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View Full Version : Mountain House Storage/Emergency Food



dje97001
04-24-2004, 07:57
I guess this question is two-fold, first, do any of you take mountain house dehydrated meals out with you--or is it too expensive (i.e. a waste of money)?

The second part is that I've noticed that on their website they sell "storage/emergency" food... looks like it comes in those old cafeteria style number 10 cans (in bulk quantities, not individually packaged). And at the price they are selling those cans, it looks a lot more realistic... for example...

Beef Teriyaki with Rice (Servings 11 -1 cup) $28.27 ($2.50/meal)
Lasagna with Meat & Sauce (Servings 10 - 1 cup) $29.77 ($2.97/meal)
Noodles & Chicken (Servings 16 - 1 cup) $28.00 ($1.75/meal)

Most extreme case, looking at overall food budget, if you had to eat these things from GA to ME you are talking about somewhere near 1300 dollars for your entire meal (not snack) budget (which seems pretty good)--I know that no one would do this, but the number may be useful for the discussion (average $2.50*3 meals per day*165 days).

What do you think?

SGT Rock
04-24-2004, 09:08
I have tried them, but didn't find them any more appealing or easier to make than buying the easy to make meals you can find for a lot less in a grocery.

Kerosene
04-24-2004, 09:54
I use freeze-dried food for my week-long section hikes, finding them convenient. However, on longer hikes my digestive system wouldn't handle this stuff very well. The individual packages are expensive, but you're going to get sick of so many of the same bulk meals. For longer hikes I would depend on more of the dehydrated stuff you can find in grocery stores along the way, perhaps supplemented by an occassional freeze-dried meal to save a little weight.

Chef2000
04-24-2004, 12:19
Hey DJ, I do it just like you said, I buy the #10 cans, just got a rice, and a chicken. I have a food vac, so I break up the cans into smaller portions and vac them in bags. The chiken is great and can be used to add to almost anything. From last year I still have some beef which also is very good.

On my recent week long trip on the AT I mixed the rice and Chiken or beef and add some appropriate gravy mix(buy the small envelopes for about 60 cents). Great tasting and quick hot meal.

Ill be ordering the MH precooked scrambled eggs for my hiking this summer and also a vegetable. Overall its cheaper than buying the MH meals. Some of which only come in two servings or more.

Peaks
04-26-2004, 09:42
Well, for what it's worth, I do use Mountain House occassionally. More expensive than supermarket foods, but it does give me a change from the usual. Plus, by adding water directly to the pouch, there is no pot to clean up afterward.

I think that Mountain House is the best tasting of all backpacking meals.

I don't use it often.

okpik
04-26-2004, 11:06
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tlbj6142
04-26-2004, 11:07
I think that Mountain House is the best tasting of all backpacking meals.Have you tried Enertia Trail Foods (http://www.trailfoods.com/) yet? I've read in several places that they make "the best" pre-package food. Note: They dehydrate only. Not freezed dried. All but one meal is a boil-in-bag.

I'm going to try a couple this coming weekend (a local Gander Mountain stocks them). I'll report back after the trip.

SGT Rock
04-26-2004, 11:41
Well, for what it's worth, I do use Mountain House occassionally. More expensive than supermarket foods, but it does give me a change from the usual. Plus, by adding water directly to the pouch, there is no pot to clean up afterward.

I think that Mountain House is the best tasting of all backpacking meals.

I don't use it often.

Actually you can do the same thing with almost any meal. I think HOI has this down pat by using an "Envelope" made of closed cell foam into which he puts a zip lock or bread bag, then puts the food and the water in to allow it to "simmer" inside this envelope. No pot cleaning and easy clean up. In fact, he has reduced his pot to an empty beer can since all it has to do is hold water over his stove. This idea saves a lot of weight and clean up.

jlb2012
04-26-2004, 14:34
Actually you can do the same thing with almost any meal. I think HOI has this down pat by using an "Envelope" made of closed cell foam into which he puts a zip lock or bread bag, then puts the food and the water in to allow it to "simmer" inside this envelope. No pot cleaning and easy clean up. In fact, he has reduced his pot to an empty beer can since all it has to do is hold water over his stove. This idea saves a lot of weight and clean up.

Here is a link to some pictures showing the ziplock cozy I use along with the other parts of the cooking system I use these days:

StoveStomper's pictures of my cook set (http://www.datasync.com/~wksmith/hoikit.html)

About all that has changed since these pictures is that I am now using a tea candle holder without the fiberglass wick - this allows me to blow out the stove after the water reaches boiling and then to pour the left over alcohol back into the bottle; the other thing that I am trying is to use the side walls of soda cans for my windscreen instead of the cut up roaster pan (cheaper and easy to use - just crimp a couple of the side walls together and punch some holes along the bottom). The use of the side walls from the cans seems to work OK but until they anneal a bit they can be a bit distorted by uneven heating - the metal is rather springy to start with and needs to be heated several times till it can be easily shaped.

Kyle & Lisa
04-26-2004, 14:34
Sgt--

I plan on using your idea this weekend: Country Time lemonade container with a cozy for my "simmering". Thanks for the idea.

Kyle

SGT Rock
04-26-2004, 15:05
Good luck with it. I really reccomend trying HOI's system too.