I agree with having hot food in the winter. I often take a thermos full of hot chocolate! Or soup. Actually a stove and ingredients is lighter, but the thermos is really handy.

MRE's are the standard emergency food- they self-heat. Expensive and heavy, though.

I even occasionally take a stove and always a pot with me on day-hikes in the summer. I really like to stop and have hot tea or miso soup. You can cook in a cup or light solo pot. Do not need big bulky cook gear. I once got caught out, but had my pot and built a fire and had hot tea, and after the tea ran out, hot water. It makes a difference when you are cold! When I used to climb, we used to get caught up on a cliff occasionally, and I learned how miserable it is to get stuck out at night - and that was summer.