It is all up to you. Sort of a benefit/cost thing. There definitely is a benefit - good tasting food - it is kind of hard to find a substitute for a real steak. The cost is the weight. If I were trying to do a high-mileage weekend and really push it, I would go dry to save weight. I may even do the trail bars only diet. One time I did the starvation diet - did not want to carry a bear cannister for an overnight so just ate everything on day 1 and nothing on day 2. You can really cover the miles when the only food you is back at your car! There are lots of options for lots of different situations. Given the price of freeze-dried food, I do not use it on short trips and only a little bit on longer trips. My bad experiences with real food is the spoilage-crushed factor. Bananas never have worked for me - I just get a real gooy mess all over my pack. Frozen meat has worked well. It is just nicely thawed by dinnertime on a weekend trip. And I really like baby carrots for trial food.