My impression is that there is no one right way and that most ways are right sometimes and wrong others. Hence, being prepared means having different things on hand.

My assumption is that I will have no refrigeration. So having a can of chili opened means I have to eat it all at one sitting or lose it. Same with any canned food. So my thinking is pop-open single-serving cans of tuna, chicken, spam, whatever. Small cans of vegetables.

As I understand from this thread, having dried grains means I have to have lots of water to soak, then cook briefly; or having lots of fuel and water to cook for hours; or not eating it. I have to have big pots for soaking; pots for cooking. A place to soak and cook. I do think I'll have plenty of water from a nearby stream, and I have a supply of microfilters and a container for filtered, presumably potable water. I'm not sure I'll have fuel for long cooking. Maybe not even for short cooking. I have a camp stove that burns unleaded gas, so as long as I have abandoned cars nearby, I should have fuel, but not if there is a flood that contaminates all the gas. If I cook single serving portions, I don't have to worry about spoilage of cooked food if I have no refrigeration. But I think I have to cook more often and consume more fuel.

Then I get to ability. If I'm injured, I may not be able to carry water for filtering and cooking. I may not be able to handle pots and water for soaking. I may not be able to gather fuel. It depends on the injury. If I'm injured, I'll be happy to have a supply of pop-open single-serving cans I can eat out of. Maybe some self-heating MREs, assuming I can get them open.

But there's no way to know ahead of time what my situation will be, so I try to include enough variety not only of food but of containers and preparation methods that I'll at least have something to eat in most survival situations. There are too many variables in my situation to limit myself to flour, beans, rice, and the like, even taking into account rotating the goods so that they remain edible. Additionally, I don't assume I'll have my house and its stove and refrigerator and walls and roof. I may be in my tent or in a patio under a tarp.