Mountain House

[Canotrouge]

DoN't need to be a chef to follow a recipe and then put that in the dehydrator, pasta sauce, chilli, soupe, apple sauce, ground meat for shepherd pie, sky is the limit really. We do lots of stuff.... Never buy freeze dry food anymore, and don't remember last time we did!

 

[recped]

I just wondered over from that other paddling forum, figured I'd add my comment to this thread as my first post here........

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 like to cook at home and I like to cook when paddling if I have companions along and it's a relatively easy trip of modest duration (ie: <7 days) where weight, bulk and time are not issues.

I've always brought along a few meal in a bag (MIAB) for "emergency" use but in the last 15 years or so I've converted to mostly MIAB for my longer trips and especially for the long solo trips.

I've found the quality and variety available these days has improved dramatically in recent years. The salt content of most has come down a lot since the 80's & 90's and the flavour factor has gone up a lot. Unfortunately the cost per serving has also risen quite a bit especially for those north of the 49th. On most trips these days I plan on using MIAB for 6 days out of 7 with the 7th day covered by my own rice or pasta based meals using an assortment of off the shelf ingredients.

I started out with mostly Backpackers Pantry, with a few Mountain House but in the last couple of years I've transitioned to mostly Alpine Aire with a few MH + BP. There is more variety with AA and they are slightly smaller (similar to MH Pro-Paks) which suits my needs and means I rarely fail to consume a full bag.

I really just like the simplicity, get to camp, set-up, relax in my bug/rain shelter, boil some water, eat, lick spoon, seal bag (wash it out in the morning)

My tips for happy eating......

1 - Buy a variety until you determine which ones to never buy again!

2 - Calorie content varies, keep that in mind

3 - Presume you will need additional items (apps/dessert) to supplement, even the high cal bags are only 650-700 cals, not enough for the active paddler

4 - Purchase a "long spoon", titanium preferably (this one is nice https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5024-534/Titanium-Long-Spoon)

5 - Measure water carefully, I find slightly less than instructed works well, also note that not all "cups" are created equal, better to use "ml"

6 - Rehydrate time, that 10 - 12 minutes they claim is garbage, I rarely soak less than 20 minutes and some meals benefit from a few more than that

7 - Bring some hot sauce to overcome the blandness factor

8 - Don't fully tear off the top of the bag, it's just one more small piece of trash to keep track of

9 - Rinse the empty bags and pack them out, they do not burn well. they also make for good "trash" bags when out on the river and you have a new one to use almost every day

Here are the remnants of my 46 day summer trip, 36 MIAB, 32 "different" varieties (how different can rice & chicken or pasta & sauce be?), mostly AA with a few MH & BP. The other days were a combo of a few fresh items, a few things from the grocery shelf and a few days of snacking only.

 

[red langford]

Rice and various other dried ingredients is my go to now. I use things like roasted red peppers dried beef or chicken peas mushrooms onions corn raisins dried flaked black beans tomato paste and cheddar cheese powder are just a few I can think of.

I dont mind some some of the mountain house meals. Tasty and easy to prepare with no clean up. I just prefer to eat what I know

 

[Cruiser]

As far as the original question here goes, I hope the forum never gets restricted to just answering the question asked ... oft times I find the varied opinions offered, trigger ideas and other things that need to be considered.

As far as actually cooking up the meals, there are websites (and a few inexpensive recipe books) that have lots of recipes that work well in the bush, they can be tried at home first (you have to eat anyway). You make up the ones you like as a batch, dry and package.

As far as convenience, dehydrated meals in a vacuum pouch can last up to 20 years,have no smell and are about as convenient as it gets. You can make up batches way ahead of time and just have them sit there for when you need them. You get a good deal at some point through the year, on a particular ingredient, bam ... makes a few bargain meals, set them aside.

One of the guys I camp with, buys just ingredients and dehydrates them "in season" (read that as things are cheaper from the field). He brings the various ingredients camping and just cooks up whatever he feels like each night. You can buy just about any pouched meats these days if you are squeamish about that.

Having migrated from FD meals to home made dehydrated meals, I can say that camp preparation is about identical, meal cost is a lot lower and taste/satisfaction is quite a bit higher ... I will agree that there is the initial preparation to consider, but that really isn't anything too arduous and if you are really clever, making a double batch of something (say ....like spaghetti) you are making for supper, means only add incremental work for your camp meals.

Moving to the dehydrated meals also gave me a chance to search out good deals on additional gear to use for camping ... a good dehydrator and vacuum pack system can be had very reasonably ... the fact that the wife took over and wants to write a book of recipes and methods was a bonus.


Brian

 

[Guest]

1 - Buy a variety until you determine which ones to never buy again!

4 - Purchase a "long spoon", titanium preferably (this one is nice https://www.mec.ca/en/product/5024-534/Titanium-Long-Spoon)

6 - Rehydrate time, that 10 - 12 minutes they claim is garbage, I rarely soak less than 20 minutes and some meals benefit from a few more than that

7 - Bring some hot sauce to overcome the blandness factor

9 - Rinse the empty bags and pack them out, they do not burn well. they also make for good "trash" bags when out on the river and you have a new one to use almost every day

1. Mt. House Beef Stew. I would like to say never again but having bought the Mt. House bucket a few times I have several Beef Stews left over. Some have been on multiple trips and come back home.

4. Unless you want to stick your whole hand into the pouch a long spoon is a necessity. Not a spork.

6. Absolutely. The longer it rehydrates the better. The beefy dishes especially need more time. 20 minutes without a Reflectix coozie is a cold dinner. I do not know about the other freeze dried meal varieties, but cold Mt. House is not especially palatable.

7. Hot sauce always, a little bottle goes a long way. Good on grits too. Some dried cheese flakes are often welcome.

9. My thoughts on burning plastic and foil trash are known. And yes, I see the near necessity of burning plastic and foil on long, portage intensive trips, rather than tote around a haversack of garbage. Still, if it is a firepit someone else may later cook over I would rather not leave them that discourtesy.

Even buring that stuff to invisible ashes. I do not like cleaning partially foil and plastic debris out of a fire pit, but just because it is reduced to ash does not mean it is not still there. Trout fillets seasoned with a hint of polyolefin anyone?

As far as the original question here goes, I hope the forum never gets restricted to just answering the question asked ...

Yeah, that would suck. We are all by tripper inclination wanderers, in deed and word.

 

[Odyssey]

The price of #10 cans of MH look like they could cut the expense per serving in half. Portioned out into single serving extra strength ziplock bags for boil in a bag convenience? That works.

But you must vacuum seal the unused contents once the can is opened.

 

[clemency]

I like Mountain House. Also, 4) Bamboo.

https://www.adventure-journal.com/2016/07/the-best-dang-camping-spoon-ever-is-a-piece-of-wood/