Mountain House Yellow Curry with Chicken & Rice | Freeze-Dried Backpacking & Camping Food | 2 Servings |Gluten-Free

I bought this for camping, hunting, and keeping easy meals in my outdoor gear, and this Yellow Curry with Chicken & Rice is one of the better Mountain House options.It is easy to make, packs well, and only needs hot water, which is exactly what I want when I am tired, cold, or not interested in setting up a full camp kitchen. The flavor is better than a lot of freeze-dried meals, and the curry gives it more depth than the usual basic camp food. It is warm, filling, and actually tastes like something I would choose to eat instead of just something I am eating because it is convenient.Like most freeze-dried meals, it turns out better if you stir it well and let it sit a little longer than the minimum time. That helps the rice, chicken, and sauce come together better.For camping, hunting trips, backpacking, emergency food storage, or keeping a few meals in a truck or go-bag, this is a solid choice. Easy, reliable, gluten-free, and better than pretending a granola bar is dinner.

We also keep a couple for hurricane season.It’s a good, healthy, easy to prepare meal that is shelf stable for a few years, but we eat them more frequently, so we’ve never tested that out.They just taste really good! 😊

This is fairly new and this was our first time trying this one, but Mountain House is our favorite, by far, prepared foods seller. Never any TVP or fillers. They don't use wads of salt and/or citric acid as cheap "flavor". No preservatives or any other crud.We liked this quite a bit. I'm more of the curry fan than my hubs, but he did like this. It's relatively mild in heat but full of flavor.As well as being a prepper in general, we live in the mountains. Being snowed in, often w/o power, is fairly normal and this is part of our preparation for it. They have a large range of meals, a decent range of sides and breakfasts, and you can't beat a 25+ yr shelf life.I have a love/hate thing going with MH's pouches. Most stuff we buy is #10 cans, but for BOBs and other times, we stick with pouches. They can be a bit deep for normal utensils, so a bit messy to get your hand in, but you can cut the bag down after it's finished 'cooking' and that helps.The corners of the bags can be a pain, to make sure you get the water in everywhere, but the corners are also what allows the bags to stand on their own. That is *very* handy, especially if you're by yourself, to be able to pour w/o having to hold the bag.Don't forget to use the Smile.Amazon.com address - It's an Amazon program where many everyday things you buy will generate a small donation from Amazon to the charity of your choice at no cost to you. Info here: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/about/ref=smi_se_rspo_laas_aas

I am an avid wilderness backpacker, hiker, camper, and survival enthusiast. Emergency food or lightweight meals are thus a great part of my life, particularly when they can be stored for 30 or more years. Mountain House makes some of my FAVORITE, freeze-dried food.IN SHORTLike many Mountain House food, this Yellow Curry meal tastes excellent, is easy to prepare, and is packed with calories needed for survival or backpacking. As is true with freeze-dried food, they store for decades and make excellent emergency meals. The biggest downsides are the need for access to hot water and the expense: they are not cheap. Nonetheless, I love Mountain House food for on-the-go eating.WHAT IS FREEZE-DRIED FOOD?Whenever I introduce them to my friends, they immediately think of MRE's -- Meals Ready To Eat -- common with the military. I had my first taste of MRE's over 10 years ago and did not like them. The premise was great though: open the MRE and start eating. No cooking necessary. But they usually did not taste good. Perhaps things have changed, but I had never tried them again since.To preserve food without needing refrigeration, there are multiple options: Dehydrating (think beef jerky), baking, smoking, preserving, canning, etc. PROBLEM with those methods? They all change the way the food will taste. Too salty, too dry, too yucky, etc. Then there are some where the food could get warmed by a chemical reaction that you activate with the package, but those are heavy and difficult to dispose of while out in the wilderness.Freeze drying, on the other hand, is a long process whereby the food has its water removed, maintaining its natural composition and keeping its flavor, vitamins, and nutrients. I will cover what that process is like shortly, but the important part to remember is: the taste remains essentially unchanged AND the meal is much lighter to carry around.Have you heard of "Astronaut food"? NASA popularized freeze-dried food with the introduction of icecream that did not need refrigeration. Note: industrial freeze drying could date back as early as the 1800's, but the idea has been attributed as far back as the Incas of the 13th century.FREEZE DRYING PROCESSHow does food get freeze-dried? The cooked meal is first frozen, then placed in a chamber where the atmospheric pressure is less than 1 ATM (lower than the natural pressure we experience at sea). Over the next 18-20 hours, the food is heated at a very low temperature, and because the pressure is less than normal, ice skips becoming a liquid and jumps straight to gas. That gas is then sucked out. It requires a lot of energy -- more than the other forms of preservation. The end result: we are left with food that has no water left, and as such, makes it much lighter to carry and more difficult for any micro organism to spoil. For that reason, freeze dried food can be kept for a minimum of 30 years when stored properly in an air-tight, dry, dark place (and a desiccant to absorb any moisture that might be trickling in). To eat (or drink), simply add back water.Now let's look at this Yellow Curry meal.PROS- Great taste and texture as if the meal was (somewhat) freshly made- Easy to prepare: just add hot water, wait up to 10 minutes, then eat straight from the pouch- Long shelf life of over 30 years- Light to carry- Eaten meal leaves only the pouch behind that you can easily carry back to civilization for proper disposal/recycling- Excellent item to have for survival/emergency use- Packs a LOT of calories, enough for 2 people- Gluten freeCONS- Packs a LOT of calories and can be too much for a single person- Contains a LOT of salt (63% of daily value at 1,460 mg)--- When backpacking in the wilderness or when surviving, this is not an issue. Salt is actually good for you when working out hard- Needs access to water and fire (to boil it)- Relatively expensiveSUMMARYFreeze-dried food is an EXCELLENT way to bring delicious meals on the go for camping, hiking, survival, or office snack. Packed full of calories, they are excellent for those types of activities (maybe not as an office snack if you are watching your weight or blood sugar level). They are long-lasting, easy to store, easy to prepare, and easy to dispose of. Environmentally, they may not be the best option as they take a lot of energy to make, and thus are also relatively costly. This Yellow Curry meal tastes great.OUR MOUNTAIN HOUSE RECOMMENDATIONSMy friends and I have been backpacking for a long time and have tried many packable meals and brands. When it comes to freeze-dried food, Mountain House is unanimously our favorite. TIP: adding olive oil can further enhance the flavor!TASTY- Noodles and Chicken- Pasta with Meat Sauce- Chicken with Ribs and Mashed Potatoes (by far our most favorite)--- Tip: Save the mashed potatoes for breakfast or incorporate into another meal. Then add water to the chicken for a delicious pouch of chicken soup.- Chicken a la King- Mac and Cheese (Kraft is cheaper)- Chili Mac with Beef- Beef Stroganoff- Pasta Primavera- Beef Teriyaki with Rice- Chicken Teriyaki with Rice- Chicken Stew--- Contains cubes of potatoes, making this meal quite filling- Lasagna with Meat Sauce- Wheat and Wild Rice- Scrambled Eggs with Bacon- Granola with Milk & Blueberries- Neapolitan IcecreamACCEPTABLE- Lasagna with Meat Sauce- Mexican Style Rice and Beans and Chicken- Spaghetti with Meat Sauce (portion is skimpy)

I camp frequently throughout the year and I can honestly say these are quite tasty compared to many of the other brands I've had. Add a little boiling water and you're all set.

These are quite good. They're a creamy, slightly shrimpy and fish sauce backed coconut creamy with a modest spice. It's enough to keep you interested, but not enough to do a full colon cleanse. They're mild by most standards, but spicy by Minnesota person standards -- the state where people think ketchup is spicy.The instructions advise about 355ml of water. I used 300ish and felt like that was quite ample without making a soup. You'll want a spoon for this. Rehydration time is somewhat longer due to the chicken which always takes longer than other things. I gave it about 15 minutes.Would buy again. Yummy.

Great product.

Delicious! It tasted like actual food

Product contains MSG in various forms - yeast extract , natural flavors etc.Im highly sensitive to MSG and had to discard the product after seeing the ingredients label.Buyers beware...