what are some good food items to bring on hikes aside from MRE's and freeze dried food

Instant ramen noodles- can be eaten dry while on the move or cooked at camp. They don’t weigh anything.

Little packs of cooked chicken… can be eaten as is, or cooked into all kinds of other stuff

Beef jerky

Those little lunch packs of peanut butter

A bag of tangerines.  They weigh a lot, but I love them. You can eat them on the go, plus a sugar boost.

Those orange peanut butter crackers are one of my favorites, especially if I have little courtesy packs of honey (which are also awesome on their own while on the move).

Not a popular choice, but a 1# bag of chips in the top of your bag can be snacked on for a week, if you can keep them dry.

“Trail mix” has been a thing for a long time… because it’s good.

Those things are great if you’re making miles and don’t want to make meals.  If you’re a camp cook and take the time, there are hundreds of awesome things you can make on the trail.  If you cook, carrying raw potatoes, turnips,  or carrots can give you a variety of choices (they’re relatively heavy though).  Dehydrated onions, peppers, and mushrooms are light and can be reconstituted easily and added to all kinds of stuff.  Knorr tomate powder and a handful of minute rice cooked together -> Mexican rice.  A few bags of light staples, supplemented with a little hunting and fishing can turn a bland-eating trip into a gourmet vacation.  My dad was a fucking master at that stuff. I’m just ok.

I can go a good bit with just peanut butter and tortillas if I had to.
Trail mix and jerky are always good too. Instant soups or sides are  a good pick me up if it's cold or wet. I like instant coffee so that's in there as well. Occasionally I'll grab a can of cooked chicken to bring if I'm making food for two.

You're limited by your load bearing capacity and imagination.

The mylar pouches of tuna, salmon, or chicken are darn tasty and not too awkward to pack.

https://starkist.com/products/wild-pink-salmon-pouch

Dehydrated fruit is good to snack on. Strawberries are my favorite.

I usually pack a lot of peanut butter and roll with that.

Long video series but worth it.

Summer sausage
Sharp white cheddar cheese
fig newtons
Mtn House meals
whiskey

Well since others have already mentioned what I would have I'll add pemmican and parched corn. Also instant soup, oats, farina. Some of those Knorr side dish pouches and some spam or other canned meat and/or seafood to add into the Knorr.

Pre-cooked bacon.

MREs are just about the worst thing you can bring.  It's a ridiculous amount of over-packaging, and you are carrying water weight you probably don't need to.

Dehydrated, backpacking-specific meals also tend to be in overly bulky packaging, and not only that, but unnecessarily expensive.

Some things that I'm most likely to pack:

- Knorr pasta and rice meals from the grocery store
- Idahoan powdered potatoes
- tuna and salmon in factory mylar pouches
- Minute Rice Jasmine rice
- various curry packets from Asian market (red/green/yellow/massaman)
- rice noodles
- Pad Thai sauce packets
- shelf boxed Tofu
- various Cholula sauces in 1oz Nalgene bottles
- corn oil and olive oil in 1oz Nalgene bottles
- taco seasoning, chili powder, cumin, dried onion, etc
- powdered gravy packets
- instant grits, multiple flavors
- ground coffee

For 9+ days, the Ursack bear bag averages about 11 pounds.

Lifeboat rations. Huge calories for the size and designed to be eaten with small amounts of water. Get decent ones and they taste pretty dang good. I've got 8 different flavors.

This.

When I was backpacking heavy, our rule was 100 calories per ounce minimum. Wandering Walmart is enlightening with this in mind. Ramen noodles fit the bill, though it was curious the variation in calories from flavor to flavor. As I recall, creamy chicken was one of the best.

Nuts are always a good call. Those little single serving packs of peanuts with the tear off tops was something ungodly like 230 calories per ounce. My favorite is Planters' Heat peanuts.

MREs are heavy, mountain house meals were okay.

Went backpacking one time with a guy that packed in a ribeye and baked potato wrapped in foil. We all made fun of him for carrying the weight until dinner time rolled around. I think I literally licked the foil he cooked the steak in.

EDIT - just checked a pack of heat peanuts. 370 calories for 2.25 ounces. Not quite as good as the 230 I quoted but still well above the 100 I set as a baseline. They pack really well too. Can stuff them anywhere.

New finds for me.
SINGLE serve spam...woot


https://www.walmart.com/ip/SPAM-Single-Classic-9-g-protein-2-5-oz/10290944


Folgers single serve instant coffee. 7 in a package for a dollar.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Folgers-Classic-Roast-Instant-Coffee-Single-Serve-Packets/17747578?athbdg=L1600

From the grocery store:

Trader Joe's instant coffee packets

Tea

Cans of sardines

Oatmeal packets

Boiled eggs

Pop Tarts

Tortillas with cheese or peanut butter

Instant mac and cheese (repackages into Ziploc freezer bags)

Macadamia nuts are king I believe for cal/oz, but most trail mix will get around 150/oz which is generally what I target for snacks. Ritz crackers are surprisingly high calorie, Fritos are even better.

For main meals ramen is hard to beat for flavor and convenience, though I’ve been trying to get more protein so I’ve been doing a lot of different dehydrated meals. Most of them end up tasting pretty similar. Cheese and summer sausage isn’t ultra light but it definitely tastes awesome when backpacking.

The steak comment made me think that dry aging a super fatty ribeye could possibly get it to over 100 cal/oz.

instant oatmeal
dehydrated refried beans, dehydrated fruit
chocolate-covered espresso beans
jerky/meat snacks for days you want more protein

I’m getting away from freeze-dried meals because they’re just stupid expensive, and am going to start bringing fresh veggies & meat (precooked sausage, meatballs, etc), rice/pasta, granola, dried fruit, pitas/naan, etc. The plan is to cover a bear canister in closed-cell foam, freeze everything solid, and in the temps we get up here I should easily be able to safely eat it for 3-4 days. Maybe pack the day's food in my OR bottle parka to avoid opening the bear can multiple times per day.

Saturday I went on a hike with 3 days of food and my usual May-Sept gear, my total pack weight minus water (I don’t bring any until mid-July, filtering and drinking at every water source until then) was just under 19lb (24lb with the 2 1l bottles I bring filled.) Add another 2.5-3lb for the bear can and I’m still under 30lb. My pack (Granite Gear Crown2 38) was absolutely comfortable at 24lb, once I get the can I’ll see how it fits and carries. I have a 50l Osprey if I need more space or support, but I’m also going to make a carbon fiber frame sheet for the GG to see if that changes anything.

Here’s where I’m at for a “worst case” may-sept hike. 10 degree bag and some extra rain gear, but no bear can. Assumes a lot of water sources. Kinda shows how important food selection is, on just a short hike it’s nearly a quarter of my pack weight.

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I got tired of overly salty freeze dried crap and started bringing good stuff like boneless leg of lamb,  pork loin and Cornish hens.

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Your camp cooking is like my dad’s when I was a kid.

We did coq au vin in an abandoned mineshaft in Death Valley.

Even though I carry a mess kit, I like foods that can be hydrated and consumed from the bag they were stored in.

I used to like MRE's but hated the extra weight from excessive packing materials.  I would keep the cardboard box the entree came in for heating up the meal with an MRE heater.  I'd reuse the package with other entrees then burn it in the fire.

I learned  a hard lesson about MRE heaters.  I bought a bunch at a gun show, then stored them in a Rubbermaid container in the basement.  I figured they were sealed properly, but apparently not.  My basement is what they call a Michigan basement.  It has field stone walls and is one step above a crawl space.  The humidity seeped in the heaters and activated them.  I wonder if one or two could've compromised the rest?  I think they changed the heater design, but the next time I store something like that it will be stored in airtight dry boxes or ammo cans with desiccant bags.

I did a weeklong trip several years ago in bearcountry and had to be mindful of weight and what I could fit in a bear can. I got kind of bored with freeze dried food so tried these:

Some of the stuff is dehydrated vs freeze dried.

Packit Gourmet Hamburger

A little pricier compared to Mountain House,  so I just used them for a few meals to break up the monotony.

Lot of good ideas here.

It boils down(no pun intended) to what you're willing to carry. For me, light and fast is the way.

Whatever you do, try to eliminate packaging as much as possible. Consolidate items into a ziploc or similar.

I'm going out on several consecutive day hikes in the NH White MTNS soon.  I will make sure to include dill pickles and manzanilla and kalamata olives because of the salt, and dried apricots and mango slices for sugar.  Along with protein bars and venison jerky.

Everything above is great advice.

MRE entrees are too much water. Having said that some of the sides such as the cookies and deserts are high calorie and taste good. Also the accessory packets like the cheese spread, jelly and peanut butter are also awesome.

I always have a solid pound or two of dried fruits and nuts. Almonds, macadamia nuts, pecans are my go to’s along with Mango, bananas, apricots, and cranberries and coconut.  

I also take dried blueberries but those are kept separate for things like oatmeal.

Here is something I discovered in a hiking cookbook about 30 years ago.

Matt Food

Get a larger bowl than you think you need.

Scoop in however much peanut butter you line of whatever kind you like.

Next throw in some powdered milk.

No add honey.

Stir it with a strong metal spoon.

You can now add more if whatever you like to make it any consistently you like from runny baby poo to hard as a rock.

I make mine to where it is barely spreadable.

If I don’t feel like cooking. On a given mornin. I can just schmeer some on a bagel and off I go.

If I need a little pick me up Siri bf the day just eat a spoonful.

Also bagels are a staple for me.

I take the chick pea power you can get at Whole Foods and just add a little olive oil from my tiny hiking bottle and make hummus on some hikes.

Another good item especially in the winter where keeping things fresh isn’t hard is a squeeze tube of margarine or butter. This and my small bottle of olive oil allow me to instantly add fats and some flavor to every meal.

Instant potatoes, ramen and thing like it with either tuna or chicken tossed in are money.

One item I love on trail, I in fact make it at least twice a week right at my desk at work.

Take an avocado and slice it both ways in its buck so it’s cubed and then toss it in a bowl with 2 packages of tuna. (I like the spicy hot from Starkist) add a little salt and pepper and some soy or sweet and sour from packets from the Asian restaurant and you have a Trail Poke Bowl.

Another favorite of mine is Carnation instant breakfast shakes. Add a little milk powder and you are GTG.

I always take one freeze dried meal along in case of either an emergency and I want something NOW that’s hot or it’s crap weather and I need a morale booster. 100% of the time it’s Mountain House Beef Stroganoff.

Instant potatoes are another staple of mine. Toss in some margarine, garlic powder, bacon bits, and some cheese powder and they can be a feast. Best pet is they can be made in a zip lock bag with hot water. When you are done smooshing it all together and its reads just cut a corner off the bag and squirt it right into your mouth. (If you are camping with others just squirted it into their bow or plate.

I am also a fan of fresh food the first couple of meals out. A steak and potatoes in the fire or the hobo meal in foil we learned to make in Scouts can be amazing.

Once you loose the fear or unusual combinations the sky’s the limit.

There are some good books out that give recipes for prepping healthy food at home (i.e. low sodium and without the other preservatives), packaging it, and how to prepare it on the trail with minimal fuss.