Are other folks going with you? Zatarian's makes some good bean and rice meals that don't take up much space or weight, once you take them out of the box, and they are super cheap. Only thing is they make a pretty big meal. Zatarian's also make "ready to eat sides" like red beans and rice, they are in packets and only require heating, not cooking. You can make all kinds of meals with a dehydrator. I've dehydrated all the ingredients, including the meat, to make beef stew. If you have the time to simmer it for a few hours, makes an awesome meal that stays good for months at least. Plus, you can make way better jerky using a dehydrator than you can buy. Small summer sausages and pepperoni are good, packable meats. I know you said no cans, but the small, canned white meat chicken chunks are an awesome addition to ramen noodles. Now they have tuna fish in packets instead of cans, big weight reduction from the cans and a lot of protein. They even have chicken salad and tuna fish salad packs. All the ingredients are in separate packets, so you mix them when you want. Nice and compact once removed from their box. There are lots of options at the grocery store that don't carry the price tag of stuff marketed to hikers.
