I receive emails from marketing folks on a regular basis. They’re always touting the latest and greatest products their clients are releasing. Which, of course, is their job. Sometimes the products sound pretty meh, but when one of them offered me freeze-dried pizza, I was immediately all in. I mean, who doesn’t like pizza?
Mountain House has long been at the forefront of freeze-dried camp foods. They’ve been at this since 1963 or thereabouts. Safe to say, they know a thing or two about how to put good food into your pack.
I was blown away by the package that arrived on my doorstep. Seriously, how cool is this?
I have a rule that I avoid trying new-to-me foods for the first time out on the trail. If I’m going to find out that I don’t like the food, or that the food doesn’t like me, I’d rather that happen in the comfort of my own home, thank you very much. So, with that in mind, I told my wife that I was adding a little something extra to our normal Wednesday pizza night routine, then got to work.
Prepping the Pizza
Like any similar pouch-style freeze-dried food, getting it ready to eat is pretty simple. Tear off the top of the pouch, then fish around inside for the oxygen absorber. Pour in the required amount of boiling water, in this case 1.3 cups. Stir it up, then seal the pouch and let it sit. The time varies from meal to meal. For this one, it was nine minutes.
The contents started out looking like croutons mixed with pebbles that I took to be pepperoni bits. As soon as I mixed in the hot water, I could smell tomato sauce and spices. This was a good sign.
When the timer went off, I opened the pouch to check it out. Now, here’s the thing. If you aren’t familiar with these types of meals, you need to understand that they rarely look all that great. This freeze-dried pizza didn’t look amazing. It looked like glop. But stirring it up, I was heartened to see little cheese pulls here and there.
Plating and Tasting
Normally, meals like this are eaten directly from the pouch whilst sitting in front of a fire. In this case, since we were splitting the pouch of pizza at the dining table, I broke out actual bowls for each of us. The package indicates there are two servings inside, and that seemed accurate. There was plenty for the two of us.
It was still steaming after sitting on the kitchen counter for the rehydration time, so that was a nice bonus. Out in the field, some people like to use insulated bags to keep the pouches warm as they rehydrate. Not a bad idea, especially in cold weather. Sitting in my kitchen, there were no issues.
Checking out a few spoonfuls, I could taste pepperoni, cheese, and sauce. There were also little chunks of what tasted like pizza crust. The overall effect was like eating pizza that had been cut up and smushed into the pouch. To me, the sauce was very reminiscent of Chef Boyardee pasta sauce, more than what I’d consider pizza sauce.
All in all, I’d give Mountain House Cheesy Pepperoni Bowl a score of 7.5 out of 10. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. If someone handed me a pouch of it when we were camping, I wouldn’t complain. But by the same token, I’ve had other Mountain House varieties I liked better. My wife was less generous and rated it about a 5. She didn’t like the sauce at all, but the pepperoni was okay.
