Product review: Mountain House Turkey Dinner Casserole (Pouch)

Mountain House asked that I review one of their newest products, their turkey dinner casserole in a pouch, a freeze-dried “meal ready to eat” that is prepared with hot water. Here are my observations.

NET WEIGHT: 3.88 ounces

NUTRITION: (the pouch is two servings; the totals below reflect the intake from the whole pouch.)

• 480 calories
• 28 grams of protein
• 14 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated, no trans fat)
• 70 mg of cholestorol
• 1.58 grams of sodium
• 54 grams of carbohydrates
• 6 grams of fiber
• 6 grams of sugar
• Contains milk and wheat

PREP TIME: About 10 minutes, plus time to boil the water (10 ounces required). Double check to make sure the pouch is fully sealed; it’s easy to miss when it’s not. Make sure to remove the oxygen absorber before preparing.

TASTE: The meal tasted as good as any meal ready to eat (MRE) that I’ve had. Even after spending 10 minutes in hot water the green beans and carrots had a little crunch. The level of seasoning was just right; enough to be interesting without being too strong (although in full disclosure, I don’t have the most adventurous palate in the world). I would have liked for the turkey to have been a little juicier but given the inherent restrictions of MREs, it was still pretty good. To add some crunch and texture, I mixed in some jerky crumbs from a nearly empty bag.

CLEAN UP: An advantage of MRE pouches is that, since you can eat right out of them, no cup/bowl cleanup is required. That being said, I found that getting my spork to the bottom of the pouch was tough so I opted to pour the meal into a cup. I recommend this option if you are staying at a campsite with a water source.

OTHER THOUGHTS: After eating the meal, I did about 3 miles of fairly easy hiking. I didn’t feel any pangs of hunger for about four hours – and believe me, I like to eat – so the meal filled me up nicely without feeling too heavy. Had the activity been more rigorous, I might have felt hungry sooner. I also ate the whole pouch, which is two servings. At 123 calories per ounce of weight (480 calories / 3.88 ounces) it is well above the often recommended threshold of 100 calories per ounce. However, the full meal has over one and a half grams of sodium – about 2/3 of the recommended daily allowance.

ADDITIONAL REVIEW: Here

DISCLAIMER: By reading this you agree not to hold the author, website and Mountain House responsible for any health issues or other illnesses that result from consuming this product. Make sure you do not have any allergies to any of the ingredients and that you prepare the meal safely. The author and website received no compensation for this review other than a free product.