Today we’re updating our original Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef review first published back in November 2015. We’re adding more of that been-there, done-that detail you’re looking for.
We really like the large selection of Mountain House freeze dried food offerings. It’s all good stuff and we have been eating them for many years.
Besides doing stuff outside meals, Mountain House freeze dried food is an excellent choice to supplement your emergency food supply. FEMA, in their Food and Water in an Emergency publication, say you should strive to maintain a two-week supply of food and water for each family member. And we agree! Don’t forget about your pets.
Freeze dried food is very lightweight and offers a long shelf life, measured in years. Even more, Mountain House offers a 30-year taste guarantee.
Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef Review
There are many versions of the ever-popular chili mac that we have cooked up and eaten over the years in my own indoor kitchen and outdoor grill.
Back in the day, when working for Uncle Sam, we didn’t have a lot of extra cash, so making a pot of chili mac was an easy to make and an inexpensive meal.
Just like cold pizza, leftover chili mac tasted best taken straight from the fridge with an added splash or three of hot sauce.
When I first ran across this Mountain House version of Chili Mac with Beef many years ago, I tossed it in the shopping cart without a second thought. I was sure this is going to be some seriously good eats!
Recently, Mountain House has refreshed its product packaging and even tweaked the recipe just a bit. We’ll share what we noticed about those changes. No worries, it’s still the same great taste.
Old-Style Product Packaging
We still have a good number of what we’re calling the “original” or “old-style” Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef freeze dried food pouches.
These are the specifications taken from the old-style packaging from our remaining supply:
width: 8 inches / 20.3 centimeters
height: 9 ½ inches / 24.1 centimeters
bottom: expands into a food pouch bowl and has a bit of wisdom or campfire talking points printed on the bottom
servings: about 2.5
serving size: 54 grams dry mix
makes: about two and a half cup servings as prepared
The old-style Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef front label shows the package weight as 4.80 ounces (136 grams).
Our digital kitchen food scale shows the unopened package weight as 5.7 ounces (163 grams) averaged over what remains of our old-style Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef freeze dried food pouches.
On April 27, 2024, I checked the Mountain House store on Amazon to get updated pricing for the Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef. It's in stock and available for purchase. It sure is a popular item. There are over 4400 customer reviews, with an average rating of 4.6 stars out of 5. Check it out here.
New-Style Product Packaging
Our measurements of the new-style product packaging:
width: 8 1/4 inches / 21 centimeters
height 8 1/8 inches / 20.7 centimeters
weight of the empty freeze dried food pouch: 18 grams
weight of the oxygen absorber: 5 grams
total weight of the freeze dried mac and cheese with beef dry mix: 110 grams
The Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef nutrition label:
servings: 2
serving size: 54 grams dry mix
makes: two 1 1/4 cup servings as prepared
These new-style Mountain House freeze dried food pouches are plastic-coated mylar.
The Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef front label shows the package weight as 3.8 ounces (108 grams).
Our digital kitchen food scale shows the unopened package weight as 4.7 ounces (133 grams) and averaged over our supply of the new-style packaged Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef freeze dried food pouches.
Few big box stores offer even a limited selection of Mountain House freeze dried food products. For last-minute needs or purchasing for long-term storage, consider other options that offer a greater shopping selection. Recently, we picked up a large assortment of Mountain House meals, including a couple of these freeze dried chili mac offerings for just under $9.00 each with free Amazon Prime shipping.
Click here to see the current Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef price, and see the latest customer reviews here on Amazon.
The Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef product page shows well over 2000 of mostly 5-star customer reviews. This is evidence of a popular product that customers are happy with and they buy time and time again. Myself included.
You’ll see that Mountain House does offer Chili Mac with Beef in a #10 can. The #10 can label says there are 10 1/4 cup servings. I read that as five hungry-people servings.
Freeze Dried Food Pouch Differences
Both the old-style and new-style Mountain House freeze dried food pouch product packaging requires you to remove, or tear off, a significant amount of the pouch at the tear notch. About 2 1/2 inches / 6.3 centimeters, or 4 grams of the package weight.
Just below the tear notch, is another 1/2 inch / 1.2 centimeters, to the zipper seal. In our opinion, Mountain House could better to optimize packaging and reduce waste.
You might notice that Mountain House now includes recycling information on every product they sell. Instead of tossing these freeze dried food pouches in the trash, you can mail them, with pre-paid postage, to TerraCycle.com. Way to go Mountain House! Check out the Mountain House TerraCycling program here.
These new-style packages also feature rounded corners. Mountain House must have read one of my suggestions. Finally, those squared-off pointy corners are now a thing of the past.
Mountain House also continues to entertain us by printing outdoor wisdom one-liners on the bottom of each food pouch. Some of them have made for lively conversation around the nighttime fire.
With this new style package, Mountain House went from a 2.5-serving pouch to 2 servings. In our opinion, we would prefer that extra half-serving.
Mountain House also cleaned up the recipe ingredients. Gone are the soy, colorings, and other additives. More and more folks are reading those food labels researching what they eat.
Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef Preparation
Start by removing the top portion of the freeze dried food pouch at the tear notch. Next, remove that oxygen absorber packet. The oxygen absorber packet will likely be visible.
Then, gently pull open the bottom of the pouch to form a bowl.
The Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef in the new-style packaging calls for 12 ounces / 355 milliliters of boiling water added to the 2-serving pouch. We think this is just the right amount of water.
The old-style recipe recommended adding 16 ounces / 473 milliliters of boiling water for 2.5 servings. In our opinion, that was just too much water and made for soupy chili mac. If you still have some, dial it back to 14 ounces / 414 milliliters.
Okay, here is where the recipes differ somewhat. Basically, both of the recipes say to mix in the boiling water and seal, giving the freeze dried chili mac with beef some time to hydrate. Next, open the pouch, stir, seal it, and give it more time before enjoying.
However, in practice, our experience has been the macaroni has not had a chance to fully absorb the water and the sauce mix. The macaroni was not quite the al dente as we like and it needed a few more minutes of hydration.
Here is Our Recipe
So, this is our recommendation, use the 5-5-5 method.
First, at the tear notch, carefully tear off the top part of the pouch, trying to get a straight tear. Remove the oxygen absorber. Then, open out the bottom of the freeze dried food pouch to create a bowl.
Second, measure out the water into your camping mug or pan, and add any desired spices. Cover and bring to a boil.
Third, carefully pour the boiling water into the freeze dried food pouch, mix and stir, seal, then let the freeze dried chili mac rest for five minutes to hydrate.
Next, after the five minutes have elapsed, open, mix and stir, then reseal for another five minutes of resting.
Finally, open, mix, stir and reseal, giving the freeze dried chili mac a final five minutes to hydrate.
To recap, we stirred, mixed, and mixed again over the 15 minutes of hydration. Plenty of time for any added spices to blend and flavor our freeze dried chili mac.
So after 15 minutes, give it a taste and see if it’s how you like it. Maybe it needs another five or so minutes?
Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef Taste and Texture
The Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef is tasty good right out of the food pouch.
There are bits and pieces of beef, kidney beans, and macaroni, all swimming in a tomato sauce.
However, like most every prepackaged meal you might purchase, it’s a blank canvas. Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef included. It’s not spicy the way we like it, but not quite bland either. It’s probably a consumer preference as it allows for individual upgrades.
Finally, this is one freeze dried food pouch that most definitely has a place in the freeze dried food pantry. Like most freeze dried food entrées, you can easily take this up a notch or three by adding your preferred spice selections.
Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef Review Rating
In our opinion, the Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef makes for some good downright tasty and filling good-eats any time of the day or night.
However, I am giving this my own 4.9 out of 5 stars for taste, texture, and ease of preparation. We’re docking a partial star because we think this should have remained at 2.5 servings.
So this is one freeze dried food pouch that most definitely has a place in the freeze dried food pantry and emergency kit.
Freeze Dried Food Hacks
As part of our Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef review, we have a few tips on how to kick this freeze dried meal up a notch or two.
Consider adding crushed chipotle peppers to the water as you bring it to a boil. Chipotle peppers are easy to make at home and easy to pack. Just add one or two chipotle peppers to a small zip-top bag and you’re all set. Check out our post here on homemade chipotle peppers.
Optionally, or in addition to the chipotle peppers, consider adding crushed red pepper flakes. Those take-out pizza places offer single-serving size packets.
Both thyme and basil pair very well with freeze dried chili mac with beef. Add a teaspoon or so of each of these dried spices to the water as you bring it to a boil.
And hot sauce pairs well with nearly everything, including freeze dried chili mac with beef. Locally, a popular fast-food chicken restaurant offers hot sauce condiment packets.
Fast-food chopsticks make excellent stirring utensils and can multi-task as a lid-lifter for your camping mug cooking setup.
Also, consider using a cozy in cooler weather to help insulate the freeze dried food pouch as the hot water hydrates. Those Amazon bubble-lined plastic packaging can be repurposed to make great a cozy. They are nearly weightless and can be rolled down tight to minimize bulk.
The Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef has well over 2000 of mostly 5-star customer reviews. Moreover, this is evidence of a good product that customers are happy with and buy time and time again. Click here to see the current Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef price, and see the latest customer reviews here on Amazon.
First Time – Practice at Home
The first time, practice at home using the very same gear that you might use in the field or out on the trail.
We would recommend that you first make one or two of these at home. In short, try them out first, just like you would with a new piece of gear.
Also use the very same equipment you might use while hiking, camping, or found in your emergency kit. There is no better way to see how it all works together, or not, than to practice at home. Practice using the very same gear you might need to rely on and work out any shortcomings or issues you make a note of.
Take notes so you don’t forget, and decide what works best for you. Describe what you thought of the results. And, what would you want to try out next? Once you have it all figured out, transfer your notes to something more portable that you can take with you.
This is what we use for the final set of notes once we have our process dialed in, we’ll record our instructions, preferred amounts of water, and what other spices we like mixed in. The notebook is water resistant. How cool is that!
Shelf Life
Mountain House freeze dried meal pouches have an advertised shelf life of 30 years. That “best by” date is located on the back of the new style pouch just beneath the preparation instructions. However, Mountain House says that this freeze dried food doesn’t really “go bad” after this best-by date.
The long shelf life makes freeze dried food a great option to stockpile the pantry.
With all this in mind, click here to see the variety of Mountain House freeze dried food products available on Amazon and not at your local big box store.
Be sure to check out our list of Mountain House freeze dried meals available on Amazon, where we track the daily price and product availability so you don't have to. We also link to our comprehensive Mountain House freeze dried meal reviews. We track the same for Peak Refuel freeze dried meals on Amazon, don't forget to check it out before you go.
Mountain House chili mac is one of my favorite meals. There must be endless ways to change this up. Its some damn good stuff. Thanks for taking the time to post your review. And yes, agree, practice at home – its not if, but when.