Mountain House Best Sellers Kit

So far, I have tried the beef stew, beef stroganoff, chicken teriyaki, lasagna w/ meat sauce, and eggs w/ ham. Preparation was extremely easy and just like they say: tear open the pouch, throw away the oxygen absorber packet, pour the specified amount of boiling water into the pouch, stir, close the pouch, let it sit for several minutes, stir again, and eat. (In the case of the eggs, there will be a little excess water to pour off.)Quality was comparable to typical frozen dinners (except that you don't need a freezer nor a microwave, and you can store these for years without worry of freezer burn). Similarly, the size of a "serving" is comparable to typical frozen dinners. If you are satisfied by a meal consisting of about 10 oz. of food, then the packets which say they serve 2 will really serve 2 because they make about 21 oz. The pouches are comfortable to hold by the sides, and they are just wide enough that you can eat from them, but of course 2 people can't be eating out of them at the same time. It's definitely better to pour the food out. Possibly the reason that Mountain House encourages eating from the pouch is that when you pour the prepared mixture out, it tends not to look terribly appealing. Then again, if you hoping for attractive presentation, you should be looking for a restaurant.Nutritional information was very clear and also fairly reasonable. This is definitely not low-cal nor low-fat, but still much healthier than fast-food burgers. As with most prepared foods that have any flavor, sodium tends to be a tad high but not as high as I had feared.Some tips: The "sauciness" of these entrees is fairly heavy, so I stretched the chicken teriyaki by adding some more instant rice which I prepared separately. Flavor remained good and it turned 2 modest servings into 2 generous servings. With the lasagna, the sauce will thicken if you let it sit a little longer, but use plasticware because the cheese tends to cling very tightly to silverware as the sauce cools.This kit was a great way to get acquainted with Mountain House. I was a little disappointed that they only included 1 packet of the eggs, because everything else could serve 2. Perhaps if you took some English muffins and jam along, you could split the eggs between 2 people and have a decent breakfast, but it would have been nicer to have 2 packets in the kit.

No, I did not expect gourmet meals, but I did expect things like scrambled eggs that were fully reconstituted. They were, instead, dry and chalky in the center when eaten after letting the packet sit for the recommended length of time. Since there was very little excess moisture, I am not sure if waiting longer would have helped..The others were a bit better, but they still generally suffered from lack of taste and poor to acceptable texture, even after allowing them to sit for twice teh recommended time.It is impossible to do much about the texture, but I suggest hot sauce, salt and pepper to help with the taste.If I buy again, I will concentrate on rice and pasta dishes, since they seem to work the best. I plan to stay away from the scrambled eggs and any dessert that requires water.Since I was testing these for acceptability as emergency rations, I give them a three star rating sicne they are well packaged. likely to survive bad conditions and are reasonably high in calories. If I were doing it for backpacking or hiking, I would drop a star off for the taste, texture and need for condiments.

I've only tried two types of 'emergency food'. This was much better than the Wise sample I purchased. Serving size is a bit small and the food a bit bland, but it will certainly work in an emergency. I've only tried the lasagna so far and my two kids liked it. Huge hurdle, right?! You could actually discern real noodles and meat, so really not bad. Price may be a bit higher, but maybe you get what you pay for...

We purchased the best seller's kit to take on our trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, obviously we were looking for lightweight and simple to cook food and this fit the bill! We didn't know what we were in for but were willing to make do with whatever because we needed to eat. Boy, were we in for a surprise! We started with the Chicken Teriyaki for lunch and we were both pleasantly surprised. It tasted very good! Next we had the Beef Stew which was EVEN better! The lasagna was next which was our least favorite but still quite edible. The eggs with ham for breakfast were pretty decent, a little runny but I didn't read the part to dump out the extra water. We finished with the Beef Stroganoff which, once again, was very good! All and all I'd highly recommend these meals for any camping trip or for something simple to keep around the house. I looked at the ingredients on the back and they are all natural with very limited calories. There is a lot of sodium but that's about it. As with other reviews, I agree to keep it sealed for at least 10 minutes before opening, maybe even longer. It gives the water more chance to be absorbed. Also, you could probably get away with a little bit less water. Try them out, you won't be sorry.

I got this for a hiking trip in New Zealand. Based on reviews, it seemed to be the best option available. Some of the meals were okay, but some were pretty awful. The beef stew, for example, not only had tons of sodium (870mg per serving, 2-1/2 servings per pouch, for a whopping 2,175mg) but it also had an off taste. I believe it's called warmed-over flavor (check it out in wikipedia), and it isn't pleasant even when you're hungry after a full day of backpacking.By contrast, other hikers had freeze dried food from Back Country Cuisine of New Zealand that was much better - both in taste and nutrition. Unfortunately, it's only available in New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. Too bad.