Today we’re doing a Mountain House Adventure Weekender Kit review.
Whether you’re a seasoned camper, an avid hiker, or a diligent prepper, there’s one essential element that can make or break your experience: food. In the wild, nourishment takes on a whole new significance, and having the right sustenance by your side can be the difference between a successful journey and a grueling struggle.
This kit boasts 6 individually packaged just-add-water freeze dried meals at 12 servings for 1 person. That’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 1 person for 2 days.
The Weekender Kit bundles some of the more popular Mountain House freeze dried meals in a convenient box for storage for a cost-effective solution giving you peace of mind knowing that you have a reliable food source for unforeseen emergencies, impromptu camping trips, and even prolonged power outages.
So let’s check it out.
Contents
- Mountain House Weekender Kit Review
- Mountain House Weekender Kit Overview
- Mountain House Weekender Kit Contents
- Mountain House Granola with Milk and Blueberries
- Mountain House Breakfast Skillet
- Mountain House Beef Stroganoff with Noodles
- Mountain House Rice and Chicken
- Pros and Con
- Pros
- Cons
- Other Notes
- In Summary
Mountain House Weekender Kit Review
The Mountain House Weekender Kit price averages just under $45.00 on Amazon with free Amazon Prime shipping, check it out here. As we write this review, the kit has over 300 customer reviews averaging 4.7 out of 5 stars. The individual freeze dried meals themselves have thousands of customer reviews.
So as we review the kit, at $45.00, it averages out to $7.50 per meal. Overall, not a bad deal. If you’re cost-conscious, and who isn’t, this is probably cheaper than the fast food place down the street.
On April 27, 2024, I checked the Mountain House store on Amazon to get updated pricing for the Mountain House Adventure Weekender Kit. It's in stock and available for purchase. It sure is a popular item. There are over 300 customer reviews, with an average rating of 4.6 stars out of 5. Check it out here.
However, depending on the scenario, the fast food place down the street may be closed, or they don’t or won’t deliver to your off-grid location.
If you were to price out the individual freeze-dried meals, you might end up paying another $10 to $15 to buy them all separately. So overall, buying by the box is not a bad deal. Just watch the prices.
Check back often for the latest Amazon prices. We update our site nearly every day with the latest Amazon prices. Amazon does change its prices. Over the past year, we have seen the Mountain House Adventure Weekender Kit go for anywhere from $39.49 to $59.99.
The Mountain House Adventure Weekender Kit is perfect for short-term power outages, camping, fishing, hunting, and weekend backpacking trips. It’s a great addition to your emergency preparedness plans.
Plan on at least one box for each family member.
Most of the Mountain House Adventure Meals have a 30-year shelf life. This stuff won’t go bad waiting around to be used. It’ll be there when you need it.
So what are we looking at?
Mountain House Weekender Kit Overview
The kit comes in a cube-shaped cardboard box measuring 8 3/4 inches tall, 8 3/4 inches deep, and 9 5/8 inches wide. The box weight is about 2 1/2 pounds and is easily stackable.
The Mountain House Weekender Kit contains 6 freeze dried meals; each meal pouch is 2 servings.
One side of the Weekender box is devoted to the nutrition facts label, so you can easily see what you are getting. Just a note however, the nutrition facts on the box are a bit misleading, in my opinion. The box shows the nutrition facts per serving, while each freeze dried meal pouch is 2 servings. It doesn’t show the per-container nutrition facts.
The last Weekender Kit I picked up in January 2023 showed a best-by date of January 2052 on the box. So the contents of this box are good for 29 more years or maybe longer. Mountain House offers a 30-year shelf life and taste guarantee from the date of manufacture.
The kit will provide approximately 1600 calories per day. Depending on your needs, you might want to consider some add-ons.
So let’s take a look at what we get in the box.
You can certainly eyeball the amount of boiled water poured into your freeze dried meal. However, using a lightweight, flexible, collapsible measuring cup, such as one of these, to measure out your water makes for a much better and more consistent flavor experience.
Mountain House Weekender Kit Contents
We get 6 lightweight pouches of freeze dried meals.
You get:
- One Mountain House Granola with Milk and Blueberries
- One Mountain House Breakfast Skillet
- Two Mountain House Beef Stroganoff with Noodles
- Two Mountain House Rice and Chicken
There is a bit more room in the box if you wanted to add another 2 or 3 freeze dried meals for storage.
So one by one, let’s take a look.
Mountain House Granola with Milk and Blueberries
The Mountain House Granola with milk and blueberries freeze dried meal. This might be considered a breakfast choice. Actually, besides breakfast, this is an excellent addition to a 72-hour get-home bag as an on-the-go meal as you walk.
Mountain House Granola with milk and blueberries really doesn’t need any hydration time. Just add 1/2 cup of either hot or cold water, stir to mix thoroughly, and you are in business. Other than that and eating it straight out of the pouch, it doesn’t get any easier.
The pouch shows this it is 2 servings. Reading the nutrition label, 1 serving is 1/2 cup, and the entire pouch is 1 cup of food at 520 calories. In my opinion, this is a bit shy of a filling breakfast.
The Weekender Kit only gives you one Granola with Milk and Blueberries.
Today, the Granola with Milk and Blueberries has over 3300 customer reviews averaging 4.7 stars out of 5, and goes for $5.99.
Mountain House Breakfast Skillet
Well, this isn’t just for breakfast, as the name might suggest. We’re talking about big pieces of scrambled eggs, shredded potatoes, sausage, peppers, and onions. It’s a canvas that you can doctor up any which way you want.
Some favorite additions are hot sauce, red pepper flakes, and spices of all types, like our favorite dehydrated and powdered chipotle in adobo sauce. We have also bulked it up with additional dehydrated veggies and even dehydrated pork crumbles.
The pouch shows this is 2 servings. Reading the nutrition label, 1 serving is 1 cup prepared. So the 2-serving pouch makes about 2 cups of food at 510 calories.
Mountain House Breakfast Skillet definitely has a place in the freeze dried food prepper pantry. It’s good stuff and has a 30-year shelf life from the date of manufacture.
The preparation instructions are fairly accurate, 1 1/4 cup of water is about the right amount. It might look soupy right after you add water, just let it hydrate for 15 minutes and you’ll get the right consistency. With most Mountain House meals, you’ll need to experiment to find the right amount of water to add to get your preferred texture.
We do recommend you try one or two at home before heading to the field and eating one for the first time. While I haven’t found a Mountain House freeze dried meal I didn’t like, it’s best to test at home and not in the field.
Today, the Breakfast Skillet freeze dried meal has over 4500 customer reviews averaging 4.5 out of 5 stars and goes $9.97.
Mountain House Beef Stroganoff with Noodles
This is a favorite. The Mountain House beef stroganoff with noodles in a savory cream sauce with mushrooms and onions definitely has a place in your freeze dried food pantry.
While the pouch is labeled as 2 servings, reading the nutrition label, 1 serving is 1 cup prepared. So the 2-serving pouch makes about 2 cups of food at 560 calories.
The preparation instructions are fairly accurate, 1 2/3 cup of water is about the right amount. It might look soupy right after you add water, just let it hydrate for 15 minutes and you’ll get the right consistency. With most Mountain House meals, you’ll need to experiment to find the right amount of water to add to get your preferred texture.
We do recommend you try one or two at home before heading to the field and eating one for the first time. While I haven’t found a Mountain House freeze dried meal I didn’t like, it’s best to test at home and not in the field.
Today, the Breakfast Skillet freeze dried meal has over 3500 customer reviews averaging 4.7 out of 5 stars and goes $9.49 but seems to be out of stock a lot lately.
Mountain House Rice and Chicken
This is another freeze dried pantry must-have. The Mountain House Rice and Chicken with peppers, carrots, and celery in a thick sauce. The great thing about the rice and chicken is being able to doctor this one up as you see fit, or just eat as-is.
Like almost all Mountain House meals, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, and spices of all types can be mixed to make it your signature dish.
Sometimes we’ll add home-made dehydrated peppers, onions, and other dehydrated veggies to bulk up the 2-cups of hydrated grub into a hearty meal after a day of toting a backpack and fishing gear.
While the pouch is labeled as 2 servings, reading the nutrition label, 1 serving is 1 cup prepared. So the 2-serving pouch makes about 2 cups of food at 500 calories.
The preparation instructions are fairly accurate, 1 1/3 cup of water is about the right amount. It might look a little watery right after you add water and stir it all together, just let it hydrate for 15 minutes and you’ll get the right consistency. With most Mountain House meals, you’ll need to experiment to find the right amount of water to add to get your preferred texture.
We do recommend you try one or two at home before heading to the field and eating one for the first time. While I haven’t found a Mountain House freeze dried meal I didn’t like, it’s best to test at home and not in the field.
Today, the Rice and Chicken freeze dried meal has over 2800 customer reviews averaging 4.7 out of 5 stars and goes $10.25.
Pros and Cons
Overall, these are the pro and cons of the Mountain House Weekender Kit. This is strictly our opinion.
Pros
The Mountain House Weekender Kit is convenient. You get 6 freeze dried meals at 2 servings each for 12 servings total, averaging 1600 calories a day.
The Weekender Kit can be a money-saving option depending on the price. As we write this review, we have seen the Weekender Kit vary in cost between $39.49 and $44.97 over the past year. Our last Amazon purchase was $44.97. That’s an average of $7.50 per freeze dried meal. It’s also cheaper than buying them individually.
The Weekender Kit has the shelf-life of the contents printed on the side of the box. Our last purchase showed January 2052. Each freeze dried meal also has a date printed on the back of meal near the preparation instructions. Of the 6 pouches, 2 were dated January 2052, and 4 were dated February 2052. Most Mountain House freeze dried meals boast a 30-year shelf-life guarantee.
Cons
The nutrition facts label on the box. I won’t say it’s misleading but read it carefully. The box label shows per-serving information. While the nutrition facts label on the back panel of the freeze dried meal shows both the per-serving and per-container information.
Other Notes
Some folks may balk at the sodium content. Mountain House at one time made low-sodium versions. However they were discontinued as they were just not as popular.
A long handle spoon, such as this one, works great for getting down to the bottom of the pouch without getting your knuckles decorated with food bits. It’s a real grub shovel and you’ll be glad you have one or two in your camp kitchen.
In Summary
The Mountain House Weekender Kit proves itself to be an indispensable asset for campers, hikers, and preppers alike. With its selection of freeze dried meals, long 30-year shelf life, and the convenience of just add water preparation, it ensures that you never have to compromise on nourishment, regardless of your situation. Don’t settle for subpar sustenance or risk being caught unprepared. Equip you and your family with Mountain House Weekender Kits and make sure you’re ready!
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.