Mountain House Pro-Pak meals?

“Mountain House now has what they call Pro-Pak meals, supposedly single-serving sizes. As a solo BP'er that's great for me, gives me another option besides Enertia.

Has anyone tried these? I'm guessing the food is the same as their regular size, what I was wondering is if you thought they were large enough by themselves, or whether I'd have to add something to bulk them up?

Thanks!”

“Well I guess that the smaller servings do have some advantages. Like Less food to choke down.”

“I always repackage anyway so I won't buy any. But I love MH's food. And I like the variety.”

“buy a dehydrator and some ziplocks...”

““buy a dehydrator and some ziplocks...”
ceoiii
4:47:23 PM
1/15/06
ignore this user


oooo I love it when they talk gear....gets me all tingly :)”

“LOL - hey Mike - whisper dehydrator secrets into SC's ear”

“SC - Zip it and lock it.”

“better than 'dehydrated' conversation.”

“Yeah, you could visit my website and make your own meals ;-)
http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/index.htm”

“I have a dehydrator and a vacuum sealer & I do make a lot of my own meals. Most of the time I prefer them, but sometimes the convenience of the MH or Enertia "ready-to-eat" stuff is tough to beat, especially for longer trips when I'm trying to conserve fuel, food weight & bulk, etc. I'm doing tentative planning for the JMT later this year & don't want to make any more drops than necessary.”

“Pro-Pak's are my meal of choice if I'm buying them. I prefer the size of them to the larger packages. I had the Beef Stew last night at Savage Gulf with the TT gang and it was very good. I had the chicken and rice for breakfast before I hit the trail this morning. Check out the protein and carbs on the label...it's good for energy.”

“Wanderer, the majority of the recipes on my site are an equiv. to using Enertia products. All they are is add boiling water and sit. For fuel savings you can't get any easier. Bulkier..maybe. Even the propaks are bulky in a sense. If you have a vacumn sealer you can easily take any FB recipe and seal it that way to save space and bulk-and prepare it in the seal bag.
Thing about MH and other freeze dried brands is this: you will get sick of them after weeks of eating them ;-)”

“Sarbar, I've been to your freezer-bag site a number of times, you have some great recipes there, I've actually tried a few variations of some of them in the past.

I think I posted the MH Pro-Pak question because I'm basically lazy! Maybe it's time I got off my backside & spend a little more time @ home doing meal-prep before my trips, I think you've maybe motivated me to do so by reminding me of the wide options out there, thank you!

Reminds me of a personal tip I'll pass along. Often times you're adding hot water to re-hydrate your meals before eating... since you sometimes have to wait 5, 10 minutes or so, I've noticed that the food can cool off quite a bit. As one who really appreciates a hot dinner after a day on the trail, I've started carrying a large thermal mug that is my "dinner" mug. Most of us already probably carry a standard 12 oz size for coffee, etc., but they come in all sizes, I forget how many oz mine is, I call it my "dinner prep" mug, it's very lightweight, and since I'm always adding boiling water it's really a breeze to keep clean! When it's in my bear-cannister or Ursack, I simply stuff a bunch of my food into it, so it really doen't take up that much extra room. I think Sarbar calls these "pot cozies", same idea, I like the convenience of a handle & snap-tight lid.”

“I find the "2 person" MH to be just enough food for me.

And no, I'm not a big person. ;)”

“How is it going? Anyway, on the subject of keeping food warm, with the Mountain House food, once I get the boiling water in the pouch, I put the pouch in my fleece hat. This works well except on the coldest days, when I shouldn't be out freezing my parts off!”

“Nice to hear from you... let's hook up one of these weekends... if you remember, dinner is on me! I actually have some pretty good recipes I haven't shared here, my recent favorites take advantage of the foil-wrapped tuna steaks, they're already pre-cooked & marinated in a number of diff sauces, throw them into one of those Knorr's pasta sides & you have a VERY good dinner!

Anyway--- send me an email, I'd love to hook up w you again. My son & I are doing the JMT this year, so I've committed to get out as much as possible to stay in shape, I'm ALWAYS looking for a weekend escape!”

“The PRo Pak lasagna was pretty damned good...”

“propacks are too big of a meal for me - I can only choke down so much rehydrated dehydrated food eventhough Mountain House is my favorite brand.”

“There are fewer varieties of the propacks than there are of the standard MH foods.

I mix up the menu by buying from the grocery store items like Barilla 3 Cheese pasta.”

“I've tried the pro-paks and love them. Used them on the High Sierra trail last year. With a couple of them I added some freeze-dried green beans or peas (also MH) just because I like veggies.”

“In addition to Sarbar's cookbook (there, got the plug in. :-), you can EASILY repackage MH meals!! I've posted this before, but I get two 2-person meals, put out three plates and scoop out the contents equally onto those three plates. Take out the little de-humidifier package thingees (or, I will put them in two of my three re-packaged bags)

OK, then get good freezer bags -- or whatever you use. I put them in three 1-gallon-size Ziplock Double Guard freezer bags. (No, I will not be responsbile if one pops a hole and you get burned or if you get cancer from plastic poisoning!!! LOL! They have just worked fine for me)

Put the MH stuff in the three bags, squeeze out air. Voila! I also label them as to what's in each and the date they were re-bagged. (have no idea if they get old once re-bagged. Again, have had no problems, but if you die of food poisoning, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE. lol ;-)

So I end up with rebagged MH meals that have been taken from four meals into three. It's the perfect size for my appetite, said goldilizs! Just pour your water right in the bag.”

“I'm with bearmagnet, I always thought the regular MH meals were single serving!I make up a lot of my own recipies, and use a bit of regular supermarked dry stock, but I like the convinience of the freeze dried packs at times.I also like the accessory packs from the MRE's as well,, I wish I could get just that part of it.”

“

"Yeah, you could visit my website and make your own meals ;-)
http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/index.htm"
sarbar1

Now you tell me after I bought two of your books. (I bought two of them as I enjoy double servings.)”

“Lol...yer bad NS ;-)
Hey, I put new recipes in the book ;-) And yer suppporting my fantasy of finacial freedom :-D hehheh!!”

“My wife bought me a couple of these. I always keep one or two pre-packaged meals on hand, fer quick trips.”

“financial freedom - Believe me, it's not worth the price. It forces one to depend upon too many things. True independence comes after you have nothing. Even the IRS, after more than 25 years of harassment, is now leaving me alone!
last edited: 1/16/06 8:58:42 AM”

“from puberty to poverty...........how natural, and non-taxable.”

“Yup, NS is right, freedom comes from what you can do without, not what you have.”

“Words of wisdom for the 'guru's of gab'.....”

“Lol...I am a poster child for hippy living-all my worldly possesions can fit into my truck ;-)
Would be nice though to be able to write stuff like cookbooks all day and just cook-without having a real job ;-) That is my fantasy. Will I attain it? Maybe. I used to sell home grown herbs and handmade soap quite nicely at farmers markets. Then I moved to suburbia.
The book has been nice, it has paid for itself. We have done very well with it so far.”

“"I used to sell home grown herbs..."
sarbar1
9:12:07 AM
1/16/06

hmmmmmmmmmmm.........and pipes too?”

“You seem rather hung up on that "fantasy" word, Sarbar. I don't know about anyone else, it just doesn't seem to fit with that other word, "job".”

“her job is another persons "fantasy".......see, see, it fits....hahahahahaha”

“That's good news about your book, sarbar1. I finally stated on my own book this weekend. It's about me and my life's adventures and misadventures. Maybe I should call it, "How not to do it." Or, perhaps, "Complete Idiot's Guide to Life."
last edited: 1/16/06 9:31:35 AM”

“I can give you plenty of stuff for that book.”