2012 what worked and what didn't, food

As usual, trying to find new things to eat that are tasty, nutritious, calorically dense, and easy to prepare (ideally no-cook). 

New (for me) things that worked:

Dehydrated refried black beans - good enough to eat at home, nutritious, easy. Can even snack on them dry. In principle, could rehydrate in cold water, but that worked poorly. With a little heat (not even necessarily boiling water), they rehydrate a lot more nicely. Especially good with some dehydrated peppers added.

Dehydrated mashed potatoes - excellent super-easy trail food. Rehydrates just fine in cold water. Tastes better mixed up with a little Nido. Delicious with generous helping of grated Parmesan-Romano cheese and dried chives.

Powdered coconut milk - easy-carry fat source and potential base for creative cooking. Much easier to carry than liquid oils as concentrated calories. Not bad to drink, can mix in with potatoes, makes an interesting "soup" when mixed with powdered hummus (your taste may vary). With a few spices, can make some really tasty curries and stews if ready to do some cooking.

Dried veggies - had hoped to find some good, easy green stuff to eat, but only half-satisfied with results. Dried carrots take some cooking and only tasted ok. Dried spinach rehydrates easily but tastes like grass. Both best in a stew with beans and peppers. Roasted seaweed was probably my top new pick for taste and ease of prep (none required, or can be added to a bean stew), but it tended to disintegrate in my pack.

Chocolate - who doesn't love chocolate on the trail? I just wish it didn't melt so easily in a hot car on the way. Major mess, had to repackage several things that got covered in melted chocolate. :(

Easy cooking - usually, I use Esbit if available and otherwise alcohol, but for very light duty cooking, a bail handle pot can be used to warm things over an ultra low impact fire made with just a few twigs (where permitted and appropriate). Snow peak titanium bowl with an MYOG titanium wire bail handle worked great for this.

Hope some others will find one or more of these things to be worth a try, and happy to have suggestions/comments, as always!

Cheers,

Bill