Do you bring a cooler? I don’t understand what you mean by chili keeping well? You cannot put chili in a ziplock bag, put it in your backpack, and eat it four days later, it will go bad. You also cannot bring a cooler on a through hike. Anything besides car glamping you’re going to have to dehydrate chili if you want to bring it, or pay exorbitant prices for a brand pre-made like mountain house or peak refuel.
How am I camping? Last trip was a 5 day through the BWCA, before that was a 7 day backpacking through the tetons, prior to that it was a 5 day canyoneering in southeast Utah (don’t even get me started on trying to keep a cooler cold in utah even when we did have a night near the car). Dehydrated foods are shelf stable! That’s the draw. Super lightweight and shelf stable. Just add hot water!