Long, long ago, I was a young men's leader in our church group. I took the young men backpacking in the woods nearly every month. "Keep them well-fed and they'll be happy."
Teenage boys in the woods like a lot of food but they don't like carrying a lot of food. The compromise was hearty soups, hearty soups with dumplings. We would pick cream soups, gravy-like soups, or chowders. It really didn't matter as long as they were thick.
For the dumplings, I would grab a biscuit mix, make a soft biscuit dough, and drop it by spoonfuls into the simmering soup. Cover the pan to capture the steam.
Dumplings can be that simple. you can put the same thing in the oven to make pot pies.
