, wrapped in a sweater and by the time your camp is setup, you have a hot meal. (BTW, save the older and taller MH pouches, if its practical, because they are great to use as the outer bag for your next meal. They don't even have to be washed if you're on the trail. Your food won't contact the inside of that bag anyway, plus the steam generated by the next heater pack will sterilize it). Even if you use the whole Barocook bowl system, I think that you'll find, especially with retort style packages like your Tamale, that just setting them, unopened, into the plastic bowl, absent the steel bowl, will let you heat more stuff at one time and faster. Maybe you could make some videos demonstrating (or disproving) my suggestions. I never will, that's for sure, so anyone so inclined, have at it. Thanks for making the content. I consume it on YT like it was air.
I found your channel through my feed, with your Walmart 24hr DIY MRE video you did a couple of months ago. Which I watched this morning. Took note of the cooker and was curious, saw a second almost immediately after and did some research into the barocook flameless cooking system liked it then I noticed this video. Glad you decided to do this video. As I like writing stories set in an apocalyptic setting so this was a curiosity that I might like to add to future stories.
Really enjoying your videos. I’m learning about interesting foods and gear. And moreover, you have an entertaining presentation style. I’d watch just for the entertainment, the information is bonus.
I like the concept but the fuel packs are expensive. My DIY attempts with calcium chloride were a failure so I will try the quicklime. For my purposes a 12v electric lunch box is probably fine.
I LOVE your videos. My problem is I'm visually impaired. While the Barocook seems fascinating, is an s-bit stove a better option for someone like me, in shelter-jn-place situation? Just wondering. Keep up the good work.
Esbit stoves are great but do involve an open flame that can be hard to put out. The best part of the Barocook, and something to consider for someone with visual impairment, is that fire can be even more dangerous. Of course there’s also the fact that Esbit fuel tabs put off toxic fumes and the Barocook does not. But you really just have to determine which meets your specific needs and go with that.
Dude! That is very cool! I can totally see using it for flameless food prep. Would enjoy seeing how you would come up with your own heating solution using quicklime. Would it be cheaper than the premade packs? Awesome content!
I'll be eagerly watching to see if you do a DIY heater pack for this. It seems that you have a number of options for chemical reactions, but they all have some drawbacks. Magnesium + Iron + water= very hard to get chemicals, very hard to mix unless you use a ball mill and you are very brave. Add salt (sodium chloride) for a more vigorous reaction. Calcium oxide (quicklime) + water = good, but the waste product is corrosive to aluminum cookware. Can be made safe with vinegar, then disposed of. Calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) + aluminum + water = good, easy to come by materials, again you have issues with the waste products. Can also be done with calcium oxide + aluminum + water. And of course, where do we get the chemicals? Either you can buy small quantities at a chemical supply house for $$$$$, or you can buy them in a 50 pound sack and have a 20-lifetime supply of materials. A 50 pound sack of calcium hydroxide (slaked lime), divided into 50g packets, would yield 453 heaters. I think you could probably figure out a way to make the fabric bag out of a flat coffee filter, with the top folded closed and somehow sealed up, maybe with some kind of waterproof glue or caulking. It seems like you should be able to make the heater packs for far cheaper than they offer them for sale. But it may take some experimentation to get it right.
i bet empty tea bags would be good to fill with the quick lime. Store them in vacuum sealer bags. They do make calcium hydroxide which is caustic. After a while they will absorb CO2 and become calcium carbonate (limestone).
If you want a challenge or a new mre idea : hoe about a breakfast only mre. You rarely see the. maybe pick 3 stores you have visited and make mres. You can even modify 1 of your rules. lol
Question: Have you or anyone tried to cook or heat up anything using the metal pan and a flame heat source (tabs, alcohol cooker, etc)? I'm wondering how it will hold up to more traditional heat sources in case one runs out of the heat packs or gets a bad one, or something like that. It's great you've never had a pack not fail so far, but one can't discount the possibility entirely.
