Whatever you use, read the labels. How much water to add, how long to cook. Avoid anything that takes more than 7-10 minutes cooking (most 10-minute cook times can be reduced to 5 minutes if you let it sit 5 minutes before eating). If you want to reduce fuel, just use stuff that needs boiling water added.

Lay out all your food (I do it by meals - for example for a 7 day trip: 6 breakfasts, 7 trail packets, 6 dinners.

Calculate total calories protein, carbohydrates and fats. The nutritional labels are based on "serving size" so be sure to read how many servings in the box of stuff you are taking and multiply the amounts on the label by this. Serving sizes are pretty small- I usually need two servings for one meal.

Divide these totals by full days out, for example a 7-day trip where you eat breakfast before leaving and dinner after getting out is 6.33 "food days". You should have between 2000-3000 calories per day, 15-20% of the weight protein and at least 50% carbohydrates.

Then weigh the food bag. Divide the weight by your "food days". You should have between 1-2 pounds per day - closer to 2 pounds if you take regular dry food, closer to 1 pound if you do mainly freeze-dried meals. If you fall outside this range, add or subtract items accordingly.

For your first trip, you need not get too hung up about nutrition. Just take one multi-vitamin per day. With practice you will learn how to make better nutritional choices.

Be honest about your food cravings - for example I simply cannot do with a cup of coffee every morning or one small candy for my reward for hiking all day!

Aim for variety, even if it is 7 different flavored Knorr side dishes, 7 different energy bars, 4 different types of nuts, etc.