[pct-l] Favorite Freeze-Dried Meals?

[hayduke at toughguy.net (Hayduke)]

In order of my preference:
1. Mountain House (they have another name also in similar yellowish
packaging, but I can't recall the name)
2. Backpacker's Pantry
3. Alpineaire

I bought several of each brand for a backpacking trip about 10 years ago.
Maybe my opinions are no longer accurate, but here was my experience.

Alpineaire was just plain horrible. The meals were borderline unedible. I
recall I had one of thier deserts (bluebery cobler or something berry), and
it wasn't "bad", but it had a strange part of the taste. As in there were a
nice assembly of flavors, but one of the flavors mixed in there was
terrible.

Backpacker's Pantry was much better then Alpineaire. The meals were'nt too
bad, but neither were they great. They seemed rather bland to me.

The Mountain House brand was actually good. The food had nice texture AND
flavor. Another thing I noticed about them was the portions seemed bigger. I
think the name of thier other brand is Natural something or other. That
company sells 2 product lines that both are packaged in a yellowish/beige
bag.

One thing to keep in mind... when it says "serves 4", it means it will
satisfy ONE hungry hiker. I ate the "4 person" servings myself no problem,
and I am not a very big eater in general.

Let us know what your experience is with them also. Like I said, I haven't
tried them for about 10 years. Maybe their products have improved. I can't
imagine Alpineaire would still be in business if not(it was that bad). I
just decided I could use regular groceries as easy or easier for much much
less money.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Griffin" <griffin@u.washington.edu>
To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 1:14 PM
Subject: [pct-l] Favorite Freeze-Dried Meals?


> O.K. I know I'm supposed to create my meals myself for my two-week PCT
trip.
> But for a break, I want to take along a few prepared freeze-dried meals
from
> AlpineAire, Backpacker's Pantry, Mountain House etc. They should be the
kind
> where you can open the package, dump in boiling water, stir and let sit
> until done. Does anyone care to recommend a favorite--or blast a disaster?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tom Griffin
> Seattle
> PCT pages: http://staff.washington.edu/griffin/pct.html
>
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