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I was wondering if i am the only one that battles to come up with light weight nutritious meals when hiking that actually taste like something.

So i was thinking why not share some ideas.

For lunch i quite enjoy having a ryevita sandwich which i smear with a bit of tomato paste first, the one you bye in a squeeze tube, which is quite convenient,with a bit of biltong and a piece of thinly sliced cheese.Woollies has thinly sliced cheese which is vacuum packed,so no fuss.And to finish of with a cup of black rooibos tea to make the ryevita swell in your stomach.

For lunch i take a few provitas or salti crax and a slice of cheese as you do, but alternate days by using either those sachets of tuna or salmon from John West or a bit of cold meet such as pastrami if its cold enough to keep. The tuna comes in a variety of flavours so you dont really get bored of them.
The biltong i keep for a late afternoon snack or throw some of it into my two minute noodles for dinner, comes out pretty nice.
The ultimate weight saver are those freeze dried meels you get at the camping stores,taste really great but theyr a bit pricey. Cape Union has them for around R80 a meal but we get away with sharing it between two.

I kid you not but recently my mate has been carrying a jaffle iron in his backpack, so we have cheese and salami jaffles cooked on the the gas stove!

Otherwise provitas and laughing cow cheese is always good, I have started also taking one of those tiny blocks of rama along as well, makes a great difference.

For dinners, tuna+pasta dish is great, as well as dry wors stew!

I started to experement with couc-cous and the John West tuna, light and easy, and tast great, even noodles and tuna makes a great meal.

When weight and fuel limits is an issue cous-cous is great - needs almost no cooking time and takes very little hot water.

On shorter hikes where extra weight is not an issue I carry fresh onion, green pepper some stirfry steak strips and sweet and sour gravy. Great with mash/cous-cous and some red wine.

In areas where allowed I carry charcoal, firelighters and a chicken wire mesh on which I braai a lekker thick steak - can't be beaten.

And my all time favourite - whiskey and berg water.

Agree that cous cous is a good one, particularly the type that you cook inside the packet for 1 minute in boiling water. Most of my suppers consist of pasta /cous-cous / quick-cooking rice, with some sort of sauce usually mixed in whilst cooking, with biltong / tuna / salami. Of course, two-minute noodles seem to be an unbeatable classic in terms of price, weight and ease of cooking!

Some of the better, but weightier, suppers which I may occasionally bring along are 1) pasta with tuna and Ina Paarman's basil pesto, and 2) cous cous with sundried tomatoes in vinegar, salami and fresh green pepper.

Currently my lunches tend to be a barrage of dried fruits and nuts, with bars. Anyone had that roasted corn, coated with salt and vinegar? Thats a winner with me.

I've found that my preferences shift over time as I get tired of certain things, or as I get increasingly weight conscious, and reluctant to wash more dishes than I have to in icy waters of the winter. I have less of a need for fancy food now, and find that almost all food tastes good to me in the mountains!

Whiskey or brandy is awesome - only need to take a little bit, which goes a long way!