I generally stay away from the "meal in a bag" style freeze-dried foods, as I also find them overpriced and not great tasting. But I usually carry some dehydrated beans with me on every tour. They don't taste great (though they taste strangely close to Taco Bell refried beans) but they get the job done, and are great for making tacos/burritos and the like. Fantastic Foods is the most common brand I've seen of beans and I've found them in regular grocery stores like Fred Meyer.

I also will use some dehydrated soups from time to time. Not that exciting, true but great as a backup "there are no stores near where I'm camping tonight" type of meal. I just keep it in a ziplock at the bottom of the bag and don't worry about it. Typically I find these soups in bulk bins, or use some type of "cup o' soup".