Budget backpacking

I'd like to do a little backpacking this summer (the trips will be documented elsewhere), and as it's been a while since my last serious backpacking trip, I need to give lots of thought to food options.  I found this excellent article on how to breeze through the grocery and grab everything you need for a healthy, hearty weekend.

I'm not sure I've ever been able to breeze through a grocery unless I knew exactly what I needed to buy.  I like to do a lot of cooking from scratch, so hunting down instant food options was significantly outside the realm of my experience.

There were a couple items I needed as ingredients for recipes I wanted to try, and lots of sources suggest powdered milk for use on the trail (I've never used it, so I'm going to give it a shot).  After that, I just wandered aisles looking for anything remotely appetizing that satisfied two conditions:

1. cooked quickly and easily, requiring no perishable ingredients
2. was on sale

As luck would have it, a lot of stuff was on sale, but the last day of the sale was the day of my shopping excursion, so I grabbed a few items that I thought might work, and decided if they passed the test, I'd keep my eyes open for future sales, when I would stock up ludicrous volumes.  I figure it will keep for ages, and most of it will pack pretty well.

Now it's time for Test Mode.  I get to try this stuff, decide whether it's any good, and figure out any way I might be able to improve it while on the trail.  Hopefully, by adding some sort of meat and vegetable.  Check back for the test results, especially if you're a backpacker or just a really lazy cook.  No judgement on either of those.