Best long life food ideas please

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paulsmith

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I would prefer not to have to take fresh food out every time I go out for a sail, or for a few days away and have over the years discovered long life and dried milk, Fray Bentos pies. Dried nut loaf (Just add water and bake for 20 mins its brill from Morrisons)
Bread rolls and Nann bread from Lidl's that stay fresh for weeks and given a quick blast in the oven taste like fresh new bread,The satcets of cappacino coffee, hot chocolate and so on that mean you don't have to stay down below too long making up drinks from seperate ingredients etc. The one thing that we havn't found a long life version of is butter. our tub of utterly butterly went off as soon as the weather warmed up.although to be fair it's lasted since March (we don't have a fridge) So to get to the point does any one Know of a butter in a sealed container that will keep fresh when not kept chilled. Like the small tubs of cream/milk served in cafe's
or any other discoveries that make all the difference.(I know about salt cod and ships biscuits!)
 
Long life croissants and pain au chocolat [Sainsburys or Co-op]

Chay Blyth went round the world on Vesta curry [alone]

Porridge when it's rough, cos it tastes good in both directions.
 
I Normally use fresh but ive done a nice meal with canned food , Steak new potatoes peas and carrots , wont do the peas again ! Try keeping the butter in the bilge , seems to keep my beer cool down there .
 
Tesco's tinned unpeeled new potatoes are excellent, whereas the peeled ones taste, to me, like wax.

Dry cured bacon/ham should last, and not need refrigerating.

However, I keep searching for high energy tasty food that will keep and have yet to find what I really want.

I agree with the former reply about pasta, seems to keep for ever, as does boil-in-a-bag rice
 
M&S tinned food is excellent - particularly the curries. We keep a few tins on board for when we are caught out with nothing fresh to eat. I know somebody who catered a whole Atlantic circuit with them. He went into his local M&S and bought one of each type, took them home tried them all, chose the ones he liked and went back and ordered a case of each. Bit expensive though - but yummy!

Ed
 
You can get tinned butter that keeps forever. Used to get it in military ration packs when in ATC as youth before days of dried food when we used to go hill walking. On the same vein, similar foods we used to use. Alpen or equivalent in tupperware box will keep for ages. Tinned tuna, tinned corn beef etc not very exciting, but make quick meals when served imaginatively - use some of the jars of flavoured tomato sauces you can buy for instant meal with spaghetti.
 
Sainburys do a long life breakfasy which you simply pop in the frying pan. If you're in France there's all sorts of tasty long life stuff - tins of cassoulet, duck and various cous-cous packages.
 
Gidday

As an alternative to butter.

Peanut paste
Tahani - a bit blah- by itself maybe mix with some other pulse paste like chickpeas.
Mayonaise will last very well as long as it is always kept sterile.
Some margarines probably do not contain anything organic!
Condensed milk - hey kids eat anything
That nutella stuff.
Make a savory tomato paste.
Those refillable tubes can be good to keep pastes.

Soft cheese. Cheeses keep well. (read Tristan Jones)

Think wet - greasy - eddible
 
You can get mixed flavoured rice, in packets from lidl, also pasta snacks are much better than the pot noodle shite, also from lidl, Jars of pasta sauce, pasta, all kinds of tinned stuff is available, also lots of dried things, keep for ever. Get kilner (sp) jar type enclosures and you can keep things for ever (almost) You can also "can" your own food, in a pressure cooker with glass type kilner jars, then you can take almost anything with you.
 
You can get the flavoured rices form most supermarkets now, we always have some on board. Add a tin of tuna and you have dinner for two. Tinned meat/tinned meals are variable, but we keep tinned veg. biryani and sweet&sour as a backup as well. Plus tinned fruit, and little pots of custard that don't need refrigerating.
I did read of someone taking a kilner jar of sweetened spiced vinegar, so they could fillet and souse mackeral caught en route. That is something I'd like to try on this summer's holiday.
 
One way to get fresh food to last a lot longer is to have it vacuum packed. Some butchers have this technology and their meat will last considerably longer than usual.

If you find this acceptable, it is possible to purchase your own vacuum bagger.
 
Never soused makerel, but now I will try, usually smoke mine. on the barbie, with charcoal and lots of wet oak woodchips, They can be bought from some garden type centres. If I cant get woodchips, some bits of oak branch chopped and bashed up do fine, it's the smoke you want! Haven't done any in Spain, not sure the marina would like the honk!!
 
Butter will always be a problem. The tinned stuff is like hens teeth and when you can find it it goes off within hours of opening up. Virgin olive oil, though will keep forever as long as its kept frost-free (it goes solid). Good flavour on part-bake bread fresh out the of oven.
Army compo is v. expensive to buy on the internet and most of the stuff can be bought in Lidle apart from the self-heating tins which are a liability. Costco and Mappins sell little individual portions of UHT creamer and milk... and sachets of instant coffee. Jars of instant tend to go solid after a week or two of opening.
The stand-by on our boat is cous-cous which only needs boiling water to make a staple. Just chuck on what you fancy.
A jar of curry paste (not sauce) is an essential for fish and tinned stuff that's always bland.
Favorite fishy dish... Tahitian Salad. 1st - catch fish. 2 - fillet and cut into strips 1cm wide. 3 - cover in juice of limes and/or lemon for at least 1 hour. 3. Eat.
Works best with white fish like haddy, codling etc. but I have done mackerel and conger.
 
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