Self-heating foods were originally used in military field battles, while they are now gradually appearing in daily life, providing consumers with diverse choices and conveniences. The work aims to summarize and study the current research progress of self-heating food, and discuss its problems. The current research progress of self-heating food packaging forms was reviewed: double-layer tank heater, split heater, integrated heater and water bath heater, and the development history of self-heating foods was introduced. According to the development status of domestic self-heating food in recent years, the problems existing in the current stage of self-heating packaging were analyzed, and its future development trend was also pointed out. It was difficult for self-heating food to meet the conditions of heat release and conduction during heating, which made it unlikely for the food to reach the specified temperature and comply with market requirements, and for various types of self-heating food to be produced. Because of that, the market size of self-heating food was limited to a certain extent. Choice of self-heating food's exothermic agent and packaging material, and the innovation and nutrition improvement of self-heating food will become the focus of research and development of self-heating food in the future.