Butter!

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

"We are believers that the simpler it is to just jump on the boat and go the more it will get used, and the more value we get from it (and in general use is better for it too)......."



Me too, fridges always seem much more trouble than they are worth

Though many people don't believe it, butter can keep 4 weeks in a cool place; I never bother taking it off the boat. Salted butter may last longer or it may be my imagination. Most supermarket eggs will keep 2 months or more. Potatoes are always welcome and last 3 months +. Babybel cheeses may not be great cheese but they will be happy for months as will other waxed cheeses, though they decline when opened. Yogurt seems to last most of the season. No need to take this stuff home if you use the boat regularly.
Cos lettuce keeps well as do tomatoes - up to a few weeks if bought firm. Part used bottles of olives in brine, gherkins etc will keep till you need them, as will most dressings, salad creams and (obviously) pickles.
This is handy stuff, keeps almost forever even opened:

View attachment 146144

Here is an under rated thing for spicing up canned chilli etc:

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Keeps all season and into the next. Heat cut green beans in good olive oil with one of those sliced into it and fried, for an excellent light meal/ starter.

Very annoying that the French have lots of sauces with meat, which are rare in the UK. I always stock up:

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The own brand supermarket tins are very cheap.

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You could add a salami or chorizo, hanging from the deckhead. The only care it needs is to rub some olive oil onto the skin.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Because it is equally part of the convenience factor - I'd rather not have to remember, go find a container, fill it, take it, remember to bring back to the boat etc. I am totally aware this is a first world problem.
Does substituting butter for mayo not just shift the "preserving butter" issue to "preserving mayo" one? I'm not sure better bread is really an easier option - that narrows down where we can buy bread and probably creates a keeping bread fresh issue.
this was the sort of thing I was wondering - obviously 100 years ago most people kept their butter out of the fridge. Are modern "spreads" less tolerant or more?
Babybel is a handy idea. Does yoghurt really cope ok outside the fridge?

That would need to be indefinitely - as clearly gherkins are not fit for human consumption - or they would taste better!

Barrels of edible butter, dating from medieaval (have spelt that correctly?) times have been dug up from Irish peat bogs

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Dipping bread in olive oil (ideally with a bit of balsamic vinegar) is a good alternative to butter. Cut the bread into "soldiers" for best results! Olive oil and balsamic vinegar will keep more or less indefinitely. Of course, use good bread.

Or you could just tear off bits of the bread, which they seem to do everywhere else,apart from the British Isles (or "These Island"s, as they are referred to over here )

 

[Iliade]

One can purchase tinned butter pretty readily in India/Asia.

Locally available options include: How Much! Cheaper to buy and run a fridge!

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

We are believers that the simpler it is to just jump on the boat and go the more it will get used, and the more value we get from it (and in general use is better for it too).

to that end we were looking at how best to provision for short overnight trips etc. Going to the supermarket specifically to stock up seems like the sort of extra hassle that we are trying to avoid. We can easily keep her provisioned with many “essentials” and for example are planning to leave a few pints of uht milk or some of those individual milk pots on board. We’ve not found an equivalent for butter (or spreads pretending to be butter) -the only individual portions I can find seem to be intended for refrigeration. Whilst we have fridge on board we turn it off when we leave the boat.

so, what long shelf life / no fridge solutions have you found to avoid stocking up each time and then bringing back 1/2 full containers etc? Whilst I’m especially keen to hear about butter I’m interested in any conveniences like this you’ve discovered…

IMHO you are taking the "impromptu-ness" (edit; spontaneity) a little too far. As suggested above, keeping some bulletproof staples on board is a good idea. They won't deteriorate appreciably, as you intend to use the boat frequently, and the suggestion above, to just take some of what you have in the fridge is a good idea. An even better idea is that, when you cook something, such as Chili con Carne, Curry, Bolognese sauce, etc., to make double, and freeze half of it in portions in plastic containers or freezer bags and bring some with you in an insulated bag. If you also bring frozen milk and drinking water, (which you would keep on standby in the freezer just for these occasions), everything would stay cool until you want to use it. You could keep suitably sized containers of butter in your fridge, renewed from time to time. Rice and pasta will keep for the season, and potatoes, as mentioned above, have a reasonable shelf life. Once, when instructing a crew of five on a boat equipped only with an ice-box, my wife included a small frozen turkey in the victuals. It kept everything cool for most of the week,and was fully thawed out and ready to cook on the last day of the course.
I'm sure you take a few minutes do do some passage-planning. a similar amount of time could be devoted to planning what you are going to eat.
Whatever you do, I think it would be very wise to keep an up-to-date list of what supplies you actually have on board, to avoid disapppointment and inconvenience.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

One can purchase tinned butter pretty readily in India/Asia.

Locally available options include: How Much! Cheaper to buy and run a fridge!

In the USA they sell pounds of butter divided into "sticks".
Stick of butter in grams - Google Search
Equally irrelevant to the OP though

 

[Poignard]

An underseat locker contiguous to the (underwater part of the) hull would be better.

The locker is below the waterline. The Twister has a lot of lockers, most below the waterline. It's a very useful future.

 

[Daydream believer]

The locker is below the waterline. The Twister has a lot of lockers, most below the waterline. It's a very useful future.

Seems to me that a feature of old wooden boats is that the lockers are below the waterline. But not always by design

 

[Sandro]

Quote: "The Italians dip their bread in Olive Oil. "
With garlic.

 

[Neeves]

3 Feathers tinned butter, ex NZ, will keep for ever until opened and then keep a long time. Send them an email and ask who your nearest stockist might be. Tinned butter, in tins smaller than the ones used by 3 Feathers (and tinned cheese) used to be a feature of UK Army Compo rations. Have a search......

Easi Yo, and others, sell a dried yogurt mix which mixed with water makes an excellent yogurt. They sell a plastic double walled container within which you make the yogurt. The suppliers of Easi Yo also market a small range of desserts (powdered) which you mix with water (or milk?) - Creme Brûlée etc. Easi Yo have a UK presence. Have, another, search send them an email.

Historically Asians had a similar problem to the one, or ones, outlined (now everyone has a fridge) and they developed a whole cupboard full of items that replaced fresh. Dried seaweed for example but also tinned preserved cabbage, dried fish (but this is similar to Portuguese dried fish) etc etc - just rake around in an Asian supermarket and do not be afraid to try something new (as mentioned Asian supermarkets often stock tinned butter).

Surprise Peas.

Freshly caught fish, eel, mussels, oysters should not be ignored. Oysters and mussels 'escape' from their farms - if you are near farms have a search on the rocks.

Eggs keep well in any case, as mentioned, but dried egg used to be commonplace in the UK (and we can still source here) and can be kept - for ever (or a long time) - on a yacht. Depends on the powder but it makes omelettes and scrambled egg etc. - sunny side up is a real challenge .

Not of much value for a weekend, they are a bit big, but Wombok cabbage last for weeks if stored in a cool place.

There is plenty of food out there that does not need a fridge. Its usefulness to you is limited only by your imagination and courage. Dried chestnut, Asian supermarket, make a good addition, and add variety to your recipes, for chicken.

In addition to the food check out 'Shuttle Chef' or 'Mr D's Thermal Cooker.' Many long life food items benefit from long slow cooking and a (stove top) thermal cooker is ideal, less threatening than a pressure cooker and much more convenient.

Thermos Thermal Cooker Review - Practical Sailor

Jonathan

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Quote: "The Italians dip their bread in Olive Oil. "
With garlic.

Even better!

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Might need a bit of hunting down, but I have seen small packs of butter in supermarkets (100g?).

 

[TwoFish]

margarine

Not acceptable in any circumstances, ever. Even as a mechanical lubricant, antifoul or Orca poison. Certainly not as a foodstuff. Filth like that should just not be tolerated anywhere on our planet.

 

[Mister E]

If you are taking bread why not take some butter at the same time?
In the same carrier bag.

 

[guernseyman]

Kippers in tins keep for years, great for those dawn starts. Par-baked bread keeps for 2 or 3 months.
When in France I stock up with tins of Coq au Vin, Boeuf Bourguignon, Cassoulet, etc which keep for years.
At the end of each season I go through the tins - anything that won't keep through next season goes home for use there.

 

[Daydream believer]

Dare I say it-- Fray Bentos meat pies.
There,! someone had to say it.

 

[Neeves]

Dare I say it-- Fray Bentos meat pies.
There,! someone had to say it.

They don't travel - or not as far as Oz. But maybe that's indication that Oz is Capital for fresh, gourmet, pies



We used to have tinned cheese here but Bega stopped selling through retail stores and will only accept bulk orders. Does anyone offer tinned cheese in the UK? ...again I vaguely recall they were part of Compo rations

Is it a contradiction to have 'gourmet', 'pie' and 'Australia' in the same sentence............?

Jonathan

 

[ylop]

If you are taking bread why not take some butter at the same time?
In the same carrier bag.

Bread doesn’t melt in transit. I can either take and eat a whole loaf (I’ll not eat a whole pack of butter in a weekend) or if going alone take what’s left of the loaf in the house / part of a loaf without making a mess subdividing butter into tuperware and bringing back tuperware, with a dollop of butter in the bottom. I dare say if I bought my bread unsliced I might be asking the same thing….

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Bread doesn’t melt in transit. I can either take and eat a whole loaf (I’ll not eat a whole pack of butter in a weekend) or if going alone take what’s left of the loaf in the house / part of a loaf without making a mess subdividing butter into tuperware and bringing back tuperware, with a dollop of butter in the bottom. I dare say if I bought my bread unsliced I might be asking the same thing….

Estimate how much butter you might use per day, cut pieces that correspond to a day or more put in a plastic self sealing bag place in the freezer and take out when you decide to go. Any small scraps left over when you return can be used in the home quickly, the bag is either disposable or washable, your choice. You are over thinking it.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

We keep our sailing bags packed and ready to go, whether it be to our own boat or to someone else's. I suppose we could expand that strategy to include storage of frozen frozen water and portions of main courses in the freezer and purchase a good insulated bag or box, ( perhaps 12v plug-in) for their preservation on the journey.
As for breakfasts and lunches it would take two minutes to pack the necessary items that are going to be in our fridge and larder cabinet anyhow. This is what I would advise Ylop to do. How much of a hurry are you in, anyhow?