Mountain House vs Saratoga Farms

By Ready Expert

Many people wonder what the difference is between Mountain House freeze-dried foods and Saratoga Farms freeze-dried foods. We want to show you some of the differences and similarities.

Serving Size
The first thing that most people look at is the nutritional label to see how big the serving size is on each can. For Mountain House, most of their freeze-dried entrees have a serving size of 1-cup prepared. Some of the cans will vary slightly. For example, some of the breakfast dishes will have a ½ cup serving or ¾ cup serving.

Saratoga Farms also has a 1-cup prepared serving size. You’ll notice that many times the dry serving size will be a little different on the two brands. Saratoga Farms will usually have ½ cup dry – 1 cup prepared on their serving size. Mountain House will typically have a 1 cup dry – 1 cup prepared on their nutritional panel. This can be credited to the food used. The Mountain House food will stay the same size or shrink slightly. Saratoga Farms foods will grow and absorb more water.

Servings per Can
For all the reasons we mentioned above, the servings per can of Mountain House foods vs Saratoga Farms comes out to be pretty much even. The average serving per can for Mountain House is 10.5 servings. The average servings per can for Saratoga Farms is 22.4.

However, like we’ve mentioned in other articles, servings and serving sizes is not a good way to compare food storage items. While this might shed some light onto the way the food is prepared.

Calories per Can
The best way to compare your food storage is by calories; how many calories does each can contain?

If you take all the entrees from Mountain House and calculate how many calories are in the can, you’ll find that each can has an average of 2,488 calories per can.

If you take all the entrees from Saratoga Farms and calculate how many calories are in the can, you’ll find that each can has an average of 4,782 calories per can.

Average Cost per Calorie
After figuring out the average amount of calories in each can, you can then figure out which can will provide the biggest bang for your buck. Simply, divide the price by the average calorie count.

If you do that, Mountain House cans have an average of 1.2₵ per calorie. Saratoga Farms averages out to 0.7₵ per calorie.

However, all of that depends on if the products are on sale at the moment.

Shelf Life
All entrees from Saratoga Farms have a 30 year shelf life. Food is packed in a hermetically sealed #10 can using the best can seamer in the industry ensuring that the food tastes great and retains the nutritional value when you need it most.

Mountain House guarantees a 25 year shelf life on their food products. However, this number is probably better than the guarantee. We’ve had the opportunity to sample 30-year old Mountain House product and it tasted fine.

What Do You Think?
Have you had the chance to eat both Mountain House and Saratoga Farms? Which do you prefer? Why? Comment below to help first-timers out!

11 years ago

Comments

M Kroska

14 years ago at 7:00 AM

Thank you so much for the comparison info between Saratoga Farms and Mountain House. I have only tried one SF item (dried fruit) in the past, and it was fantastic. I bought MH from you because that is what I have used in the past...and I am waiting on an order now. But I plan to try SF entrees on my next order.

Don Richardson

14 years ago at 4:46 PM

Please comment on the difference between dehydrated and freeze dried products. Would be interested in taste, texture, storage life and so forth. Thanks. From The Ready Store: Don, there are numerous differences. Here are some generalizations below that will get you in the right direction: Dehydrated Less expensive More labor intensive to cook and make a meal out of the products, usually need more than just water Higher loss of nutrients from original food than freeze-dried food Takes more time to prepare Shelf life typically 20 years in a #10 can Typically single ingredients (carrots or potato pearls) not ready complete ready to eat meals Freeze-Dried More expensive Simply add hot water, stir and wait 5-10 minutes and you are done Locks in flavor, aroma, texture, and nutrients much better than dehydrated foods Add hot water and 5-10 minutes later you are done Shelf life is typically 30 years in a #10 can Typically entrees (beef stroganoff) and single ingredients (strawberries)

jeff

14 years ago at 6:08 PM

Tired of waiting... bought a dehydrator and a vaccum sealer and dehydrating my own food.

Mike Schmit

14 years ago at 11:03 AM

I stumbled on to the food concern by accident. I simply wanted to order some mountain house for my numerous 3 day weekends. Let me play devil's advocate here. 1.) No one can predict the future. 2.) Isn't it possible that a Radio talk show host owns a piece of this pie? 3.) If the SHTF and you know nothing about wilderness survival, your screwed anyways. Did you know that evergreen tea has more vitamin C than a Orange? I'll take my chances in the woods thanks. Mike

Sabine

14 years ago at 5:31 AM

Alpine Aire has a Gourmet Reserve Line that has a Tamale Pie with Beef with blue cornmeal that I crawled through a collapsing building to retrieve. Take home message, if you live on a fault line, store your emergency supplies somewhere without a slate roof, use Saratoga Farms and Provident for sets of cans to make great food economically, and use Gourmet Reserves for fun food. Skip Mountain House, their seafood chowder was great, and I agree about those ice cream sandwiches, though Saratoga Farms ice cream bars are pretty good as well.

Tom

10 years ago at 1:05 PM

To you disappointed customers, I ordered my Satatoga Farms cans last July and it didn't take much more that a week to get my stuff. The sale stuff is just a marketing device and I like to find something I would like being on sale once in a while. I've had no issues with the TRS and even had some cans damaged in shipping and they made good on them at no cost to me! So there! Thanks to TRS!

Alex Smith

10 years ago at 12:18 AM

I buy both SF and MH but I don't just look at calories to make my decision, I check ingredients also. For instance SF Chili Mac has more than twice the calories of MH but SF has several cheese based ingredients as well as yellow dye, I am allergic to yellow dye and my daughter is lactose intolerant so we choose the MH even though SF would give us more calories. Also not sure if it is just a typo or what but the SF Chili Mac does not list beef in the ingredient list, the description does list meat TVP though.

racheal

10 years ago at 3:31 PM

I have purchased many items from thereadystore and would like to purchase more, but after reading about the #10 cans and after you open them that they are only good for 2 weeks or less(unless individually portion packaged). so, I shopped around and found others that sell those and bought some only to come back to the readystore and now their prices have tripled.

Jake

10 years ago at 11:40 AM

I'm new to 'getting prepared' for anything. Love the Ready Store. They have been especially helpful with information as well as their products. I do get confused in trying to follow some of the instructions & comments however! Example - what does TRS, TVP and WTSHTF mean? People that use initials think everyone knows what they are talking about..but when you are new to something, you don't always understand the shortcuts!.

fred pavlich

8 years ago at 4:11 AM

Sugestion.. make first purchases pouches of entrees to see what you or family likes and don't be afraid to add some spices ,its better to start slightly bland and add experiment to taste. Also freeze dried is almost as good as fresh. Then go to favorites in #10 cans for storage. More expensive than fresh or canned food but 30yrs storage makes up for lots of things thrown out by spoilage. Love TRS, reliable+ thank for your sales and service.

Collin Clifford

4 years ago at 9:07 PM

I have tried several varieties of both Saratoga Farms and Mountain House. The difference is very simple: MH tastes really good and the food looks like the picture on the can and nobody complains about the flavor or texture. After sampling a few of our cans of Saratoga Farms, we are considering just throwing it all away because of how really gross it is. It is just dog food tasting, super high in sodium brown slop. I am trying to dilute the flavors by mixing it with other things, but just can't get all the grossness out.

Rick

4 years ago at 8:01 PM

I have purchased many cases of both Mountain House and Saratoga Farms food. Of the Saratoga Farms meal type entrees I have found them unpleasant tasting, rather bad. Mountain House has varied from very good to kind of bland but certainly not bad or awful tasting. What I find good in Saratoga Farms product line are the other things like the freeze dried mushrooms, peas, other vegetables, freeze dried fruits. I find the mushrooms and peas especially handy for soups etc. I found the broccoli to be more like large crumbs but still there is the nutrition benefit and good to add to things. So basically in my opinion if you use the Mountain House meals and the non meal entrees from Saratoga Farms you can get a broad spectrum of nutrition. For example I would use the Mountain house spaghetti and meat sauce and add some peas and mushrooms and perhaps a bit more cooked ground beef from Saratoga Farms. Or MH Chicken entrees and add the freeze dried veggies and freeze dried chicken. I use the Saratoga Farms strawberry slices in cereal, trail mix, and just by themselves for a nutrition boost. You don't get many vitamins from the meal entrees but add some of the freeze dried veggies and you have a much better nutrition profile.