Top pick
These meals are lightweight, portable, and easy to store and prepare. The brand’s 30-year guarantee leads the category, and these meals compared well in our taste tests.
The meals in the Mountain House Just in Case 3 Day Meal Kit have an ultra-long shelf, and they’re convenient, versatile, and have good-enough flavor. So this kit is the best option for most people. Though the meals had middling results in our taste test, the pouches are lightweight and take up very little storage space, so they’re great for stashing in a go bag or on a shelf at home. This brand’s meals have some of the longest shelf lives on the market, and they take less than 10 minutes to prepare with just water.
Mountain House makes some bold claims, but it has a legacy. In 1974, The New York Times reported on the new freeze-dried foods that were piquing the interest of hikers and campers for their convenience and hardiness on trails. One of the brands covered in that story was Mountain House, which was spun off of its parent company’s efforts to develop military rations for US soldiers during the Vietnam War. In his review of the food, the writer lamented the taste of Mountain House’s shrimp cocktail, but he was impressed by the beef stroganoff. Fifty years later, Mountain House has discontinued its shrimp cocktail, yet the beef stroganoff is still going strong (with a recipe that’s evolved over the years). We tasted it in our testing, and I have to agree with the newspaper’s original assessment: “excellent gravy and uniformly reconstituted noodles.”
Independent testing backs up an impressive guarantee. Drew Huebsch, director of research and development for Mountain House, suspected that those exact pouches assessed in 1974 might still be edible today. “I ate beef stew that was 47 years old earlier this week,” he said in a video interview. Mountain House stands by its products with a 30-year taste guarantee, and it says that it has lab-tested the shelf life. “We’ve used outside universities to run sensory tests on our product,” he said. “The feedback that we get is that the quality level at the end of a 30-year shelf life is acceptable and where we want it to be.” But he said he’s seen examples of the food lasting much longer if it’s stored in the right environment—a cool, dry place free from major temperature fluctuations. Compare this guarantee with that of Peak Refuel, its direct competitor in the outdoor-adventure meal space (which has a five-year advertised shelf life), and you’ve got a clear winner.
These meals are palatable, but they’re not the best we tried. We haven’t had the luxury of time to age-test the samples we received. But the freshly manufactured Mountain House meals performed admirably, drawing favorable comparisons from our testers to Hamburger Helper and Knorr Sides. The three-day kit comes with nine pouches of the brand’s most popular meals, including chicken fried rice, beef stroganoff, and biscuits and gravy. Mountain House recently introduced a build-your-own kit tool, but choosing meals yourself will eliminate the small discount you get when buying in bulk. We advise going with the premade kit to save yourself some money (unless not having freeze-dried chicken tikka masala in your emergency kit is a real dealbreaker for you).
The pouches are quick to rehydrate. For most meals, you add boiling water, stir, and let them sit for 9 minutes, stirring halfway through. Our overall taste-test experience can best be summarized as “50 shades of beige.” However, Mountain House’s fried rice stood out by having carrots that were actually orange and peas that were actually green, and the vegetables retained their flavors well. I was also very impressed by the texture of the chicken. I was expecting something spongy and processed, but I found substantial chunks that shredded like the fresh stuff.
The pouches are easy to store and transport. Paired with the freeze-dried contents, the pouches are flat and lightweight and therefore easy to pack in a go bag or store in the corner of a closet or pantry.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
So, about that flavor. In our taste test, Mountain House sat firmly in the middle—not the best, but certainly not the worst. Some of the meals could have used a little more seasoning. And certain ingredients, like scrambled eggs and biscuit pieces, were challenging to rehydrate evenly alongside meat, rice, and vegetables.
The price isn’t the best, either. We’ve seen the kit’s price fluctuate significantly, depending on its sale status. It’s currently available at Costco for $70, which breaks down to about $8 per meal. At its list price of $98, the cost jumps up to almost $11 per meal. If you’re stocking up on one kit per family member, the upfront cost mounts quickly. But relative to competitors, Mountain House offers one of the more-affordable freeze-dried pouch options on the market. Mountain House’s prices still can’t beat those of budget options, including Augason Farms. But this brand does do better on pricing than the mother freeze-dried meals, like Peak Refuel, which will set you back almost $14 per meal.
The kit’s packaging leaves something to be desired. Mountain House’s three-day kit comes in a humble cardboard box, while other brands’ meals are packed in heavy-duty plastic tubs. If it’s exposed to any moisture, the cardboard could get soggy and eventually moldy. I plan to transfer my remaining pouches into a plastic bucket with a lid. But if you have any rodent intruders, you may even want to invest in a metal one. A persistent rat can chew through even the toughest plastic, and it will rip through a mylar pouch like it’s nothing.
Meal flavors: biscuits and gravy, chicken fried rice, chicken and dumplings, beef stroganoff with noodles, granola with milk and blueberries
Average calories per day: 1,706
Average grams of protein per day: 75.33
Average cost per meal: $7.78
