I like to cook, but sometimes... I just don't want to. Or I just want to eat RIGHT NOW without having to scramble dishes, etc.

For bike trips and hiking trips, my friends and I have gotten pretty well used to the Pro Paks from MH, and my favorite is the good old-fashioned spaghetti. They're big portions, and if you look around, under $5 per single-serving package. Not the best deal, but it's nice to have a few along for a rainy day.

No dishes, small amount of package waste to carry out, hot filling meal in less than 5 minutes. They say that the stuff will even reconstitute with cold water, but personally speaking, this is not recommended :-P

For the main course at dinner, I only bring freeze dried dinners.  Everything else is grocery store.  Never tried the MREs - they are heavier and bulkier.

I have never seen any fz dr meal with 300% of the rda of sodium.  The most I have eaten are the two-serving size, which give a combined 80% or so of rda.  The single serving size run about 60%.
(So how big was that fish you say you caught?)

I travel every day but one layover day.  Minimum 8 hrs of work, up to 12 or 14 hrs for a long hard day.  I'm pretty sure I sweat out enough salt that I need all I am getting.   I doubt that any do-it-yourselfers actually measure out the salt content in any of thier meals, and they are also probably fairly high I'd suspect.  I also think that the Mtn House comapny has and uses professional nutritionists to come up with nutritious, balanced meals (forgetting the salt) - that is something I'd never be able to do myself.

I'd also suspect that the cost savings are somewhat exagerrated.  Say you make a meal for about half of what a fz dr two-serving meal cost.  That's about a $3 a meal savings (and probably less sincy there is packaging, fuel, spices to consider).  Still takes a lot of meals to recover the investment cost of a good dehydrator, and that is if you put zero value on the time used to do it yourself.

A big part of the price you pay for the fz dr meal is in the packageing.  It lasts for years (as compared to dehydrated stuff getting stale in that time frame), and for CONVENIENCE.  Just boil water, no cooking or simmering, so you save on fuel, keeping your pack weight down.  By eating in the package, you don't need a bunch of dishes, never have to wash them, can carry less fuel since you don't need much wash water, and save prep time at dinner.  To me, the convenience is worth the price.  I cook at home almost every day, and do dishes - I don't mind at all getting away from that routine while I'm out canoeing.

I like the taste of the fz dried foods.  I think that many of the meals are very good.  If all you have ever tried is beef stew or chicken and rice, which can be pretty "flat" tasting, try some of the other varieties.
 
I mostly buy Mountain House brand.  I like the Chicken Polynesian, Turkey Tetrazzini, Sweet and Sour Pork, Beef Teriyaki, Grilled Chicken Breasts & Mashed Potatoes - these only come in the two-serving size - I wish they'd have more variety in the single serve Pro Pack size.

The single serve meals I use are the Chicken Teriyaki, Beef Stroganof, Chili Mac and Beef, and Beef Stew.  

I'll get a few varieties of the Richmoor/Natural High  brand, Honey Mustard Chicken and Honey Lime Chicken are two I buy.

That's pretty much my menu for any Quetico trip.  I buy the stuff on sale, and/or in large quantities, so I always have a supply at home, ready to pack for hunting trips or backpacking, or canoeing or whatever.

 Personal tastes and convenience aside, the reason a lot of us don't use the Freeze dried foods exclusively, is because while you assume there nutritiously balanced, that's really not the case.
I searched Mt Houses website for the nutritional breakdown on their products, and two things that pop out immediately, is the sodium content and the very small amount of fiber in each entrée.
 Yes, after a hard day's paddling, your sweating out a lot of salt, but since almost every food your eating on your trip other than the freeze dried is loaded with sodium,( instant oatmeal, jerky, peanut butter, trail mix etc) the over the top sodium in the freeze dried which helps give it the long shelf life isn't good for you at all.
Fiber, which allows the food to be digested slowly and the nutrients a chance to be absorbed before you have a bowel movement is something most people get far too little of. Fiber also keeps you feeling full, that's why eating junk food with simple carbs and low fiber, leaves you hungry and wanting more an hour after you eat. That contributes to over eating and the obesity epidemic.
Not to be gross, but after a few days on freeze dried, your bowel movements are loose and runny which can lead to dehydration IF you don't drink enough.
 Will a week or 2 eating the freeze dried do you irreversible harm?
No, but if you don't mind doing things yourself and like to eat healthy meals, you can get a better handle on the sodium, add the needed fiber and still make your meals easy to prepare.
 The dishes featuring rice, use WHITE rice which compared to BROWN rice isn't very nutrient rich or filling.
Making your own using the dehydrator and the various recipe sources people have posted, allows you to tune your meals for maximum taste and nutrition.
If you don't care about the nutrition factor or don't want to spend the time and effort to eat better and healthier, then by all means Freeze dried is the way to go.
I started out with Freeze dried but as my tastes, an interest in a healthier lifestyle and the desire to have control of what I put in my body developed, Freeze dried to me and I suspect many others the choice of last resort or in emergencies.
But like everything, if your happy with them, then by all means enjoy!
Just don't kid yourself into thinking their a healthy choice, because the vast majority of them are far from it.
I'm sure some of the Vegetarian meals IF made with whole grains/brown rice, legumes, lentils etc, are good for you, but you need to check the sodium and fiber content to be sure.
 I suspect your both relatively young guys, and the health issue isn't big on your radars?
 Down the road that will probably change either thru need or want

Drewfus,

Before I made the comment about caring about nutrition, I checked your profile, and of course your Avatar tells the story as well
I looked for M-M's age as well, but its not in his profile, so I could be wrong about him?
 Your remarks about marathon/triathlon proves you do know the value of nutrition, you just haven't reached the point in your life when you realize that you can't eat healthy sometimes and EXPECT to feel good all the time
 When you hit your early and mid thirties, your body will let you know.
 My "sources" , just do a Google search  
Actually I'm the product of my research and efforts to stay healthy and fit as long as I can.
 At 59, I can still do the hard trips, solo to boot. The other Solo paddlers my age or older on the QJ couldn't do that if they didn't take care of themselves year round.
 In 25 yrs, you'll be 50, and hopefully healthy and still paddling.
If so, I can almost guarantee you'll be talking like me to some young buck like you.
I'll be 85, and Good Lord willing will still be paddling and portaging
Of course by then I expect you young guy's to have invented the anti-gravity disk for canoe portaging and the CFPP?
That's the Carbon Fiber Pulse Paddle, you just hold it in the water and it propels you down the lake
By then maybe they have that nano-technology assimilated with the human body, and I'll be 85 but feel like 25