I only remember having a couple boil in the pouch meals a couple times, I think that was in the 70s. We were winter camping in Northern Michigan UP, only 8 or 9 hours of sunlight every day, thus we wanted something that was extremely convenient so we brought a couple of them. Heavy but simple was our thinking. I think one pouch punctured while we were boiling it which really messed up that meal and also meant that the water we used to boil it was not going to fill our water bottles later. And they also needed a lot of stove fuel to boil up that much water when our water source was snow. Never tried one again, have no desire to do so.
Someone above mentioned freeze dried foods in bulk. Mountain House freeze dried meals are also sold in large number 10 cans. (Don't ask me why the can is called number 10, I have no clue.) For trips where I am going to be away from grocery stores for a couple of weeks, I have bought a can of Mountain House Breakfast Skillet and bagged up 10 individual solo breakfasts at home from one can.
https://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Hous...dp/B003Z45XVE/
I often will also mix one packet of Better Oats brand Instant Steel Cut Oatmeal with the breakfast skillet, add 10 oz of boiling water and wait for it to re-hydrate in my mug for about 8 to 10 minutes. A number 10 can is not cheap, but on a per serving basis it is much cheaper to buy a can at Amazon than small envelopes off the rack in camping stores.
I have not had a freeze dried supper in probably a decade, but if there was a flavor you liked you could also buy it in cans. Instead I just buy grocery store foods for suppers.
I used two of those cans this year, one for my Canadian Maritimes bike tour and one for a couple weeks of backpacking on the Superior Hiking Trail. The Mountain House cans that are unopenned have a shelf life of many years. I have a couple cans in storage waiting for future trips.
One serving of teh Breakfast Skillet also mixed in with one packet of oatmeal in the photo below, plus of course the obligatory mug of coffee waiting to be consumed.
