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mountain house alternatives!
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Home › Forums › General Forums › Food, Hydration, and Nutrition › mountain house alternatives!
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Mar 4, 2015 at 5:57 pm #2180025
Anonymous
InactiveBecause… Mountain house sux. Is that a good enough reason? I want meal in a bag, add water, wait… Eat.
Mar 4, 2015 at 6:28 pm #2180034Potatoes and eggs react with plastic while dehydrating. It turns grey and useless. (my friend explained the chemical reaction to me once, but it went over my head) My experience has been that eggs and potatoes just never work in the dehydrator, so I'm surprised to see that recipe in the book. I had someone tell me once that they had success drying their potatoes in an all stainless LEM dehydrator but not in their American Harvest dehydrator, even if the covered their trays with parchment.
My rule of thumb: If it freezes well, it will dehydrate well. (ie. Chilli? Great. Raw green peppers? Terrible.)
Chicken doesn't work well because the cell walls need to be broken down first. It can be dehydrated, but not rehydrated. Canned or pressure cooked chicken works because you've softened it up so much. But it's also pretty unappetizing.
The best resources I have found for dehydrating food are "A Fork in the Trail" (already mentioned) and http://www.backpackingchef.com.
You will be very hard pressed to find recipes that can be rehydrated by just adding boiling water. Dehydrating isn't like freeze drying. Freeze dried food tends to be like a sponge that is begging to be rehydrated. Dehydrated food tends to want to stay dehydrated and shrivelled. I understand not wanting to cook though. My strategy has always been to put the food in my pot, bring to a boil, place in a cozy, let sit for ten minutes and eat out of the pot. For cleanup, I simply rinse out with water and then drink it. It's surprisingly not that bad to drink rinse water. After cooking like this for months straight, I've never had concerns about my pot being dirty from a lack of soap. I figure I'm going to boil it clean sterile tomorrow anyway.
Mar 4, 2015 at 6:28 pm #2180035I have "Backpackers Gourmet" and the best part of it is learning how to dehydrate food. I did it for a while in my oven. Sadly I have no time now and am back to MH and Backpacker's Pantry.
I'd take my favorite one pot meals, chop the pieces down to size, reduce the fats and dehydrate it. Works like a charm.
While the food is much better than most recipes it's never as good as fresh.
Mar 4, 2015 at 6:28 pm #2180036no, you want to pour water in a bag, wait, and then eat delicious food.
If MtnHouse isn't good enough for you, try one of the other premade brands, or put in the work of making your own. Everyone here is giving you great suggestions….
Mar 4, 2015 at 6:32 pm #2180037What kind of food do trolls eat?
Mar 4, 2015 at 6:36 pm #2180038Before you get too invested in this request by david drake read This Thread
It may be an honest request, or not …
Mar 4, 2015 at 6:37 pm #2180039Anonymous
InactiveHuh… That's why I got a dehydrator. To learn how to prepare my own meals. I will not go back to prepackaged meals. I Will figure this out. I appreciate everyone's input. All great advice.
Mar 4, 2015 at 6:56 pm #2180046"Before you get too invested in this request by david drake read"
Oh yeah, I remember that go round. Bright side is, once a post is started with even a hint of relevance to something of interest here it can be advantageous to others as long as it doesn't go south by feeding the trolls and throwing poo pies around.
Please continue, I'm getting a nice bunch of references for better food.
jimmyb
Mar 4, 2015 at 7:54 pm #2180060Thanks Larry for the shoutout. I personally am not a huge fan of drying full meals. I like having components on hand to make meals. Because I also keep these items on hand for at home use. But more so, single ingredients stay fresh a LOT longer. In dried meals, anytime you add in dairy, fat or meat, its shelf life goes down quickly. A meal such as mentioned at the start should be frozen once dehydrated and used within 3 months. Where as dried items such as veggies, fruits and starches dehydrated last for a year or more.
Mar 4, 2015 at 7:56 pm #2180062http://www.trailcooking.com/dehydrating-101/ This is the section for dehydrating on my site.
Mar 4, 2015 at 9:23 pm #2180085One way I've found to keep backpacking foods a bit more interesting but also easier is to dehydrate my favorite sauces, fruits and veggies, pack them individually and while traveling add them to commonly found side dishes, dehydrated bulk foods and also carry powdered butter, cheese and the oils I like to add for taste and get more fat in the diet. I call it a mix and match metod. On long trails, I had to find a way to use what I found in local supermarkets usable and more interesting and more nutritious. And that way I can use the stuffing, rice or pasta in side dishes, but not always the nasty ingredients in those foil pouches that make me want to gag. I've also used lots of Mary Jane Farms foods as bases for meals. My husband and I really like Mary Janes Bare Burrito , we buy that in bulk…..a little cheese and a tortilla (and a fresh avocado!) and its a quick meal. Mary Janes potatoe flakes are the bomb too…but I HAVE to have butter with those! Yum! I don't use any chicken……it's just not that tasty dehydrated and no amount of spices makes it better for me, so I buy organic jerked meats if I haven't gotten an elk or deer myself. Often I will make a pemmican for snacks. I grow ghost peppers at home so always have some of that dried and ground up to spice up a meal if I want to, some folks bring their favorite hot sauce in dropper bottles.
After a few trips one gets used to mixing a handful of base, some favorite veggies, (or fruit) a bit of spice and or salt n pepper, add hot water a bit of oil to taste, slip it in a reflective cozy to "cook" then chow down.Mar 4, 2015 at 9:25 pm #2180087Anonymous
InactiveSome of those recipes seem like a lot of pre dried ingredients. I guess if you had a kitchen full of this already it would be cost effective. these recipes look more doable than just slamming everything in a casserole dish and hoping like Hell it rehydrates well.
Mar 4, 2015 at 9:50 pm #2180090Or…you cheat and go visit HarmonyHouseFoods.com and stock up. Lazy can win.
Mar 4, 2015 at 10:44 pm #2180105> the last thing I would suggest to anyone who wants food instead of preservatives
> seasoned with food-substitute.
OUCH!
Wicked!Cheers
Oct 15, 2015 at 11:47 am #2232205Not sure if anyone else has tried meals from this company, but in my opinion as far as store bought dehydrated meals go, they are leagues ahead. And the ingredients read well. Each meal does cost more than a comparable mountainhouse meal, but you get what you pay for imo. Oh yeah, taste great most importantly.
Oct 15, 2015 at 1:23 pm #2232218Just bought some Good To-Go meals, will be taking one (Three Bean Chili) on my short trip tomorrow. They have a 20-minute rehydrate time, but that's okay. Good time for a bit of scotch….
Oct 15, 2015 at 5:12 pm #2232275Good to-go is IMO the best thing since baby wipes. I absolutely love the Thai Yellow Curry and Penne w/ Marinara…the chili and risotto not so much. I could alternate the curry and penne every night for days. Hint: add some crushed red pepper to the penne before rehydrating and some crushed peanuts to the curry after rehydrating.
Oct 15, 2015 at 8:52 pm #2232310By far my favorite which is not saying much because most of the others truly suck.
Oct 19, 2015 at 11:22 am #2232805I've tried various things and I find that I have very good results with simple, humble Campbell's soup such as Bean with Bacon and Split Pea. I add some more bacon, pepper, onion, etc. Quick and easy. They de and re-hydrate extremely well. Voila', you got two dinners already.
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