I'm going to buy some "long-term" food for storage. Freeze dried seems to be the best for store and forget. Does anyone here have experience with Mountain House or Provident Pantry or (preferably) both. Does one taste better? Does one store longer? Are there other brands I should consider?
Thanks,
Michael

Avoid the Moutain House "Jamacian BBC Chicken". I took some backpacking and after two bites decided I'd rather go hungery. It was horrid. I suggest you try the different flavors before buying any in bulk.

-Blast

It’s hard to recommend a food because all of us have different likes in food. I like Mountain House stroganoff a lot.

I think Mountain House & Backpackers Pantry are good. I don’t have any experience with Provident Pantry.

Another backpacking food to take a look at (and it’s less expensive and taste good) is Enertia Trail Foods. They are more vegetarian based then other trail food. Here is their web address

http://www.trailfoods.com/index.html

Michael,

Try harmonyhouse.com also. They have some sampler packages you can check out before making a large buy. You can rotate them out and use them for evryday cooking and for trail meals also.
kmat

I second the Mountain House Beef Stroganoff. I've also had their turkey tetrazini and it was good as well. Vitacost has very good prices on Mountain House products. The cans are supposed to last 30 years if unopened and stored properly.

http://www.vitacost.com/Mountain-House-Products-Beef-Stroganoff-with-Noodles

Mountain House spaghetti with meat sauce is good choice. I have a can of it and another Mountain House product (can't remember which) stored in the basement.

Might want to throw Alpine Aire foods into the mix. Good stuff.

This is a great thread, by the time it’s a few weeks old there will be a list of all kinds of food to try. Food is one of my favorite subjects…

They are fundamentally different in that one is freeze-dried and one is dehydrated. I am assuming we are talking #10 cans for both, since this is long-term.

Mountain House makes some basic ingredients (meat, cheese, vegetables) but they specialize in complete freeze-dried entrees. If you want very simple food prep, this is the way to go. Scoop food, add boiling water, wait 10 minutes, eat. Of course, it's more expensive, but it makes a great quick meal. The only problem is that everything is pre-spiced, sometimes heavily so, and you either love the taste or want to use it as spackle. The pouches are a good way to try out various dishes to see if you can eat them regularly.

Provident Pantry (which I have not tried, but I have used Rainy Day Foods, which looks very similar) is dehydrated, so it is more individual ingredients: rice, beans, TVP, tomato powder, pasta, fruit and veg. Dehydrated stuff requires some simmering and cooking (hence fuel) from scratch, and you'll find more dried mixes like for pancakes, breads, etc. The upside is that you get to season it yourself and vary the menu more than with freeze-drieds, and it's much cheaper. If you know how to cook even a little, you can make a lot of "normal" meals from dehydrated stuff.

I have not yet built up my stock to where I want it to be, but right now I use a base of dehydrated food with a few select freeze-drieds for quick meals and areas that dehydrateds don't cover (meat, cheese, some fruits like berries). It works out well, and I mix it slowly into our regular menu so if we ever need to use it exclusively there will be no great shock.

you might try looking at the following web sites:
www.beprepared.com and
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago104.html