Mountain House Pouch of Beef Stroganoff (2 Servings) Review

For lunch today I had a 6 year old Mountain House Beef Stroganoff ready pack. 
Never had one of those before today.  It's from my hurricane supplies that will expire next year.
The one I had today was very good.
Tasted fresh and the noodles were tender. 
The beef was tasty and the sauce was creamy like it’s supposed to be.

An odd thing was how tiny the pieces were.
Beef was ground hamburger (it had a lot of beef) and each piece was a little smaller than a popcorn kernel
the noodles were all chopped up to be about an inch long or smaller.
Was too small to eat with a fork.  I ate it like really thick soup.
I guess they did this so it could be freeze dried easily.
None of this was bad just not eaten food that chopped up before.

So another good sample from a 6 year old ready pack.

Mountain House Freeze Dried Mango's Review

I ate some Mountain House freeze dried mango's that were 2 years past the expiration date today.  I didn't know they had gone past the 'eat by date' by that much.  They weren't good anymore.  They were stuck together, mushy, and had lost most of their sweet taste.

I had eaten another package of the mango's when they were fresh several years ago, back then they were crisp and sweet and fruity.  Very, very good.

So we have another sample, when the food goes past the expiration date it starts to lose a lot of flavor.

Mountain House Pouch of Teriyaki Chicken (2 Serving) Review

Just ate a Mountain House pouch of teriyaki chicken that I bought 6 years ago.
It's been in my cupboard ever since.
Recall those pouches have a 7 year shelf life, so it had one year left before the expiration date.
I decided to eat this one today and see how well the food kept.

It was good.  Don't think I've eaten chicken from Mountain House before, so can't compare the taste of 6 year old to new.

The chicken itself tasted fine, but it was a little stiff, not really a tender texture.  But still tasted fresh.  So would say it had a little bit of a stale texture, but a fresh flavor.  Maybe it just didn't soak up enough water, but I added exactly the specified amount.
The rice was a little stiff too, so not tender, but tasted fine.
The veggies seemed like other veggies I've had in other Mountain House food I've had before.
No bad aftertastes or any other problems at all.

The direction said to let it set in the pouch for 9 minutes, but I let it set for 11 minutes before I unzipped the pouch, that might have had something to do with it, but not sure.

So all in all the food was fine, just the texture wasn't as tender as I expected.
So expect the stuff in the cans we bought, which keeps for 25 years, will make for perfectly fine food when we need it in the future.

DIY Air Conditioner

Parts list

1 Box fan 10 inch or larger

1 car or truck radiator or transmission cooler (non leaking) or copper tubing coils.

1 travel cooler.

some 1/2 inch clear plastic hose about 12 foot in length (cut in 6 foot lengths)

1 electric bilge pump (can be bought for cheap)

This type will have 2 modes of use Travel and Home. I'll explain both below.

First you can build a travel DIY Air Conditioner in the mean time and use for ether camping or emergency cooling needs. when you think about it all an A/C system does is condition the air as in remove heat and moister from the air and take it somewhere else leaving cooler air behind.

Outside temps in the summer can get very hot and any cooling is better then no cooling at all, So this type of A/C depending on room temperature can cool any where from 10 -30 degrees Fahrenheit for a few hours since it uses Ice in travel mode.

In home mode you can use it in a more permanent cooling to save on home cooling costs.

Home mode is a little bit more complicated, but will defiantly be worth the time and effort you put into doing it. I'll explain this in a future post.

Here is a few video's on how most people make a DIY Air Conditioner.

This first video is my personal favorite out of all the designs I've seen. (recommended version to build)

Part 1

Part 2

How Would You Survive ?

Leave comments here on how you would survive in a desperate situation when SHTF. 

1. How would you get water if the town / city water supply was not usable or safe ?

2. How would you get food if restaurants and stores were empty and no chance of them getting stocked for a few weeks or months ?

3. depending on when SHTF how would you stay cool (summer) warm (winter) without electricity for a few weeks or months ?

4. any other info you have would be great.

Thank You

(^_^)

Alcohol Stoves

Some versions of small alcohol stoves to make and keep on hand in an emergency or camping type situations.

A quick DIY on making a soda / beer can alcohol stove.

it's best to use denatured alcohol to reduce soot buildup on your pots but 75%-91% alcohol will work as well but is dirtier.

Cheap Efficient Ways To Boil Water in a Survival Situation.

In a survival you use what’s available (usually wood).
others items must be brought with you (not efficient)
a small amount of salt (1 tsp) lowers the boiling point and the water will boil quicker
the most important (to boil water quickly. always keep the lid on the pot)
a small amount of veg.oil helps to keep the pot from over boiling.

Warm Water Before Cooking

Warm water will boil faster than cold water. Put your water in a dark container and sit it in the sun for a couple of hours before you need to boil it. A sealed reflective box, (basically a solar oven), will raise the temp even more. The warmer the water the faster it will boil.

How much alcohol depends entirely on where the stove is set at.

When you burn the alcohol on a stove, most of the heat is wasted - around 95% of the heat escapes as hot gas or lost radiation. To be efficient, you need to contain the heat so that it goes into the water instead of escaping.

Using an alcohol stove in an open, breezing area will require almost one US quart of alcohol to bring 1 US gallon of 5C ground water to a full boil at sea level. In a confined area, two US cups can boil one gallon. 

By putting the water-boiling container inside of a well-built stone chimney-style fire pit, you can boil a gallon of water with less than one cup of ethanol. However the entire alcohol stove heats up and creates a situation where the stove can boil and explode.

Personally I do not consider alcohol stoves to be good survival gear. They are EXCELLENT backpacking gear and in fact one of my preferred cooking tools for backpacking. 

It’s two totally different scenarios in my mind. When you backpack, you are one cell-phone call away from help. If you need to survive, then you do not know when help is coming or when you will find your way back to safety. 

It could be days, weeks or months. In any survival situation, having a good long-term ability to make fire from local wood and brush is much more important than carrying alcohol. So in addition to a few emergency 'wet weather' starters, I carry a thumb-size flint striker with my knife. 

Viola - ability to make fire from kindle shavings for decades and the wet-starters are there in case I ever need to start a fire in acclimate weather.