Jasonite,

I agree with you that ramen won't be enough after a day of hiking. For activities that burn a lot of calories, you'd be better off choosing dishes that will give you a blend of carbs, protein, and healthy fat. You'd have to add a lot to ramen to make them do that.

I usually make my own dinners by starting with a base that cooks with boiling water, like cous cous, instant rice, or noodles. I generally follow recipes from regular cookbooks but substitute fresh veggies with freeze-dried ones, and fresh meats with ones that come in pouches or cans. Even bacon bits or sardines will work. You can usually premeasure everything including spices and put it all into a ziplock, then when you're at camp you can cook it in one pot.

If you don't feel like working that hard, you can just cook one of those flash-frozen dinners you mentioned and dilute it with instant rice so it isn't so salty. You can make one package feed two people that way. Same deal with beans.

One thing I don't really recommend are military MRE's. They work, but you have to throw away all the extra packaging first, and the meals are usually very low in fiber.