Looking for A Healthy Alternative to Mountain house?

[Kessler10]

Here is a new company that only uses sustainable sources of protein for their deydrated meals. Like wild caught salmon, elk, venison, grouse, bison etc. All fresh ingredients, then dehydrated for your back country use.

these meals are bomb and very good for you. the price tag is steep, about twice as much as MT. But well worth it in my opinion. Just take a look at the ingredients after clicking on each meal and look at the nutritional value compared to MH. Half the sodium, twice the calories. This is my go to for back country elk hunts.

Its Called Heather's Choice, been around for about 1 year.

http://www.heatherschoice.com/collections/all

[Brendan]

I'll probably be switching to Heather's choice this year, but certainly not 2x the calories. Bag for bag it is fewer calories than the MH meals I preferred... I'll make up the difference with packets of Extra Virgin Olive Oil though...

There are a couple great podcast interviews with Heather out there - makes you feel great about supporting a small business that's part of the hunting community.

[Kessler10]

I'll probably be switching to Heather's choice this year, but certainly not 2x the calories. Bag for bag it is fewer calories than the MH meals I preferred... I'll make up the difference with packets of Extra Virgin Olive Oil though...

There are a couple great podcast interviews with Heather out there - makes you feel great about supporting a small business that's part of the hunting community.

I just pulled up Mountain house beef stew and it said 190 calories per serving. then pulled up Chipotle Cheery Chile from Heather's choice and it said 570 calories per serving.

Am I missing something. that seems to be even more than double the calories??

[Kessler10]

chipotle Chile nutrition facts Heather Choice

http://www.heatherschoice.com/products/ ... pork-chili

Mountain House Beef Stew Nutrition facts

http://www.mountainhouse.com/m/product/ ... iant_id=29

[Brendan]

Check the total calories per bag. Serving size and number of servings is often pretty misleading. You should ideally look at calories per gram, and total number of calories you're going to eat. Heather's choice is in general more calories per gram, but not always more calories overall.

For example, Mountain House Mac and Cheese that I eat is listed as 3 servings per bag, but I eat the whole damn thing no problem. Total calories 960, 390 from fat, 39 grams of protein. Check here:

http://www.mountainhouse.com/m/product/ ... iant_id=52

The Mountain House you linked to is 475 calories for the bag (it's one of their smaller ones), where Heather's choice is 570 for the entire bag. (There are 2.5 servings per bag in that MH, 1 serving per bag in the Heather's Choice)

But with that said - I'll still be switching. I just generally eat around 4000 calories a day when I'm Elk Hunting so the olive oil comment is to increase calories from good fats as opposed to all the highly processed stuff you get in a mountain house.

[Kessler10]

Thanks for the call out there. This would have thrown me off a bit when calculating my calories per day this season.

[Brendan]

No worries. I have no idea why the labels can be as backwards and misleading as they are.

Another good Podcast if you have the time. An interview with Heather on Gritty Bowmen:
http://www.grittybowmen.com/gritty-podc ... ers-choice

[CurlyTail]

I am out until she puts out something without Onions. Onions make me physically ill for some reason. Everyone thinks I'm crazy, but it a huge issue for me.

[WapitiTalk1]

I am out until she puts out something without Onions. Onions make me physically ill for some reason. Everyone thinks I'm crazy, but it a huge issue for me.

I hear ya on the onions. I love them but I pay dearly each time I eat them.

I tried Hawk Vittles last season and they weren't bad, but, I found them a bit bland (good thing I packed some Cholula Chipotle Sauce in with me). Here's the link if you guys would like to check them out.

http://hawkvittles.com/index.html

[Lefty]

At the International Sportsmans show in SLC one of the seminars was a dietitian. He did a great job, covering healthy fat calories, carbs, protein, sugars and salt. And spoke of the good bad and ugly of many brands of back- packing meals.

I dont pack in during hunting season. A few things Ill be adding is dried eggs, and being a lot more picky on granola/oat bars trying to limit all that sugar

What Ive done in the past is added more rice, potatoes, freeze dried veggies etc to store bought prepackaged meals.Not Back packing meals. Helps reduce the sodium

For our BSA trip and "Yellowstone back-country Shoshone lake canoe trip Im starting with Bear Creek soups and Idahoan Potatoes then adding freeze dried veggies and spicy herds
http://idahoan.com/category/products/
http://www.bearcreekcountrykitchens.com/

[CurlyTail]

I'll second that recommendation for Idahoan potatoes. Delicious, fast, easy clean-up, lightweight. Great supplement to a Mountain House meal.