(whenever I git clone my dotfiles on a new machine I usually have to comment out a bunch of stuff in my ~/.emacs because it's referencing packages which aren't installed, and I forgot where I installed them from, what version, etc...)
You could also use the Guix package manager[1] or the Nix package manager[2] to achieve a similar effect.
Reproducible software is much more stable!
[0]https://github.com/raxod502/straight.el
My (old) config used it heavily. It also defined everything inside a single org file which also serves as a README on github: https://github.com/kwrooijen/.emacs.d
However these days I'm using Spacemacs, currently looking at Doom.
I use Cask: https://cask.readthedocs.io/en/latest/guide/installation.htm...
Let's consider Homebrew bundle etc outside of scope and assume you have some workflow that works for you to init a new machine with emacs and some other apps, and you're just worried about the zillions of little emacs packages you are testing or using.
So, I have a file called at ~/.emacs.d/Cask, that is just a list of packages on which I depend. This is the only way I install packages. Update the file and do "cask install".
This also means if you're packages get weird, or you have some sort of transient .elc problem you can just blow away ~/.emacs.d/.cask and do a 'cask install' (basically .cask ~= node_modules)
Additionally, I recommend judicious use of (when (boundp 'some-thing) (some-thing)), and (fboundp ..), and (if (require 'foobar nil :noerror) (foobar-mode 1)). This avoids the cascade of errors on installation troubles (at the cost of not being alerted if you're missing them).