Dried food can be cheap, light and often takes up a lot less space than its hydrated counterpart. On the other hand it requires water to rehydrate it (or to cook it — we are considering items such as rice to be “dried” for our purposes here). So if you are going to rely heavily on dried food you should try to store water to go along with it.
- To start with: pasta, rice and noodles. All good sources of carbohydrate (and thus energy) and, if you had to, you could eat them without anything else added — though see also the flavourings page for suggestions. Don’t forget that opened packets will need to be stored in a sealed container.
- Dried instant potato. Not to everyone’s taste, admittedly.
- Lentils, beans and chickpeas. Many of these will need to be soaked before cooking. If this is going to be an issue, consider purchasing them in tins instead.
- Dried soup mix (cup-a-soup and the like). Has the advantage that it tends to come in smaller portions than tinned soup (this may be less of an advantage if you are catering for several people).
- Dried fruit. Doesn’t typically require soaking (although you can do so if you prefer). Take care if you are not used to eating large quantities of it, as it can cause “intestinal distress” (see also the medications page).
- Powdered milk. Useful for cooking and drinks, takes up much less room than long-life milk; skimmed will generally keep for longest.