Watch this before you buy Mountain House or ReadyWise freeze dried food!
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- Опубліковано 9 чер 2024
- Mountain House Amazon Link - amzn.to/3FNmiPb
Watch us taste test ALL 31 Mountain House Meal Options - • Taste-Testing All 31 M...
:19 - cryoDESICCation! We noticed the mistake right after posting. We know the difference between it, and defiling something. It was just a slip and YouTUbe disabled annotations so we can't lay the correction over the video.
Freeze dried food is probably the most popular meal option for serious backpackers and preppers for several reasons. It’s light, nutritious, and easy to prepare. What (if any) place should freeze dried food fill in someone's emergency preparation plan?
In this episode Rusty and Chris cover the benefits of including freeze dried meals in your bug out / prep plan and they taste test two of the most popular commercial options: Mountain House and ReadyWise.
Fifty pound buckets of wheat and a freezer full of meat won’t do you much good if you have to hit the road or the trail. This is where freeze dried food comes in. Including freeze dried meals in your 72-hour kits, go bags, or bug out bags SHOULD save you weight, work, and frustration. Part of the E2E team’s evaluation considers these factors in addition to simply what tastes better between the two compared options. [In case you’re interested, the Mountain House packets used in this video are six years old.]
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VIDEO NAVIGATION
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0:00:00 Intro + Explanation of Freeze Dried Food
0:02:36 Meal Prep
0:04:45 Taste Test
0:13:04 Verdict
0:14:58 Bonus Content
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#FoodStorage #MountainHouse #ReadyWise #SelfReliance #Survival #Survivalism #Prepper #Preparation #SHTF #WROL #BugOut #BugIn #Evacuation #GearReviews #WildernessSurvival #Camping #Outdoors #EmergencyPreparation #Bushcraft #Adventure #FreezeDried
Have you actually tried the food you bought for your storage? If not, you might want to soon.
:19 - cryodesiccation! We noticed the mistake right after posting. We know the difference between it and defiling something. It was just a slip and UA-cam disabled annotations so we can't lay the correction over the video.
I do need to try out a bag of the patriot pantry my dad has stocked up on but I do have so.e mountain house and have enjoyed every kind I've tried.
Stowaway gourmet is the best hands down
I have. I have Auguson Farms, Wise and 4Patriots Brands. Out of the three I purchased, Auguson was actually excellent. Wise was good and 4Patriots was good in a pinch. I think of the three, Auguson is something that I could eat every day for a month. All in all, nothing beats homemade but if it ever hits the fan, do you want to be prepared. Honestly if you don’t have a supply on hand right now, you are going to pay double or triple what I paid for my supplies when I got them. You have to buy the stuff when you don’t need it. Mountain house is very good but in my humble opinion over priced.
I've lived on both Mountain House meals, MREs and LRPs for months at a time during emergencies or between jobs/relocations.
My own personal review to add a little more in depth analysis of other flavors:
I bought quite a few Mountain House meals to see which ones I liked with the plan of ordering more of the ones I like for an emergency food supply.
Liked and ordered more of the following:
Beef Stroganoff- Great!
Spaghetti with meat sauce- Great!
Lasagna- very tasty. Not like real lasagna but tastes great.
Pasta Primavera- fantastic!
Chicken Teriyaki- great!
Chili Mac with Beef- very good, noodles a little stiff.
Granola- good/not great. Maybe too sweet but need something sweet for change of pace.
Did NOT order more of the following:
Mac&Cheese- Ok
Spicy Southwest Style Skillet- good/not great/ spicy
Chicken Fried Rice- didn't order more but it's good if you give it extra time to soak up the water in the pieces of chicken
Breakfast Skillet-eggs sucked, too tough
Scramble Eggs- eggs sucked, too tough
Chicken&Dumplings- tasted great but chicken was like old wood that crumbled when I chewed it
All were edible and I would not turn my nose up at any of them in a pinch. Ones I didn't like would probably be better with a little more time soaking in the water. Costco has their bucket of these meals on sale at a ridiculous price right now so I actually did get more Scrambled Eggs and Chicken&Dumplings because they were basically free. The others in the bucket would cost more individually than the entire bucket.
I drive a tractor trailer and always have mountain house food in my truck. Not all truck stops have food 24 hours or I get stuck someplace without food. I have a single burner MSR and water. Always have a decent meal.
That's smart, Daniel! I imagine you've got some really good ideas for preps living life on the road. Thanks for watching! -Rusty
I will have to look into that. I work out of a van and sometimes my job has me on a site all day and I bought a couple of cases of MREs for simplicity but I am Finding out that the heaters aren't up to the task and leave an odor long after the heater is evpended.
@@nickm9102 you have to watch using those heaters in an enclosed space. Sometimes I’ll go into the truck stop and fill a thermos with hot water for the freeze dried meals.
Same here if you ever been shut down on the side of a rd a good hot meal makes dealing with it better i use a jet boil myself but I also have a gas grill on the truck
@@nickm9102 Use a propane powered single stove. It heats up the water quickly.
That's cuz mountain house needs their food to be good cuz hikers use it. Readywise doesn't expect u to actually eat it
Omg I’m laughing right now! That’s hilarious!
True words. I happened to have opened up a #10 can of dehydrated celery (I do random taste tests on some things i have in storage. Tasted terrible - and found they used even the bitter hearts of celery)
@@theShamrockShepherdWagon ugh
So true!
100% dead on!
I lived off my Mountain House stash during the grid collapse here in Texas last week. I also used my stash to feed my guys at my EMS station due to all our local restaurants being closed. Not a complaint was heard.
Wow! Thanks for sharing the real world experience, Mike! Please shoot an email to story(at)equip2endure.com, I'd like to get in touch with you. Stay strong out there, amigo. -Rusty
From a fellow first responder (EMT-B) in NY, well done, brother! Well done, indeed!
If you need any help replacing what you used to help others, please let me know how I can help..
Anything tastes good if you're hungry enough!
We used a lot of Mountain House during the freeze, too, and it was good! It was my first time trying it. We all enjoyed it. I bought many more since then to keep to the side.
I used to sell readywise. When talking to the rep from the company, they told us that there regular line was focused on pure survival first and flavor second. The directions have you put extra water in them solely to up your water intake during times of emergency. The Readywise camping line is better then the bulk emergency line as far as flavor goes, most people don't realize they are different from the bulk meals. I would however agree that Mountain House is better on flavor. Mountain House and Readywise started by targeting two different markets. One focused on campers and hikers, while the other was more prepper and emergency focused.
That makes a lot of sense, Caleb. Thanks for chiming in with that insight! -Rusty
Oregon Freeze Dry (mountain house) was formed in 1963 in Oregon's Willamette Valley to produce dried sliced strawberries for a General Foods breakfast cereal called Post Toasties corn flakes. General Foods executive Ellis Byer was the enterprise's first general manager and later its president and chairman as well.
Oregon Freeze Dry was soon working to produce an alternative to canned rations for the military. It also supplied food for NASA's Apollo space program and developed meals for nuclear submarine crews and "Long Range Patrol Subsistence" in Vietnam. By the late 1960s, Oregon Freeze Dry was a publicly traded company with annual sales of about $5 million. The work in military rations led to the introduction of Mountain House brand freeze dried food for backpackers in 1970. Mountain House representatives claimed its products tasted better than those of competitors since the ingredients were cooked together before freeze drying. Within a few years Mountain House was marketing more than 100 different products. Oregon Freeze Dry also owned the Tea Kettle brand of backpacker food.
Old AT&T long lines bunkers from the cold war ear can still be found with stocks of mountain house in them to this day, from a time when the phone company was expected to keep the phones working for up to a month without external resupply after a nuclear war.
Sorry that’s a poor excuse to make it watery soup.
If they think you should drink extra water, they could just write on the instructions "HEY BY THE WAY take an extra swig of water while you wait, idiot" and accomplish the same thing without ruining their meals. That makes little to no sense.
How about good cooking instruction and I’ll drink a bottle of water with my meal vs dumping it in my Alfredo making it watery garbage.
I love how that veteran is so honest. No bullshit.
It's true!
😂😂😂😂😂 they are paid by mountainhouse
@@DayofJudgement-ur5gp actually we weren't. We bought these ourselves to test them. 100% genuine review with no vested interest.
@@Equip2Endure Doomsday prepper is sponsored by Ready.
Anything but crystal clarity costs lives in combat.
Hi guys! We'd love to partner with you on a video! Let us know if you're interested :)
Let's talk! Shoot an email to partner(at)equip2endure.com
My kids and I love Mountain House. We take it camping anf I have a small amount set back with my prepping supplies. It's by far the best my family and I have tried , I love to help promote it too, dont know on what level but if I believe in a product Ive always been know to let others know how great it is. Wishful thinking anyways 🙂
@ Mountain House. I love your product! Keep up the good work.
I bought a bucket of the Wise foods to test. Mountain House beats that stuff hands down! The #10 cans are better for long term storage, as you don't have to worry much about perforating packaging. I've lost quite a bit of both Wise and Alpine Aire foods to thin mylar packaging failures. I've heard from other preppers that the Wise food made them sick, and I also got sick after eating one of the test packs. The only downside is that Mountain House has shrunk their lineup, and things like vegetables and fruits have been dropped. Would like to see drinks (milks/juices), baby foods, and pet foods. Babies and pets are parts of the family that need to be prepped for as well!
I keep a 30 day supply of pouches, and a year's supply in #10 cans. I also keep a box full in my vehicle for camping while gold mining. I used part of my 30 day supply to help a coworker get through motel living after a house fire. He was glad for the help, and was surprised at the quality of the meals.
Mountain house i would love for you to sponsor me . I pimp your products to everybody i care about anyway on a daily basis. Oh and you guys should try a chicken and sausage gumbo possibly cajun style beans and rice with sausage or jambalaya. A Chunky Texas style chili would be awesome too.
Used to work security in remote locations, always kept 2 or 3 mountain house meals in my pack in case I was stuck doing double shifts. I worked out of a truck and I eventually found I could just add water to the bag, seal it up, and leave on the dash with the heater blowing to warm it up. Worked better during winter when the heater was going anyway. I used to leave it 30 minutes on one side, flip it and leave it another 30. Was always nice and hot.
That's valuable input, Travis. Thanks for watching and sharing your real experience! -Rusty
@@Equip2Endure We used to leave MRE's foil packs on the engine of our ITV's in West Germany, or the Jeep in Ft. Lewis (not moving). Worked well. Just don't leave it there for too long and yer fine.
Look at the amount of actual meat in Mountain House vs others. That explains the price difference. It’s a big investment, but it’s food. It will be eaten eventually! It also makes it way easier to get my wife out in the backcountry knowing we have a yummy meal on hand.
Auguson Farms sells hamburger and sausage crumbles, as well as chunk chicken and beef, that is pretty good when reconstituted. The sausage crumbles are a bit hard to rehydrate, but still pretty good. One could always put together their own meals with that and rice or their Potato Shreds. I wouldn't recommend their sliced potatoes though, unless you are baking them in some liquid (like scalloped potatoes) for an hour or two.
Mountain House came in almost all of the arctic MRE's (cold weather - white ones) I had in Afghanistan and they were AMAZING, so good sometimes I bypassed regular chow to eat those MRE's since we had tons where I was at way up in the mountains. Needless to say, I have been a Mountain House devotee ever since.
Thanks for sharing the real life experience and thanks for watching too, T R! -Rusty
same on all that all the way!
Thank you and God bless you for your service.
That's good to hear. When I deployed to Norway in the 90s, I don't believe the RCW main courses were Mountain House, just a generic freeze dried meal in a clear plastic container with a white cardboard bottom so it would stand up. But the whole ration was good, packed with nuts, chocolate, little energy bars, soup and drink mixes, and a massive bag of oatmeal that was good with the freeze dried strawberries mix.
I loved the white MRE's too, did not know MH made them. Those and the Norwegian rations where the best ones
If you were in a long term calorie deficit, where foraging from the forest was your only food source, even ready wise would taste good. That said, I prefer MH too.
No argument from us on that! Well said, Hawaii Volcano Squad. Thanks for watching! -Rusty
@@Equip2Endure is mountain house food any good?
@@mehchocolate1257 it is good tasting and if you want try it out I recommend testing it. :)
You should try cutting back on the water for the ready wise just to see if it makes a difference
I asked Ready Wise about this review - here is the response I received: They didn’t compare apples to apples. They used Mountain House camping meals, but did not use our camping meals. We have camping backpacking meals that are prepared in the pouch just like Mountain house does. It would be nice if they compared apples to apples and such. Our long term food storage (which they used) does need to be prepared in a pan like they showed. There is no doubt Mountain House put out the most expensive product to the marketplace, and they do have a good product. I am not going to dispute that. Our food holds its own in both the Emergency Food market, and the Outdoor/Camping food as well.
I absolutely agree with this comment. I wondered why they did not compare the same same, I had to double-check the date of this video. I have Mountain House and Wise and Readywise and to be honest, price is the biggest difference.
I wondered this too. I'm a backpacker and I've used ready-wise backpacking meals and they're nothing like what they showed in this video.
Although, I don't know why ready wise would put out that as an option either way. In an emergency situation cooking with a pot and pan isn't always practical.
Two of the dishes were the same thing though, so I am not giving Ready Wise a pass. These guys didn’t like the taste of the Ready Wise, so it doesn’t matter what type of products these are, they didn’t look appetizing, and these guys didn’t like the taste.
Lol it doesn't change the fact that ready wise came out as crappy tasting soup. They literally followed the directions and It still came out like garbage.
@@DayBowBow but. it would be nice to compare equal to equal products.
Two things I've learned from trying a few different brands: Don't use as much water as the instructions say (or you end up with soup, like the ReadyWise did here), and let it rehydrate a while longer before opening up to eat. Usually use about 75 - 90% of the water, and add about 25 -35% more time to rehydrate. The less water to avoid soup, the longer hydrate time to make sure the water has a chance to rehydrate everything (or you end up with crunchy food that's not supposed to be crunchy).
Also when you add things like fatty meats and salt pepper butter etc it makes it much better, mountain house is too expensive for most people but if you have food stores you can you readywise etc as food bases.
I agree 100%, I usually cook the mountain houses 5 minutes longer and use less water.
Mountain House is hands down the best tasting emergency food on the market.
That was our experience too. What is your favorite Mountain House meal?
Happy Yak is the best there is, huge portions high protein but low sodium. I hate salt anyway.
Lived on it for months!
I like Italian Pepper Steak from Mountain House. I hope they still make it because I have not been able to buy them in a very long time.
@@violatorut2003 That sound pretty good! Haven't seen it around. Will keep an eye out for it. Thanks for watching, and great handle, TACOSHOTGUN! -Rusty
Mountain House Chicken with Mashed Potatoes - 2 Servings& Mountain House Beef Stew
These are my go to freeze dried meals
Same
Same
I had done a lot of reading and shopping with my eyes, until I finally tried one or two Mountain House items. I was sold, primarily on the biscuits and gravy, of all things. If you can freeze dry THAT and get it right, you can do almost anything.
I love biscuits and gravy 😋
That's my favorite mountain house! I keep a bunch of those in my go bag
@@mhernandez3078 Only 7 bucks on Amazon. That is, if you want to help the biggest corporation on the planet.
I want to get those ones so bad to try but as a canadian, amazon sellers are ripping you off or there not even available at all.
This was one of the better reviews I've stumbled across, genuine and informative responses. Loved the kid's reaction too! Thanks for the great content, subscribed!
Welcome aboard, Matt Diehl! Glad it was helpful. And yes, kids should be considered when stocking up on food storage. -Rusty
Remember. If you’re not always prepared, you’re never prepared. Keep the new content comin’
@Billt - Thanks for watching and the continued support!
I mean I get the sentiment, but that's objectively not true, lol. If you're prepared 50% of the time, you are, factually, not "never prepared"
"Kids won't eat it". That's everything I need to know about it.
It's true. Those without kids just don't get the additional set of variables that need to be considered when emergency prepping. -Rusty
If they are starving they will eat!!
Dumbest statement ever made you should be ashamed for such a foolish sentence!! When any human being faces the feelings of real hunger that would result in eating each other, believe me they would thoroughly enjoy the taste of this during a time of hardship, God Bless and be informed/prepared and set your hope and faith in Jesus Christ Almighty
@@1GDFELLA While it is true that, "One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet." Why not choose something that tastes good? It will taste even better when you are starving.
I've always been a taste tester person... I wanna taste and try new things all the time with my kids. When my kids were little I brought home a couple bags of MH so we could try them. We LOVED them except the vanilla ice cream for some reason we all didn't like that one, it wasn't bad just didn't like... My children are now grown and we still take them on hikes and camp trips..
For anyone freeze drying their own meals, make sure you put extra spices and seasonings. The freeze drying process can make the dishes more bland.
Great tip, Zoen! Thanks for watching. -Rusty
The ReadyWise directions probably add more water so they can say the servings are larger.
Emergency Essential is some of the best, they also sell Mountain House in #10 cans. The thing I've noticed the most is to let them set a little longer to have it done. Great company!
I was not too keen on their peas, but everything else was good. The meatballs goes really good with Mountain House spaghetti. Their ground beef soaks up taco spices real well, and the sausage crumbles go good with the MH biscuits n gravy.
As a backpacker, I always say with Mountain House: less water, let it sit longer.
And MH's Lasagna is freekin delicious. 😄
Legit my favourite dehydrated meal on the trail! Heck I'd eat that at home!
Agreed.
Had the beef stroganoff 10,000 feet up Rainier the night before summiting, one of the best meals of my life.
Flavor is good. Cheese stuck to my to my titanium spoon. A pain to bite it off. Chili is my favorite
Also mountain house bags can be used to store water after you rince it out.
I've been backpacking for 55 years, usually preferred Mountain House to the alternatives. Used to love the Turkey Tetrazinie, especially since it came in a very light aluminum bowl that I could reuse for those other meals that didn't cook in the bag. Always expensive, but worth it for the light weight if backpacking. For emergency use though, where that is not so important, I have a box of MRE's. Newer ones even self-heat, and contain other useful items; seasoning, cookie, drink mix, coffee & creamer, sugar, toilet paper, matches, etc.
Something I almost never hear added to preppers food is vitamins. If you are only eating processed/freeze dried/mre food for months you REALLY need vitamins.
I think one of the most important differences isn't just taste, but nutrients - the Mountain House has way more protein since it contains meat, so taste matters, but so does the fact that you're getting more protein in the Mountain House meals.
Nailed It!
The difference is consistency is pretty surprising. Glad you tried them out so I don’t have to!
It was really surprising to us. We were not expecting that big of a difference.
And I bet they are in the same price range, right? Equal products with equal prices. Ignoring the fact that mountain house is 5 times the price just makes everybody look shady.
I was at a gun show where reps from both of those companies had a table. I was able to sample both and agree with your comments and appraisals. Wise needs to rethink their directions and make cook-in bags, if they expect to compete with other companies back pack meals.
Eh wise bags are a lot more compact, I'm bringing a pot to boil water in anyway. Not a big deal to just add the contents to the pot, especially when the packaging is so much more compact. It takes like 15 seconds to clean the pot after.
Readywise already do this in their camping meals, but in the video he used their long-term food storage meals to compare to Mountain House's camping meals, so it wasn't a fair comparison.
@@SniffBackBetter could not agree more. The camping meals are cook in bag.
Buy the "instant" stuff like Knorr in the grocery store, IT'S THE SAME THING! and a lot cheaper.
I was thinking the same
Agree 100%, and the knorr have foil packaging to cook in. Lightweight, cheap, tasty...
Not quite but very close. Bear creek is Another option, just add water. As well as wise foods just got sued by the USA government FDA.
Well one has a 1ish year best by date and the other has a 35 year date. I thought the same thing but I just don't feel comfortable risking it.
Not nearly the same!! The emergency food is made and packaged to keep for decades, that stuff you're suggesting will go stale in a couple years or sooner.
Hey Chris! Thank you for your service!
With mountain house, I use the exact amount of water, but double the wait time, stir & again double the wait time. Then I let it sit unsealed for 5 min before digging in. Absolutely perfect every time. My go to adventure meals.
I pretty much do the same
Always use about 20% less water than they say. That goes for every manufacturer I've tried
I’m new to buying freeze dried foods so this was helpful to actually have you prepare and taste it. I’ve seen both brands and now I know which ones I will purchase. Thanks
Happy to help and thanks for watching!
Buy some from many different manufacturers and test before buying a years supply or even camping.
Me too! My local walmart was out of the buckets but I'll be finding some on payday. Do you know if there is a sample package? That would be great to try. That way I'd know what to store for my family.
Have you seen the price from both brands? Have you tasted both of them? I totally agree that readywise isn't that great but mountain house runs about 5 times the price. They also didn't make the readywise correctly, it looks like they portioned it out and used the full amount of water for multiple portions.
@@craigcutler6919 do you have a video making it properly?
For European viewers, I recommend Fuel Your Preparation. Mountainhouse had a European branch for a long time, but they closed shop here and another company (FYP) took over their facilities and production, and their dishes are even better than Mountainhouse’s was. I’ve had all the Europeans main dishes by MH and FYP and where MH had a few that were not tasty, all of FYP’s are good, and some are really surprisingly good.
Summit To Eat are pretty good too
Always Appreciate Chris' Candor!!! Stay Strong, Live Long!!!
I understand this is a taste test but, your'e a week out on a backpacking outing, you just went 10+ high altitude miles, you will eat the hell out of anything and not care about the taste. Mega calories. Been there...
Been there done that. I made a casserole which burned. I hate the whole thing
starving situation: “...I’d rather not eat it.” kept me entertained. great vid.
So glad you guys are back!
Thanks for the support! It’s good to be back!
I stop and consider freeze dried food when I see it at the big box outdoors store but always go with the fact that canned goods, pasta, rice & beans from the grocery store is a better option for me.
One of the best reviews I've ever seen on UA-cam, great job
That's how we role, Fergy! Thanks for watching and chiming in. We planning on doing another comparison video where we stack up all the major players in the space. Stay tuned! -Rusty
Never use as much water as they say, 20% less or so. If you need more you can add but I found that helps tremendously.
Thanks for the tip and for watching!
Thank's for taking the time to do this review. I was on the fence about which brand to go with. Not anymore! Thank's again and great review by the way.
Glad to hear it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
With taxes you are looking at 7100 for mountain or 1700 for wise for a 6 month supply. I doubt you are on the fence if price matters at all and if it doesn't matter then you wouldnt be on the fence either. Are you a real person or just full of it?
One reason why we cache Mountain House freeze dried meals over other brands is they contain real MEAT! Some of the other manufacturers have “meat flavored” entrees. Be sure to read the label contents folks before you invest a lot of money into any product but especially emergency food.
I dont know just what "proteins" are in "protein isolate" of this or that, but nearly all of them are extremely inflamitory to my body, as well as headaches, brain fog and digestive issues if I have any larger quantity than half a microwave burrito. Meats dont do that to me. preservatives and the chemical byproducts that sound like and claim to be vitamins both do though. I can only take biological form vitamins, most others just wrench my stomach. I can feel a difference in some of them too.
Mtn house doesnt use most of that crap.
Thankyou for making this video!! We have Mountain House in our go bags for hunting. I've thought about buying the readywise, but after watching this I won't be. Also I really like the fact that y'all mention whether or not your kids will eat them-i've got picky eaters so that is really helpful!
Readywise just rebranded from Wise foods. They have always been disliked by most preppers.
Thank you for confirming my suspicions about ReadyWise!
Check out Freeze Dried Wholesalers, I can get you 15% your entire order if interested.
You know why Mountain House has been around for so long because they make a good product. I found out about them in the early 90's when my buddies got into camping. We bought our gear from a local Army/ Navy surplus and would usually snap up any MRE's they would have, spaghetti being the crown gem. Preparing for one trip there was only one of the spaghetti MREs available but the store owner pointed out this new product called Mountain House that had freezing dried meals for backpacking and they had a spaghetti meal so we purchased a couple. Was blown away by the taste and you got more than the MRE portion. It became our go to option. Eventually tried the other meals and we forgot about the MRE's altogether.
I've always been a huge fan of Mountain House. I almost bought some Readywise for my long-term food storage, but I'm glad I watched your video first!
Happy to help.
I work for mountain house. We have extensive quality controls.
Why did they change the recipes for the biscuits & gravy and eggs w/ hashbrowns peppers & onions? They taste totally different now and not nearly as good unfortunately. I used to eat them regularly at home, work and on the trail but switched to Minotaur Trading Company for my breakfast options now. Bring them back!!!!! Lol
@@ChesapeakeHammockandOutdoors he doesn’t know. He stocks shelves at Walmart.
@@petemitchell6788 lmfao he wants answers pete, someones heads gotta roll. It just has to 😄
The directions are spot on. ReadyWise just straight up Sucks Shit. I've tried several different freeze dried foods backpacking and Mountain House is by far the Absolute best. My only issue with Mountain House is the amount of sodium other than that it's the best.
The directions are spot on. ReadyWise just straight up Sucks Shit. I've tried several different freeze dried foods backpacking and Mountain House is by far the Absolute best. My only issue with Mountain House is the amount of sodium other than that it's the best.
Mountain House meals, generally, have a higher protein content too. This provides a longer term energy that will keep you going longer/further than a bag of, mostly, carbohydrates.
I've spent a number years just picking up a few bags (or a can) every time they went on sale at a local store, and currently have a nice little stockpile for a greatly reduced overall price.
I live in a tsunami zone of the PNW, so I did my research & tasting quite a few years ago.
I have stuff from almost every freeze dried food company out there, rarely do they ever compare favorably to mountain house in quality and taste. I to wish mountain house was more economical, but i still buy it .
I bought Mountain House kit for emergency supplies around the start of pandemic lock down last year. I also wanted to see if the taste was ok, so prepared one of the pouches, maybe chicken stroganoff(?). I remember that it tasted fairly decent and the pouch preparation was super easy. Like the reviewers, I would generally recommend Mountain House for either emergency meals or even for regular camping trips.
Great video, you should compair Mountain house verse augason farms
I'd watch that
And Patriot Supply
If I were shopping for convenient freeze dried meals and compared side by side, either in store, or online, just for the “one-pot” heat and eat by Mountain House, that’s the one I’d bye. Thanks so much for the taste test!
That would be a good choice based on our experience. Thanks for watching! -Rusty
Very valuable demonstration! Saved me from some relatively expensive mistakes. Thanks.
Screw the instructions, always 15% less water and let them sit 20% longer. Always perfect
On what brand do that ?
@@johnaverick7468 Meant to say on Mountain House, It looks like the other in this video needs much much less water. I've never used them. BTW PadThai from Mountain House is out of this world. Give the bag another good shake at the half way mark just to make sure there's no dry sports.
Yes! We always use less water for mountain house too ♡ Especially their biscuits and gravy and stroganoff!
‘zactly! add water until desired consistency.
totally agree. we always use less water than the instructions and it's much better consistency...
When I was a hardcore climber, Mountain House is the only ready meal we would carry in. There was nothing on the market that even came close to the quality and taste.
I have a solid mix , but the majority of my stuff is Mountain House and Augason Farms...hell we use Augason Farms stuff regularly in the pantry as it is...
Thanks for watching, Thomas Richardson! That's critical - working your storage food into regular rotation so it's not so disruptive when you HAVE to use it. -Rusty
Augason Farms freeze dried fruit is really great. I used to use it to add to my cereal in the morning (Honey Bunches of Oats Strawberries ftw). I tried a couple different brands but Augason ended up still being cheaper (#10 cans) and tasted way better.
Thanks for the video. I was trying to decide between the two and this information was most helpful
I tested out a few dishes from MH during the Texas freeze, and they were all great. Despite the circumstances, I was excited to test out some of my emergency food. Cooking on a tiny Sterno stove and canned heat in my garage was my go-to, and these meals were awesome. They were SO easy, and there was more in that little pack than we thought. I have Saratoga Farms, Augason Farms, and MH, and MH will be my staple. I’ve bought much more since the freeze, and I’ll continue to buy more. Great products. Great reviews.
Great video guys. Good comparison. As a soon-to-be thru-hiker I'm definitely looking towards Mountain House for some quality products on the trail. They are already my favourite meals out in the backcountry! And I know I speak for a lot of backpackers.
Question though... have you thought about trying this with the ready wise backpacking meals? They have those too. Perhaps a follow-up video? Could be a hit!
Mountain house makes eating in the rough not to bad. Best tasting meals out there.
When that cute little bubba started like hum singing after the first bite I couldn't help but giggle.
ADORABLE OVERLOAD!
Glad to see some life back to the channel!
Mountain House biscuits and gravy, and breakfast skillet are stellar!
I’ve been wondering about the biscuits and gravy. Going to pick me up some!
@@micahwatson9017 if you buy the skillet, use slightly less water. Mix it well.
Honestly canned Sausage gravy is way better and biscuits are easy, flour,salt, butter,baking soda,& water.
I laughed way to hard on your open case of ready wise give away. I have used mountain house for years and have wondered if the alternative might be better. Thanks for the video.
Thanks for doing this. Good to know what's the better brand/flavor/texture
Heck, I'll take the opened box of ready wise lol. It beats starving 😂🤣😂
I have tried ready wise, you are better off trying to catch a fat pigeon with that stuff than eating it yourself, its pretty damned bad.
Mountain House is high quality but good grief, look at the prices and the servings/calories...what they call 2 servings is really 1 and you're going to spend $35-$40/day/person. Imagine what that would cost for a 180 day food supply for a family of 4. At best it's $25,200 and at worse its $28,800 and don't forget the sales tax. Compare this with using ordinary canned foods and dry goods that you rotate through as part of your regular diet, stocking up on sales and in most states it's sales tax free. Rather than facing a $25k+ bill, you not only save money with sales but your emergency food stores don't cost a single penny "extra" as it's food you're eating anyway and on less than what folks on food stamps receive. Take the spaghetti entree as an example. As an alternative you could open a couple of 28oz cans of Red Gold crushed tomatoes that were 89cents/can, a 28oz can of Keystone Meats ground beef ($6.29), add some garlic powder, dried minced onions, freshly ground black pepper, dried oregano/parsley/basil, a little olive oil and add a pound of pasta (49 cents) and a little extra water and in short order you've got a really nice batch of spaghetti that's enough to feed 5-6 hungry people for about $9 or $1.50/serving. Coincidentally this is also a really nice and easy dinner on a busy night after a long day, especially if you don't have anything defrosted and are wondering what to make for dinner. You could go with cans of Spaghetti O's for 89 cents each which you can even eat cold right out of the can, but it's so easy to do far better. By stocking the basics like oatmeal in addition to being hearty breakfast fare you've got a good bit of the makings for crumbles and buckles, cookies and bars and even home made granola. Honey, which never goes "bad", canned fruits, veggies, seafood, evaporated milk, etc. and with just granulated sugar and molasses you're ready to make powdered sugar and both light and dark brown sugars. I just ordered 4 cases of Motts unsweetened apple sauce as it's on sale for $2.79/46oz bottle. It's got just 3 ingredients: apples, water and citric acid. Not only is it great by itself but heat it up, add some cinnamon and crumble a few graham crackers over it and you've got an easy dessert. It's nice to add to oatmeal and in your baking recipes too as it can replace a good portion of sugar and oil. Freeze dried foods are nice and convenient but come at a great cost and don't forget you need water to reconstitute them unlike canned foods which will provide you with hydration. Never forget that our military saved the entire world TWICE on canned goods (C-rations) alone and roughly 25lbs of food for a weeks worth of food per person isn't an insurmountable amount of weight to bear. It's also hard to believe that life is really worth living if you can't end the day with a can of sliced pears in light syrup (no HFCS) when things have gone wrong or maybe even if you've just run out of fresh fruit. ;)
I get what you are saying, but the scenario was something to grab and go. For bug in you are 100% right it would cost way too much, but for a week supply to toss in the truck before as you run out the door it's a good option.
@@jeremymiller1088 It's easy to keep a couple of 5 gallon buckets stocked with grab and go meals for a week or so. In just 20 minutes I can have a weeks worth of food, clothes, toiletries, 28 gallons of water, 12 gallons of gasoline, all of our important papers and personal valuables and most importantly a 30 day supply of toilet paper loaded up and on our way. I'm out of breath and happy to be sitting down behind the wheel but I can do it. We never let our fuel tanks get below a half a tank so with that and the 12 gallons we can go at least 500 miles...I only use 100% gasoline so that also boosts our MPG slightly. If we've got more time I can grab more, if we've got less time we can skip the clothes and toiletries and be gone in 10 minutes but realistically if you need to be gone in under an hour, you're not going to make it either way as you won't have the time to outrun anything.
@@mac11380 I agree that Mountain House is the EASIEST prepping option but the extreme costs make it an unrealistic one, even with the sales. I'm also very familiar with Emergency Essentials and I've been receiving their sales emails for years. With my strategy, it's not even "emergency" supplies as they're incorporated into our normal diet which is the very best way to handle food storage. In addition to oatmeal which I can use in part to make granola, I can also dress up the oatmeal with strawberry jam, vanilla extract, apple sauce, maple syrup, cinnamon, sugar, brown sugar, molasses, a variety of canned fruits and probably a few more items that I'm forgetting. I've also got instant pancake mix and enough A.P. flour to make all sorts of breakfast goodies. I can also be up and running with laying hens in just a few weeks. I haven't to this point because we like to go on several vacations each year and prefer the autonomy. We also keep almost a month's worth of eggs on hand. Additionally, millions of people get by on breakfast cereal every morning and I'll take good old fashioned oatmeal every day of the week over that. If I look back at just the past few days it's almost hard to notice all of the food storage items we've used. The other day our last 2 bananas became over ripe so my wife and I split a can of pineapple chunks at breakfast, we've split cans of Campbell's Chunky Soup (99 cents) at lunchtime along with a half of a sandwich. Don't worry about those 2 over-ripe bananas, tonight I made a banana snack cake with buttercream frosting out of them, for little more than $1. Let's see, the stick of butter came from our freezer as we stocked up when it was $1.99/lb, the A.P. flour we keep on hand and was also bought on sale, the sugar is the same story, as is the vanilla extract, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, etc. It's all items we keep on hand and buy on sale. I also made fish for dinner tonight from our freezer along with tartar sauce made with mayo, a diced Milwaukee Kosher Dill Pickle, freshly ground black pepper and finely minced onion which were fresh but I could have easily re-hydrated some dried minced onions instead. In a few more days, considering the leftover tartar sauce, I'll break open a can of salmon and make salmon cakes. Again, everything we keep on hand, all bought on sale...we just picked up the cases of Mott's unsweetened apple sauce that I ordered a few days ago. We'll rotate through our food many times over but again, it's just our everyday food and not an additional cost as the MH would be and it saves money to boot. Likely tomorrow I'll make a Sicilian pizza from scratch using our bread flour, instant yeast (which I recently opened and is 7 years out of date but is still alive and kicking), a 28oz can of Red Gold crushed tomatoes that I'll strain for a few minutes to make the sauce and I'll chill the drained juice to drink the next morning for breakfast. The Italian sausage and pepperoni are stashed in our deep freeze, I can use either fresh mushrooms or the canned ones we bought on sale and we keep 6 one pound blocks of mozzarella cheese on hand in the fridge. For next week's food storage dinner I'm thinking turkey ala king or chicken pot pie, but who knows, I may just make stew. We also enjoy our "little store" that we have downstairs, my wife loves to "go shopping". In the next few months I'm looking for good sales to restock our pickles, yellow and brown mustards, ketchup and maybe a few jars of mayo too. Next it'll be brats in May for grilling season, as regular as clockwork.
@@tomj528 I get it for cheaper than that but i get you, I do a mix of it all, my wife is a deal seeking freak and we have 2 freezers stuffed with the best deals and we also have canned, MH etc. I do have a very good income so sometimes I forget what it was like. The one thing we can't get off our butts and do is canning, even bought a nice steam canner etc, but just can't bring ourselves to do it for some reason. Well, either way, sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders so you will do fine. Another thing to get is a camp stove and stash some tanks of propane if you can. They can be used to heat a portion the house if there is a power outage while you cook at the same time. I am a propane fan when it comes to generators also, propane never goes bad and gas can gum up after a while and if it a large area power outage, gas pumps don't work but every store sells propane anymore, but you would have to be quick about getting it in an emergency. Good luck my friend.
Auguson farms freeze dried food is just as good and high quality. Not to mention alot cheaper!
My best advice for keeping food like this stored for emergencies is also keep some seasonings in water tight containers and in a ziplock freezer bag so it’s easy to grab. A little salt and pepper some sugar, maybe some garlic powder, Cajun seasoning can make a huge difference. Add a bottle of hot sauce and maybe some bouillon packets too. Instant coffee and some powder creamer if you have the room.
Yes!
Basically how they packed MRE's for the military 20 years ago. I heard they nixed the Tobasco.
I’ve almost bought readywise. Thank you! Thank you! Saved me! Well done!
Glad it was helpful! -Rusty
Great video guys. So glad I watched this. I actually bought 2 boxes of the readywise from Costco but I’ll get MountainHouse from now on. I’ll keep the ReadyWise as the last step before eating grubs.
Knorr sides got me through the A.T. Can't beat a buck a piece with way more calories per unit than mountain house.
Love the knorr sides, eat them all the time
Yes! Add some chicken, crushed red pepper, and cashews. You're welcome;)
Mountain House Chicken and Rice is so popular with one of my kids, we got him a #10 can of it for Christmas!
YOU, SIR, are a parent who is making good gift decisions! Thanks for watching. -Rusty
When my niece was at college in England I would send her mountain house she loved it. I sent freeze dried because it was more reasonable postage and made her life a little easier.
Thanks for taking the time to do this video, I suspect I would have been suckered by the fancy plastic storage container. I'm researching lightweight fast food for all day mountain bike trips and I'm guessing Mountain House will be my go-to brand.
I bought a bunch of Mountain House and came real close to actually having to use them during the winter storms that caused huge electric outages in Texas. Like most people I hadn’t actually tried them before that though. I got lucky and didn’t experience a long outage, many people around me did. I decided to try the meals out after the storms passed, just to make sure I’d actually want to eat them during an emergency. I was really surprised at how good they were! I agree, they taste like regular meals someone would throw together during regular times. I’d have no problem eating them during an emergency. Try your food out folks, because someday you might have to eat it. It took almost a week for our stores to start to get back to normal. People were having trouble finding food for a few days.
WrathfulTexan- Thanks for sharing you real life experience and thanks for watching. -Rusty
I've done this same taste test with these and several other brands. Ready Wise was the worst tasting and now sits in the basement waiting for the apocalypse. I'll probably still not eat it and just use to bait other humans.
Mountain house is the go to brand for quality, taste, and like they pointed out it comes in its own cooking container. Thanks for the video!
What other brands have you tried? Any warnings you can give the community?
Thrive Life has great tasting food!
We'll be sure to try it out when we have the chance. Thanks for watching!
Haha bait other people. Just a rabbit snare and you see a readywise bag in the middle, it'll gather dust out there lol.
I bought $2500 worth of the " food wise" about 6 years ago. I am a single dude. I opened several packets just to try them. I realized that each packet was not resealable. So for a single person you have to cook the whole thing. Then the left overs, the clean up, the taste, I just wasted a ton of money! I tried to resale the junk. I could not even sell it. So at the end of all this,all I really got was 2500 bucks worth of square buckets.. some really expensive buckets! Loved your review! And the look on your babies face was priceless... mountain house it is !
I didn’t have good experiences with Mountain House. I actually ended up cooking them to both further reconstitute and boil off the extra liquid. I used AlpineAire and really liked them. I’d love to see a review on those.
Thanks for sharing, I haven't had freeze dried food other than icecream in maybe 10 years. Due to the price, I tend to just go with the Khorr sides or other options such as instant potatoes.
@thenextarcher It can be pricey for sure, but if weight and convenience are a factor for you, it's worth picking up a couple bags - even at Wally World. Great addition to a bug out bag or 72-hour kit. Thanks for watching and for commenting.
In the video they are pretending that this is an apples to apple comparison. The mountain house costs about 5 times the price of the wise. It is like everybody on here is BSing like they know anything or something shady is going on. You are the second person I have seen talk about price in well over a hundred comments and that is usually one of the first things that people talk about.
Looks like my readywise costco pack is now considerd part of my barter stash. Will order some mountain house to replace it.
😆 At least you found out now, right? Thanks for watching, Steven! -Rusty
Same!
@@Equip2Endure oh yeah. Thanks for the review. Is there a code yet to use at mountain house so you get some of the proceeds?
@@Gonz.0 Thanks for thinking of that. We're actually in talks with them right now.
@@Equip2Endure should i hold out a few days to purchase? Or is this something that take time?
This a great info! I was wondering how good or bad this stuff tasted. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you guys made this. I was about to get some ReadyWise, but after seeing this, I will just go with Mountain House. I know they are good.
I've tried several of the emergency food brands and Mountain House has always been above and beyond the others. Perfect for camping.
Thanks for sharing real world experience, Joe! It seems like those who say, "just use the cheap stuff!" haven't actually tried the options, right? -Rusty
I’ve backpacked for 6 straight days on Isle Royale eating only Mountainhouse meals. It’s pretty good and very easy to prepare. I packed one small pot and stove and a spork. I ate well all week, but I would say the breakfasts are the best. I could probably live on their Breakfast Skillet meal.😎
Thanks for sharing your real world experience, RC Heas! And thanks for watching. -Rusty
Thanks for the reviews!
I went on a two month road trip once and I ate a LOT of Mountain House. It's very good (for the most part) but the big downfall is the price. It's WAY expensive.
It is expensive, but after comparing them, I would pay the difference. -Rusty
I love mountain house, I look forward to eating it whenever I go backpacking
That's when you know it's good stuff! Thanks for watching. -Rusty
I keep a bucket of Mountain House around just for emergencies. I've used Mountain House products numerous times when out hiking and camping. It tastes more than good enough. But mainly I just want the calories and nutrients it offers. It works for me.
Thanks a million! I was making the same decision and you’ve helped me make it.
I like it that you tested the meals on your family, if you have to bug out with these meals it's good to know the kids will eat them and also getting them familiar ahead of time helps a great deal.
readywise always takes longer to cook, and i always have to bring a can of something hearty to put inside for flavor. always been told to buy MH since scouts. it still holds true 15 years later.
You can tell who has never had an MRE in this group.
I had a survival store at one time, and after 911, I had to close it because of no business. I had a bunch of mountain house foods and MRE's in a house that I had to rent, the house had rats in it and they ate all my MRE's and mountain house foods.
Fast forward several years, and I bought a couple of containers of that ready-wise food and rat's got in the garage and chewed through the plastic container and chewed into one package of their food, and then left, didnt even eat the whole pack. And never came back to finish.
Mountain house ROCKS !!! The beef Strogganoff is my favorite.
PS., the Strogganoff is my favorite
Thanks for watching, ! Randal! If the rats won't eat it... I probably don't want it either. Stay tuned for our next big comparison video between 12 different varieties. -Rusty
Thank you so much for doing this video! It has helped me make an important decision. Well done and thanks again.
Happy to help, @Bizz! -Rusty
The biscuits and gravy ftom mountain house is actually some good stuff.
Thanks for watching! I'll have to try that one out. -Rusty
I agree. That one is always included in our meal plans for our hunt/camp trips. Not just for storage...
Hell yeah i eat the biscuits and gravy on cold days even on normal days. I kept a box of xmre and a bucket of mountain house on my truck when i was over the road in case i got snowed in or crashed off a mountain . Mountain house is good stuff . I reccomend using less water at first and add boiling water as needed .
I use Mountain House on every backpacking trip.. Quick, easy and convenient.
Wow. Im so glad i had bought Mountain House as my back-up food. I used MH years ago (1980's) when i was a backpacking fanatic, and about 3 years ago i bought 1 month woth of MH, now stored in the basement, as well as put MH in each of my GO bags. Really relived to see these results, because i was considering buying more supplies, and buying an alternate.
Good decision, Judge! After comparing them ourselves, it wasn't even close. -Rusty
Thank you for doing this comparison. I’m getting ready to do a taste test between Mountain House, Peak Refuel and Next Mile Meals.
Sounds good. Always good to test things before you need them. -Rusty