Mountain House Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich Review

For starters, the Mountain House vanilla ice cream sandwich is some tasty deliciously good stuff.

It’s freeze dried vanilla ice cream in between two rectangular-shaped chocolatey cookie wafers. It’s a classic childhood dessert treat. It’s also a favorite out in the field, in that, it doesn’t melt.

Mountain House vanilla ice cream sandwich closeup view Freeze Dried Survival & Emergency Food | Freeze Dried Backpacking & Camping Food | Mountain House freeze dried meals | Mountain House freeze dried food — A closeup of the Mountain House vanilla ice cream sandwich. It sure looks just like its frozen counterpart found in the freezer section at your local grocer. And for good reason! It’s pretty much the same, except this one is freeze dried and won’t melt.

There isn’t much in the lightweight pouch, the freeze dried ice cream sandwich in a paper wrapper. That’s it. There isn’t an oxygen absorber.

This Mountain House vanilla ice cream sandwich is one of the creature comfort food items I like to bring on some of my more extended outdoor hikes. After all, what is not to like about a freeze dried ice cream sandwich? It won’t melt in your pack, and it does taste like an ice cream sandwich should taste. I think it does, anyway.

The only drawback is that this does not have the same melty texture as when chowing down on a real ice cream sandwich fresh and cold from the freezer!

Oh, and it’s a bit on the fragile side.

So let’s take a look.

The Ingredients

Mountain House vanilla ice cream sandwich nutrition label | Mountain House Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich Review | Freeze Dried Survival & Emergency Food | Freeze Dried Backpacking & Camping Food | Mountain House freeze dried meals | Mountain House freeze dried food — Mostly, we’re all concerned about what we eat. I am. One of these Mountain House vanilla ice cream sandwiches is equal to one serving. The nutrition label shows each one of these ice cream sandwiches has 140 calories, 2 grams of protein, 23 grams of carbohydrates, 100 milligrams of sodium, and 5 grams of fat. Overall, not too bad. The 140 calories and 5 grams of fat would help to round out the typical 400 to 500 calories, on average, found in one of the freeze dried Mountain House Adventure Meals.

Taking a look at the ingredients. It’s freeze dried vanilla ice cream and two chocolate cookie wafers.

The vanilla ice cream ingredients are comparable to other vanilla ice cream sandwiches in the frozen section of your local grocer. In that, the ice cream is made from milk, cream, and several different types of sugar, flavors, and other additives that are found in processed foods.

The wafers are made from wheat flour, sugars, oils, cocoa and other additives that are found in processed foods.

Are these super premium vanilla ice cream sandwiches? No, but the ingredients appear to be mostly the same as those found in the frozen section of the local grocer. At least for the brands I checked and compared.

Nutrition Facts

One of these Mountain House vanilla ice cream sandwiches is equal to one serving. Yes, this is a no-brainer, who is going to split one of these? Not me!

The nutrition label shows each one of these ice cream sandwiches has 140 calories, 2 grams of protein, 23 grams of carbohydrates, 100 milligrams of sodium, and 5 grams of fat.

Overall, not too bad. The 140 calories and 5 grams of fat would help to round out the typical 400 to 500 calories, on average, found in one of the freeze dried Mountain House meals.

Opening the Mountain House Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich

Opening up the lightweight pouch is straightforward enough with a caveat. Take a bit of care, otherwise, you might end up breaking the ice cream sandwich you took the time to protect.

The ice cream sandwich has a paper wrapper just like the frozen versions. It’s easy enough to unpack. There will be some bits and pieces of freeze dried ice cream that naturally fall off.

Once the package is opened, there is no zipper seal should you want to save some for later. But that isn’t going to happen.

So, that’s it for the prep work. Not much to it.

Mountain House Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich Taste Test

Do you member having an ice cream sandwich from the ice cream truck as a child? I can hear that jingle playing now.

Standing along the side of the street in anticipation, a hot summer day waiting, then gobbling down that cold ice cream sandwich before it all melted.

Well, this tastes the same. It’s not too sweet. The only thing missing is the “cold” part, and maybe the ice cream truck jingle.

The combination of vanilla ice cream and a soft and chewy cookie wafer is a delicious dessert or anytime snack. It’s a classic, both delicious and nostalgic.

Did I mention that there is no water needed or time spent waiting for rehydration?

Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich Technical Specifications

So a lot of folks want to know about the details, the weight, and such, that they are putting into their pack.

The unopened package weight was 43 grams
There is no oxygen absorber in the packet
The empty package weight, including the top tear-off piece was only 6 grams

The vanilla ice cream sandwich inner wrapper didn’t register anything at all on my digital kitchen scale. So I’ll go with 1 gram.

There were some bits and pieces of freeze dried vanilla ice cream that fell away from the cookie wafer sandwich, and were not measured.

So that leaves the 1 serving size somewhere around 36 grams.

The Shelf Life of Mountain House Adventure Meals

The shelf life of most Mountain House Adventure Meals is 30 years.

However, the advertised shelf life of the vanilla ice cream sandwich bar is 3 years from the date of manufacture stored under dry, sanitary conditions, without prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures and avoiding any environment that could cause damage to the packaging, such as punctures, dents, or rust.

Mountain House does not say what the pouch is made from, not that I can see anyway.

But, Mountain House says to maximize shelf life, store food unopened and avoid prolonged exposure to temperatures above 75°F (24°C). Follow these storage tips and you’ll have tasty food on your next backpacking trip.

What Happens After the Shelf Life Date has Passed

The Mountain House FAQ says that the freeze dried food doesn’t “go bad” after the shelf life date, but the quality will start to diminish. You may notice a slight change in flavor or texture, but we’ve [says Mountain House] eaten food from our Adventure Meal pouches that were over 30 years old and were still tasty!

an expired Mountain House vanilla ice cream sandwich Freeze Dried Survival & Emergency Food | Freeze Dried Backpacking & Camping Food | Mountain House freeze dried meals | Mountain House freeze dried food — I really don’t remember when I bought this one. You can see it has a “Best Used By” date of September 2017. That is over 5 years ago as we update our review. Mountain House says the freeze dried ice cream bars have a shelf life of 3 years when stored under dry, sanitary conditions, without prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures and avoiding any environment that could cause damage to the packaging, such as punctures or dents. To maximize shelf life, store food unopened and avoid prolonged exposure to temperatures above 75°F (24°C).

I will say, that I have eaten a few of these vanilla ice cream sandwiches that were well past their best by date, and we are still here to talk about it.

viewing the expired Mountain House vanilla ice cream sandwich | Mountain House Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich Review | Freeze Dried Survival & Emergency Food | Freeze Dried Backpacking & Camping Food | Mountain House freeze dried meals | Mountain House freeze dried food — Except for the breakage, this looks just like its much younger version we wrote about today. It also tasted exactly like it should. I didn’t notice any taste difference at all. Of course, it was stored inside our camping food pantry, and the temperature and humidity are the same as the rest of the house.

As of March 2023, this one was 5 years past its best buy date of December 2017, and mostly stored according to the Mountain House FAQ, that is, to avoid prolonged exposure to temperatures above 75°F (24°C). Even though it was mostly broken up into snacking size handfuls due to my own storage conditions, it still tasted pretty darned good and with no ill after effects.

Keep a Supply on Hand

Consider keeping a supply of freeze dried food on hand. Besides making for some easy-to-make camping food, freeze-dried food is one option for building an emergency food supply that is shelf-stable, easy to prepare, and has a long shelf life. One of the key components of emergency preparedness is having a reliable and sufficient food supply.

It’s always a good idea to have a well-stocked emergency pantry, but it’s also important to regularly rotate through your supplies to ensure that you use them before they expire. Most of the Mountain House freeze dried meal options have a 30 year shelf life. Some of their other products, like the freeze dried ice cream has a 3 year shelf life. So, all around, it’s a good investment.

Wrapping it all Up

Maybe we should call this part, unwrapping it all?

Anyhow, wrapping up our Mountain House vanilla ice cream sandwich review, it has a 3-year unopened shelf life from the date of manufacture.

It’s a low-cost, lightweight, and not-to-sweet dessert or anytime when the mood strikes you snack option. The ingredients mirror what you would find in the drippy melty ice cream sandwich frozen food offerings from the down-the-street neighbor grocer or ice cream truck vendor. Minus the catchy jingle.

As we update our review, more than 5700 Amazon customers like you and me have given it an average of 4.2 out of 5 stars, with close to 80% of reviewers leaving a positive 4- to 5-star rating. The last several Mountain House vanilla ice cream sandwiches we picked up averaged under $4.00 each. Purchased in bulk, it might be more cost-effective.

On December 18, 2024, I checked the Mountain House store on Amazon to get updated pricing for the Mountain House Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich - 12 pack. It's in stock and available for purchase. It sure is a popular item. There are over 5700 customer reviews, with an average rating of 4.2 stars out of 5. Check it out here.

Once a day, we track the Mountain House store prices and availability. But there are other resellers. Just do your homework and compare prices. Link to our Mountain House freeze dried food guide and you’ll always have access to the latest Mountain House prices in one place.

We included a few product images, and will probably upload more as we collect them. On my shopping list is an updated water-resistant to waterproof camera with a decent lens and field-replaceable batteries.

So what are you waiting for, order some.

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 Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich Review

Contents