Cruise provisioning

[scruff]

My mind is starting to wander towards the first cruise of the year and looking for your provisioning/recipe ideas for a week's cruise. On board fridge is more a coolbox so not the best at keeping stuff cold.

So beyond fray bentos pies, tinned haggis and corned beef - what's your staples for cooking on board?

 

[jamie N]

Rice, potatoes, bouillon powder, chorizo, parmesan, tomatoes and puree, par-baked bread, onions, garlic and mushrooms. Spices with black pepper, salt, paprika, curry and cumin.
Really easy to have a very varied and simple set of meals.

 

[LittleSister]

Tins are OK for 'filling the gaps' but not usually necessary

If you are going to be stopping places on the way, you can top up at those with fresh provisions, and ice for the coolbox.

For keeping milk etc. cool, we used to stand it in a bucket at the back of the cockpit, with a few inches of water and a tea-towel or piece of muslin draped over the milk and dangling in the water. (It cools by evaporation.) We'd also put butter and cheese, each in a small tupperware type box, in the bucket.

 

[johnalison]

That's a tricky one. It's nearly twenty years since we sailed without a fridge, which makes a big difference in that you can usually feed on fresh food. I don't think any made-up or packaged food ever lives up to expectations, so my suggestion, in a subject that is outside my normal range of knowledge, is to stock up with the usual tinned meats, ham, sardines and tuna, and use your imagination to render them interesting in the manner of stir-fries, risottos, stews, curries and the like.

 

[Resolution]

My mind is starting to wander towards the first cruise of the year and looking for your provisioning/recipe ideas for a week's cruise. On board fridge is more a coolbox so not the best at keeping stuff cold.

So beyond fray bentos pies, tinned haggis and corned beef - what's your staples for cooking on board?

Gin, rum.:very_drunk:

 

[RupertW]

From previous discussions on the topic it is the same question as “what should I buy for my weekly shop at home?”

Only you can answer how often you eat out, how much you like cooking and what your tastes are.

On a weeks trip we probably eat out 4 times, cold Greek / French style lunches and nice wine and a cooked meal at anchor 3 nights. On passage at night it’s always a hot meal - simplistically of rough and nicer if at all calm.

Obviously avoid Fray Bentos, corned beef and parsnips as you aren’t a time traveller to the time of rationing.

 

[doug748]

Potatoes, never go without potatoes. Chosen with care, they will last half a season and more.

Tomatoes also last a month as they are blasted with X rays or some such before packaging, they are great for breakfast, fried in olive oil - or indeed as a side to most meals. Peppers are no problem, choose firm green for maximum life.

Fresh eggs last at least 2 months. Butter a month as long as you do not actually let it melt. Good old wholemeal sliced bread will last a week. Cheese is tricky but Babybel is not bad with a bit of pickle, biscuits and a glass of (warm) red. Fresh fruit will often last as long as it takes to eat it, so sweet puddins are sorted, esp if you have honey or yoghurt - which also does not mind being unchilled.

Porridge is great for breakfast and in sweets. Soya mince is fine with pasta, and risotto as are those small tins of chicken in white sauce. Iceberg lettuce lasts well, I always have a good dressing and have salad with most meals. Spag Bol mixture can be bought in France with the meat already added, can't think why this is so difficult in the UK.

Coastal cruising this side of the Channel, the only thing you will miss is icy beer. Buy Bass.

 

[lw395]

Potatoes, never go without potatoes. Chosen with care, they will last half a season and more.

Tomatoes also last a month as they are blasted with X rays or some such before packaging, they are great for breakfast, fried in olive oil - or indeed as a side to most meals. Peppers are no problem, choose firm green for maximum life.

Fresh eggs last at least 2 months. Butter a month as long as you do not actually let it melt. Good old wholemeal sliced bread will last a week. Cheese is tricky but Babybel is not bad with a bit of pickle, biscuits and a glass of (warm) red. Fresh fruit will often last as long as it takes to eat it, so sweet puddins are sorted, esp if you have honey or yoghurt - which also does not mind being unchilled.

Porridge is great for breakfast and in sweets. Soya mince is fine with pasta, and risotto as are those small tins of chicken in white sauce. Iceberg lettuce lasts well, I always have a good dressing and have salad with most meals. Spag Bol mixture can be bought in France with the meat already added, can't think why this is so difficult in the UK.

Coastal cruising this side of the Channel, the only thing you will miss is icy beer. Buy Bass.

I prefer to catch my own bass.

 

[Channel Sailor]

In addition to already said: Couscous, dried mashed potato, dried mushrooms, longlife nann breads, long life tortilla wraps, part baked bread rolls, 7 day keep white sliced bread, risotto rice (produces less steam when cooking), pasta but does create a lot of steam, quick cook polenta, powdered milk, long life milk, eggs, onions and any other veg that keeps well, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, stock cubes, dried herbs, oils (rapeseed and olive) instead of butters/spreads, tinned fruit, condensed milk, long life little tubs of deserts for the kids. Tinned tuna, sardines and quality tinned meatballs. I vaguely recall that babybel cheeses keep ok out of the fridge for a while.

 

[PhillM]

Long life milk lasts six months before it’s opened and a few days without a fridge after. I carry about 12 cartons and work through them over a season.

Museli, corn flakes, porridge _ just add milk (see above).

Dried pasta, corned beef, chorizo. Cans of soup.

Brie lasts a week. Stilton longer. TUG biscutes are indestructible if kept dry!

“Look what we found” reheatable meals are actually rather nice (off the shelf in Waitrose).

Or in desperation ... Pot Noodle!

 

[Cardinal]

Tins of curry are good and easy with packets of tarka dhal. Easy to boil rice to go with it.
Remains of previous night’s meal make good basis for soup with a packet of Knor. Always good and easy to feed the crew on soup with an oatcake (keep better than bread) at lunchtime to keep up morale!
Plenty of biscuits to go with the crew’s afternoon tea.
A reliable means of making toast must be a high priority.

 

[TOKOLOSHI]

Or in desperation ... Pot Noodle!



Surely no one gets that desperate?

 

[TQA]

FB Steak and Ale pie before Pot Noodle

Tinned ratatouille Pasta Parmesan cheese

Lentils split peas pearl barley

Onions carrots cabbage


Dried apricots dates sultanas

 

[Uricanejack]

Rolls, couple of pounds of bacon, tea and a bottle of Glenlivet.
What more do you need

I quite like a civilized anchorage within walking distance of a nice pub.

 

[Scomber]

Fresh milk when we can , some long life and powdered . All fine , no fridge only under floor which in scotland is cool enough. Pasta, porridge , rice, flour (fresh scones/bread sometimes) courgette, those lettuce and cabbages you can pull leaves off from the outside and any other longer lasting fruit and veg. Usual array of spices etc etc Selection of tins just in case. Mussels, fish , sometimes i make my own jam! Best of all a great partner who's a great cook.

 

[yoda]

Frozen milk seems to stay that way for a long time and helps keep everything else cold. A couple of bottles of cheap spring water also frozen down provide additional cooling and can then be used as drinking water once defrosted. Mince, Chicken breasts (frozen) Onions, tin tomatoes, cheese, tomato puree, jar of curry sauce, rice, pasta, stock cubes olive oil, flora and some bread.

Most stuff will keep in a cool box for a week, even better do the cooking at home, freeze the meals down and defrost one at a time. Once managed 6 days of a Fastnet race for a crew of 7 with frozen meals and the last one was still frozen on the last day and that was just in a cold box.

Yoda

 

[Mataji]

JSurprised no one’s mentioned the packets of microwave rice. Does not need to be microwaved, just boil a kettle and pour it over the rice, leave for a couple of minutes then drain.

 

[Frank Holden]

A week in a cool climate shouldn't be too hard.
UHT milk and cream,
A bit of vacuum packed meat,
A cool box half full of ice.
Canned for me is fruit, mushrooms ( for omelettes and bulking up packet soup), tomatoes and peas....
For lunch under way... packet soup or Korean noodles..... ignore all those poncey noodles...Maggi and the like.... buy the Korean ones in the red packet.... spice up with Sriracha sauce.....

Plus your standard weekly shop.

 

[Sandy]

We freeze everything then load the fridge defrosting things as we need them, by the end of the week things are defrosted, but cool.

Tinned haggis should be avoided at all costs; stock up at your local supermarket and freeze them.

 

[Frank Holden]

We freeze everything then load the fridge defrosting things as we need them, by the end of the week things are defrosted, but cool.

Haggis should be avoided at all costs; stock up at your local supermarket and freeze them.

Fixed that for you