Painfully simple yet surprisingly high-tech, the REpack aims to change how you eat at the campsite.
Following its launch of the REpack, Hyperlite Mountain Gear wants you to open all your dehydrated camp meals before you even pack.
A seemingly innocuous soft-sided sack, the REpack actually houses the latest in outdoor fabric technology. Made from a Dyneema composite, the 1.4-ounce bag contains the 3M Corporation’s Thinsulate insulation.
But its function is surprisingly simple: Keep camp meals hot and help reduce weight and waste in your pack. Here’s how it works.
Hyperlite Mountain Gear REpack: Shed Ounces, Cut Waste
Launched this month, the REpack requires many campers to rethink how they pack.
“We’re suggesting a little extra work on the front end of your trips,” Hyperlite Mountain Gear admits on its website. “But these actions on the front end are what lead to richer, and dare we say, easier to achieve life-changing experiences.”
The basic premise encourages campers to tear open their store-bought camp meals and dump them into Ziploc bags. This reduces excess packaging, albeit by mere ounces here and there. But those ounces add up, especially on backcountry pursuits.
Of course, you can also buy rice, beans, and other meal goodies in bulk and pack them yourself. This is something backcountry purists have done for years.
The REpack comes into play at mealtime. Put the repackaged meal bags into the REpack and pour the hot water directly into the Ziploc. The REpack will keep the meal hot while you’re out gathering firewood, swimming in the lake, or doing anything else to not stare hungrily at your slowly heating food.
And if it works as advertised, the REpack will also prevent the inevitable second-degree palm burns we’ve all experienced from holding a poly bag loaded with beef stroganoff and boiling water. The REpack sports a “handy” sleeve on its side to grip your grub.
And in true ultralight fashion, Hyperlite Mountain Gear touts the REpack’s double duty as a storage option for any other mess necessities — spices, dish rags, stoves, or whatever else.
The Hyperlite Mountain Gear REpack measures 5 x 5 x 2 inches and is available now for $40.
