I am forever trying to improve my bushwalking menu!
If it's an easier short first day then the options are limitless, in the past i've been known to freeze marinated chicken, take some pre cut vegies and have a chicken and noodle stir fry.
Now days dinners are usually commercially dehydrated (try a few and you'll soon work out which ones you like) or home dehydrated meals (dahl and mexican bean stew are popular with dehydrated rice or deb). If you can buy pesto sachets in your area (they have disappeared from our supermarket
) then you can do some nice things with pesto, salami, parmesan cheese and a few vegies mixed through pasta.
My partner also makes a nice mushroom curry (use fresh mushrooms if eating in the first few nights in a cold area). He uses a Rogan Josh curry paste, adds mushrooms, water and tomato paste and cooks then adds sultanas and rice to serve.
If you can find a wholefoods shop that sells coconut milk powder then that opens up heaps of options for curries… a sachet of paste or some curry powder with coconut milk and vegies is pretty good!
I find breakfast hard to eat when walking so will often take a protein shake type thing (Endura Optimiser is goodness in a powder!). Otherwise porridge with dried fruits is tasty and pretty weight efficient.
I find it hard to have a lot of variation in my lunches... I often just take cheese and vita wheats (Ashgrove vintage cheese or wasabi in the vacuum packs will keep forever until they are opened so the mini serves are good (albeit expensive) for long walks.
I take heaps of snacks; muesli bars, those apricot and coconut squares, chocolate, cup of soups, scroggin and energy gels or GU chomps. I tend to supplement a boring lunch with tasty snack foods.
I think it's really important to pay close attention to how much food you are taking! I find that it's quite easy to end up carrying way more food than you need. Most people tend to say they eat more when they are walking, but I am the complete opposite! Think about how much rice you will actually eat, how many biscuits or wraps you will eat at lunch... planning a bit to begin with can save the weight of your pack and limits how much food you end up carrying out!