MountainHouse Dried Meals?????

[.330 Dakota]

We are doing a horseback hunt in the fall for 14 days. I was thinking about the packing of food and wondered if the Mountainhouse meals fill you up or would you have to eat 2 of them for supper etc??
I am sure many on here have tried them so I am looking for feedback, excuse the pun...and which ones are good and which taste like bear sh&t?? Thanks Guys...Oh and where can you get them a little cheaper than $10 each?

[frenchbar]

if im on a horse back hunt ..im sure not taking crappy mountain house ..steak and potatoes for this cowboy.if you have the room for it of course ..and if its me i make room .:-D

[Everett]

They are horrible things but they will keep you from starving.

[snow]

I am a 130lbs person and one mountainhouse pack for dinner is enough for me (maybe slightly too much), if I do strenuous activity the whole day. I think 2 packs would be too much even for a guy.
Definitely get the Beef Stroganoff, that is awesome, Lasagna is good too!

[ru rancher]

i loved the meal they tatse very good i didnt have one i didnt like. one pack is plenty for one guy for supper. strongly recommened them. as to where to get them cheap i aint got a clue

[snow]

You can get them at MEC for $8, they have good selection too, and shipping for free over $50.

[Karl]

mountain house are great. but keep in mind...... they'll go through you pretty quick but are a great way to get a portable quick hot meal.... very high in salt though! but taste compare to some of the others out there I think they are way better. you can find them cheaper down in the states if you buy in bulk (look at Costco).......

[lorneparker1]

I got the mountain house packs that are for 2 people. They are perfect for dinner.

[.300WSMImpact!]

if im on a horse back hunt ..im sure not taking crappy mountain house ..steak and potatoes for this cowboy.if you have the room for it of course ..and if its me i make room .:-D

thats what I was thinking, a small bbq, and some real food!!!

[Ron.C]

I don't mind them. I usually stick to the chilli mac/w beef, sweat n sour pork, spaghetti. The pro pacs are just enough for me.

[E.V.B.H.]

You can buy them in bulk for much cheaper, check costco or online retailers. I would recommend trying the flavours before you bring them along. I've got friends that like the ones I hate and vise versa. There are other companies that make a much better meal, and some sell just the ingredients so you can make your own meals. Here are a couple but there are lots out there http://www.harvestfoodworks.com/

http://www.nuharvestfoods.com/

[warnniklz]

Where did you find them for $10 a pop? The cheapest I've seen them was $11... and if I recall correcrly there's **** all for mark up on them.

Chilli mac, lasagna, spaghetti are my favourite. I'd eat them not on the mountain.

Not a big fan of their breakfast offerings... but I'm not a breakfast guy on the best of days.

On the first day I find they don't fill me up, but after the first day with eating a light snack roughly every two to three hours makes the need for dinner a little less required for me.

[warnniklz]

...
Definitely get the Beef Stroganoff, that is awesome, Lasagna is good too!

I Forgot about stroganoff... another deadly selection

[E.V.B.H.]

I've bought a ten pack for $40 at Costco before, $4 each

[.330 Dakota]

Thanks Guys and Gal this helps a lot

[blackwater moose]

i've used them on solo hunts, they are great when you are cold and tired , just boil water add to the packet and there you go. just a warning , they are very high in sodium. one pack does me for dinner, i'm 6'1", 210 lbs

[BCbillies]

I Forgot about stroganoff... another deadly selection

. . . add in some fresh sheep tenderloin and you've got yourself a real winner!

A couple of years ago we bought of bunch of MH from Campsaver for $5.10 each and I believe shipping was free. On a good day I can put down a regular meal (2 serving) plus a pro pac.

[Trekker]

I like the mountain house, some are not so good. I find the propaks too small for me, the regular two servings fill me up pretty good. bring tortillas and bannock mix to add some extra calories. chilli mac, lasagne and beef stroganoff are my favourite .

[combine pilot]

Use Mountain House all the time. Lasagna, Stroganoff , Pasta Primavera, Noodles with chicken are the favorite. Turkey tetrazzini, Sweet and Sour Pork are not bad. I use one 2 portion meal for supper. I do not like the stew ones as the potatoes do not seem to soak up the water, so it is like having croutons in your stew. Compared to the meals they made 10-12 years ago they are awesome.

[Fincat]

I think that you have to order them online from Costco. I ordered them last fall and got 3 Breakfest 3 lunch and 3 dinners.

I think the cost was $57 shipped to the door taxes in. That was the best price and deal I could find. But if I was going on horse back and had a pack horse it would steak and potatoes for me also.

[Ian F.]

Whenever I'm in a store that sells them my daughter picks one out we haven't tried and then we try it together to figure out what does and does not go I the pack. So far most are very good. Can't recommend trying at home enough, you want decent or better food on the hill, not something you dread. The breakfast skillet is excellent, some cheese, black pepper and hot sauce really kick it up, excellent on wraps. Chicken teriyaki was so so, spaghetti and meat sauce good, most of the others are what folks have mentioned.

Harvest food works I won't buy anymore, not for me....

Ian

[oneheadshot]

How many horses will you have and how long will you be out?

[todbartell]

MH is decent stuff, keeps ya going that's for sure and they're light to pack. Chili Mac is my fav

[mwj]

Another thing to mention is calories. While the Noodles with Chicken and Beef Stroganoff with Noodles are my favorite the Macaroni has a lot more calories and is more filling. Like Combine Pilot says Mountain House meals are pretty tasty these days, especially after a long day in the mountains.

[markomoose]

Anything tastes great up the moutain.My partner and I loved MH but played a scene outta blazing saddles after eating reanimated chow.Make sure you got seperate tents!!LOL

[bridger]

Have you considered buying a dehydrator and taking dehydrated food packs? Works really well on horse trips if you are short on horse power.

[srupp]

I also packed a zip lock baggie with potato flakes and just added some to a couple meals to add some extra supper


Steven

[Stone Sheep Steve]

I order mine from Karst Sports.
A propak can get me by for dinner but I can easily eat a double portion.
I like most flavours

http://www.karstsports.com/food.html

I usually place a large order for friends so it would be easier to eat the cost of shipping (plus receive the discount for ordering 6 of one flavour)but now I'm going to use a shipping addy just across the border in the states for free shipping.

[albravo2]

We tend to eat one per night, along with another snack, and that is OK unless lots of exertion took place. Like the chicken teriyaki, beef stroganoff and the lasagna. Forgot utensils and used sticks as chopsticks more than once. Shouldn't be an issue on horseback, but when hiking you have to take into consideration the weight of the water you need to pack to rehydrate them.

Costco in Bellingham sold them last year. IIRC it was about $40 for 10. I'll keep an eye out again this year as spring comes and I'll send you a PM if I see them back in the stores.

[goinghunting]

As long as you dont go with the propacks it should be enough food for you. My favs are lasagna, rice pilaf and chicken and rice for the really hungry nights but all the flavours are pretty decent. Give alpine air a try to, I get salted out after a few days of mountain house and the alpine air have more humane sodium content.

[.330 Dakota]

How many horses will you have and how long will you be out?

One rider and 2 packers per man,,and out for 14 days

[.330 Dakota]

Have you considered buying a dehydrator and taking dehydrated food packs? Works really well on horse trips if you are short on horse power.

No I havent,,but that sounds interesting

[cpwrestler]

Mountain house are good, but what it really comes down to is calorie count. Most individual Mountain House meals are in the 500-700 calorie range. On the other hand, you can get Backpacker's Pantry meals with 1000+ calories in a bag. Taste wise they're both about the same to me, but when I'm hiking all day up and down mountains, I'll take that extra 300+ calories every time.

[BCKyle]

I ate a lot of mountain house while firefighting over the years... for me the best flavours came down to which ones had the least sodium. A few people have mentioned the salt content: be warned, some flavours are waaaaaay higher in sodium content than others. I personally found the less salty ones better: still pretty salty-tasting though. And I gotta disagree with cpwrestler (all due respect; nothing personal). In my experience the backpacker's pantry were worse than MH for two reasons: one, lots of their flavours didn't seem to fully soften up and rehydrate (like the cajun beans and chicken (or something like that, whatever...) and two, they are wwwwwaaaaaaaayyyyyyy saltier tasting on average. And that is even after sweating my bag off all day digging fireguard with a pulaski. I would be craving salt, and some of the BP meals would just be way too intense anyway.
Also, whoever said hot sauce... amen, brother!

Bottom line if I was picking MH out for a longish trip: the keys would be variety and the lower sodium flavours. Just my $.02... good luck and enjoy! ... also, take extra Shit Tickets... 3 dinners in a row of MH and you might be popping some desperate squats!:mrgreen:

[bighornbob]

As others have said buying in the states is the way to go. I have never paid more then $5 for a MH meal. REI in the states gives you a 10% discount if you buy 12. Plus you get money back at the end of the year being a member. Costco in Washington had 10 pack (all dinners and all good meals) boxes for I think $47. I grabbed one and the wife said I might as well get a second box as they don't expire for like six years.

Bhb

[warnniklz]

. . . add in some fresh sheep tenderloin and you've got yourself a real winner!.

Hoping so in 2015

[sherpa-Al]

I don't know how the MH would be on a Horse back hunt but here's my perspective from a backpack hunt.
My first real MH trip was this year, packing a dozen days worth of food on my back, so it was dehydrated food or a shorter trip, and MH was what was on the menu.
I ordered mine from MEC on sale, around $7 each and free shipping.
For me on non-strenuous days, 1 regular meal plus a light snack of trail mix dessert was enough.
On hard hiking days 1 regular meal plus a pro pack for dinner.
I did not buy the breakfasts so I can't comment on those.
All the flavors were good, some better as previous mentioned but chilli mac was my favorite pro pac.
The calorie count was sufficient in the meals but after 10 days of trying to keep up to BCBillies, my body was way down on nutrients. If you are doing a tough hunt don't rely on MH to keep your energy up, it seems as though it just enough to sustain you, so you will need to supplement your calorie intake with something else.
I found the salt content high, but I needed to replenish salt so I didn't really notice after a few days.
If you have meat to add, I'd highly recommend it, makes for a tasty meal.
Hope this helps,

Al

[OutWest]

I order mine from Karst Sports.
A propak can get me by for dinner but I can easily eat a double portion.
I like most flavours

http://www.karstsports.com/food.html

I usually place a large order for friends so it would be easier to eat the cost of shipping (plus receive the discount for ordering 6 of one flavour)but now I'm going to use a shipping addy just across the border in the states for free shipping.

Betta's Services just across the border in Oroville is a good one.

[kootenaycarver]

Mountainhouse has come a long way since the 1970/80's. I really enjoy the lasagna and noodles with chicken 2 portion pack for me works. I purchase all of it in the USA for half price, or less than here. Always keep half a dozen in the camper for emergencies. Only way to go for light weight, easy to prepare meals.

[hardy hunter]

I got the can sample pack from Costco and portioned it out in kryovac packs. brought the cost way down.

[Ian F.]

http://www.mountainhouse.com/M/category/MHLSD.html

there are a few low sodium options...

[bridger]

One rider and 2 packers per man,,and out for 14 days

with that number of horses just curious as to why you are thinking of relying solely on mtn house?

[oneheadshot]

That is Kinda what I was wondering? There's is enough horse power there to eat a little better then just mountain house.

[Hunter49]

I used them last fall on a week long sheep hunt. The two packs were great for a meal, good taste from all meals. Ordered them from Amazon.com.

[cpwrestler]

I ate a lot of mountain house while firefighting over the years... for me the best flavours came down to which ones had the least sodium. A few people have mentioned the salt content: be warned, some flavours are waaaaaay higher in sodium content than others. I personally found the less salty ones better: still pretty salty-tasting though. And I gotta disagree with cpwrestler (all due respect; nothing personal). In my experience the backpacker's pantry were worse than MH for two reasons: one, lots of their flavours didn't seem to fully soften up and rehydrate (like the cajun beans and chicken (or something like that, whatever...) and two, they are wwwwwaaaaaaaayyyyyyy saltier tasting on average. And that is even after sweating my bag off all day digging fireguard with a pulaski. I would be craving salt, and some of the BP meals would just be way too intense anyway.
Also, whoever said hot sauce... amen, brother!

Bottom line if I was picking MH out for a longish trip: the keys would be variety and the lower sodium flavours. Just my $.02... good luck and enjoy! ... also, take extra Shit Tickets... 3 dinners in a row of MH and you might be popping some desperate squats!:mrgreen:

If the decision is between flavour then obviously it comes down to individual choice so no hard feelings. I did a quick look at Backpacker Pantry's website to see what the sodium content is like on their bigger meals. On certain high calorie meals, it was VERY high (112% of daily recommend sodium intake in the chana masala meal, with 860 calories) and on others it was very reasonable (18% of DRI in the spicy thai peanut sauce with 1000 calories). Incidentally I thought the chana masala was the worst of the meals that I have had while the spicy thai was very good.

Again, for me... When I'm out there burning all those calories in a day, I'm looking for what is going to provide me with the necessary energy to keep moving at a high pace. I'll take the extra calories every time even if taste may suffer (for me I thought BP tasted great).

[ryanb]

Don't be fooled by the high calorie backpacker pantry meals. They are much heavier than a mountain house. About the same weight as a regular MH and a propack MH...along with about the same calories. Taste is not bad, but MH seems to rehydrate the best.

[vip_ruger]

I was on a horse back hunt this year and took mostly mh and i will never just take straight mh on a horse back hunt again i would take a few for the long days and a quick meals on the mountain but i would take things for the fist few days to eat like a king and then other foods canned fruit and dried foods noodles and spaghetti sauce and thing like that .This year i meet people on horses that were eating steak on day 8 or there hunt they had them each in there on marinate sauce in air tight packs . Each guy will be able to bring about 300 lbs with that many horses and most guys back packing only have 60 lbs for 2 weeks back packing, so even if u had 60 lbs of food each guy that should keep u from getting to skinny

[BiG Boar]

Start a new thread man. Re phrase the question like this:

If you were going on a horseback hunt for 14 days with a huge string of horses, what sort of food would you take?

I'll save you time writing it and answer for you. Certainly not F*&King mountain house! Or ichiban noodles! Take fresh fruit and food and sandwiches and eggs and bacon and steak and potatoes with sour cream. Take whatever the heck you want! It's going on the horses! Get some pink board foam insulation from Home depot and cut it to form a cooler out of one or two of your panyards.

There is no reason to poison yourself with mnt house on a horse back hunt period.

[frenchbar]

Start a new thread man. Re phrase the question like this:

If you were going on a horseback hunt for 14 days with a huge string of horses, what sort of food would you take?

I'll save you time writing it and answer for you. Certainly not F*&King mountain house! Or ichiban noodles! Take fresh fruit and food and sandwiches and eggs and bacon and steak and potatoes with sour cream. Take whatever the heck you want! It's going on the horses! Get some pink board foam insulation from Home depot and cut it to form a cooler out of one or two of your panyards.

There is no reason to poison yourself with mnt house on a horse back hunt period. amen to that ..i'd even stuff every pocket of my jacket full of steaks before i pack crap like MH..

[JLsteel]

I like the Mountain house but its nice to pack a bit of real food as well

I usually buy these on amazon.
12 pack for $60 - chicken rice/chilli mac/ spagetti

http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-House-Just-Case-Assortment/dp/B00955337I/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1391221549&sr=8-5&keywords=mountain+house

12pack for $55 - 2 - Beef Stroganoff, 2- Chicken Teriyaki, 2- Beef Stew, 2- Lasagna w/meat, 2- Noodles and Chicken, 2- Granola w/Blueberries

http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-House-Just-Case-Assortment/dp/B00955DUHQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391221549&sr=8-2&keywords=mountain+house

[1/2 slam]

We tend to eat one per night, along with another snack, and that is OK unless lots of exertion took place. Like the chicken teriyaki, beef stroganoff and the lasagna. Forgot utensils and used sticks as chopsticks more than once. Shouldn't be an issue on horseback, but when hiking you have to take into consideration the weight of the water you need to pack to rehydrate them.

Costco in Bellingham sold them last year. IIRC it was about $40 for 10. I'll keep an eye out again this year as spring comes and I'll send you a PM if I see them back in the stores.

They still had them about a month ago

[1/2 slam]

Mountain house are good, but what it really comes down to is calorie count. Most individual Mountain House meals are in the 500-700 calorie range. On the other hand, you can get Backpacker's Pantry meals with 1000+ calories in a bag. Taste wise they're both about the same to me, but when I'm hiking all day up and down mountains, I'll take that extra 300+ calories every time.

Maybe to you. To me Bpp tasted like sh%t

[markomoose]

Does this crap not give anyone gas.man i-m rocket propelled after eating that stuff.we found an apple on the trail the stone moutain safari guides dropped.best damn apple i ever ate!!we started eyeing up the marmots wondering what they tasted like.no we did-nt!

[jtred]

Personally I'm impressed by how tasty most of the meals from MH or BPP are. They do a pretty good job of keeping a guy going, but yes baby wipes are your friend after a couple of days of them. I've been on a couple of pack trips with horses and I've got to agree with some of the other guys, you shouldn't have to rely on exclusively freeze dried. I have to say though some of that canned stuff is pretty awful, some of those chilli's and stews, wow is that really meat? In many cases the MH actually tastes better and as for sodium content, that tinned stuff isn't exactly health food.

[604redneck]

I find them very salty but u won't die eating them I have eaten them 10 days straight a few times and by day 5 it sucks and by day 8 I don't even care anymore lol

[RiverOtter]

While I've never not seen the bottom of a MH bag after a day of hiking, there are a few flavours I won't intentionally pack along; Lasagna and Beef Stew come to mind, due to the "crazy glue" cheese and spongy taters. Chicken breast and mashed taters was a huge disappointment as well, both in taste and preparation.

While MH might not be gourmet, it fits a niche where weight is at a premium. Lara bars, dried fruit, Eat-Mores and quaker instant oatmeal break up the monotony.

[Hunt-4-Life]

Yeah x2 on the chicken and taters, that was bad.

[rides bike to work]

Make sure you bring a cup that measures the water right so you don't end with lasagna soup