Towards the end of any backpacking trip and after a few days of freeze-dried and shelf-stable meals with quite limited fresh food if any at all thrown in, the post-trip meal is something we all start to look forward to. For me, a burger, pizza, and Mexican food typically make up my top 3 choices. While I still haven’t found that suitable freeze-dried substitute when it comes to the pizza or burgers, Mountain House has a couple choices in the other category that allow you to get your fix not at a restaurant after the trip, but right in camp instead.

The Mountain House Chicken Fajita Bowl is a meal built mostly on rice and chicken with beans, vegetables including corn, onion, and peppers, and all with a sauce and spices to bring it together. The meal contains 540 calories and is ready to eat after adding 1.5 cups of boiling water and waiting 9 minutes, with a stir about halfway through. As with all modern Mountain House meals, you have a 30 year shelf-life to work with before the meal expires. The meal is gluten-free and in all, has 34 grams of protein.

The meal rehydrates nearly perfectly and immediately my favorite part about the meal is the chicken, which is sufficiently present in quantity. While I wasn’t exactly reminded of fajitas, the meals tastes quite good and while perhaps not an exact match for fajitas you’re still definitely getting Mexican food here. Overall the meal is moderately spicy, smoky, and savory all at the same time.

Before rehydration

The only thing I didn’t like about the meal is that it just didn’t seem like a lot of food, and 540 calories almost has me thinking about bringing two. But the meal is too good to be left behind because of this. I was able to boost the calorie count by spooning the meal into tortillas and adding corn chips and cheese. Olive oil would be another option for increasing that calorie count. Oddly, I didn’t find my additions added much to the meal flavor or texture wise, but the calories were appreciated and regardless everything does just go together.

Overall this meal from Mountain House hits the spot, but you’ll want to bring some additional additions to boost the calories especially if you plan on sharing the meal, or just bring another pouch. Combined with their Adobo Chicken meal, these two meals from Mountain House certainly will keep you covered when it comes to Mexican food on the trail.

The Mountain House Chicken Fajita Bowl meal retails for about $12. You can find it here at REI as well as here at Amazon. If you’re looking to stock up on freeze-dried meals, you can also get this meal and others at 10% off with REI’s 8 or more bulk backpacking food discount.