Mountain House Emergency Meal Assortment Kits, Freeze-Dried Survival Food Kit for Disaster Preparedness & Long-Term Storage, 30-Year Shelf Life

When it comes to emergency preparedness, the market is flooded with options, but few brands command as much respect as Mountain House. Their Emergency Meal Assortment Kits have become the gold standard for everyone from backcountry hikers to "just-in-case" suburban families. After putting several of these kits to the test, it’s clear why they remain the leader in the industry. 1. Zero-Fuss Preparation In a survival situation, the last thing you want is a complex cooking process that requires multiple pots, pans, and a culinary degree. Mountain House has perfected the "just add boiling water" method. The beauty lies in the pouch itself, which acts as the cooking vessel. You simply: Open the pouch and remove the oxygen absorber (if present). Pour in the specified amount of boiling water. Stir, seal the zipper, and wait about 8–10 minutes. There is zero cleanup—no scrubbing burnt rice off a pot in the dark. If you’re truly in a pinch and can’t heat water, these meals can be rehydrated with cold water, though it takes about twice as long and isn't nearly as "homestyle" as a hot meal. 2. A Shelf Life That Outlasts a Mortgage One of the most impressive features of these kits is the 30-year taste guarantee. While many competitors offer "shelf-stable" food that begins to degrade in flavor after five or ten years, Mountain House uses a proprietary freeze-drying process that locks in the nutrients and taste for decades. This makes them a "set it and forget it" investment. You can tuck a Classic Meal Assortment bucket into the back of a closet or a basement storage room and rest easy knowing that whether a disaster strikes next week or in 2055, the food will still be safe and palatable. 3. Actual Meat and Genuine Flavor The biggest surprise for first-time users is usually the taste. Unlike many emergency rations that resemble flavorless mush or "meat-flavored" soy protein, Mountain House uses real pieces of meat. Beef Stroganoff: Features actual tender chunks of beef and savory mushrooms. Chicken Teriyaki: Contains real pieces of chicken and bamboo shoots. Breakfast Skillet: Offers legitimate pork sausage and scrambled eggs. Because the food is cooked before it is freeze-dried, the flavors have time to meld. The texture of the meat rehydrates remarkably well, retaining a "bite" that makes it feel like a real meal rather than a survival chore. 4. The Hidden Bonus: Multi-Purpose Packaging A pro-tip often overlooked is the utility of the packaging after the meal is gone. These pouches are made of heavy-duty, BPA-free trilaminate foil. Don’t throw them away. Because they are designed to hold boiling water and feature a sturdy zip-lock seal, they serve as excellent emergency water carriers. They are rugged enough to be filled and stashed in a pack without leaking, and the wide gusseted bottom allows them to stand upright. In a pinch, they can also be used as waterproof storage for electronics or as a "hot water bottle" on a freezing night. The Verdict: While Mountain House is often more expensive than bulk grains or canned goods, the combination of a 30-year shelf life, ease of use, and genuine high-quality ingredients makes it an essential cornerstone of any serious emergency kit. Pro Tips: Wait until they are on sale and get a bunch.

Where to start... first off, it's VERY light. For the amount of food you'll get, it can be easily lifted with one hand, or a child or elderly woman. That's great news for preppers who plan of storing this as anyone in your family can lift the entire bucket. I was genuinely surprised at how light a fully filled bucket was. The lid is a bit annoying to remove (partially because it doesn't fully come off... one end is permanently sealed and the plastic breaks/bends open about 3/4th along the top, allowing you to open and seal the bucket without losing/misplacing the lid. How you'd do that, I don't know, but it's nice that they thought of this) and takes opening and closing it a bunch of time to "loosen" the plastic so you're not ripping your finger nails off every time. A small lip along the edge would have been nice but honestly this is the *only* complaint I have. If you need to leave your home/location for any reason, the meals can be easily thrown into a backpack or satchel and carried with almost zero weight added. Because each meal is made for two people, they are a bit bulkier than single meal packages but honestly not by much. And since they're freeze dried and all moisture removed, they're far more compact than you'd expect for how much food you'll actually get when they're rehydrated. Speaking of which, let's talk about how to prepare them... Add water. That's it. It doesn't even have to be hot water (though it's obviously much more palatable when heated up) just remember to let it "soak" a bit longer. Each meal requires a different amount of water to be added but I'd suggest adding *slightly* less water. I added the exact amount of water for the Breakfast Skillet and everything was a bit mushy for my taste, even after letting it sit longer than it says to. What's really great about these meals, and unlike many other brands out there, is that the package itself serves as the means of cooking and a bowl. No need to take the meal out and heat it up over a camp fire or stove. Just add the water and seal it back up. The package has reflective coating inside it (think like an emergency blanket basically) that reflects and captures the heat, so the meal is actually gets *hotter* the longer it sits! Once it's ready, just eat it right out the package! This is honestly the BIGGEST selling point Mountain House has over other brands. Having to prepare a meal over a stove or camp fire is a big turn off for me. It forces you to stop moving, set up a cooking area, etc. With Mountain House you can eat while on the move. You can add water from your canteen/hydro pouch/bottle while never needing to stop and this can be *absolutely* critical in some situations. Of course if you want you could relax and enjoy a nice leisurely meal but having that option to eat on the move is simply a critical factor. Remember the prepper motto: Better to have and not need, right? It was also important for me to find a variety a meals with meat within a single bucket. Many companies don't offer meat or substantial source of protein. You'll get rice, granola and vegan meals but zero meat. If you don't eat meat than this won't be an issue for you, but it was for me. I needed to find a package that fully catered to my omnivore needs. Couldn't be happier with this bucket! It has a full range of meals, from granola, pasta, beans and meat. It doesn't come with any drinks but I've got water, milk and juice set up from a different source and didn't need this bucket to contain any (something I'd highly recommend any prepper doing... don't rely on a meal bucket for your liquid intake needs!). I just needed it to contain food. Each meal says it serves two and while this may be true while counting calories, if you're serving 1 package to 2 people than the meals will be a bit... small. For a single person this is actually really good. Not only will each meal very much fill you up, but you can extend the life of the meals if you cut out the "3 meals a day" Mountain House recommends. Just have breakfast and dinner and you'll get many more days out of your rations then this says. Especially if you pack a handful of protein bars along with them or use the granola to munch on as a snack. Just remember that no bucket or packaged meal is a "be all, end all" for your needs. You just won't find that golden unicorn. You need an ecosystem for survival... whether that's a "hunker down and shelter in place" type set up or a "GTFO now" situation, everything needs other items to complete the system. Water, food, protection, shelter... all of these need to fit together and function. You could have the most amazing food set up in the universe but if you have no water, you're screwed. You could have endless water and food but no way to protect yourself from the elements. So once again, screwed. Set up an ecosystem for what you expect you'll need (and then for what you *don't* expect you'll need) and you'll already be doing better than the majority of people out there. The tl;dr version-- super light weight, able to cook and eat in the package it comes in-- just needs water (hot or not), plastic lid on the bucket is a bit of nail ripper at first, meals are easy and light enough to quickly toss into a bag or pouch, has meat as well as other grains, egg, pasta and veggies, actually tastes good, and can be eaten while on the move-- no need for fire. No bucket of meals will fill all your needs, no matter how good it is. Think of it as one part in a system, with each element needing to be attended to. This bucket will *greatly* help your food element, so you can check that box!

I am in love with these meals and they are easy to prepare to eat. The taste is great compared to military MRE's. I have also tried to prepare one with just room temperature water it works good and still good quality when done, I just takes longer to prepare . A great addition to backup food storage supply ! I have a total of 3 pails of this dehydrated food.

They're intended to be kept in a bunker or stashed away for emergency situations even decades from now, so that's good. Each bag is labeled as two servings and have nutritional facts listed and an oxygen absorber packet to help them last. The flavor is okay, not outstanding but not terrible enough to stop eating if you're hungry. You can't compress the bags any smaller so they take up a good chunk of space in a tote or gorilla box. At $279 for one box, it seemed like the value was decent when I did the math per serving, but some of the items aren't worth the same as others (ie: meat lasagna vs a bag of granola) but they're not really full meals, they're the entrees, so you still need to compliment the meal with sides like fruit or potatoes or veggies. Though each bag is labeled as two servings, if that's all you are going to eat, then you'll eat both servings. I've taste-tested several types to see which ones I'd like to stock up more of or take out of my inventory. They're simple to make with very easy instructions (open, remove oxygen absorber, add exact amount of boiling water listed, stir, seal for specified time, open and restir, seal for additional specified time, open and enjoy). For camping, hiking trips, etc, these would suffice for short trips but aren't intended to be your only source of food, so bring your sides and snacks, too! These actually have pretty low calorie content in comparison to typical survival foods which capitalize on high calorie meals so food sustains you longer. Good packaging, ready in less than 10 minutes after adding boiling water, decent taste for food with a long shelf-life. I'd be happier with the contents at a $200 price point. I paid $279 in October of 2023 and the same box costs $379 in January of 2025. I only noticed when I came online to order a few of the flavors I wanted to purchase more of. There are other brands with comparable quality and taste at much lower price points, so search around before making your decision. If price doesn't matter, then stocking up a few boxes of these in your apocalypse bunker is a good choice.

Mountain House has been doing this a long time, and the food has always been good. I remember getting their food from mail order catalogs long before the internet. Back then, your options were limited to two or three companies, MRES, or surplus C-rations from Vietnam. I like their buckets/packs because they are one of the few companies that offer a large variety of entrees that contain actual meat. Many others are mainly various permutations of flavored pasta and rice or other grain-based dry goods with no actual meat in it. I like pasta and rice too, but it's nice to have something that kind of "sticks to your ribs" sometimes. Tastes great too, like a regular meal. My meal bucket came carefully double-boxed and arrived in great shape. Once empty, the bucket can be used a variety of ways in an emergency too. They are lightweight so if necessary you can ditch the bucket and put a bunch of them in a pack if you have to bug-out. Recommend others interested in this type of product also check out their webstore here on Amazon, they have a pretty amazing collection of dishes. You can buy a single pouch to try out before committing to a whole box/pail of them. They also have the big #10 cans. As an aside, a "best by" date is NOT an expiration date. The food will remain perfectly edible past its "best by" date for years, it may just not have the same consistency or flavor that it did when new. With recent emergencies like Helene cutting off communities that are hundreds of miles from the ocean, strikes, long term power outages, people panic-buying leaving shelves empty etc. it pays to be prepared. Even a small stash of neccesities can make the difference until help can arrive or things return to somewhat normal, or you are displaced from your home. I trust this brand and recommend their products. All made in the USA too. I do wish they had 4 of each entree item in this bucket for my wife and I, as their idea or a "serving" and mine are pretty different. :) I can easily eat a whole pouch myself.

Great taste and a good value.

This is packaged well and easy to store. I have actually tried some of this food and it’s pretty good. I bought 2 single pckts to try and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to use, the quality and the taste. I feel today that our food chain may become insecure and as this product keeps well, it’s great insurance for hard times.

We get these for our backpacking trips and they’re super reliable. They weigh almost nothing, which makes a huge difference when you’re trying to pack light. The meals taste pretty good on their own, but I like to add a little extra seasoning because I’m extra like that lol. They heat up fast, mix well, and are really convenient on the trail. Great product if you need something lightweight and easy!