In Defense of Mountain House -- a Treatise

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The single best meal I’ve ever eaten in my life was a MH. Brooks Range, August 2014. Jumped into the tent and out of the wind after packing 10 miles in the rain and getting up at 3am.

Sweet and Sour Pork. I can still taste it and hear the wind outside the warm dry tent.
 
I can eat MH or Peak no problem at all and enjoy my fav's of each, I'm sure that could be mostly the environment at the time and not something I'd select to eat any other time.

As @Gerald Martin mentioned, the Gastro Gnome meals are definitely a step above MH and Peak, yes they cost a few bucks more. I'm sure for some of the guys on here that could add up based on # of meals you eat a year, but for others who only get to do maybe 1 or 2 weeks a year on a hunt the quality out weighs the cost IMO. I was only able to do 6 day hunt this year, 6 dinners at extra $4.00 ea cost me $24 extra for the week.

Even though I can eat any of the meals no issue, there will be a freeze dryer purchased in my household this winter. My trips now each year are 1-3 weeks so purchasing meals isn't a big deal, but that's changing next fall into trips being unlimited in length and occurrence :giggle:.
 
MH Turkey Tetrazzini was my always favorite, but I haven't seen it around in a decade or so.
worst I ever had actually. Buddy and I were splitting a bag on a summer scouting trip, the bag tipped over in the dark with some spilling out. He quickly scooped the spillover back in but also added some range cow seasoning that happened to be there. A couple bites and I decided I was fine going to bed hungry
 
Im sitting here in the woods, somehow have service, waiting on my MH stroganoff to finish cooking. Wood stove is roaring, toasty warm. Life is good, entertaining thread.

I buy the #10 cans of MH. Usually stroganoff and chicken/rice cause thats what I can find for cheap. Way better deal than a bag and I can portion it to my liking. Mylar bags off amazon are cheap.

Tried peak and ugh gross. Flavor was good, but meat never rehydrated no matter how many times I tried. Tried a friends too and still, crunchy meat. No thanks. Tried a bunch of the other hippie brands too. I love thai red curry from a restaurant, but in the woods I keep it simple.

Hacks for enhancing your MH or making it go further. Idahoan potatoes is a staple mixer. Packets of soy or sweet/sour sauce from panda express. Cheese/pepper packets from pizza. I like the summer sausage and mozzarella stick ideas. Going to try those.
 
Idahoan potatoes is a staple mixer.
These are a great first night meal with some real meat too. When I spent a summer backpacking for work I would always take a frozen burger patty and Idahoan potatoes or bratwurst and a box of mac and cheese for the first night in the woods. Then move on to the mountain house the next night.

I’d bring a few tortillas to make my chili mac into a burrito, and sometimes cheese to make a quesadilla on a flat rock by the fire.
 
Almost 50 years ago learned that my system could not tolerate Chili Mac. As a boy scout at Philmont, the trade box at the food pickup stations was always full of Chili Mac, a signal that my intestines were not the only set that didn't like the stuff. It only took one serving to learn the next day that hiking with a Chili Mac butt was a special kind of misery, all those decades before baby wipes.

David
NM
 
As a boy scout at Philmont, the trade box at the food pickup stations was always full of Chili Mac,
Guess I was lucky trekking Philmont in 1956 when we had a Dutch oven "chef" who cooked fabulous meals for us on the trail. (chicken'n'dumplins & peach cobbler)
Then in the Army, I was disappointed in having to choke down C Rations, then MREs (Meals Rejected by Ethiopians).
However on the Thorofare trail during the August "drought" it rained, chilled, then froze our water ... but the Mountain House Stroganoff tasted great and was real "comfort food".

Pass Crk Campfire.JPG
Only you who read this know we broke the rules and had a fire during the "drought " in August.
 
Im sitting here in the woods, somehow have service, waiting on my MH stroganoff to finish cooking. Wood stove is roaring, toasty warm. Life is good, entertaining thread.

I buy the #10 cans of MH. Usually stroganoff and chicken/rice cause thats what I can find for cheap. Way better deal than a bag and I can portion it to my liking. Mylar bags off amazon are cheap.

Tried peak and ugh gross. Flavor was good, but meat never rehydrated no matter how many times I tried. Tried a friends too and still, crunchy meat. No thanks. Tried a bunch of the other hippie brands too. I love thai red curry from a restaurant, but in the woods I keep it simple.

Hacks for enhancing your MH or making it go further. Idahoan potatoes is a staple mixer. Packets of soy or sweet/sour sauce from panda express. Cheese/pepper packets from pizza. I like the summer sausage and mozzarella stick ideas. Going to try those.
Used to be Lipton made some great dehydrated meals, a fraction of the MH cost. We would have starved or quit backpacking if we had to use MH, high school and college kids could not afford it. Lipton Stroganoff became the standard.

Lipton quit making those dehydrated meals. So, we used Hamburger Helper and "Make a Better Burger." MABB was soy, to stretch ground beef, but we used it straight up. On one trip. In the rhododendron thickets of NC, one of us could fart and the other hiker would smell it even if we were separated a quarter of a mile, it just hung in those rhody tunnels. I was so foul that I forced everybody out of the trail shelter to tents, and we were hiding from the leftover of a hurricane up on the Appalachian Trail.

Nowadays, we use MH. Joyfully, but not Chili Mac. Not cheap, but easy and full of calories. Used to live in Albany, OR, where Oregon Freeze Dry was located. Whenever I drove by I would tip my hat. MH is good stuff, my garage is full of it.

David
NM
 
Guess I was lucky trekking Philmont in 1956 when we had a Dutch oven "chef" who cooked fabulous meals for us on the trail. (chicken'n'dumplins & peach cobbler)
Then in the Army, I was disappointed in having to choke down C Rations, then MREs (Meals Rejected by Ethiopians).
However on the Thorofare trail during the August "drought" it rained, chilled, then froze our water ... but the Mountain House Stroganoff tasted great and was real "comfort food".

View attachment 294676
Only you who read this know we broke the rules and had a fire during the "drought " in August.
We had good dutch oven meals, but of course we didn't tote one but used the ones at the various camps. Best peach cobbler and pound cakes, ever. Except for Chili Mac, MH is our go-to when out back or doing lazy camping.

David
NM
 
Breakfast skillet with biscuits and gravy mixed together goes really well.
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Big disappointment here. I clicked on this thinking it was snowymountainier’s annual “I killed a big alpine buck with my small caliber rifle and packed out it and my camp in one load” thread.

I like the MH chicken and rice. Safe and spice it up with Taco Bell hot sauce and/or crushed red pepper.

Agree with the Lasagna sligholy better than spaghetti but it sure does stick to your spork.
Crushed red pepper helps all manner of flavorless foods!
 
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