Outdoors, my goal is to get the best result I can with the light I'm given, but the conditions help me select what I'm going to shoot between the golden hours. Bright overcast is good for avoiding hdr situations, minimizing shadows, photographing people / portraits, flowers, forest scenes, especially waterfalls, things where the softer light sets a more desirable softer mood. Bright sun is good for wildlife / birds, landscapes / seascapes (although you can get some dramatic effects when streaks of light come through the clouds), anything where you want high contrast, which promotes sharpness, or are trying to set a hard mood. If you are good at PP, you can adjust the "lighting" to your hearts content. I can't count the number of times I turned a bright overcast sky into a bright blue sky and increased contrast and maybe overdid the sharpening a bit to change the mood of an image.
As far a meals go on days when I'm hiking in, I throw a couple of protein bars and a bag or two of trail mix along with a couple of bottles of water in my backpack.