A gas-generating apparatus (12) includes a fuel introducing system that has a fuel transporting system that is pressure regulated and indexed. A reaction chamber (18) having a fluid fuel component (22) and an indexing mechanism (24) operatively connected to a solid fuel component are provided. The solid fuel component of the present invention is introduced into the fluid fuel component within the reaction chamber. Further, the indexing mechanism includes a ratcheting mechanism that may be in direct contact with the fluid fuel component. Alternatively, the reaction chamber may be contained within a pod which also contains the reservoir containing the fluid fuel component, a plurality of which are provided. The indexing mechanism advances the pods sequentially so that the fuel components may be introduced. Other indexing mechanisms are provided. A secondary fuel cell (14′) may be provided to extract excess production from the reaction chamber.