A site for Mountain House Meals

[gary c.]

I ran across this site while looking for something else and thought it was worth posting. I have not ordered anything from here but I probably will sometime soon. They say that they are the only distributer that sells the entire line of Mountain House meals (80+ varieties) and promise the lowest prices. They definatley have a lot of meals that I cant get at the local Sports Chalet or WallMart. I'm also going to give the Enertia Meals a try, I ordered a few today.
Gary C.

http://www.nitro-pak.com/index.php?cPath=147_61

[markskor]

Gary,
Maybe it is just me, but if I have to look at one more: "Temptingly delicious, feeds two, freeze dried, just add boiling water" meal, well...it is all a pack of lies....causes the fierce southern winds too, if you get my drift. While backpacking, I too usually take 1 or 2 of these $8.00 meals along for security, but I would rather eat anything else...anything.
No, I take that back...the desserts are usually killer. In fact, I often make an entire 2-man dessert my hiking breakfast...love the cobblers. Maybe I will give your list a look.
Mark

[hikerduane]

I have tried the Enertia meals that sounded good to me, one flavor I thought too bland, been using them for the last two seasons. Try Mary Jane Farms too, all kinda high price. Mary Jane's stuff seems like small portions, but when water is added works ok, just can't eat the two serving size stuff anymore, too much. I like the single serve size of freeze dried food, they are about a third smaller then the two serving size. I throw in a package or two of ramen to get the price of food for a trip down, dehydrating home grown veggies would be great too. I need to get some ideas from a guy I know.

[gary c.]

I've grown somewhat tired of the package meals also. The main reason I posted the link was for people like me that are tired of the same thing all of the time. Like I wrote above, it seems that everyplace I look they have the same 10 - 15 entrees and there are only a couple that I really like. I figure that with all the variety this site offers at least I can try something different. I didn't look yet but I figure that the lower price will be off-set by the shipping cost though. It's the same reason that decided to try the Enertia Meals. I also like the higher calories and compact size of the Enertia Meals. I just hope that they have enough flavor.

I guess that I've just reached that point where I'm needing to get more creative with my meals. I'm going to start building some of my own, I'm just having a hard time getting it rolling. The problem is that I like to eat I want a big dinner with lots of flavor, easy and fast to make, and I want it to weigh next to nothing on the trail. No problem at all, right?
Gary C.

[hikerduane]

If'n you are going to go with the Enertia Foods, bring some dessert, they are not large servings which is why I like them, can't eat like a teen or 20 somethin anymore. To save space in a canister, I repackage them into snack size baggies, which works out perfect. You will have to open the sauce packet and dump in over the pasta, otherwise it won't work. Since the pasta is hollow and/or has lots of space, there is room for the powdered sauce to fill in. I need to study some of the freezer bag cooking meals, Sarbar has a cookbook out and an online sight too, which I haven't checked out yet.

[gary c.]

If'n you are going to go with the Enertia Foods, bring some dessert, they are not large servings which is why I like them, can't eat like a teen or 20 somethin anymore. To save space in a canister, I repackage them into snack size baggies, which works out perfect. You will have to open the sauce packet and dump in over the pasta, otherwise it won't work. Since the pasta is hollow and/or has lots of space, there is room for the powdered sauce to fill in. I need to study some of the freezer bag cooking meals, Sarbar has a cookbook out and an online sight too, which I haven't checked out yet.

I'm the same way as far as eating like I used but I still need to feel full in order to be satisfied. One of the things that I found interesting on the Inertia site FAQ page was that some asked why there meals called for so much water to be added. They felt that many of the meals were soupy. Enertia says that they make them that way so that users can add to them easier. I don't know that I beleive all of that or not but it got me to thinking a little (always dangerous). The Nitro site that I linked to above also sells freeze dried meats, as do many others. It might be nice to buy and can and "beef-up" my meals a little.
Gary C.

[BSquared]

Gary,
Maybe it is just me, but if I have to look at one more: "Temptingly delicious, feeds two, freeze dried, just add boiling water" meal, well...it is all a pack of lies....causes the fierce southern winds too, if you get my drift. While backpacking, I too usually take 1 or 2 of these $8.00 meals along for security, but I would rather eat anything else...anything.
Mark

I think I'm with Gary on this: I'd like to get rolling but am not sure where to start. Mark, what do you eat? The more I look at food options, especially for long trips, the more I think that I'd save weight, fuel, and—perhaps most important—precious volume in the bear canister, if I used more bulk foods and saved the prepackaged stuff for treats (I emphatically agree with you about the desserts). I'm not a fisherperson. So: I know about freeze-dried refried beans, minute rice (apparently wild rice is available in an instant form, but I haven't tried it), packages of freeze-dried chicken, and I guess a few little bags of freeze-dried veggies and spices of various sorts. What else? Does one try to package these in [soft] daily bags, or how do you make sure there's something left on the last day? Anybody know a source of instant oatmeal that's not in envelopes that make 1/2 serving?

Oh, one tiny but important related question: peanut butter is the staff of lunch; what's the best way to stuff it into a bear canister? On the previous JMT trip I used a tube; wrong. Peanut butter all over the inside of the protective (whew!) outer bag and basically unusable.

-B²

[markskor]

B² -
What do I eat? … Roots and berries.
On a typical 10-day trip, might carry:
There are a few packaged freeze dried items that still can be digested. Like the dehydrated whole chicken breasts on top of a pot of instant mashed potatoes…usually two meals/dinners per trip. FYI, a few tablespoons of instant mashed potatoes, (store bought brand but stored in a zip lock) can be added to almost anything…makes it less soupy.
Also might do a few Mac & cheese dinners with sautéed pepperoni or salami, or wild rice with those aluminum foil wrapped ham/tuna/shrimp things…also sautéed with garlic and wild onions. Maybe a couple of “Lipton/Knor noodles and something creamy”…here, maybe add in a small can of chicken or foil-packed tuna and bouillon cubes...pasta always works.
I like pita bread, with cheese, tortillas, top ramin anytime, and peanut butter on Ritz crackers. I like carrying a bag of Beef Jerky too…and jelly beans.
FYI on peanut butter, fill a baggie and cut off a corner…squeeze it out like icing…all double bagged. Broken Ritz makes a great stuffing for trout with wild onions.
Did I mention that I also catch fish?

Usually pre-package and label each dinner separately – in its own quart or gallon baggie, drink a lot of Crystal lite and/or hot chocolate…and perhaps a small nalgene of Single Malt.

My dinners probably take up a little more prep time than yours, and twice the fuel, but don’t care. Not on a JMT-driven, have-to-be-somewhere rush. One small and one large, or two large canisters (MSR Windpro) seem to last a typical 10-day trip comfortably.

BTW, usually like to hit camp by 4, start to “dine” around 5 and afterwards, fish the alpenglow evenings away.
Mark

[MountainMinstrel]

Oh, one tiny but important related question: peanut butter is the staff of lunch; what's the best way to stuff it into a bear canister? On the previous JMT trip I used a tube; wrong. Peanut butter all over the inside of the protective (whew!) outer bag and basically unusable.

-B²

Last year I used individual Ziplocs (one for each lunch) and it worked out great! Just cut a corner and squeeze it out. They were very efficient in their use of space too (I had 8 nights in a bear vault). I would recommend using the double zip type of bags as an added bit of protection (although that did not help with the bag of sugar ).

[fishmonger]

last year I carried a mix of meals made from food found in the super market, kicked up with freeze dried chicken (bought in bulk). I also bought some bulk Mountain House in large cans and split it into zip locks for each depot. Worked very well and packed much better than the regular freeze dry pouches. I don't like the vacuum packed meals at all - way too bulky for a bear canister.

I get the bulk cans here:

http://www.thereadystore.com/freeze-dri ... tain-house

this year I'll get the freeze dried ground beef and make some meals with that (dirty rice, with some hot sauce in the squirt bottle :-))

gotta come up with decent food for a month to keep the kids happy (although the jar of Nutella will handle that keeping happy part, I think, hunger will do the rest)

[PCT1981]

Some people might want to consider trying Hawk Vittles. Good ingredients and nice portion size. I have used these on some JMT hikes.
Mahalo

[intrek38]

Less expensive here with free shipping over $40
http://www.karstsports.com/mohoprse.html#top