Mountain HouseDiced Beef | Freeze Dried Survival & Emergency Food | #10 Can | Gluten-Free

I really like this beef. I use it almost on a daily basis in my Ramen, making beef and broccoli and other recipes. It’s great because as a single person, I can portion exactly what I need without having to worry about going to the grocery store and purchasing a piece of beef That will end up being freezer burnt from the portion I don’t use. It’s fast, tasty and just plain good.

Very happy it came without dents2nd can I've ordered so that I can make an emergency kit for my family!Peace of mind tastes awesome

Bottom line up front: This type of food is a great choice for an emergency food supply, especially for sheltering in place or evacuating by vehicle. The #10 cans have a 25-year shelf life, so you can buy them and not worry about rotating your stock for a couple of decades. The biggest downside is that once opened, they need to be used up right away.SHELF LIFE - The #10 cans have a 25-year shelf life (unopened). The biggest downside to #10 cans versus individual pouches is that the 25-year shelf life turns into a 1-week shelf life once they've been opened. Since each can has enough for 10 servings, you'll be eating the same thing for several meals unless you're cooking for a group.TASTE - In my experience, Mountain House food is really tasty. Let me caveat this review by saying that although I've eaten other Mountain House freeze-dried food, I haven't had occasion to open the ones in the #10 cans (see my review of the "Mountain House 72-Hour Emergency Meal Kit"). That having been said, the Mountain House food I have tried has been very, very good tasting -- not just good compared to other survival foods, but good period. I have no reason to expect that these would be any different.WEIGHT/CONVENIENCE - As steel cans, they're reasonably durable and reasonably lightweight (not backpacking light, but you don't have to be a weightlifter to move a large box of them). They do take up a bit of volume, but since the overwhelming majority of long-term emergency scenarios involve sheltering in place or evacuating by vehicle, I wouldn't let that be a deal breaker (personnally, I have a stock of individual pouches just in case I have to leave on foot, but most of my food is in these cans).CALORIES - The problem with most freeze-dried emergency food is that a so-called "serving" has too few calories to meet an adult's energy requirements (2500 a day for men; 2000 a day for women -- more with heavy exertion), so you end up consuming more than you planned. These are no different. So even though a typical can ostensibly contains 10 1-cup servings, you really need to eat two servings per meal to get enough calories to survive -- perhaps more. Plan your purchase accordingly.

I have always had great results using Mountain House products, and their freeze-dried offerings are better than the dehydrated in terms of storage life, cooking with, and overall taste. Had my prior order messed up where they sent me some of the item ordered, but also included some cans of a wrong product. However, a quick chat with Amazon support and they remedied it right away.

If you're prepping for whatever reason, odds are that you can come up with fruit, veggies and some kind of carbs. Beef? Probably not, and certainly not if the power is out for any length of time. Enter MH diced beef. I have used this in conjunction with other longterm storage items to make ramen beef vegetable soup (ramen, Harmony House carrots, peas, corn), beef stew (canned diced potatoes, canned mixed vegetables and packaged beef gravy), beef stroganoff (dried mushrooms, packaged beef gravy, sour cream powder, noodles), Asian beef and broccoli (dried broccoli, sliced water chestnuts, bottled stir fry sauce, ramen noodles), the possibilities are endless. Yes, it's expensive but a little goes a long way.