Reviewer Information

Name: Becki Stacy
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Height: 5' 3" (1.6 m)
Weight: 150 lb (70 kg)
Email address: beckistacy at comcast dot net
Location: Royal Oak, Michigan, USA

Background:
I got bitten by the backpacking bug in 1994 when I was a volunteer at the Grand Canyon. My first backpacking trip was the same week I arrived, with gear borrowed from trail crew supplies. My husband and I enjoy car camping and backpacking (we use a double-wall tent), mostly in Michigan. We've pared down our pack weight a little (a necessity for a recent 12-night trip with no resupply), and we are continually re-working our gear list to cut weight without giving up the luxury items we enjoy (such as food that involves more than boiling water).

Backcountry Eating Style:
My husband and I have been dubbed `gourmet backpackers' by others on the trail. For shorter hikes we enjoy bringing fresh vegetables to add to meals. After a recent 12-night trip, we've sworn off any food that requires only boiling water that's not a drink, oatmeal, soup, mashed potatoes, or dessert. Lipton side dishes and various angel-hair pasta dishes make up the bulk of our dinners. I frequently cook up pancakes and fry bread, and heat up pre-cooked bacon on the stove. I typically cook or at least boil water for all of our dinners, and about 90% of our breakfasts and lunches. With a few exceptions, the only time I won't break out the stove is if it's pouring rain during breakfast or lunchtime.

Basic Product Information

Manufacturer:Mountain House
Website:http://www.mountainhouse.com/

Products:

Beef Teriyaki (for two)
MSRP: $6.99
Listed weight: 5.8 oz (164 g)
Serving size, prepared: two 10 oz (283 g) servings

Potatoes & Beef w/onions (for two)
MSRP: US $5.49
Listed weight: 4.3 oz (122 g)
Serving size, prepared: two 10 oz (283 g) servings

Macaroni & Cheese (for two)
MSRP: US $5.99
Listed weight: 6.8 oz (193 g)
Serving size, prepared: two 10 oz (283 g) servings

Pork Sausage Patties
MSRP: US $5.49
Listed weight: 1.6 oz (43.94 g)
Serving size, prepared: two patties

Product Description

Mountain House freeze dried foods come in a variety of meals for breakfast and lunch/dinner, along with a few vegetable side dishes and desserts. The food comes in a pouch that contains an oxygen absorber. The pouches vary in size, in relation to the product they contain.

Preparation

The varieties that I am specifically reviewing have similar instructions, with variations only in the quantity of boiling water and the time to let the meal stand to rehydrate/cook. The typical instructions call to open the package at the tear notch, remove and discard the oxygen absorber, add the called for quantity of boiling water, stir and close zipper, let stand for several minutes, stir again and serve.

Reviewing the Food

All the items that I ate were in Mountain House's normal packaging, and not the Pro-Pak line. The regular packaging is bulkier and has some extra air inside, while the Pro-Paks are vacuum-sealed. Unless I was on an overnight trip, I repackaged all the Mountain House foods to save on space and reduce waste. For all the items listed below I added the food to my pot of boiling water, since I had repackaged the food to save space.

I would like to note that near the end of our 12-night Isle Royale trip (which we brought the macaroni & cheese, potatoes & beef, and beef teriyaki on), Scott (my husband) and I were beginning to become finicky eaters. This did affect how we perceived the meals. Lipton side dishes, soups, oatmeal, fry bread, and my homemade dinners were all edible to good on the taste scale near the end of the trip. In relation to these other foods, the Mountain House meals were the worst tasting food we had brought on the trip.

Macaroni & Cheese
I made this dinner for us on the second night of a twelve-night trip on Isle Royale National Park, in Michigan. I let the dinner sit for the stated amount of time, but the noodles still ended up on the chewy side. The meal was edible, but it was Scott's brilliant idea of adding a spice mixture I had concocted for our fry bread (similar to pancakes) that consisted primarily of granulated garlic that made the dish taste somewhat good. To be honest, even the cheapest store-brand boxed mac & cheese that I ate as a college student (years ago) tasted better.

Beef Teriyaki
I made this dinner for us about halfway through our Isle Royale trip. The meal rehydrated decently. Both Scott and I had problems eating the last bit of our portions, due to an overall bland taste. We added the garlic spice mixture, but it didn't help out the taste much.

Potatoes & Beef w/onions
This was the last of the freeze dried meals we had on our 12 night trek. Scott barely finished his portion, and would not touch what I couldn't eat. I was faced with the dilemma of forcing myself to eat the remainder of the potatoes & beef or packing out the weight of the fully rehydrated food. I ended up triple-bagging the last of the dinner, out of the (very real) fear that my stomach would utterly reject even one more bite, and that I would then create a larger mess to be disposed of. I was able to eat some additional fry bread and apple sauce to make up for the food I didn't eat, so I know this incident was not merely a mental/physical rejection of food altogether.

Pork Sausage Patties
I have had these along on two trips. About half of the patties I've used broke into two pieces (or more) during the trip. In addition to rehydrating the patties, I also fried them up in a pan with a dab of vegetable oil. For one trip they were part of breakfast, along with oatmeal. They were ok, but I didn't get much of a pork sausage taste. On an overnighter I brought these along with some English muffins and cheese, with the notion of making my own sausage muffins for breakfast. Fixed in this manner the patties were actually fairly good.

I have also brought other Mountain House dinners on various trips, but offhand I can't remember which varieties. Aside from the Isle Royale trip the food was always edible, though to me it was usually not very tasty. The portions for all the two person dinners were adequate for the two of us, as we usually have a side dish and dessert.

The Good Points

Does not require cooking, only the addition of boiling water.
No cleanup involved if the food is rehydrated in and eaten from the package.
Involves minimal or no at-home preparation.

The Drawbacks

They don't taste very good, even when I'm not being a picky eater.
Dinners are more expensive than my homemade meals or items I can buy at a supermarket and use for backpacking.

Overall

Overall, I am not impressed by the Mountain House backpacking foods. After my recent experience with the dinners, I doubt that I would buy another one again.

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