As a kid, I loved Slim Jims. As I got older and looked closer, I'm pretty sure they simply drop the beef hide, hair, bones, private bits, and fat, in a giant food processor and let fly. Add salt, pepper, chemicals, and extrude. They do make excellent fire starters.

Summer sausage and string cheese (in the little space shuttle packets) are always in my pack. It can be eaten fresh cut, put in soups, melted with the cheese on tortillas, added to morning grits. I'll sometimes haul fresh eggs, so protein isn't hard to come by.