Mountain House Mexican Style Rice And Chicken
Kevin Felts 04.06.17
Long story short, the Mountain House Mexican style rice and chicken was probably the worst Mountain House meal I have tasted to date.
As Paul Harvey used to say, now for the rest of the story.
The day started off at around 5 am with a crash. An early morning thunderhead rolled though and with it came rain, thunder, and lightening. The good news, the rain did not last long. The better news, it was a mild cold front that had caused the rain. Daytime temperatures were expected to drop from the mid-80s to the mid-70s.
I got up around 5:30 am, got a shower, fixed some breakfast, and then shared my breakfast with the four dogs. Sure as clockwork, if I have breakfast, at least one of the dogs will be sitting patiently behind me, waiting for a morsel.
Drop Off
My fiancee and I left the house around 6:20 am and drove to the drop-off point. This was an old abandoned logging road that meandered through an area of rural forest.
I grabbed the Maxpedition Vulture II and my walking stick, we said our good-byes and away she drove.
The sun was still below the horizon, but there was plenty of light to follow the logging road. I knew exactly where I was going, and that was to an ATV trail that winds around the side of a hill. The view from that vantage point is beautiful. The area below the hill has sparsely planted pine trees, including Long Leaf pine.
As I worked my way around the side of the hill, the sun broke over the horizon. It was a beautiful sight to behold. On the valley floor was a mix of young Long Leaf pine, older pine trees, yaupon holly, young oak and sweet gum trees.
My destination was at the very bottom of the valley, and that was a creek.
The Creek
For several years I have wanted to hike a certain creek in the area. This creek is a quagmire of slow moving water, fast moving rock bottom, and finally a sand bottom. The features can change within just a few feet.
While traveling along the creek there was a sharp bend. Realizing the creek came back out just a hundred feet in front of me, I continued on course. When I intersected the creek there was a faint sound of water rushing over rocks.
As a nature photographer, I could not pass up this great photo-op. I backtracked to the rocky area in the bend and it was perfect.
The water flowed over small rocks and around larger ones. This is exactly why I wanted to hike this creek. The area was perfect in every way. There were no ATV trails or roads to the area. The only way to get there was to hike.
After getting some pictures, I returned to hiking the creek. Eventually a nice place was found to eat lunch.
Mexican Style Rice and Chicken for Lunch
The time was a little after 11:00am and I was starving. The cook set was retrieved from the Maxpedition Vulture II backpack and the Coleman Max stove was set up. One thing about the blended fuel, it does not take long to boil water.
Instructions said to boil 16 ounces of water.
The Mountain House Mexican style rice and chicken I had was a two serving pouch. The nutrition information is per serving.
- Net weight: 5.4 ounces
- Calories: 320
- Sodium: 910 mg
- Protein: 17g
- Vitamin A: 20%
- Calcium: 8%
- Vitamin C: 20%
- Iron: 20%
Once the water reached a boil, it was added to the pouch. The oxygen absorber was removed before adding the water.
The pouch took a little over 20 minutes to cool down enough to eat.
Taste Test
I was raised in Southeast Texas and have been eating Tex-Mex my whole life, which has a Texas and Mexican flavor. Besides Tex-Mex, I have worked with Hispanics from time to time who would bring authentic Mexican food to work and share.
The Mountain House Mexican style rice and chicken tasted like the cheapest store bought canned chili had been poured over rice and beans.
There was a faint taste of black olives from time to time, but it was otherwise utterly disgusting. It was so bad, I poured it out in the creek for the minnows and perch to eat.
For desert I had a bag of M&Ms.
I will not be adding the Mountain House Mexican style rice and chicken to my stockpile. Chances are I will never buy it again.
Some people may say, “How good something tastes depends on how hungry you are.”
I had been on the trail for almost five hours, maybe closer to four and a half hours. I was pretty much starving and the Mountain House Mexican style rice and chicken was still terrible.
This has to be the worst Mountain House freeze dried meal I have ever tasted.
