Food

[Pye_End]

Has anyone any food recommendations?

Last JAC my conclusion was that I should spend more time trying to find a variety of food that was reasonably nice (and easy).

Tins worked well, but do not feel that a diet of largely curry would be the best way to go. The 'Look what we Found' range seems pretty good, but I thought was a bit small. One of them was rather fatty and inedible which put me off a little. Fresh would be best, but I found fruit and veg did not last as well as people say it should, and I found food preparation hard. My feeling is that I need to keep it simple, but also have a few bits to make some simple real food if the opportunity allows.

Breakfast is fine - skimmed milk plus cereal. Milk lasted the day outside, and any remaining would be turned into custard at about midnight.

Lunch. The odd tinned soup, plus grilled garlic naan bread (this was a particularly good find as it is long life and keeps well). The odd tin of beans. Not sure which cheese will last ambient other than smelly socks Parmesan.

Just been looking through freeze dried meals, army ration packs, and this site: shop.conserva.de/en/69-http://vegetariannutrition.net/docs/Iron-Vegetarian-Nutrition.pdfmeat-dishes . Looks interesting.

Anyone got any other finds that are tasty and nutritious?

 

[co256]

Breakfast everyday for me consisted of: Jumbo oats, mixed dried vine fruit and omega 4 seed mix or pumpkin seeds, mixed with UHT milk and water the evening before so all the dried ingredients soak up the milk and water, cooks quicker which saves gas (or whatever your fuel) and fills you up with a hot meal after a potentially cold night on deck.

Miso soup sachets are a great alternative to endless caffeine.

Orzo pasta (small rice grain shaped pasta) cooks in less than half the time of ordinary dried pasta takes up less space in your stowage and for me is regularly mixed with tinned fish.

Risotto rice with mixed dried mushrooms, onion, garlic and some of that smelly foot cheese you mentioned!

I do all my cooking in a small pressure cooker, cooks in less time, turn the heat off but leave the lid on and it keeps cooking, which I think improves the taste of any dried food and, if it ever parts company with the cooker it won't decorate the inside of your cabin if the lid is locked on.

Ghee is a great alternative to butter as it is.... well, butter! except it comes in plastic tubs with screw top lids and doesn't need refrigeration. You can cook with it or spread it on bread.

My local Lidl sells vacuum packed fresh "looking" filled pasta (tortellini) which stores at room temperature for a couple of months and there are endless choices for pasta sauce, another excuse for your smelly cheese!

 

[Pye_End]

Ghee. Interesting. Looks like it is possible to bake with it. Needs more research I think.... Found some tinned butter in the German link above, but couldn't find it in UK - may not need to now!

Lidl pasta - is it any good? Does in compare with 'real' filled pasta?

 

[co256]

Ghee is clarified butter so amongst other things it doesn't tend to burn so easily if you cook with it, you'd find it by the bin full if you have a local Indian/Asian supermarket.

Lidl sell it, I doubt they make it but it tastes pretty good and it's probably as good as the sauce you pour over it and as good as you're going to get at sea for weeks on end.

 

[Yngmar]

Lidl sometimes does a canned goulash, which I rather fancy. I always stock up when they do.

Our local Asda has a Polish shelf, which sells canned processed pork that tastes way way better than the usual can of spam or corned beef.

Ocado/Waitrose sell Telma chicken soup powder, which is great as either a soup (toss in a bit of rice or pasta if you like) or for adding flavor to other stuff you're cooking. Keep in a airtight container.

Couscous is easier to make than rice and rather nice. You just pour a bit of hot water from the kettle/thermos over it and leave it covered for 2 minutes (no cooking).

Quorn makes some dry powder that you can mix with water into some kind of beef emulation. It's not very good, but an option if you grow tired/run out of canned meat.

Cashews are an excellent snack and also work as meat alternative (it's a vegetarian thing that I've copied because it actually works).

Milk powder is bloody awful and I can't deal with it, so I haul around UHT milk cartons in the (dry) bilges.

A smoked, dried sausage (Chorizo, from the rear corner at Lidl) can be hung up by and stays fresh unrefrigerated for weeks/months.

 

[pmagowan]

Cured meats like ham, salami etc keep for ever. Hard cheeses, soft cheese in olive oil. Olives in olive oil. Confit of anything stored under the fat. The olive oils and fats used for preserving can then be used in cooking. Pickles of many varieties are as close to fresh as you get. Rice, beans, spuds, pasta, noodles. You can also can or vacuum bag meals at home which will keep indefinitely. Fish can be caught or take preserved stuff like smoked, peppered, pickled etc. Some veg will keep for a long time if prepared right or still alive and watered. Others can be blanched and preserved or canned. You can buy tinned peas, tomatoes, beans, carrots, spuds, artichoke, asparagus etc etc. Some are as good as fresh, others require a bit of help to revive. Flour and yeast plus water makes breads.

 

[Hadenough]

While I admire the Jester attitude I am in no way brave enough to follow their footsteps. Having an insight into their
culinary limitations further confirms my instinct.

 

[Independence]

Roger Fitzgerald posted his menu spreadsheet on the main Jester Challenge website under 'Articles'. It is very comprehensive and will probably be of use / interest to you.

 

[Pye_End]

Thanks, yes I have read it, and agreed it is comprehensive.

Have bought some Ghee today, and following some baking research will try some scones and 'stuff' over the next couple of weeks. Couldn't find Lidl's goulash, but will keep my eyes peeled. However, bought a packed of freeze dried goulash (bit expensive) and will try in due course.

The cheese comment is interesting. Can only find commend of soft or goats cheese on the web about ambient in olive oil, but also found a fascinating article about how poorly nasty micro organisms can survive in ambient cheese. Since proper dutch cheese shops are riddled with ambient cheese - why is most of it sold in UK in a chill counter? Is it mould, and if so do harder cheeses survive ok ambient? Or perhaps it is marketing.

Tinned fish/nuts - neither food I am too keen on. Irritating as they open up the menu opportunities, especially for protein.

 

[Spuddy]

Aldo worth a good rummage. they have those "tuna for pasta" tins plus assorted easy cook rice, couscous and pasta. I've just run out of the foil packets of rosti - tasty, easy and cheap from 99p shop but they no longer stock, nor Morrisons, nor anywhere else I can find. If anybody finds them please let me know where. There's also the packets of gnochi which are ok with a sauce but good fried.
Onions last and cabbage and apples cos the Azores ones are rubbish.
Agree about a compact pressure cooker.

 

[pmagowan]

Cheeses do last very well and it all depends on your aversion to moulds. A good hard Italian pecorino will last indefinitely and is great with pears and honey, on pasta, toast or just as a snack. Cheddars will last quite a while but do sweat and grow safe mould. It doesn't bother me and I will happily use the mouldy stuff on a biscuit or in cooking. I don't like those Dutch or Germanic cheeses that taste of plastic but they probably last as long as plastic.

Regarding nuts, you are nuts not to like them and I don't believe you. You might think you don't like them but you just need to use them in the right way. Use them in your cooking, trying different types. Put them in salads. Add them to your breakfast. They are a brilliant, long lasting source of protein that stores easily.

Use wax paper to wrap cheeses etc.

 

[Yngmar]

Just bought a can of Nestlé Nido milk powder after a recommendation from somewhere (possibly here?). I've made a mug full of the stuff, and while I do have a cold and thus limited taste, it did seem vastly superior to the "Marvel" brand stuff I'd tried before. The Nido tasted like actual (3.7% aka full fat) milk (closer to UHT than fresh milk, probably because there's no bacteria in it, so presumably once mixed it'll last a few days). One 900g can makes about 7 litre of reconstituted milk and costs £6.99 at Asda (on the exotic foods shelf).

I'll be having one on board from now on for when I run out of UHT milk.

 

[Spuddy]

Tried flatbreads with yeast but a bit too much faffing about for a smaller boat at sea. Haven't tried with baking powder yet though. In Nice (the French place) their local speciality was chickpea flour made into a sort of crepe. I got it (labelled gram flour) from Asian section of supermarket and twas OK.
That bulgur wheat is also as easy to prepare as couscous - mix in lots of stuff to give it a flavour.

 

[co256]

Don't forget those small sealed bags of pitta breads, if it's bread you miss at sea and don't want to bake!

 

[Spuddy]

Oh yes, and those packets of solid coconut cream work well: in rice, with chicken and perk up lentils.
packets of rosti are back in Poundland and also small selection of those Look What We Found sachets

 

[co256]

Found some Kohinoor foods pre cooked Indian meals in Aldi.

All vegetarian, boil in the bag, cooks in 3-4 minutes.

Chaana dahl, sag aloo, etc

One of the best parts is the total lack of additives, preservatives and chemicals!

BB date 2018

 

[oldbilbo]

I know that a certain Julien Pipat, presently the 'leader' in the current Jester Challenge ina revamped 'Bula', shipped a significant supply of dried ham, hard cheese, and good local wine. He seems to thrive on it....

Oh, and just for a change of diet, I donated a large pack of chocolate half-covered digestive biscs. Perhaps not best with cheese, but as accompaniment to a mug of hot café-cognac in the wee dark hours, does wonders for the morale.

 

[co256]

Dolmio pasta sauces in pouches spotted today, three choices, long shelf life and just enough sauce for one!

 

[ClaireDuet]

Don't forget drinks! I can get really dehydrated at sea and swear by these: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/high5-zero-electrolyte-drink-20-tabs/

I also really like this: https://ie.iswari.net/shop-product/Breakfasts/Buddha's-Awakening-Chocolate-Hit-Organic/85 It's really tasty and really nutritionally dense, full of good stuff. It is expensive though, and I don't know if you can get it in the UK. I just add hot water to a few good heaped tablespoons. It's great on cold nights/mornings.