Reader Reviews

Rating: 2 / 5

What I liked:
Easy to make, boil 12-16 oz water (depending upon how runny you like it) pour it in, reseal it, stir / squish for 10 minutes, Viola! Easy cleanup, reseal, repack, repatriate.

What I didn't like:
Way too much salt, more than your entire RDA in one 4.3 oz bag.

I'd rate taste as fair - poor / marginal, however, it allegedly was rated "2002 best tasting freeze dried meals", but I have to wonder who did the judging or what the criteria was.

I believe they can make a quality good tasting meal without all the salt.

Edited by eaglemb on 11/12/2006 15:35:10 MST.

Rating: 3 / 5

I hate to admit it, but once (long ago!) I failed to properly store my food on a backpacking trip, and lost it to a hungry bear. That trip was educational in more ways than one, including learning that bears love Skittles, M&M's and other "unnatural foods" but turn up their noses at Mountain House beef stew. In this case, the bear ripped open the bag and stuck his nose in it (leaving a perfect bear nose print right in the middle of the stew) but refused to eat it. That was the only thing he didn't eat, in fact.

The next morning I picked the bear boogies out and plopped the rest of the meal into a pot of hot water, grateful to at least have some breakfast. Halfway through this sodium-laced nightmare of a meal I felt somewhat less lucky, and could now better appreciate Mr. Bear's fine sense of what is edible and what is absolutely not.

Although I am a fan of some Mountain House meals, most if not all of them are simply overloaded with salt. It's enough to give a bear high blood pressure!

Michael

Edited by MichaelReagan on 01/22/2008 09:32:56 MST.

Rating: 4 / 5

Maybe I'm not as critical, but I happen to like Mountain House's Beef Stew. In fact, it's one my favorites of their product line. I haven't noticed an over abundance of saltiness without looking at the nutritional label. "Squish for 10 minutes"? I'm pretty sure the instruction say "let rest for 10 minutes." Not that that would affect the taste ... just the consistency. There might be lighter meals out there, but it's hard to beat the ease of a just-add-water meal after a long day on the trail. And a hearty stew with little chunks of meat just hits the spot. The Seafood Chowder - now that's a 5/5!

Rating: 5 / 5

Actually, it just goes to show different tastes for different folks. After a heavy exertion day the Mountain House stew is usually one of my favorites. I have only noticed it being a bit salty whenever I either wasn't at altitude or hadn't worked very hard that day.

If you can palate it the salt intake issue is mute if you've been sweating a lot given that salt intake is measured for someone being mostly sedintary and sodium requirements go up a lot once your activity level goes up (based on some scientific studies I read up on from some rock climbing training research).

It's really easy to make, dump in boiling water, squish the water around for a little bit, wait. Clean up is just even easier.

I actually really enjoy turning this into a shephards pie by fixing the Idahoan 4 cheese potatoes in a ziplock bag along with it and layering it in a pot. Feeds 3-4 that way and is a very fulfilling meal.

Rating: 3 / 5

I prefer home cooking to processed, ready to eat food, such as canned, frozen, or freeze dried main courses. I prefer to make my own stew from plain freeze dried meat (AlpineAire) and home dehydrated vegetables. I group the ingredients into two or three different bags, according to how long each ingredient takes to cook. My method requires extra kitchen work in camp.
http://www.benhubbell.com/backpacking/recipes/index.html

Many people would rather not do extra food prep work in camp. If you prefer to minimize the amount of food prep you do in camp, you can prepare a complete stew at home and dry the stew in a dehydrator. Here is a link to some recipes that were developed by a couple that prefers this approach.
http://pct-hike.randsco.com/Planning/05.1-Recipes.html

Rating: 3 / 5

I submitted this review twice by mistake. I hope the webmaster can remove this redundant submission.

Edited by eightypoundpack on 09/14/2011 16:15:12 MDT.