Mountain House 81664 Expedition Bucket Cl

Where to start... first off, it's VERY light. For the amount of food you'll get, it can be easily lifted with one hand, or a child or elderly woman. That's great news for preppers who plan of storing this as anyone in your family can lift the entire bucket. I was genuinely surprised at how light a fully filled bucket was. The lid is a bit annoying to remove (partially because it doesn't fully come off... one end is permanently sealed and the plastic breaks/bends open about 3/4th along the top, allowing you to open and seal the bucket without losing/misplacing the lid. How you'd do that, I don't know, but it's nice that they thought of this) and takes opening and closing it a bunch of time to loosen the plastic so you're not ripping your finger nails off every time. A small lip along the edge would have been nice but honestly this is the only complaint I have.If you need to leave your home/location for any reason, the meals can be easily thrown into a backpack or satchel and carried with almost zero weight added. Because each meal is made for two people, they are a bit bulkier than single meal packages but honestly not by much. And since they're freeze dried and all moisture removed, they're far more compact than you'd expect for how much food you'll actually get when they're rehydrated. Speaking of which, let's talk about how to prepare them...Add water.That's it. It doesn't even have to be hot water (though it's obviously much more palatable when heated up) just remember to let it soak a bit longer. Each meal requires a different amount of water to be added but I'd suggest adding slightly less water. I added the exact amount of water for the Breakfast Skillet and everything was a bit mushy for my taste, even after letting it sit longer than it says to. What's really great about these meals, and unlike many other brands out there, is that the package itself serves as the means of cooking and a bowl. No need to take the meal out and heat it up over a camp fire or stove. Just add the water and seal it back up. The package has reflective coating inside it (think like an emergency blanket basically) that reflects and captures the heat, so the meal is actually gets hotter the longer it sits! Once it's ready, just eat it right out the package! This is honestly the BIGGEST selling point Mountain House has over other brands. Having to prepare a meal over a stove or camp fire is a big turn off for me. It forces you to stop moving, set up a cooking area, etc. With Mountain House you can eat while on the move. You can add water from your canteen/hydro pouch/bottle while never needing to stop and this can be absolutely critical in some situations. Of course if you want you could relax and enjoy a nice leisurely meal but having that option to eat on the move is simply a critical factor. Remember the prepper motto: Better to have and not need, right?It was also important for me to find a variety a meals with meat within a single bucket. Many companies don't offer meat or substantial source of protein. You'll get rice, granola and vegan meals but zero meat. If you don't eat meat than this won't be an issue for you, but it was for me. I needed to find a package that fully catered to my omnivore needs. Couldn't be happier with this bucket! It has a full range of meals, from granola, pasta, beans and meat. It doesn't come with any drinks but I've got water, milk and juice set up from a different source and didn't need this bucket to contain any (something I'd highly recommend any prepper doing... don't rely on a meal bucket for your liquid intake needs!). I just needed it to contain food.Each meal says it serves two and while this may be true while counting calories, if you're serving 1 package to 2 people than the meals will be a bit... small. For a single person this is actually really good. Not only will each meal very much fill you up, but you can extend the life of the meals if you cut out the 3 meals a day Mountain House recommends. Just have breakfast and dinner and you'll get many more days out of your rations then this says. Especially if you pack a handful of protein bars along with them or use the granola to munch on as a snack.Just remember that no bucket or packaged meal is a be all, end all for your needs. You just won't find that golden unicorn. You need an ecosystem for survival... whether that's a hunker down and shelter in place type set up or a GTFO now situation, everything needs other items to complete the system. Water, food, protection, shelter... all of these need to fit together and function. You could have the most amazing food set up in the universe but if you have no water, you're screwed. You could have endless water and food but no way to protect yourself from the elements. So once again, screwed. Set up an ecosystem for what you expect you'll need (and then for what you don't expect you'll need) and you'll already be doing better than the majority of people out there.The tl;dr version-- super light weight, able to cook and eat in the package it comes in-- just needs water (hot or not), plastic lid on the bucket is a bit of nail ripper at first, meals are easy and light enough to quickly toss into a bag or pouch, has meat as well as other grains, egg, pasta and veggies, actually tastes good, and can be eaten while on the move-- no need for fire. No bucket of meals will fill all your needs, no matter how good it is. Think of it as one part in a system, with each element needing to be attended to. This bucket will greatly help your food element, so you can check that box!

Peace of mind to have. Great quality! As described.

Purchased these on sale and was surprised they actually taste pretty good just make sure your pretty exact about how much water to add. These are also the first freeze dried meals I've ever tried so that may or may not be saying much but I'll definitely enjoyed them on my backtracking trips. Only downside is I didn't realize one of the packs had ingredients I'm highly allergic too which I always check the packsas they're listed on them but it would have been nice if the ingredients were listed before I bought and opened up the bucket.

Taste is okay

Obviously mountain house is some of the best freeze dried food out there and when this tub of meals goes on sale it's one of the best prices you can get on them. The tub itself is nice for holding all the loose bags you'd have to store otherwise and is great if you're a prepper and want to throw some emergency meals in the basement without worry about mice getting to them.

These are great for backpacking, hiking, or camping. They only require 5-15oz of water per package and the flavor of most is pretty phenomenal all things considered. Each bag is durable with a zipper for incubating after adding hot water. My only complaint is they take up more space than other backpacking food items but the calories:weight ratio is high enough to justify this in my opinion. They are also a great respite when you are eating the same hiking foods every day. Buying in bulk also saves you about 40 dollars as opposed to buying them individually and the assortment is good. The only food I didn't like was the chicken fried rice, everything else was amazing.