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February 14, 2006

Review: Mountain House Pro-Pak Freeze Dried Meals

Doing the Coleman F1 UltraLight review allowed me to heat up a variety of backpacking foods that I needed to try for testing. During that review I had the pleasure of trying out the Mountain House Pro-Pak line of backpacker foods. For those who have tried freeze dried meals in the past and didn't like how they tasted, it's time to try again using the Mountain House products. Mountain House is the #1 backpacking food on the market, and has won the Gold Taste Award the last 3 years in a row.

New Features
I specifically tried the new Pro-Pak line, as they've added a couple new features to the product in this series. The Pro-Pak's come in a new vacuum sealed pouch that won't expand in high elevations, while just generally taking up less space. The other bonus of this is that you don't need to worry about gear puncturing your food packaging with this new design; always a threat with the old packaging. The serving size in the Pro-Pak's has also increased, from the standard 10 oz meals to the new 16 oz servings. As for the menu selection, Mountain House has taken the top 8 best selling entrees and reproduced them in the new Pro-Pak series from pasta primavera to spaghetti with meat sauce.

Meal Preparation
Preparation couldn't be easier with the Pro-Paks. Bring two cups of water to boil, tear open the pouch and pour boiling water in the top. Then seal it up using the included zipper and wait about 8 minutes. The meals require no plates or bowls; simply eat directly from the pouch and save the weight of carrying excess gear. When you're done you can reseal the pouch and pack it back out with you to discard of later.

As for the taste? My personal favorite was the lasagna with meat sauce. Everything was as you would expect from lasagna; good smell, lots of cheeses and great texture. Despite what every instinct told me as I added the two cups of water to the meal, it was most certainly not a lasagna soup. It turned out perfect, not too "wet" and defiantly not dry and crunchy like many freeze dried meals I’ve tasted prior. It was a good experience; beats a "nature bar" any day of the week.

Verdict
Fast, easy, no clean-up, great taste and good menu selection

The Pro-Pak line of freeze dried meals is a great choice for anyone looking for a solid quality meal out in the field; a superior choice to the weight and size of a military MRE, or for a quick lunch on day hike. With the Mountain House Flameless Heating Unit you can forego the stove heating all together if you need to be ultra light in your travels.

REI carries the full line of Mountain House products in both Pro-Pak and standard varieties for about $5.

For more information on Mountain House the company, as well as other products, you can check out their site here.

Posted by Jesse Gunderson at February 14, 2006 7:10 AM

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