I have fond memories of cheese omelete MREs. The secret is lots of ketchup.

Dried food is actually pretty easy and you can buy alot of stuff that is already dehydrated. My breakfast is mostly oatmeal, with stuff like almonds, raisins or currants, honey, and even some vegetable oil or butter, all depending on how many calories I need. I can stomach alot of plain old oatmeal, but I always bring along a 500mg or 1kg tub of honey just in case. My supper is mostly vegetable soup with extra lentils added. There is probable a bunch of other stuff you could add to that. Sometimes I bring those chinese noodle bags for variety. Tuna in a pouch is something you can to add to those. My lunch and trail food is mostly tea with skim milk powder and honey. I also like to chew on jerky between meals, but I don't bother with trail mix and stuff. I will grab some granola bars laying around the house for day hikes. On a long winter trip I will bring along a pound of bacon, and make some sort of oatmeal biscuits with the extra bacon grease. Sometimes I gotta wonder if it smells good enough to wake a bear. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I buy all my hiking food in regular grocery stores. I buy everything in roughly half pound or 1 pound or even 2 pound quantities, so on a shorter trip I have less variety but that is ok. I am happy to add variety from one trip to the next but I am also very happy with oatmeal as my main staple. My mom was Scottish so I kind of grew up on it. Always made myself a big pot before my morning paper route. I just buy the large flake oatmeal from the baked good section, and not the instant stuff. I just pour boiling water on it and some stuff and pretty much eat it right away, though it is better if you cover it and wait a bit, make some tea while your waiting. In summer it is best to have two mug/pots about the same size, 500ml plus a little room, but in winter it is better to have a regular mug/pot and a larger pot, maybe 1000ml plus some room. Even I can't eat that much oatmeal at once, but that is a better size for lots of hot soup to rehydrate at night, and for melting snow.

Don't be afraid to drink lots of liquid before bed because you will have to get up to go pee. You gotta rehydrate and I think the evening is the best time to really top yourself up. Even in winter half the experience is waking up in the middle of the night, even if its really cold or raining down ice and snow. Sometimes you have to be very quick about it mind you.