37 year-old Mountain House freeze dried food

37 year-old Mountain House freeze dried food still just as good as it was bought as it was opened in 2007 and tested.

I thought this was interesting, it gives Mountain House
Food a great compliment.

http://www.armchairsurvivalist.com/paulsmountain.html

Mountain House
Food that has lasted half a long lifetime

By Paul James

The year was 1975. At that time many Americans were concerned that the Cold War with Russia could turn hot. People all over the country were building bomb shelters in their backyards and storing large quantities of food.

I was one of them. I didn’t build a shelter, but I did order $10,000 worth of Mountain House freeze dried food to be delivered to my home in Virginia Beach, Virginia. When the shipment arrived from Oregon, my family sampled some blueberries which we all liked. After that the food was stored in the attics of our house and garage. There it rested until August, 2007.

My wife and I are in our 80s and our daughters, who live in Idaho, felt it was time we joined them. In August, 2007, we moved with all of our belongings and 227 cases of 37- year-old Mountain House freeze dried food.

First we opened a can of peas.

The moment I heard the swish air flowing into the can and felt their pellet-like hardness, I was convinced no air had entered the can for 37 years. The peas were fine.

We checked the blueberries and found them to taste exactly as we remembered them in 1975; the strawberries also kept perfectly. Since then we have twice served the scrambled egg mix. The added flavor of butter and salt were perfect to our taste.

Are we again approaching uncertain times that could affect the food supply? Will my decision to “stock up” during the Cold War 37 years ago soon be transformed from folly to fortune?

In any event, it is an honor to be in a position where I can safely say that freeze-dried food packed by Mountain House in 1975 (#10 cans, six cans per case), is still perfectly preserved after all these years.

Note: Several sources are reporting that food grains will be in short supply this year because farmers have planted so much government-subsidized, GMO corn for ethanol.



Paul James, 85, standing beside some 200 cases of Mountain House freeze dried food. Purchased and trucked all the way cross country from Oregon in 1975, this “mountain” of food was recently pulled down from where it was stored for 37 years. This photo was taken July 29, 2007, moments before the mountain was loaded into a moving van headed back across the country to Idaho.

Wow, that's a great testimonial for Mountain House! And the temperatures in that attic probably weren't optimal for long term storage either. Geez, $10,000 worth of food back in 1975...that was a lot of money!

Looks like he had himself a little wiskey up there too.

That could be considered an emergency provision

(And from the look of the bottle, he already has had a couple emergencies)

That's great news for my stored food! I only considered it lasting 10 years at the max. Almost 40 years is incredible. I guess not only 70's fashion and hair is coming back but also the politics and the energy crisis.

The old adage "This too shall pass" should be amended to read: "...but this too will happen again". I guess its true that memory is the best tool for wisdom.

Cheers,
~Nemo

The bourbon looks like "wild turkey". Better for first aid than drinking in my opinion . Wild turkey is a sure headache.

I hear rubbing alcohol is even better than wild turkey for first aid purposes. I don't mind helping fellow ETS'er out so how bout this. I'll trade you a bottle of rubbing alcohol for every bottle of "medical grade" wild turkey you got.

On the other hand, the food didn't taste any better than it did 37 years ago, either. I remember eating mountain house freeze-dried chicken and rice quite often in the early seventies-it was only marginally better than not eating-

I only like 3 or 4 things Mountain House makes, but those 4 taste good to me. Their stroganoff is great stuff. And the ice cream also is good. It’s just kinda high priced for the small portions you get. When hiking, I find I’m still hungry after a MH meal. Often I supplement it with some grocery store food. I would think in a high stress survival situation you may want more substance then a single MH meal provides.

But 37-years storage and still good is great, few things can measure up to that.


Now MREs don’t impress me that much. Yea you can live on them, but they lack good taste. And they are odd meals, these spicy things that don’t sit well.

I hope 37 years later their QC is just as good. I've had their food and it is good but I can't imagine eating it two decades from now. Cans certainly are the way to store stuff. I had some 10 year old US military rations and the canned stuff was almost all good. As good as it was to start with anyway.

Canned food stays 'good' nearly indefinitely freeze dried or not...but eventually the vitamins and proteins and stuff that make the food what it is break down making is less nutritious and less delicious.

In an emergency situation any food will taste good if it's the only food there is. If I'm ever trapped in my home and need to eat, I'll be eating the flour and corn starch raw before I start starving myself. If I were hungry enough, I'm sure it would taste fantastic.