Originally Posted by
BigAura
Exclusively eating cold meals for a couple-of-days or once-in-awhile is fine. But day-after-day on a long tour, I gladly carry an extra 1-2 lbs (pot/stove/fuel) for hot oatmeal, soups, stews, stir-fry, and coffee.
and this is where we get to the whole issue of there being no right or wrong way to (in this case) travel by bike. It all comes down to what one is comfortable with and putting an emphasis on X or Y, and balancing bike+load weight with what one prefers, and having the right gearing etc for that choice and the type of riding style you are doing.
If you have to lift your bike over stuff often, or want to be really fast, then light is going to have obvious advantages.