Favorite Freeze Dried Flavor

[JonG]

MH Chili Mac with a packet of dried chili peppers from the pizza joint thrown in for a little zip,Chicken ala King, Beef Strogonoff, Chicken and Noodles. What I do not like is Terryaki anything.

[greg]

I love Mountain House's Pasta Primavera. A rich cream sauce covering a savory blend of mixed vegetables and excellent pasta-a nice meal. Greg R.

[zims]

hi everyone,
after tasting almost everything mountain house makes this summer on 3 trips, I have to say I am very satisfied with the new breakfast skillet, I have eaten 4 between the ap trail and IR. Great on tortilla, and one meal will feed 2 men, or 3 women. Yum

[michigandave]

My 11 year old daughter loves the Mountain House Mac and Cheese. And, I don't mind finishing her leftovers.

[IncaRoads]

Agreed - Cache Lake is almost a different category. Their booth at the Outdoor Adventure Expo was adjacent to the GPIR booth, so I now think I've tasted every meal they make. Billie just kept cooking and offering! Who am I to deny? That's a whole new level of easy-to-pack food.
That being said, things like their five-minute flat bread (phenomenal) are fast but do require a little more prep than add hot water. Their wild rice salad (one of the best things I've ever tasted) has like a ten hour soak time if you prepare it cold. We are packing a bunch of their stuff for our first trip... I'll let you know how it goes!

Tom - How did the Cache Lake meals work out for you? I am preparing for a September trip and I do not care much for freeze dried foods. While the flavors may be acceptable the texture is not. I was at Midwest Mountaineering in Minneapolis last week and saw that they had a large variety of Cache Lake products.

Mark

[sandystAR]

For breakfast I like Mountain House Granola with Blueberries. Their chicken and mashed potatoes is good too although the chicken breasts were a little dry. I should have let it set a little longer.

I was thinking of trying some of the foods from Packit Gourmet?

I really miss my vegetables on backpacking trips. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Sandy

[Tom]

Tom - How did the Cache Lake meals work out for you? I am preparing for a September trip and I do not care much for freeze dried foods. While the flavors may be acceptable the texture is not. I was at Midwest Mountaineering in Minneapolis last week and saw that they had a large variety of Cache Lake products.

Mark (et al) -
I can highly recommend Cache Lake if you're willing to do slightly more work than "just add hot water." (Although some of their food is that way.) At the Midwest Moutaineering Spring Expo, I had the pleasure of sampling most of what they make, and it all tasted good. - The proof, however, was in actually taking it afield. The wild rice salad was delicious; although spring a spare zip-loc as it's best to let is soak for 10+ hours, like while you're hiking. Those five minute flat breads also joined the "must have" list for future trips. Just add water to the mix and stir, although it gets a bit sticky. Then, just add a little oil (I packed some veg oil in a small bottle) in a pan, and fry it up. Good eating..
I also loved the pudding, it was a nice dessert, and Lake Superior cool water makes it all the better...
I think the only thing we would pass on was the carrot side dish, just something about carrots that just didn't seem right..

[RDellar]

I have to agree that beef stroganoff is one of the better mountain house meals. Chili Mac and mexican rice with beef also. As for cache lake fry breads, I have bought them and tried at home but never field tested yet. Very good, sticky as batter and can burn when using a Jetboil burner and a pan, so turn the heat down. Anyone here dehydrate their own ground beef for a trip?

[IncaRoads]

I dehydrate my own ground beef. I use very lean meat. Cook thoroughly and break up into uniform size pieces. Blot off all excess fat. Rinse with hot water to remove any remaining fat. Dehydrate at 145 degrees (Excalibur Dehydrator) for 4-6 hours or as appropriate.

[4Bears]

I like th MH Lasagna, then some of the Rasberry Crumble for desert, and relax with acup of hot tea.

[jrwiesz]

Mary Janes Farm #1 organic

1) Black bean and Corn Chowder
2) Lentil Bisque

I add my own venison summer sausage or pepper stick to the mix.

[Mr Blister]

One of my hiking buddies started making Cache lake fry bread. They are good. He can't eat Mountainhouse. My brother and I like it o.k. I have had a couple of the Backpackers Pantry meals and they are good too. the MH Noodles and Chicken is really good and for you "Wegens" there's no hint of spice! One word on the Cache Lake stuff. I tried their chili at home. In one word. Don't. Even adding more water and then a bunch of sour cream I couldn't get it down. I was really glad I tried it first because it was inedible. The rest of their items semm to be good though.