Suggestions for next trips dinner

instant mashed potatoes with a can/foil of smoked oysters

couscous with can/foil chicken

instant soup mixes. I will add some kind of meat/chicken to it.

packs of Knorrs noodles or rice seem to work well

refried beans (Fanstatic Foods brand in organic section)and add to some taco shells with shredded cheese and salsa packets

if there is a Whole Foods/Fresh Market they may have bulk bins of items that are already dehydrated. You can also order some dehydrated items from Harmony House

Lots of recipes here:

http://www.trailcooking.com/ Sarbar's website

http://www.onepanwonders.com/ Dicentra's website

http://www.wildernesscooking.com/ Laurie Ann March's website

All three are contributors here.

Thanks for the mention Mary. I'm not sure that my recipes would be up his alley as many do require drying the foods. I believe one ends up with better tasting fare that way. That said, you don't need a dehydrator… the oven will suffice.

Edited for a spelling correction… lol… I am nothing without my editor.

Sorry for not getting back to you, we were traveling the Smokies this week and a half!
I gotta say though my go to easy meal is instant rice, pouched chicken, gravy mix and cranberries. Tasty!

Thanks to everyone for your help, I found several Freezer Bag Cooking meals that are mashed potato based that I am trying. I will also have to try the rice/chicken/gravy/cranberries meal sometime as well.

One of my favorites from Sarah's website is the chicken curry cranberry couscous (I may have the order of the name wrong but those are the main ingredients). Aside form the chicken pouch, I had everything else I needed in the house. No dehydrating and all simple, readily available ingredients.

Another staple for me is a quick-cooking noodle (or substitue rice or couscous), a tuna packet, some pistachio pieces, some grated pamersean cheese and a packet of the pesto powder mix (found in the dry powdered suace area of the grocery store). I throw all the dry ingredients in the baggie together at home. In camp, pour in the needed water for the couscous, maybe a little extra to get the pesto sauce runny, some olive oil, then add the tuna/chicken and boom! Ready to eat.

http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/curried-chicken-cranberry-couscous

Hope that was the one you were thinking of :-)