Beefaroni
It tastes great when camping and heats up quick. Fresh fish is great too, especially when you catch it.
I have to agree…
If you have access to the required water, I would recommend a good food dehydrator (ones with a built in fan lower drying time) and a vacuum sealer to make tastier, healthier versions of freeze-dried meals. They pack light and take up less space.
lots of good imfo here, willow
hate to be redundant, but ANOTHER vote for cache lake, good stuff. we also substitute flower tortillas for bread for sandwiches on trips. get smoked summer sausage from a real butcher store, doesn’t have to be refrigerated for several days. the foil tuna with tuna helper is pretty good, but the foil pouch hamburger from wally word stinks! tastes like over-salted spam! don’t recall the name, but beef from south america and re-packaged in minong, wisconsin (which is home of the best pancakes i’ve eaten). STAY AWAY FROM THAT CRAP! you can by freeze-dried hamburger from campmoor that tastes better, mix it with hamburger helper. take things out of packages and re-pack them in doubled zip locks (don’t forget to cut instructions off box and stick them in outer zip lock). ww
Some more simple suggestions
Breakfast
Instant Oatmeal: PLUS an individual container of Motts flavored apple sauce. Add the sauce AFTER you make the oatmeal. My favorite flavor is mixed berry. I HATE OATMEAL, but I love this!
Instant pancakes: Comes in a plastic jar. No butter or eggs needed, just water. Top with Motts flavored apple sauce. Yeah, I like this stuff.
Lunch:
Starkist lunch packs. (WHITE tuna is best). Comes with relish, mayo, and some crackers. Good healthy lunch if you have fruit on the side.
Chicken salad packs. Similar to above. Lots of extraneous packaging to dispose of with either, but very quick!
Bagels or pita bread and peanut butter. PB does not need refrigeration. Can add Jelly from those individual jelly packs you always see at restaurants.
Dinner:
Campbells hearty soups/stews. These come in pop-top cans and are really good, really! Even the ravioli is good.
Foil pouch chicken or tuna. Add to Raman noodles or cream of potato soup. This makes a very meaty quick lunch or dinner.
Snacks:
Trail mix. Add M&Ms and cashews or macadamia nuts for a custom taste.
Instant hot cider. Boy, is this gooood on a cold morning!
I gained 3 lbs on a 5 day trip!
grains…
cous cous, rice, barley, oatmeal, bulgar etc.
or just zip-locks
I don’t even have a vacuum sealer. Consequently, my stuff won’t store forever and I dry it in the days leading up to a trip. If you zip-lock bag your stuff, you can always throw it in the freezer too with minimal freezer-burn-type damage over the winter months.
The real difference for me between home-dried and pre-dried is the “real food” flavor you get with stuff you dry yourself. Plus, some stuff you can cook semi-fresh if you’ve got the space (onions, cukes, asparagus, etc.).
Wow! You guys Rock!!
So many excellent and Yummy Ideas! Thank You, Thank You, so much! I cant believe I’ve never thought of some of them myself 
i’m writing all this down in my Camping Journal, good stuff!
Thanks so much for all your help, feel free to keep adding, I just had to interrupt and say WOW & THANKS - I love this place!!
Yep the american harvest
– Last Updated: Aug-20-04 10:28 PM EST –
driers with a column for circulation in the middle and a hollow at the edge are the way to go.
Some food suggestions:
Take a good fresh raw egg, rub it with a candle(to seal off gas exchange through the pores) and put it in a yellow egg carrier (Coughlan's) Make sure to get the right size of egg. They will absolutely keep fresh for two weeks in 80 degree weather and stand reasonable abuse. I have seem them last as long as four weeks in august in the Smokies/cherokee. If it smells "off" when you open it it's no good so dont just throw it into a big pot of soup without cracking it open and smelling it. On the other hand a good egg drop soup in the backcountry is OK by me.
If you completely clarify butter it keeps for months. (get rid of any floating white scum on top and any other white matter.) You must get it all! (this takes a few times to refine a single batch).
It is tasty and good for high temp frying. I use a thin glass cylinder (large, about an inch Inside diameter, lab grade, as the butter is hot off the stove)and a metal turkey baster. It forms layers well in the cylinder and this is fast and easy. Even a tiny speck of that white junk will make it all go rancid though; no cheating. I clean the cylinder meticulously between each refining step and I do three or four, make one batch per summer and keep in the fridge. I have used this many times on month long trips (backpacking) down south and it works.
Maple sugar + water = maple syrup... + pancakes + ghee and perhaps chopped rasins or dates or... soaked in hot water makes very happy campers. Anybody like walnuts in their pancakes?
Small bags of spices or one of thise six section spice jars filled with your own are a must on long trips, if you like spiced food. Dehydrated onion flakes are so sweet, and especially delicious in scrambled eggs.
Thought about butter
I think what your after is clarified butter minus the cream or dairy product. Im quite sure clarified butter is availble in stores and another product I hear about on the Food network is an asian or indian product called or pronounced GEE, spelling I believe is entirely different. Its a clarified butter gourmet chefs seem to prefer for some types of cooking and frying. Might save yourself some hassle and possible safety hazard by looking into one of these two products.
Brian
Roman noodles
Just add hotwater, lots of other dry instand soups also available, if you don’t mind excess sodium.
Brian
Commercial ghee always
– Last Updated: Aug-20-04 9:20 PM EST –
smells a little like blue cheese. Probably slightly cultured and very old. I make my own in the process described above. Been doing it for 20 years. Ghee is clarified butter, but chefs dont get every eingle droplet of the white stuff out. It's all dairy though.
Thanks I appreciate your pitching in.