Besides charqui/jerky, soldiers from the Inca empire also had freeze-dried potatoes at their disposal:

Locally known as chuño. Spread taters on a high altitude field, let them freeze through the night and thaw through the day, trample them to remove skins and further moisture, and optionally wash them (if you don’t you get black chuño, with a stronger flavour; else you get white chuño, like in the pic). Then to eat the chuño rehydrate some in warm water, and cook it as usual. You can also grind it for some sort of instant potato mash, or for a stew/soup thickener.

The whole process is rather laborious, and it takes five days (not counting transport), but chuño was essential for logistic reasons — it weights a fraction of the raw potatoes it was made from, without losing too many nutrients. And if properly stored it lasts for decades without spoiling.

So for example, if you were a soldier on march you’d pack some chuño, perhaps some other dried ingredients (like charqui or dried peppers [nobody likes boring food]), then supplement it with meat and greens foraged from the fields (…or pillaged from locals). Foraging is necessary because potatoes aren’t exactly protein-rich, and you still need vitamins, but even if you’re unlucky at least you won’t get hungry.

Note however the empire didn’t create chuño. It was the opposite — chuño created the empire. The technology behind its production predates the formation of the empire, it’s from the 13th century; and since the kingdom of Cuzco had really good material conditions to produce lots of chuño, it was able to expand and become the Inca empire.