Regardless of what the bag says, a two-portion dehydrated meal is almost always one portion, especially after a long day of travelling. I snack on things during my travel days (energy bars,mixed nuts with M&M's thrown in, pepperoni sticks, that sort of thing) but dinner is just a dehydrated meal, nothing else. Having a few lower-than-usual calorie count days while camping is honestly not a big deal. 'Hungry' isn't really about whether or not you pulled in enough calories, just whether or not you've got something in your stomach - and the dehydrated meals definitely accomplish the latter. 

I plan for 3000 to 3500 calories per day per person depending on the expected distances to cover each day. This usually means freeze-dried dinners (Mountain House or Backpackers Pantry) are 2 servings per person. I stick to 1 serving per person for the freeze-dried desserts. Rarely do I use these prepackaged meals for lunches but stick with nuts, dried meats, dried fruits, Clif bars, etc. Breakfasts are a mix of instant oatmeal with added fruit and nuts or breakfast burritos using the freeze-dried egg options. The odd fish supplements lunches and dinners. Given all these options I stick with the 3000-3500 caloric content per day. This has worked well for me especially when trying to keep the pack weight as minimal as possible.

The only dehydrated meal that I know of with reasonable calory count (600-1000 per 1 serving) is Hawk Vittles, but they do not ship to Canada. It's a shame, especially considering that they taste better than most other manufacturers.

Thanks, these are all great suggestions.  I also came across this website from another thread in this forum:  https://www.backpackingchef.com/6-day-backpacking-menu.html  so I've got a lot of options now and I guess if it's not enough food, I can always look at a donut on the way home and regain all the weight instantly.     Annie

The corn bark from the backpackingchef is excellent - IF you use good corn (we blanch about ten dozen ears of super-sweet corn in August and freeze it for use year-round; that stuff makes excellent corn bark).  His other recipes (the few I've tried) are also good.

I'll second the suggestion of others to add some high calorie materials to the mix.  Gorp always is a safe bet and is a pleasure to nibble on, jerky, beef sticks, aged cheese, etc. also foot the bill.  We carry one pre-packaged dehydrated meal per trip as an emergency meal if we have to stay an extra day but generally don't eat it.  We make all our own stuff and dehydrate it.  A couple of our favorites:

Olive Tapenade
I first had this tapenade at a Fall gathering being hosted in Ontario, Canadas Algonquin Provincial Park. The recipe came from my friend Alison as it was her contribution to an impromptu potluck. I have modified the dish to suit backcountry trips and although it is great as a spread, it can double as a refreshing addition to pasta.

Dehydration Time: 8 to 10 hours, Serves 4 to 6

1 cup pimento stuffed green olives, drained
1 cup pitted black olives, drained
1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, drained
1 hot banana pepper, coarsely chopped
1/2 sweet red pepper, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon capers, minced
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

At Home
Put the olives and artichokes in a food processor and pulse to chop the mixture. It should be a fine chop, but not to the point of being a puree. Put the olive mixture in a bowl and set aside. Next, put the peppers in the food processor and pulse until the peppers are the same consistency as the olive mixture. Add the peppers to the olive mixture along with the garlic, basil, capers and lemon juice. Stir until well combined.
Measure the tapenade and write this measurement on a sticky note. Spread onto lined dehydrator trays and dry for 8 to 10 hours. Package the tapenade in a medium ziplock freezer bag and add the olive oil to the other olive oil you are taking on your trip.
At Camp
Add enough water to the tapenade mix to equal the measurement on your sticky note. Be sure to account for and add your dried ingredients to the rehydration container prior to adding the water. You can always add more water if you need to. Let rehydrate for 10 minutes and add more water if needed. Stir in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, if desired, and serve with your favorite cracker or flatbread.

Unstuffed Peppers
 Ingredients:
-   ½ Cup dried or instant rice·   ¼ Cup ground beef, dried
·   ¼ Cup bell peppers, dried
·   ¼ Cup tomato sauce leather, tightly packed
·   2 Tbsp parmesan cheese
·   1¼ cups water
At Home:
Pack parmesan cheese and tomato sauce leather separately in small plastic bags. Enclose in a larger plastic bag with rice, ground beef, and peppers. 
On the Trail:
Combine all ingredients except parmesan cheese in pot with water and soak for five minutes.  Light stove, bring to a boil, and continue cooking with the lid on for one minute.  Remove pot from stove and wait ten minutes. Insulate pot if possible. Stir in parmesan cheese before serving

That was courtesy of Laurie March who used to post here.  She has a camping cookbook called "A Fork in the Trail".  We've also done her garlic hummus which is a nice appetizer as dinner is re-hydrating.

Seems I missed some of the additional replies to this thread following my last post.  I ended up dehydrating all my own food and brought one purchased meal as a backup, only to find that the meal needed to cook in 3 cups of water when my only container for cooking only holds about 12oz.  No matter, I never made it through all the meals I brought. I normally don't eat breakfast but brought oatmeal (with skim milk powder, brown sugar, cinnamon, dehydrated apples, coconut flakes, and ground almonds) and Starbucks mocha coffee packets (never again - they were more like hot chocolate than coffee) since I figured I'd need the energy for the day's hike.  Once I got to my destination, I had chocolate, nuts, and dehydrated fruit for a snack and didn't eat lunch (instant noodles with dehydrated nappa, green onion, cilantro, beef broth concentrate, soya sauce, sesame seeds, peanut butter, chilli pepper sauce, hoysin sauce, sesame oil, and dehydrated shrimp that never rehydrated (!)) until 3pm which meant I wasn't hungry for supper (chipotle chili with shredded beef and corn chips, which rehydrated remarkably well) so I ended up bringing back all but one supper.

I also brought too many cans of fuel.  I had one can with 5.4oz of fuel left in it, and brought two full cans as well, but only used 1.3oz more so at 6.7oz total, I would have been ok with one full can - although I didn't know at the time that I would only be making one of my suppers. Still, one backup canister would have been plenty even if I'd made all my meals.

Already planning ahead for next year and where I can cut back on weight some more - less food, less fuel!

CanoeClaire wrote:

AnnieD wrote:

Already planning ahead for next year and where I can cut back on weight some more - less food, less fuel!

It seems like every trip, I learn something new to do better on the next one. 

That's the plan - I plan on using up some of the reduced weight to bring more rhum - I ran out by day 4.