Have you looked into esbit cooking???
That is A really super ultralight form ,then if you decided you didnt really need/want to cook it would not be that much of A weight penalty ... Also multi functional as you can use the esbit tablets for emergency fire starter.
I myself like mentioned above find that A hot meal at the end of the day is so rewarding on the the cooler nights.
Also someone had mentioned above about the days of summer when it is hot not wanting a hot meal.
In the summer for myself I find myself hiking later into the day with the longer days of sunlight and often not eating dinner until after dark when it has cooled off a bit.
And even in the summer I still enjoy A hot meal at the end of a long day.
As far as being able to do it stoveless of course you can and there are lots of people doing it,some are opting to rehydrate there meals with there body heat etc and eating it at room ? temperature .
I myself use an alcohol stove made by zelph and A 10cm pot made by batchstovez.
It is always evolving and changing though as I have alot of different variables of alcohol stoves I use under certain circumstances.
But my kits never weigh over 7 ounces total and I generally never carry more than 12 ounces of fuel at a time.
But again as mentioned above this is entirely a personal decision for you to make.
I myself would check out an esbit stove,sounds like it might be right up your alley.
Here is A link from zpacks and the stove they carry.
http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/esbit_stove.shtml