Features:

  • Four lightweight pouches conveniently packaged in one easy-to-store box. Perfect for your next camping or backpacking trip.
  • Made with tender dices of all natural beef, potatoes, and carrots.
  • Quick prep! Just add water to the pouch and eat in less than 10 minutes, with no cleanup!
  • 30-Years Taste Guarantee
  • Each pouch contains 2.5-one cup servings, 10 servings per case.
Excellent product, but watch the calorie count

Bottom line up front: This type of food is a great choice for an emergency food supply, especially for sheltering in place or evacuating by vehicle. The #10 cans have a 25-year shelf life, so you can buy them and not worry about rotating your stock for a couple of decades. The biggest downside is that once opened, they need to be used up right away. SHELF LIFE - The #10 cans have a 25-year shelf life (unopened). The biggest downside to #10 cans versus individual pouches is that the 25-year shelf life turns into a 1-week shelf life once they've been opened. Since each can has enough for 10 servings, you'll be eating the same thing for several meals unless you're cooking for a group. TASTE - In my experience, Mountain House food is really tasty. Let me caveat this review by saying that although I've eaten other Mountain House freeze-dried food, I haven't had occasion to open the ones in the #10 cans (see my review of the "Mountain House 72-Hour Emergency Meal Kit"). That having been said, the Mountain House food I have tried has been very, very good tasting -- not just good compared to other survival foods, but good period. I have no reason to expect that these would be any different. WEIGHT/CONVENIENCE - As steel cans, they're reasonably durable and reasonably lightweight (not backpacking light, but you don't have to be a weightlifter to move a large box of them). They do take up a bit of volume, but since the overwhelming majority of long-term emergency scenarios involve sheltering in place or evacuating by vehicle, I wouldn't let that be a deal breaker (personnally, I have a stock of individual pouches just in case I have to leave on foot, but most of my food is in these cans). CALORIES - The problem with most freeze-dried emergency food is that a so-called "serving" has too few calories to meet an adult's energy requirements (2500 a day for men; 2000 a day for women -- more with heavy exertion), so you end up consuming more than you planned. These are no different. So even though a typical can ostensibly contains 10 1-cup servings, you really need to eat two servings per meal to get enough calories to survive -- perhaps more. Plan your purchase accordingly.

Better than MREs, great for emergency preparedness

While shopping for camping supplies at local Walmart, I decided to try a Pro-Pack package of Mountain house Beef Stew for less than 5 bucks. Upon trying the stew, I immediately placed a bulk order of the pouch set through Amazon. The pro-pack I got of the stew allows for one serving (1.73 oz) while a pouch pack serves 2.5 servings (4.3 oz) making it a much better deal. I felt unsatisfied with a pro-pack portion so I decided to eat one of our expiring military MRE beef stew for an immediate comparison, and the Mountain House tasted better albeit a bit saltier than I prefer. My husband buys boxes of MREs for emergency supply but they're expensive and have to be rotated after about 5 yrs. This doesn't taste as good as less expensive canned beef stews from grocery stores and the beef chunks definitely have the texture and taste of freeze dried meat. However, the product is incredibly lightweight ideal for backpacking, and the fact they can last over 30 years make them great novelty addition for emergency supplies if not used up during camping trips.

Good stuff

Another good product from Mountain House. A pretty hearty style soup/stew. They call it a stew but I think their Chicken Stew provides more of a full stew type texture and this is a little more soupy. Overall though the taste is very good, has potato, carrot, peas, and beef.

Much better than expected/cooking instructions are a little off.

I bought this less for camping and more for it's long shelf life since I'm often away for a week or more at a time for work. I don't know if it is me but I find a discrepancy in the directions for single servings on all Mountain House products iv bought so far. All the rice based meals I've tried say 1 cup rice mix to 3/4 cup water. I've found it works much better if you stick to 1 cup to 1 cup instead. This vegetable stew was even more off and I did 1cup stew to 1-1/2 cup water and still ended up with a thick stew. I was shocked with how good the stew was though and now from nd myself eating it an a regular basis. The flavor is well banenced and filling. I can honestly say I enjoy it more than any canned vegetable stew I've had. One of the only stews I've had that was better is homeade stews where I can balence it out to personal preference. As for a mass produced consumable stew, I've not had a better one.

Hi, my name is Kevin and I'm a Mountain House addict....

I waited several months to post this review, just to see if my opinion changed from the first packet to my 4th or 5th. Nope, I still think it's awesome! Seriously, how can Mountain House do such justice to a meal that is made with a couple cups of hot water and ten minutes of my life? My only complaint is that our "emergency" supplies keep getting eaten on a routine basis. Nothing is better when coming home to a house with a couple of kids who reply "muh? I wahwa woh" when you interrupt their cellular phone induced coma and ask them if they know what may be for dinner. "Muh? Mom work...". No problem! Before anybody notices, I can boil two cups of water in the microwave and enjoy Mountain House goodness in less than ten minutes. I've learned that the hotter the water is, the better the results, and to cut down the amount of water a bit unless the meal contains rice or biscuits / dumplings. I eat these meals several times a month and I haven't had one yet that has been disappointing. I just have to hide them, lest anybody discovers my secret addiction. "Hey Dad, what are we having for dinner?" "Muh, ask Mom...."

Pretty tasty

I went into this thinking it was going to be nasty, but I wanted to try it anyway. This is just one of many Mountain House products I ordered and the first one I tried. It takes a bit of time to prepare (boiling, stirring, waiting, stirring again, waiting some more, then finally eating), but it IS freeze dried, so I really can't complain. First of all, there really is beef in it. Not something that reminds me of beef. Actual chunks of beef that are pretty tasty. The carrots, peas, and potatoes aren't bad either. My only complaint is that there are so many chunks of potato, though I do understand that it's a good thing. Especially if you're keeping this for an emergency. Overall, I think I'll buy this again. It was filling enough that I think this would be a great addition to my backpack.

I'm impressed

I couldn't wait for an emergency to try this and I have to say it's pretty tasty for a freeze dried meal. Very hearty and filling. One suggestion, the longer it sits after adding the boiling water, the better. Also stir it again after about 5 minutes or so. It lets the beef fully hydrate and makes for a better texture. This is one product I highly recommend to anyone who wants to be prepared for an emergency or travel light while camping.

So convenient!

I started making "Meals in Jars". It was either that or Molecular Gastronomy and I figured the Meals in Jars would fit in my home meals better than espuma or different flavored caviars on everything. So, after about a year and a half of my new hobby of making gourmet tasting meals out of dehydrated and freeze dried food, I thought I'd find out what the professionals are doing and taste what the masses have been eating all along. Well, I'm impressed! The flavors are good, a bit too much salt, but for the most part it's very good! I broke down the can into jars, adding more veg and meat to lower the carbs, and adding a bit of different flavorings to switch it up. Thyme here, ketchup powder and tomatoes there, mushrooms, siracha powder, Umami powder.... so many ways. Mountain House has become my favorite brand! And it's a very good base for doing what I do.

The BEST freeze-dried food after a long day of hiking

First off, let me just say that I have pretty low expectations for freeze-dried or shelf-stable foods. Yes, I know they'll never be as good as what I make from scratch, but when it comes to flavor, it seems like most products are just completely flat. That being said, I was VERY pleasantly surprised when we decided to try this beef stew. Open the pack, remove the packet, and add two cups of boiling water. Give it a quick stir, seal the bag, and you'll have dinner ready eight minutes later. Easy prep is important, because let's face it: that's the whole reason I'm buying this instead of making it myself. So far, so good! Most freeze-dried dinners have absolutely no flavor despite being loaded with salt. That's not the case here. Again, it's no comparison for what I can do with a dutch oven, some scratch ingredients, and unlimited free time, but this is light years better than your average freeze-dried dinner. In fact I can honestly say that this is the best-tasting freeze-dried dinner I've ever had. I could actually taste the individual flavors but nothing was overwhelming. The texture was a little odd (the beef itself was a little bit tough), but I'm not sure there's much that can be done about that with freeze-dried food. One other beef I have with most backpacker-friendly / freeze-dried foods is that the portion sizes are ridiculous. When they say "servings per container: 8", that usually means my wife and I will have just a little bit left over. That's not the case here. For only a 5-ounce package, we got two generous servings of hearty stew. Throw in a slice or two of buttered bread and you'd be hard-pressed to come up with a better quick-prep dinner. Put simply, this is exactly the kind of meal I want to have on standby for when I come back from a long day of hiking and don't want to deal with prep, cooking, or cleanup. Just add boiling water, stare at the stars for a few minutes, and dinner for two is ready. Done. Quick, hassle-free, and tasty.

Long term prepper solution

I purchased this for our 72 hour prep kit. The can is sturdy and should keep rodents out. Mountain house says their products in can are good for at least 15 years, which means I don't have to rotate often! Everything I've eaten from them tastes good. It can be reconstituted with cold water if necessary. I taped a mini-can opener to the top of the can under the INCLUDED plastic lid, so I'll be able to open this anywhere. I love that the lid was included. I also like that we can portion out however much we want depending on how many people are with us and store the rest for the next meal. The can is reusable as well for carrying water or waste products or whatever. All-in-all this seemed like a great purchase for preppers. I hope I never have to use it that way and that I end up eating it around a camp fire. But, I feel confident that this will do the trick if needed.

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