Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Best site to purchase MREs, Mountain House, Peak Refuel

my old elk huntin partner who was a front line wounded/Marine Viet nam vet always said this we ate world war 2 C Rations over in Nam and these newer MRE`s aren`t that bad to me and so on a elk hunt we ate these MRE`s for 2 weeks in the mountains a couple of years ago.and believe me he is one heck of a mountain man or just a tuff old Marine, his famous words were these MRE`s all make a turd and fill the belly good enough .

I, Unlike some, preferred C-rats to MRE's and would still if they were available.

For freeze dried , I like Mountain House.

Compared to what?????

A few years ago I took my son and daughter to hike the Escalante Canyon. We stopped along the way to camp for a night. One of us was carrying an Alpine Aire freeze-dried entre. It was horrible. None of us could stomach it and even the dog would not eat it.

KC there’s a reason they are called Alpine Air! Phew!😁

Alpine Aire has to be the worse meals I've had, and I spent 20 years in the Army and have had a lot of MRE's!

Has anyone tried backpacker's pantry?

Only once. It was terrible but that isn't much of a test.

I've tried only a few Backpackers Pantry offerings. They made me wretch. On top of that, some of them require mixing and/or simmering.

I dislike most of the Alpine Aire stuff, enjoy about half of the MH meals, and quite like most of the BP entrees. Haven’t tried Peak yet.

Dang you guys are picky. Don't you know the backpackers collary?

"The quality of the food is directly proportional to the distance from the road"

God, most of you guys sound like my granddaughter... she doesn’t like anything.
She has the excuse that she’s only 9.

I guess you can look at it like that, though it's a pretty shallow way of looking at it. Your 9 yr GD hasn't developed a pallet yet. One can survive off of a lot of horrible foods. However I am at a point in my life I don't need or care to eat trash.

My point being, unless a person has tried every meal from every freeze dried company, general statements don’t work. I’ve tried most of the variety from Mountain House, BP, Alpine Air and a few others. All of them had meals I would not buy, and all of them had meals that were ok.
No, freeze dried food is not like what I would eat at home but is convenient and mostly nutritious.
The fresh meat and vegetables that I mostly subsist on is not practical on a backpack hunt.

In this day and age there are many choices of backcountry meals, some of which are better than others. Why not use what you like the most?

I prefer Peak to most of the freeze dried offerings

Exactly!

So where do you all buy your supplies? I've seen a recommendation for Walmart and another for Sierra Trading Post. Any other recommendations?

It isn't like there are a million different offerings. I think most guys by now have found the ones they like from the brands they like. That being said from my experience Peak Refuel is hands down the Winner for me! Your point was not what you wrote in this last post. Your statement or point was, You were comparing guys to your 9 yo gd. Basically saying they are picky eaters. I don't find that to be true at all. I see it as freeze dried food has evolved and guys are finding that the old guard of Freeze Dried food is garbage.

Most of Peak's offerings are about half the sodium as the others as well. Another plus to me. Of course they have offerings that are not to my liking. But in fairness I don't like any Freeze dried Breakfast offerings. The only two offerings from Peak I don't eat are the granola and the eggs.

I agree with MCH. There are plenty of options for freeze dried but Peak Refuel is my choice also. They also take less water than MH and others. Chicken Alfredo and Beef stroganoff are both excellent. Waiting to try the chicken pesto. I’ve heard it great also.
I do want to try a breakfast I read about though. Mix a MH biscuits and gravy with a breakfast skillet. Supposed to be very good and filling.