Okay, Mountain House works but it's pricey and it gets old after a while. MREs are, well, MREs.

Food is a major driver on hunts, and a weight/bulk issue. Cutting down the weight and bulk, while retaining nutrition and energy (and, perhaps, taste?) is probably more art than science.

Anyone have recipes/ideas they want to share?

Meal replacement bars, MH, energy drink powders, coffee. Cost is meaningless when you're stuffing it in a $400 backpack and boiling water on a $100 stove while wearing $300 boots and schlepping a $1,500 (+) rig.

LMAO! Good point on the cost factor. Very good point.

Just whatever you take, make sure you've eaten and schit it at least once before you go...

I will say a Cliff Protien bar covered in almond butter and one of the energy type powders ( Spark or Wilderness athlete) lasts a good long time.

Yep, on certain things lasting a while, and DEFINITELY on having "processed" the meal at least once prior to going out for several days at a stretch. Some of the recipes out there (hmm, think chili) will have you dragging it like a dog and washing stuff in a creek no matter the temps.

Costco stocks Mountain House a couple times a year. Swinging deal.

Believe it or not, Wal-Mart or Fred Meyer usually have pretty good deals on MH. I buy mine through a group buy from a local retailer friend of mine but would probably get it from either of the 2 listed stores if the group buy wasn't available.

It's been mentioned here previously, 100 cal/oz is a good benchmark.

There are food items one can prepare at home. For me, a lot depends on personal preference of how long you can be satisfied/happy with a particular item and how long the trips is expected. I could do MH for a week trading off between 2 or 3 faves. I could do 2-3 days with granola bars, jerky, and water.

I get my MH at Costco too. Great deal. Ramen noodles aren't gourmet, but they're light and pack a lot of cals. They're not too bulky IMO. I always have some of my dried fruit along, and often some jerky. Granola bars or oatmeal packets for breakfast.

I like packing the gatoraid powder (usually in the single serve, and usually generic) to put in the water.

Oh...I also like hitting bulk food stores and getting dried banana chips.

Old skool ramen is some pretty bad stuff. My local hippie grocer had some good stuff. Organic and all that jazz. Pricey, but what isn't?

I'm good with jerky, nuts, bars, etc....but will happily "suffer" the weight to bring hot food ability.

Whether it's 2 nights or 12, I want a hot dinner before my azz goes to bed. MH is easy and I like most all of them. Morning and afternoon can be anything, though instant oatmeal and Starbucks via beats the hell out of just goo and a bar.

Some ramen is better than others. Some of the ramen lunch in a cup stuff is good, too. Don't go with the generic stuff, maruchan or other quality brand are better and worth the extra dime.

Grits and coffee.

Hippie guy said they spray some sort of liquid styrofoam on that schit to preserve the noodles.

We have been making our own meals and having good luck roughly following recipes from the book "The Back-Country Kitchen" by Teresa Marrone. Drying meat and vegetables in our convection oven works great. We make up the meals in bulk and freeze them until we need them. Probably over kill freezing them but for sure they won't go bad.

Get a used copy of the book cheap here: abebooks.com

I still like MH lasagna but our home made meals are generally better - haven't had a bad one yet and a couple have been flat out killer.

My partner does almost all his nighttime meals with his dehydrator. Rice noodles with venison, chili, etc. I make a couple every year mixing 2-3 ramen cups with half a Idahoan potato package in a ziplock and then rubberband a foil of chicken to it. Pretty cheap.

You can take different spices to help out the MH dinners, I take a pepper mix and olive oil.

I'm with MadMooner on breakfast, instant oatmeal w/ whey protein powder and Via. All with one Jetboil.

Sometimes you can just opt for stuff you find laying around in the woods too

I keep coming back to MH for dinners. They pretty much got it as right as it can be.

I've gotten so sick of MH meals over the years. One doctored up MH (I add a handful or two of Thrive veggies) per day is almost more than I can handle.

Anymore I start the day with a oatmeal/seeds-nuts/berries/protein powder concoction cooked and eaten right out of a Ziplock and eat lots of nuts, seeds, jerky, dried fruit and 'Elevate Me!' bars during the day. Then choke down a modified MH/BPP for supper. LOL.

Nuts, Jerky, Dried Fruit .. I find trying to recreate a nice dinner not worth the hassle in my opinion. I make a hot tea, or maybe take a swig of whisky at camp to give me the warm feeling

I've made pretty good dehydrated meals on my own. I recommend it really. Just make chili and throw it in a dehydrator for a while. You can also dry some of the wetter sausages a bit and they end up more landjager like.

I can be convinced into taking sausage and cheese way easier than a mountain house (although they are not horrible, i just don't personally see the value).

There are lots of options really outside of pre-made dehydrated meals. I know most folks I go out with like them, but I prefer more simplicity.

I made up a few meals with rice, egg noodles, dehydrated veggies with bullion cubes for flavoring. All experiments. Most were pretty good but this past year I just fell into the Mtn. House for convenience, but that's for the heavier evening meal.

I usually take some instant oatmeal or pancake mix for breakfast and carry a summer sausage, a good size piece of swiss cheese, and some pita bread. That and some almonds and dried cranberries and I'm good for a few days.

I have decided when I'm out there I have no real interest in mixing up some concoction and having to clean up dishes. If it won't make with just boiled water I don't usually take it. And I prefer to eat it from a throw away bag or at the most, one bowl that can be wiped clean after a hot water rinse.

Now, camping from the truck or with pack animals can be a different story!

My backpacking is more aligned to backcountry fishing than hunting. I have pulled some great recipes from issues of backpacker magazine. Some can be too elaborate and we skip them. I look for 15 to 20 min tops for cooking and most all are 1 pot deals. weigh no more than the packaged stuff and taste 100 x better. Some may poo-poo the magazine, but it has great info and food ideas. Have not used stuff like Mountain House for 10 plus years.

I read the magazine occasionally, but like a lot these days, sometimes it suffers from lack of common sense on the part of the authors and publishers.

I stopped reading it regularly when they published an article about survuval, specifically what to do if someone gets hypothermia in the backcountry. They advised to start a warming fire, but make sure to use only twigs up to pencil thickness so as not to unduly "damage the environment."

I wrote them a letter, told them this was the stupidest thing I'd read regarding survival (and that's saying something), and that if my partner was truly hypothermic in the backcountry, I'd burn truck tires to re-warm him/her, or whatever else was at hand.

I got no response. They should've not only responded, but corrected that nonsense.

I like mtn house for the evening meal, mainly for convenience but a few are really tasty. After a long day, getting back to camp after dark etc., it's nice to just boil some water, eat, and crash. I normally supplement with olive oil and/or dried sausage.

Yeah, sometimes they are a bit far fetched. Esp when writing to appeal to the Birkenstock wearing granola head nature lovers. I can subscribe to and make honest attempts at the Leave No Trace concepts, but some ideas are outlandish. That being said, there are some good gear reviews and food recipes. But, we stray off the OP's topic so onward about food.

They do have some good recipes. But I draw the line at packing out poop. Speaking of which (to bring us back on topic) that is a useful criterion when selecting backcountry meals--what kind of turd will it make?

Do yourself a favor and try Packit Gourmet in Texas.
Big step up from MH.

4ager:

I'm not a very good cook and I would be lost in the woods without Mountain House, which I buy on-line at a discount. I start backpacking in April and MH gets real old by the end of elk season. Fortunately Mountain House has come out with a couple of new varieties that they call Wraps, which are designed to be placed in tortillas, that you provide in addition to the freeze-dried. Breakfast Skillet and Chicken Fajita Filling are a refreshing improvement. Check them out.

To augment the MH I usually take some Cup-O-Noodles and of course Quaker Fruit & Cream Instant Oatmeal. Don't forget Folgers Coffee Singles, instant cocoa and Tang.

I make burritos by filling tortillas with Mexicali Rose dehydrated refried beans and boil-in-the-bag rice. Feeds two people.

I make a reasonable substitute for biscuits & gravy using bread rolls and a pack of Country Time instant gravy mix with sausage. Feeds two people.

Chicken Casserole - Lipton or Knorr Noodles & Sauce + can of chicken. Feeds two people.

Mac & Cheese - Velveeta Shells & Cheese + can of Ham. Feeds two people.

If you have lots of time you can make pancakes with Bisquik Shake & Pour pancake mix but you have carry a little bottle of syrup.

I collect restaurant packets of margarine which I use for frying fish and to add to the dehydrated stuff when necessary.

You know you don't have to have hot food for every meal. Occasionally I have only beef jerky, sandwich crackers, nuts, dried fruit, GORP, etc.

Recently I tried dehydrated hash browns and also dehydrated potato pancakes. Both tasted pretty good but they take a long time to cook and you need those packets of margarine for frying oil.

KC

Pick the dehydrated meals you like the best regardless of the brand. My hunting buddy and I each pick the hydrated meals we like and these become our evening meals. Other foods we bring to our week-long hunts are nuts, and snacks made of whole grains including oatmeal. We also bring fruit and SNICKERS bars along with instant coco and coffee.

Still, when we get off the mountain, we pig-out on junk food.

Idahoan instant potatoes are quick, simple and taste surprisingly good.

I also use tuna and chicken that is pre-packaged in foil packs and eat it on tortillas or bagels.

I use these along with MH and I also use the Backpacker's Pantry freeze dried meals. They have a bigger variety to choose from than MH.

you can buy Mountain House on sale from time to time. I buy the #10 cans. I portion that can out into 8 vac seal bags, and use that when afield instead of the ready use pouches. MUCH cheaper per meal.

Yes mt house cans can be on sale cheap and there are a lot of new flavors. I love the jambalaya. A lot of different freeze dried companies these days also. But there are many instant meals in the store such as stove top stuffing, idahoan, ramen, refried beans (just saw huge packs at trader joes cheap), far east couscous and taboule, instant hummus, etc. You can take foil packets of salmon and tuna to put on top and dried vegis also. Walmart has a whole aisle of freeze dried components that can be combined in boil bags for meals. They have a huge can of freeze dried chili i will have next season. Btw i tried many mre varieties this fall and it was hit or miss on taste/consistency and of course they are heavier. I like freeze dried better. Another tip is small boxes of wine with your meal that can be burnt afterwards. Now someone needs to put scotch in a box..

Yukon Jack in the plastic pint....duh.

I ate a lot of MREs and worse when the SHTF overseas for weeks/months at a time. I somewhat became accustomed to eating food for fuel. Lately, I eat a lot of snack food (jerky, nuts, berries, Cliff Bars, etc …) when I’m hunting/backpacking. When I can, I eat hot meals for breakfast (before hunt) and dinner (after hunt). IF I think I can tolerate the weight, I sometimes bring ribeyes deeply frozen, wrapped in a couple layers of foil, in a ziplock, and contained in a lightweight semi-insulated bag. They’re coated in olive oil and steak seasoning beforehand. I just through them in the foil in the fire pit, turn them after 6-7 minutes and then eat about the same time later. Tasty high-protein treat that sometimes is worth the cost in weight.

Mostly, for hot meals, something like MH is more than tasty enough after a long day of hiking or hunting that we don’t yearn for anything else when having it hot and along with some decent coffee/Bourbon. I do “improve” the MH meals often though. For example, I bring bacon jerky, add it to the scrambled eggs or breakfast hash stuff, with just a little bit of extra of water and add it to the package before sealing it to cook. I sometimes do the same with some good jerky with the beef stroganoff meals. Makes them better, much better.

Here’s my son eating cooked jerky bacon with eggs and hash on a recent backpacking hunt. All smiles, even for a finicky 10-yr-old:

+1 for Packit Gourmet(Banana pudding!) and I'll add Mary Jane's Farm for another option.

Foil packs of chicken and a noodle mix are an easy meal I use early in a trip if weight isn't a huge issue and to put off the freeze dried stuff till later.

Mountain house lasagne, beef stew, and sweet & sour pork are the bomb and all a man needs for dinner. l look forward to eating them every hunting season.
Beats eating the same old [bleep] at home the rest of the year, not counting vacations.

A plastic water bottle filled with bourbon is always nice.

When we pack the Tipi stove I got from Ed T., buckwheat pancakes covered with honey are great in the morning.

Have you tried the spaghetti with meat sauce? Add a tablespoon of olive oil, and it's my favorite. Lasagna's good too.

I go pretty light when I'm goin' up high. Regular Clif bars, Clif Builder bars, GORP, some fruit...stuff like that is what I subsist on. Water and Gatorade too.

mh blueberries and granola is one of my fave breakfasts


also like the their chicken and noodles, when i'm hunting hard inn inclement weather I like a hot meal before going to bed.

sometimes I don't eat the whole MH and just eat the leftovers for brkfst with a cup of coffee

that gives me an extra meal to hunt off with a leftover bkfst.

it'll plug you up after a while ime, but 10 days, no problem

Alpine Aire makes some good stuff too, along with ???? damn can't recall the name, a new one I tried awhile back. All of it's out in the connex.

tks tkinak, Mary Jane's Farm was the brand I couldn't recall