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If like us you like to keep the weight down and calorie intake high, then you’ll most likely choose a dehydrated meal pouch as your evening food choice. New brands are popping onto the market, with a wide range of variety to suit mostly all dietary requirements and tastes.

What hasn’t changed though is the time it takes for your meal to properly absorb the added water to give the meal maximum taste and texture. On average we find a meal pouch of around 750 calories, once boiling water is added, will take around 10 minutes before being ready for consumption. Now we all have that friend who likes the crunchy bits, as they delve into their meal the moment the recommended time is up, but for the rest of us who like our meals fully hydrated, we will often find (in cooler UK climates) the water inside the meal pouch cools quickly and ultimately slows the re-hydration process, also leaving a cold meal at the end.

Cue Gram-counter Gear who have created a great lightweight option to give your meal pouch an extra insulating layer in the form of the Thermo Pocket. As the name suggests you simply fill up your meal as normal, place it into the Pocket, secure the top and even after an extended amount of time (15-20mins) we had a meal that was better re-hydrated and importantly, warm. Greatly appreciated on those cold evenings camping high in the Scottish mountains.

It’s certainly simple in design, basically a foil-lined pouch with bubble wrap style air pockets and a sturdy zip-lock closure. But at 34 grams and with a reasonable price tag, it does the job exactly as it should and fits almost unnoticeably amongst our kit.

Gram-counter Gear does suggest that you can eat the meal inside the Thermo Pocket to protect against your hands from the heat, but we preferred to take the meal pouch out as if the food was to spill into the inside of the Thermo Pocket it can be hard to clean.

The Thermo Pocket also offers another feature not mentioned in the description which we found became useful for our needs. We will often carry a fair amount of camera equipment which leads to also carrying a load of spare batteries. Batteries and the cold don’t mix well so placing them inside the Thermo Pocket kept our equipment in better working condition, especially handy throughout the winter.

Our Verdict
As the name suggests the Thermo Pocket gives your meal pouch an extra layer of insulation which improves re-hydration making mealtimes easier and tastier. It also works as a handy pouch for storing other items, with us finding it useful for reducing the effect lower temperatures have on our camera batteries. At 34 grams, and a relatively low price there’s not much you can say against the Thermo Pocket. It may have a simple build quality but does the job it’s tasked to do, so will be joining us for many more adventures to come.

Trek Scotland is a small family business based in the picturesque village of Tomintoul in the North East region of the Cairngorms National Park. They provide bespoke Mountain Guiding for Single Day Walks and Lightweight Multiday Trekking experiences, including wild camping, in the stunning Cairngorms wilderness and surrounding areas. Whether in the high mountains or lower valleys, their Multiday Treks are equipped with high quality, lightweight camping and trekking gear. They only work with small groups and, whatever your ability, pride themselves on designing your outdoor experience completely to your needs and with professional guidance and expertise. Adventure is waiting... Read more from Trek Scotland