Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I just purchased these for a 4 day backpacking trip where I was taking 10 teenage boys and a few adults. We used these for our dinners each of the three nights. There are three different meals included in each bucket. The Rice and Chicken was by far the favorite among the group. Everyone, teenagers and adults included, wanted more and really complimented the flavor. Several of the adults even said that they would have this at home for dinner on occassion. One packet was enough to split between two people and satisfy them as long as we had something else as a supplement (dessert, jerky, etc). The Spaghetti and Meat Sauce was well liked. There were some comments on the level of salt and lack of large meatballs, but nothing too much. Surprisingly, without any large chunks of meat in the Spaghetti, it still packs a whopping 12 grams of protein per serving. The biggest complaint about the spaghetti is that one packet was hard to split. We has some boys easily down the entire packet by themselves. The Chili Mac was the most controversial meal included in here. About half of the boys really liked it and half didn't while none of the adults were big fans of it. You need to be really careful with the amount of water that you include in here. If you put too much, you end up with a nasty chili soup. If I was Mountain House, I would have included the Beef Stroganoff instead. That one is ALWAYS a hit with everyone. Including the Chili Mac in the "Essentials" bucket was a mistake in my opinion. Overall, its a great value compared to buying them individually. The buckets that they come in are nice sturdy buckets that stack well and can be re-used to store other gear when you are finished with the included meals.