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Mountain House

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Mar 28, 2015
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Fredericton, NB
Opinions on Mountain House freeze dried meals? Looking at possibly buying the 20 oz. can and separating into vacuum sealed bags for multiple trips just for convenience. Are these worth buying? I could always experiment and dehydrate my own but I'm not a chef :)
 
I find most of the freeze dried meals too salty for my taste but if you don't mind salt then they may be for you. They are filling and some meals are better then others, that is a trial and error kind of thing, fajitas are on my no can eat list, rather eat horse dung. Most times lately I cook my meals and freeze them, last two trips have been very successful with this although I had my doubts the first time around. I also think they are rather expensive.

dougd
 
Mountain House is my choice among the commercially prepared foods I've tried. Settled on them 20+ years ago after experimenting with others. While not fine dining, I find them quite tasty. My favorite is Beef Stroganoff.

Rather than breaking down a 20 oz container, consider buying the individual dinners. They list it as a dinner for two, but I find I can easily eat all of it, especially after a physical day. The individual dinners can be eaten out of the pouch which leaves you only a spoon to clean - get a 9 inch long spoon and you'll be able to reach the bottom of the pouch without getting your hands filthy.

My local Walmart sells some of them. If yours does as well you could always buy one and try it at home before you are committed to it on the trail. A good bulk package is the Classic:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00955DUHQ?ref=emc_b_5_t
 
Dissenting opinion.........I have given up on anything that can last for years on a shelf. I just get sick from it. I ate MRE's a lot over the years and I can only tolerate a little of that. I dehydrrate my own tripping meals and find it to be a fun and tasty addition to my other trip preparations. I use my own produce a lot but even store bought has really intense flavour compared to commercially dehydrated stuff. Now this is for veggies. Meats well, I have good and bad luck. But ground beef and some cubed beef for stews is quite doable. Those are for later in any trip. I usually get through the first 3-5 days with fresh.

You can make some intense chili and really good spaghetti meals. Awesome soups. Dried apples and some oatmeal and before you know it there is apple crisp. Bannock is a winner. I use rice a lot too and those sidekicks meals are very handy.

Add a fishing rod and a .22 and you are in good shape.

You can live on oatmeal, coffee, and jerky if you have to.
 
I find Mountain House tolerable and use it for last minute prep since I can swing by Walmart on my way out and pick up what I need. When long range planning, I order Hawk Vittles. He claims dinner for two is enough to satisfy two hungry men. I find I can be satisfied 3 times per package and some meals even 4. Not cheap but well worth the price. Only meal I didn't care for was the salmon.
http://hawkvittles.com/
 
I ate MH dinners exclusively for 6 weeks last fall. I have three or four that are my favorites. I try to buy the single serving meals for everything. no muss....no fuss.
 
I've used freeze dried individual meals as my only canoe trip meals, breakfast and dinner, for a long time now. I buy whatever brand is available at REI, Campmor or wherever I shop locally. Usually, Mountain House is the most prevalent. Never tried Hawk Vittles.

I detest food preparation at home and so would never get involved in it on canoe trips. As I've said before, my entire kitchen is a Jet Boil stove, a spork and an insulated mug. Just pour the boiling water in the meal bag, eat out of the bag, rinse, and fold the bag up into a tiny square for the garbage OpSak. No cooking fuss or garbage muss.

The salt and chemicals in the freeze dried meals don't bother me. Good grief, it's only a few days a year, plus I like salt.

On the other hand, if you like food prep and want to eat as well in the bush as at home or better, you'll probably not like Mountain House or any commercial freeze dried meals.
 
MH has those big cans, as do others but I remember last summer my boys bought 6 packs of some meals for their SW camping trip, was much cheaper all around than the single servings. They bought one large can of the biscuits and gravy (which we all agreed is a very good supplement to other b'fast items on a cold and/or rainy morning), also a lot cheaper though you are losing the vacuum seal which I assume has a lot to do w the multi year taste guarantee. (at least from MH). If you find something you like, go for it. We like to make it a mix of those quick meals, rice meals, dehydrated potatoes juiced up with meat from home, and jerky, soups, PB and some dessert treats (in the winter time using the folding bake oven) as well as some fresh or dried fruit and nut combinations. We are not as fussy as we used to be and in any case we always have 1-2 meals on hand for even a weekend trip.
 
I've been known to carry a freeze dried dinner in a pack for many trips before the packaging is worn through and it ultimately gets thrown out. The few times I've eaten them I can only remember being dissapointed. I tend to bring lots of basic ingredients these days and make up meals as I go. I have a food dehydrator and use it for sauces and stews and veggies. Along with other store bought stuff I think you can avoid the freeze dried stuff.

Mark
 
That's my winter project, to find meals I can dehydrate for next season's trips and to order a few freeze dried meals ahead of time.
 
They list it as a dinner for two, but I find I can easily eat all of it, especially after a physical day. The individual dinners can be eaten out of the pouch which leaves you only a spoon to clean - get a 9 inch long spoon and you'll be able to reach the bottom of the pouch without getting your hands filthy.

A good bulk package is the Classic

I have used mostly Mountain House as freeze dried meals, and continue to do so. Some Mt. House meals are saltier than others. Beef Stoganoff, Chicken and Dumplings , and any of the chicken and rice or chicken and noodle meals are among my favorites. Biscuits and gravy as a dinner meal too.

Least favorites, the beef stew and the chili mac and beef.

Like Willie I will buy a bulk bucket. And use a long handled spoon. But I rarely eat an entire Mountain House meal in one sitting. I usually augment a Mt. House meal with some less salty non freeze dry appetizer or side, so a single Mt. House pouch easily makes two meals.

I just pour out a guesstimate half of the meal into a Ziplock, use half the called for boiling water in the pouch and eat the other half the next evening. I rinse out the pouch and reuse it for the second half. That also makes the freeze dried meals less costly.

A couple things that make freeze dried eat in pouch meals easier. Mark a vessel for 2 cups of water, and for 1 cup if splitting the meals.

Most helpfully, make a simple Reflectix pouch essentially the same size and shape as the Mt. House pouch and a little taller. Put the food pouch in the Reflectix coozie, add boiling water, fold over the top of the insulating coozie and let stand for 10 minutes. Or longer with the hard to rehydrate beef meals.

Eat it out of the pouch still in the coozie. The meal will still be tongue scalding hot after 10 minutes, not luke warm. And it will stay hot until you finish the meal.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Reflectix-24-in-x-10-ft-Double-Reflective-Insulation-BP24010/100318552

You will have plenty of Reflectix left to make coozies for pots and pans.
 
We've been eating MH meals for many years. I guess the convenience factor trumps the downsides (a bit salty, both NaCl and $$ wise), As others have said, if you go the individual pouch route, get a long spoon even if you eat out of a bowl. It makes stirring all the way to the bottom of the pouch easier. Also, a cozie is a nice thing to have even in warm weather. It seems to help the meat to fully rehydrate. I bought a life supply of aluminum bubble wrap. If you want me to send you one, let me know.
 
I used freeze dried for a few years and for me, MH was about the best I could find. I gave up using them because after a few days the salt (they have a lot of salt) would start playing havoc with my system.

I started dehydrating my own meals (actually my wife does this for me) and that is about the best solution for me, as you can control/adjust quantity,spices etc. to your tastes. If that isn't an option, there are now a few cottage vendors that prepare dehydrated and freeze dried meals that aren't laden with salt, that are pretty good.



Brian
 
It has been years since I last ate a MH meal. They were a fast and easy answer to what I saw as a complicated meal planning/packing/preparation thing. But without knowing it, I was soon combining quick and easy dried food with fresh; dried pasta, rice and noodles with meat, vegetables and sauces. When my wife and kids started coming along the recipes changed yet again. She shook her head no at my simplified and bland meal options; we both shook our heads no at the MH prices. I'm good with bland, I'm good with spicy, I'm good with a little unhealthy, but I'm not good with expensive. Buying freeze-dried meals nearly doubled the trip costs for us. Ouch. But if you have the funds, I say go for it. If you can afford a fancy canoe, vehicle, gear, then don't let a $10 meal stand in your way of a good time. We on the other hand reduced our costs, packing and prep even more with reducing the fresh component and increasing the dry. The dry goods aisle in most grocery stores made this easy. Bulk Barn became my friend. However there still is sometimes salt, MSG and other additives to contend with. The last healthier step was to learn some easy peasy recipes along with purchasing a dehydrator. The difference has been incredible edible. Volume and weight has drastically shrunk, while flavour and ingredient choices has increased. But I still say experiment and choose what works for you. I'm no chef. You don't have to be. You only need to read and follow directions.
But I'm a lazy guy; I sometimes just want to open a can or package, throw it together and call it another canoe trip meal. I often find myself standing in front of a product in the grocery store, thinking "I wonder if I can dehydrate that?" She walks up and reads my mind (how do wives DO that?!), and says "What? You don't like how I make it?!" We'll sometimes be sitting at the kitchen table eating a delicious home cooked meal, and suddenly say to one another "I bet this would be good dehydrated for our next trip."
Jamie, you don't have to swear an oath of allegiance if you choose this, that, or the other thing. Just experiment, and have fun with it, whatever you do. And if all else fails, add Jalapenos.
 
As other above have stated, I much prefer to dehydrate my own food, but I do keep a stash of freeze dried meals on hand for those unexpected trips, and the vast majority of those meals I keep on hand are MH. I find that I enjoy the flavor of the MH meals over other freeze dried brands. Now, for me, thats not saying much, the bar is pretty low. My first choice, if there are not portages, for shorter trips, is the Yeti cooler and dutch oven. I enjoy outdoor cooking. My second choice, or when portaging and milage is the priority, I dehydrate my own. I have a wheelhouse of go to recipes and snacks I dehydrate, and I will augment with d=some freeze dried ingredients from Harmony House. If you haven't checked out Harmony House yet, you should. They dehydrate/freeze dry individual ingredients, no salt or weird chemicals. You can then use those ingredients to make your own meals.
 
I'm not good with expensive. Buying freeze-dried meals nearly doubled the trip costs for us. Ouch. But if you have the funds, I say go for it. If you can afford a fancy canoe, vehicle, gear, then don't let a $10 meal stand in your way of a good time.

Where do you shop?

You can get Mountain House at Costco for $5.38 per package or $2.03 per portion in multi-package bundles. At Campmor the prices for individual packages range from $4.70 to $7.00 with a 10% discount for purchases of 20 or more, and you can sometimes get periodic sales or coupons on top of that. With the 10% coupons that are available, you can buy multiple package bundles directly from the Mountain House website for something over $6.00 per package, which would be less than $3.00 per portion.

To me, even if I eat a whole package, which isn't that difficult, the price is less than I pay for pre-made meals in the supermarket or deli (I don't cook), and half the price of two quarter (fake news) pounders and and one order of fries at McDonalds.

I realize that a lot of campers take pride and apparently enjoy shopping, cooking, preparing, dehydrating, sealing and packaging, and all the time that involves for, say, 20 meals. In my situation, it would be the height of folly if not arrogance to believe that I could make something that tastes better than a commercial preparer; and I can have all 20 meals, ready to go, in bear-unsmellable packages, with literally a few minutes of internet shopping. Time is money.
 
Not much humor in my post. I'm seriously responding to the cost issue, which seriously involves the cost of time and spoilage.

I've never paid more than $6.50 U.S. for a Mountain House dinner pack in the U.S. and usually $1.50 less for breakfasts. I don't know anything about MEC or how Canadian dollars translate into U.S. dollars. I vaguely recall some other thread where something was harder to obtain and more expensive in Canada than the U.S.

Two cheeseburgers and fries are about $13 in my town at McD's and $18 at Five Guys. A sub at my deli around the corner is ~$8.00. A small pizza is ~ $12. Mountain House, bought over the internet, is less expensive than all fast foods around here. Plus, the packages last for 30 years. I always buy and carry too many on car and canoe camping trips, and have many left over from as long ago as 2004. That's also a savings compared to the quick spoilage I'd suffer if I prepared my own foods.

A pack of cigarettes is $10. A six pack of beer is about $7. Although I don't smoke or drink, even canoe camping vices are more expensive than Mountain House.

A Mountain House pack costs about the same as two gallons of gasoline, which will take my magic bus about 30 miles. I've driven as long as 10,000 miles on a cross continent canoe trip.

Others may think this is humorous, but it's true: In my family, on both sides, cooking skills died one to two generations ago. The height of epicurean cuisine were airplane meals, a very rare treat since we rarely had money to fly on family vacations. Yes, the sad and humble origins of a Mountain House disciple.

I'll omit my rant in favor of salt, the traditional and beloved food preservative of all wilderness wanderers for about a million years.
 
Cooking skills are learned. You're a smart guy Glenn. You could learn.
Fast food isn't very affordable. Not compared with scratch cooking for oneself. So comparing fast food and prefab food is comparing plastic packaged applesauce and FD orange slices. lol.
If MH turns your food crank, then like I said, go for it. But we all have choices. It helps to actually investigate them before deciding. That is all I'm suggesting the OP do. Try this, try that, and maybe learn something along the way, whether it's how to cook, how to dehydrate, or how to evaluate the options. And if someone decides to go with MH exclusively, then that's fine too. At least by the end of that person's foody exploration they might've picked up some knowledge and skillset. Win-whatever.
 
In the OP, I thought Jamie was essentially asking whether Mountain House was palatable, with a suggestion that he wasn't inclined to dehydrate his own foods ("not a chef").

To be pithy, my answer is that they are quite palatable to me. I wouldn't buy the bigger quantity and put portions in odoriferous zip lock bags even if that saved a few bucks. The sealed bags are odor and water tight and convenient -- some are now vacuum sealed -- and last for 30 years.

I'm also speaking from the perspective of a solo paddler, only feeding myself. When I had a family, we didn't go on canoe camping trips but we did go on camping trips that involved day canoeing. Those were trips where I took Coleman stoves, ice chests and all sorts of heavy gear. For five people, we did cook real food and prepared in bags many of the meals at home in advance. For community cooking, I'm sure it was less expensive than commercial dehydrated meals, but that was a long time ago, and I don't recall even being aware of products like Mountain House then. In addition, many hands made light work.

Now, two old hands don't like to do all the work, or even any work. Except paddle and type.
 
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