Let me start by saying that my last pre-packaged meals served up by my Beloved Corps were C-rats. Lurps were just around the corner and MREs were a distant dream of some begoggled clerk. Therefore, I lack experience, much less expertise, on the modern military or civilian bowel blockers known as MRE.
Also, I understand that the OP may have some digestive tract issues that make MREs suitable to him in that they don't trigger disastrous gastric consequences. That pretty much points him to one solution over others.
Personally, I travel with canned goods sometimes, and sometimes I travel with groceries. Either way, I have to have a heat source to heat my soup or Spam (and morning coffee), so I travel with a stove (or two). Moreover, even when I don't travel with groceries, I travel with my refrigerator/freezer for cold refreshing drinks in the day and evening. Finally, since I need water to survive, I always have water with me, and because cleanliness is next to Godliness, I have a wash basin.
Clearly, I am traveling with a suite of kitchen appliances. They require room, take up space, etc. If traveling in the Outback without the trailer, they are in their little allocated spaces, separated to accommodate efficeincy (except for that refrigerator which takes up a hunk of the back). In the back of my trailer, they are organized more like a kitchen. Either way, I have a kitchen.
Don't we all travel with kitchens, really? You can save money by minimizing the size of the appliances (and arrange them for storage efficiency instead of looking like a kitchen), but when we examine what we pack, we usually have a stove (or a grill to put over the circle of rocks around the campfire), a cooler for beverages, and water with a basin.
I love my Spam, but I love it most with fried eggs and hash browns.