Checking back in on this thread on a slow Friday. I started working on alternatives to my old ways (mainly Mountain House) back in 2019. Last year (Covid) was an all-timer for me in terms of mountain activity, as I logged 22 nights in a tent. So I was able to sort out some stuff around food. Here is my current 'food rut' that I'm pretty happy with, and five days of it will juuust fit in the smaller Bear Vault.
Generally weighs in at 1.5 lbs per day
Breakfast: instant steel cut oatmeal repackaged in small ziplock, with an added handful of dried fruit and nuts and about a tablespoon of dried peanut butter. Have this in between two servings of Starbucks instant coffee. Morning won.
Snax: a Kind bar, peanut M&Ms, and can't live without my meat stix (you know, those short, 4-inch processed meat sticks...salty and yummy!). Also some dried fruit from the supermarket bulk bin, preferably chile-spiced mango slices from Winco.
Lunch: i've grown very fond of PB&J and Fritos on a tortilla. Don't get tired of it even 5 days in a row! Especially when I found the paired peanut butter and grape jelly packs at minimus.biz...
https://www.minimus.biz/diamond-crystal ... -1201.aspx. Dang, they used to have premium Skippy, and now seem to be out. Shoulda bought more.
Dinner: this is where I've had the most fun experimenting with my home dehydrator. All manner of pasta and tomato sauce concoctions, all using lean ground beef as the protein. Also really like some of the dinner ideas from Fresh Off the Grid (
https://www.freshoffthegrid.com/backpacking-food-ideas/). The tortilla soup is rock solid, and the holy grail of backpacking meals, the beef stroganoff, shows great promise. I tried this two nights on my last trip, just need to boost the salt and add some corn starch to thicken the sauce. The dehydrated mushrooms and creamy egg noodles are very excellent.
I made a little cozy system to eat my home dehydrated meals from the ziploc bag, but I prefer cooking it up in my pot and eating out of that, as I can keep it good n hot and get the consistency just right.
I'm also a fan of those bone broth envelopes you can get. About 50 calories, and goes well just before bed, similar to miso soup.