My last camp-out gave me a chance to compare a couple philosophies about dining in the backcountry: one is to go ahead and do business with companies that take much the trouble out of providing nutrition, provided you don’t mind the extra cost and packaging. The other is that doing it yourself is cheaper, and if you can’t do it yourself, at least find cheaper alternatives not specifically intended for backpacking.

I took along one of those Mountain House freeze-dried dinners, which cost about 7 bucks; and a 79-cent package of dried noodle-soup from the Asian grocery store in town. The noodle soup was tasty, spicy and well worth eating. The freeze-dried dinner was filling but tasteless, about as much fun as eating my damp hiking socks. Both were prepared foods; the noodle soop required mixing of ingredients and cleaning up after cooking; the freeze-dried meal could be eaten in the package, so there was no cleanup. But for 79 cents vs. seven bucks, I have to think the noodle soup was the better deal.

I had all this in mind while reading this backpackinglight.com thread on pre-packaged vs. homemade meals. Some folks are fine with those Mountain House meals (my advice: go for “ethnic” meals that have more spices — the consistency will still suck but at least the tastebuds will get a workout). Others dehydrate their own meals. One interesting adaptation is freezer-bag cooking, which is a combination of both (lots of interesting advice and recipes at that link).

One thing I’ve noticed from people’s trail journals is that any pre-packaged food that can be prepared by adding hot water can be taken on the trail. Mac-n-cheese, instant potatoes, cous cous, for example, all have lots of carbs/calories needed for hiking with a pack, but cost significantly less than those freeze-dried meals.

Better meals are worth the extra effort, though I would advise knowing how to prepare the stuff before you’re in camp and, for example, realize that the large disk of dried ramen noodles is too wide for your pot and should be broken up inside the package so the little noodles don’t fly everywhere (though the woodland creatures will be thankful for the spillage).

Lots of prepared backpacking food reviews at backpackgeartest.org.