Canned Or Dehydrated?

We will be doing a one-nighter. Hike up, Enjoy the scenery, camp, hike back down. I like to take as little as possible. For dinner, I was going to take a can of spaghetti. I've done it before on a beach. Right out of the can! LOL! But I have not ever had dehydrated meals. My only concern is the dehydrated meals would take from my water supply.

Your thoughts and experiences??

If you are camping near a lake or stream, as most people do, you can simply resupply your water from there. If you are dry camping, either by choice or in the desert, then canned food might be a viable option for a short trip.

I don't see people bring canned meals backpacking anymore. I still see canned fish and chicken. Most poeple prefer dehydrated/freeze dried meals because they are significantly lighter if you have access to water along the trail. If you are going to pack all of your water with you anyway then there isn't much of a weight advantage to packing dehydrated.

However, even ignoring weight I wouldn't pack canned spaghetti, but that is a personal prefference. I think there are lot better options out there for food. Sara Kirconnell's (sometimes contributor on here) website is a great resource for backpacking food: https://trailcooking.com/

Even simpler there are lots of no cook options that I would prefer to canned spaghetti. breads, crackers, salami, hard cheeses, hard boiled eggs, canned fish, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hummus...

For a one night trip it might not matter that much. Take what you enjoy to eat. We go into places that lack water sources so it doesn’t make sense to dehydrate everything unless it’s for food preservation. It also depends on how far you are hauling that pack. If it’s not too far I see no reason not to take your favorite foods.

I don't know what it is about my canned spaghetti, but I always bring at least one can with me! LOL!
Where we will be hiking there isn't any water, we will have to bring it.

If you have to bring every drop of water with you from the start there's no advantage to dehydrated food over canned, except maybe the weight of the packaging. And that weight might be offset a bit by using less fuel to heat the food. Just remember that in waterless places, any form of fire is going to require special care and attention to prevent wildfires.

I always bring hotdogs car camping (and sometimes backpacking). I don't really enjoy them outside of that environment, but a nicely grilled wienie on the fire brings back memories. Enjoy your spaghetti-o's!

no cans, or glass. just get a MRE if you want ready to eat foods.

My brother in law ate more than his share of such meals in 20+ years as a Combat MP officer; he had "original" and several "improved" flavors. Once or twice he gave me one as a "white elephant" gift (second prize was two MREs.)

I strongly concur with his very informed conclusion: "Meals, Ready to Eat are three lies for the price of one."