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!