What kind of experience has the forum membership had with this line of freeze dried foods? Quality, flavor, ease of use, etc. Thanks.

Mountain House is my favorite freeze dried foods. The beef stroganoff is delicious IMO.
Wise is my least.

Another Mountain House fan here.
Rice based dishes best for me.
Breakfasts not bad either.

If you're thinking of stockpiling it for emergencies, be aware that you'll need water to prepare it. For emergencies where I won't be having to carry food with me, I prefer canned stuff and MREs, which don't necessarily need water (or cooking) to be useable . The freeze dried stuff is good for backpacking, though.

Do you mean Mountain House?

Mountain house freeze dried food is consistently rated among the top for emergency food. Many people take it along for hiking trips because it's easy and tastes good in comparison to other brands.

It tastes much like the non freeze dried just add water types of foods you'd get at the supermarket. Things like those 1 dollar rice packets or noodle packets. In fact it's a little bit better depending on which packet your making. I like the beef stew, chicken noodle, teriyaki rice but hate the lasagna and stroganoff.

I keep 4 of the mountain house buckets on hand for emergencies. They will last 20 years if stored in the dark, but we rotate through them every couple years. Kids like the stuff, adults know its not home cooked but it's not bad. Usually surprises them that it tastes ok.

I did get some emergency buckets of WISE brand and while It isn't bad, it wasn't as good tasting as the mountain house so we went back to MH.

I also have a couple boxes of mre's but its like torture eating that.

Just got my order yesterday for the big elk hunt this year. 12 packages, but that should last me this year and next. I found the epicenter has the best selection and good prices. Shipping was a little high though.

I like the ~4oz sizes. Packaging says 2 servings, but we do a lot of hiking during the elk hunt. I am full after eating the ~4 oz packages. The ~2 oz size would probably be fine if you weren't burning many thousands of calories a day.

This year we are hiking in 7 miles with 9 pack llamas. Will be there for 5-7 days. Boil water with a jet boil. Mountain House is my lunch when out in the field every day.

https://theepicenter.com/food-.../mountain-house.html

We use it for hiking and keep several days on hand for emergencies. I haven't had one I didn't like. We even started making pasta primavera thanks to them. It's a vegetarian dish but we put beef jerky in ours on the trail.

We do the 2.5 serving meals for 3 people along with some snacks.

Used it when hunting the backwoods in Idaho. All of it was excellent.

MH is go to go; best is the beef stroganoff IMHO but the chicken and rice is pretty good, not a fan of the spaghetti or chili mac; lots of sodium though. Amazon sells the Mtn House buckets and is a good way to save some money rather than buying individual meals which can get pretty expensive.

If you're looking for a bit of variety, check out Backpacker's Pantry brand, they have some pretty good meals.

Mountain House is our chosen emergency food, even in our cars. Taste better than MREs. We have cases of #10 cans of lasagna, teriyaki chicken and rice, etc. We went to REI and bought backpacking pouches to taste before ordering the cans, we even bought extra pouches for our cars. Approx. 5 year shelf-life on the pouches, 25-35 years on the cans.

I've used Mountain House for years for backpacking. Usually only for dinner though. I like the lasagna the best but it's kinda sticky with all the cheese. Spaghetti is good also.

Different people have their favorites so try out some of the ones you think you would like before buying a lot.

I buy them in single bags. They say two serving but one people will eat the entire bag after a day of hiking or other activity.

They sell them in larger cans but for my needs, the bags work great. I can heat water and just add it to the bag. Nothing to clean up but my spook.

I usually have enough laying around for a few days if I needed it.

REI runs sales on them a few times a year. Amazon can also have good prices.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:
We went to REI and bought backpacking pouches to taste before ordering the cans, we even bought extra pouches for our cars. Approx. 5 year shelf-life on the pouches, 25-35 years on the cans.

I think Mountain House now claims 30 years on all their stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:
Mountain House is our chosen emergency food, even in our cars. Taste better than MREs. We have cases of #10 cans of lasagna, teriyaki chicken and rice, etc. We went to REI and bought backpacking pouches to taste before ordering the cans, we even bought extra pouches for our cars. Approx. 5 year shelf-life on the pouches, 25-35 years on the cans.

Same here, except we got pouches from Campmor.

We found MH food to be surprisingly tasty. The only problem is that it gives my wife and I gas.

Mountain house is the best. It's in my go bag and i take it camping and fishing often.

I keep a couple cases of MH meals in my emergency supply, along with a backpacking stove and fuel to boil water in case the power is out. Now and then I'll eat one for dinner just out of laziness, so the cases end up being rotated through every couple of years or so. I also use them for short camping trips.

Best of the best. the Chilimac is also very good. The thirty year shelf life is for the canned stuff. Pouches are good for 5-8 i think. But very convienant for grabbing food and eating on the run.

Like a MRE with better taste. Only downsides are the cost and you wouldnt want to only eat them as they are kinda high in sodium

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:
Approx. 5 year shelf-life on the pouches, 25-35 years on the cans.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin101:
The thirty year shelf life is for the canned stuff. Pouches are good for 5-8 i think.

https://www.mountainhouse.com/m/taste.html

"The Mountain House Taste Guarantee was created to let you know that we stand behind our shelf-life promise. We guarantee your Mountain House meal, in our pouches or cans, will still taste good in 30 years!"

I have only had one of their dishes, chicken rice or noodles? I do have many of their meals stashed though.

Just ordered a second "bucket" off amazon when it went under $60. We keep a large stash of bottled water as well since the two go hand in hand.

Good food but the sodium content is insanely high.