Freeze Dried Foods Update

I've tried a couple of the other Mountain House freeze dried meals I had bought.  The first was a Beef Stew designed for one person in what they call their ProPak.  It was in a similar mylar-like pouch with all of the air removed which made it a smaller package, and therefore more transportable, ideal for backpackers.  The flavor was very good and it would be a very acceptable way to eat some veggies on the trail.  The texture of the beef was still a little chewy even though I gave it a few extra minutes to steep.

The second was their Scrambled Eggs and Bacon breakfast.  I love the taste and texture of freshly scrambled eggs, so I worried this would be a stretch.  The 8 oz. of boiling water the package told me to add is more than enough to rehydrate the eggs, which means that I had to pour off some of the excess, which was a little gross.  Like the time a sudden shower ruined the scambled eggs my dad was whipping up on a campstove when I was a kid.  The flavor, again, was pretty good (the bacon helped).  The texture, again, left something to be desired.  Not horrible, but eggs aren't meant to be chewy.  If you imagined that you were eating some sort of soft egg/bacon jerky, it wasn't too bad.  Just like the rained-on camp eggs, when you're camping and hungry for breakfast, it would be quite welcome.

I wanted to try these to make sure they are edible.  I am considering buying these in 10# cans to keep on hand for emergency food.  They have a 25+ year shelf life when stored in the unopened can, so it could be there when you needed it.  I'm not in a rush, so I'll wait for a sale as these can get pricey - the can of Chili Mac would be about $21 for about 10 servings, not too bad for shelf-stable emergency rations.