I weigh 130lbs and do fine w/ 1 lb/person/day for up to the first week, one and a half pounds /person/ day thereafter.
I've used most of the above ideas.
I base my meals on starch flavored w/ fat/protien.
Starches:
Rice
Oats
Multi Grains
Pasta - Cous Cous!
Ramen
Dehydrated Beans from Cash and Carry or bulk foods at Fred Meyers/ any Food Coop. (Fantastic Foods Brand:
www.fantasticfoods.com/
)
Fat/Protien - the key to saving weight
Cheeses
Cream Cheese
Summer an other Sausage
Nut Butters
Cooked Bacon
Smoked Meats
Clarified butter or Oil added to all meals, even Mountain House to increase calories
Flavoring
Knorr products
Mountain House freeze dried - there is so much salt in these that you can serve three people from one pouch by mixing in your favorite starch from the list above. (I do the same w/ retorts like MRE's or Tasty Bite).
Ramen seasonings
Dehydrated Coconut Milk (Uwajimaya)
Nestle Whole Dehydrated milk (often by the Hispanic products) - costs lots but tastes better and alows Jello brand products to gel.
Half your weight is typicaly ready-to-eat lunch foods. To offset that I go w/ Bickies (Pilot Bread), I make my own bagles w/o holes, and make japati (sp) or pankakes as bread for fat filled sandwices.
A NOLS / Outward Bound trick to save time and weigt is to make and save dinner/ breakfast in a sealed container for lunch.
I also assign the dinner person to do breakfast. For example I might have stir-fry over rice for dinner then turn it into rice-cakes for breakfast or lunch, or have left-over rice as a hot cereal w/ nuts and fruit.
Every other dinner has an instant soup for hydration or a desert for when dinner is early and folks have time to lounge.
I love the Jello instant pies like cheese cake and the instant puddings.
Conveniance foods w/ the spice packet already there (flavored Cous Cous, Knorr/Lipton noodle sides, asian meals, . . . )
are so convenient I generaly don't bring just only ingredients and a spice kit unless I'm in a boat/bike or have more than ten person days of travel.
A NOLS style food link:
www.paddlinglight.com/articles/ration-planning-nols-style/
NOLS food store:
www.nols.edu/lander/rations.shtml
Somewhere they NOLS has online spread sheet that does all the math for you for all the ingredients.
