[Schroder]

I used to eat nothing but Mountain House but I had so much of their spaghetti I don't think I could face another. I prefer now to kick it up a notch with something like Pad Thai or Cajun Salmon Inferno by Backpackers Pantry. I'm surprised to see some say that they're underwhelmed by the flavor of these meals.

[sarbar]

The flavoring in nearly all the Mountain House meals is Salt and MSG. Yummers. You can do way better!! One of my most read blog entries was about making your own versus commercial meals - so popular it was archived in our dehydrating section. I would hedge my biggest gripe with commercial meals is the heavy sodium. No meal needs to contain 1500 to over 3,000 mg of sodium in it. Making it worse is that many people eat a two serving as a one person meal - so you can pack in a lot of sodium. As well, many of the meals don't have a lot of fat nor fiber - both things you need to feel good. Yes, I do realize that commercial meals have their place - and I do use them at times. When I do, I for the most part only eat ones by www.packitgourmet.com - whose meals actually serve 2 hungry adults, taste good and look like real food (well, because it is!)

[CampGirl]

[Opus]

[nuclear_eggset]

I completely agree with sarbar. Of course, with my food intolerances, I kind of have to. (Anything offered gluten free has about a 90% chance of having dairy. So, there's like one thing I can have. Oooo... dried eggs. I can make those at home too.) All the folks I go backpacking with who have tried my food, however, rather like it, above and beyond their packaged stuff. How can you turn down homemade chili, or veggie soup?

[sarbar]

Over the years after talking to a lot of hikers about food, what really stands out is the fear of it. I know that sounds dumb - yet, there is a fear that planning a set of meals will be too hard, what does a person take, the fear of it taking too long to cook, cleanup from hell, etc. So you see two groups: Those that eat freeze dried fare to avoid all issues. They give up a lot for convenience tastewise and nutrion wise. And those that go overboard in the gourmet sense, packing way too much gear and having too spend a lot of time in the "kitchen" while hiking. Once a person gets past the fear it becomes easy - you realize that you can eat really good with minimal prep. That was the whole basis behind every FBC (Freezer Bag Cooking) recipe that I have developed in the past 5 or so years. I do one pot meals as well - but never above one pot and it better be quick and easy to clean up. All it takes is to ask yourself what you like to eat and then to turn those things into trail doable recipes. I cook on dayhikes as well - it keeps you tuned and you can try out new ideas. On a cold day not much is better than a hot pot of noodles or soup Not to plug my blog that is listed below, but that is my life - I hunt down and try out food, try out commercial meals, trail cooking gear and yak about what works and doesn't.

[Hulksmash]

Many many moons ago. When i was 18 years old.. i hauled an ice chest full of food into Janus lake. Boy did it drive the PCT through hikers crazy when i sat on my comfy lawn chair, and cooked up fresh steak, bacon and eggs for breakfast. Those were the days...I hike lighter now. Anyway. I have to agree with sarbar about the salt and fillers in Mountaian house meals. I have a cast-iron stomach so i can eat just about anything. However, i do have issues with Mountain House. They make me super gassy. I am definitely a no smoking zone after eating them That and i am constantly lethargic well after eating them..and I'm not taking about the stuffed feeling.

[jimmymac]

Mountain House here. I usually embellish an entre with some coconut, peanuts, red pepper, ginger - whatever. For dinner, I don't force myself to eat the full two-person meal. When I feel full, I seal up the rest, stick it in some snow, and eat the cold leftovers for breakfast. Breakfast is when I really could use some slower-burning calories, but I never feel like cooking. If cold Mountain House sounds gross, you should see me graze in front of the fridge on a Sunday morning at home. I acknowledge the garbage elements found in a Mountain House meal. But if enjoying false flavor via some salt and MSG is wrong, "I don't wanta be right." (I'm apt to down a lot worse additives when I stop off for a meal on the drive home.)

[matai]

Can you eat the Enertia meals out of the bag like Mountain House??

[jenjen]

Some of the Enertia meals rehydrate in the bag, some take a little cooking. My computer isn't playing nice with java or adobe scripts right now, so I can't use the Enertia site. But, if I remember right the meal description tells you the prep instructions.

[sarbar]

[Sennin]

www.packitgourmet.com all the way! Love thier stuff!

[MikeBeebe]

The biggest problem I have is that there's often too much spice or too much reliance on spiciness to enhance weak flavors. I have colitis and hiking with a spasming, burning colon -- and the not-to-be-described after effects -- pretty much kills the whole trip. I use nori and mon-dashi (seaweed and concentrated bonito) to enhance flavors in my own cooking (i'm very partial to mild, clean flavors) and I don't understand why it hasn't been adopted for freeze dried foods more.

[sarbar]

I am working on doing an upcoming series of reviews for Pack Lite Foods meals, which were recommended to me by a reader of ours. I have 6 meals to test (oh woe is me! ) Size wise they even beat Mary Jane's Farm meals for small packaging (but contain more food), have some of the thinnest packaging I have ever seen on a commercial meal (still durable though) and they are all vegetarian/lower sodium/natural. Should have the reviews starting soon.

[joker]

Fascinating read. While I have clearly preferred stuff I've assembled from scratch myself (whether fresher food early in a trip or things like my own dehydrated stuff later in a trip), I've also found some freeze-dried meals that taste good enough to keep me eating and don't cause me to roll around in a brown cloud the rest of the night. There are times where "just pay 6 bucks before the trip and just add water during the trip" is too convenient for me to pass up. I'm with Alti-Babe on the Mary Jane's meals that I've tried, but I should perhaps give them another shot with other varieties. I did add olive oil (and then I think cheese when the oil was not enough...) - I got to "can cram it down" but no further. I've tasted Mountain House food that I had to force down in order to get enough calories, and I've had Mountain House food that was reasonably tasty. Same with Alpine Aire. Both brands seem to get slammed as well as praised. Everyones' systems and tastes and other food concerns are different, so my only point is that there is a BIG variety in flavor from one meal to the next even w/in one manufacturer's lineup. When shopping for F-D food, beyond looking for ingredients I tend to prefer, I also look at fat content, and avoid the low fat content choices. For those who have trouble with F-D food, one climber I know eats a pepto-bismol tablet after each F-D dinner, whether he needs it or not, and he says it keeps things working right (I will avoid going into specific comparitive details ). I have not needed to go this far, and I'm sure this will reinforce the feelings some have for the factory F-D food products, but I share it for others who may like being a test tube.