Chicken Fajita Bowl

I am a huge fan of the Mountain House brand of MREs. I started buying this back in 2012 and have a pretty decent supply now. I have tried pretty much all the different meals and find them easy to make and pretty tasty. The shelf life is excellent and the prices is very reasonable.

While in college, I, “accidentally” found my way into an old Cold War bomb shelter. There were lots of freeze dried meals, so I liberated a few, being a poor college student. After eating a couple of them, I decided that it would actually be better to die in a nuclear holocaust than to have to survive on those things. fast forward to 2025. I’ve tried a whole bunch of camping meals by many different manufacturers and they all have left me wanting for a variety of reasons. Either the food was bland or it was just disgusting or the packaging was bad. I heard that this brand was supposed to be really good. A friend of mine who is a nurse sent me a text message one night saying that she was hungry but the cafeteria was closed and nobody would deliver food that late. I sent her four of these meals, all different, and suggested that she keep one in her bag and one in her car for just such an occasion. She told me that they were delicious. I bought a bunch of them for myself and I have to agree. These meals are wayyyyy better than anything I’ve ever tried. They have great flavor, great texture and are substantial in size. The packaging is awesome. It is thick, heavy material with a zip lock that really holds in the moisture. This is important for two reasons. I add the hot water, seal the bag and let it sit for five minutes and then I turn it over upside down for another five minutes so that the remaining water drains down to the top of the bag and hydrates everything up there. I have yet to have a single drop leak out. Really a great value for the money at 10 bucks. I keep them around for those situations where I’m working at 2 o’clock in the morning and I am really hungry, but don’t want to take the time to make food. I can get a great meal in 10 minutes.

A quick and easy meal, tasty, as long as you are careful about water, just add the right amount and even slightly less to make it very tasty and juicy. Keep it absorbing the water for 1-2 min more than suggested. This suggestion is for people liking generally drier food. If you’re Asian or like soupy food maybe follow instructions to the letter.

For what it is, it's decent. I felt like it needed about a teaspoon of salt and pepper for seasoning, equally, as it is a little on the bland side. I'd suggest using less water than recommended, maybe 1 to 1.25 cups versus the 1.5 listed on the package.

I tried the Mountain House Chicken Fajita Bowl on a recent camping trip and was pleasantly surprised. The flavor is bold without being overpowering, and the chicken actually has good texture compared to some other freeze-dried meals. The rice, peppers, and beans rehydrated well and made for a hearty, satisfying dinner after a long day. Prep is as simple as it gets — just add hot water, wait about 10 minutes, and it’s ready to eat. The portion is generous enough for one hungry hiker or can be split between two if you’re pairing it with another snack. Overall, it’s one of my favorite Mountain House meals — flavorful, filling, and packs light. Definitely keeping a few of these in my gear for future trips.

Added 1-1/2 cups boiling water to the pouch, stirred thoroughly corner to corner. Waited 5 minutes, stirred. Waited 5 minutes, stirred and tasted. Chicken needed a bit more time to rehydrate. Added a couple tablespoons boiling water, stirred, waited 4 minutes. Perfect! Nice spicyness, but by no means overpowering. Chicken pieces were plentiful and really tasty. Rice soften without turning to grueling. Very impressive.

cannot go wrong with Mountain house or Augusten farms emergency foods. They taste great and I spent a lot of money on their brands. Love their shelf life of 25-30 years. Hope to order more later on as if I don't already have plenty.

I ordered a few of these for a multi night backpacking trip. They are easy to prepare, just add hot water to the bag and that's it. The taste was ok and they did the trick. I packed 4 of these in my backpack. They are bulky and take up a lot space. If you're ok with that, then these aren't too bad. They just didn't seem worth the price for the ok taste and the amount of room they took up. I did have an Egg Scramble in the mix, and they all kind of tasted the same, not bad, but not really all that good either.