Emergency Food on board

[sarabande]

as launch time approaches ( ) I was wondering what emergency supplies people keep on board. Not the general comestibles which sit in the food cupboards as basic stores, but the just-in-case grub that can sit in plastic box up in a deep locker, and which could be relied upon to stay usable for a year, and would sustain life for a couple of people for a week if one were stormbound off some remote island.

and, yes, Fray Bentos is a possibility, though rat packs, rice, dried fruit, milk powder, that sort of food is what I am thinking of.


Any links to specialist suppliers also welcome.

Ta !

 

[PCUK]

As lunch time approaches I think of soup, Oh sorry, launch time. I'll get me coat!:ambivalence:

 

[DannyB]

as launch time approaches ( ) I was wondering what emergency supplies people keep on board. Not the general comestibles which sit in the food cupboards as basic stores, but the just-in-case grub that can sit in plastic box up in a deep locker, and which could be relied upon to stay usable for a year, and would sustain life for a couple of people for a week if one were stormbound off some remote island.

and, yes, Fray Bentos is a possibility, though rat packs, rice, dried fruit, milk powder, that sort of food is what I am thinking of.


Any links to specialist suppliers also welcome.

Ta !

Have Fray Bentos got ring pull tops yet ? I always used to get nightmares where I was marooned on a desert island with a Fray Bentos pie and no tin opener.
An aunt of mine in a moment of forgetfulness put a Fray Bentos steak pie in the oven without removing the lid. Coincidentally we arrived at her door five minutes after it exploded, removing the oven door and redecorating her kitchen with a pastry and steak pebbledash effect.

 

[sailorman]

Aldi tins, potato curry Thai chicken ect. rice in a vacuum pack, soups, beef chunks

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Corned beef, tinned potatoes, porridge oats, UHT milk - always some tins, packets and cartons onboard. Heat up the spuds and mash in the corned beef for a hash. Porridge is self explanatory, good source of slow release energy.

 

[PotatoNavigator]

Have Fray Bentos got ring pull tops yet ? I always used to get nightmares where I was marooned on a desert island with a Fray Bentos pie and no tin opener.
An aunt of mine in a moment of forgetfulness put a Fray Bentos steak pie in the oven without removing the lid. Coincidentally we arrived at her door five minutes after it exploded, removing the oven door and redecorating her kitchen with a pastry and steak pebbledash effect.

The problem with ring pull type tins is they have to have a line round the edge where the metal is very thin. On a boat this corrodes through much quicker, and can break the seal without any visible evidence of having done so.

I once opened an inconspicuous tin of spam to find out it had turned green around where the tin opens. Couldn't tell you how long it had been there mind.

 

[ianfr]

We normally keep 8 - 10 sachets of from the "Look what we found" range.
Reasonably priced, good quality, tastes good. Just add rice, pasta or potatoes to make a quick wholesome meal.

Recommended.

Ian

 

[Woodlouse]

Have never really worried about emergency supplies. If going off the beaten path for a bit then we generally overstock the boat anyway so an unexpected few days wouldn't be of much concern. There's always an excess of weird things in tins as well.

Gone are the days of portable soup, though I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few packets left in the boat shed somewhere...

 

[bedouin]

Our emergency supplies are of the form of chunk in a pan - with the idea that we can cook them in F8 (not that I would expect to feel like food under those conditions). Usually boil-in-the-bag rice and supermarket tinned meat (curry, stew etc). The quality of the meat tends to ensure we are not tempted to raid the emergency supplies

Also of course a good supply of energy bars, biscuits, mars bars and cuppa soup.

Enough to keep the active crew warm and fed for 48 hours.

I have been wondering about going to Rat Packs instead - anyone got a good recommended supplier?

 

[Martlet]

A couple of British Army 24 hour ration boxes don't take up too much stowage space and contain virtually all you need (except water and First Aid items) for real emergency use. Other types are available but eg: the US MRE's to me at least are an acquired taste...
I've dealt as a customer with this supplier...http://www.surplusandoutdoors.com/shop/search

 

[Minchsailor]

Generally sailing off 'the beaten track'. I tend to be well stocked. Tins of 'big soups', tins of chicken in white sauce, corned beef, ham, potatoes, vegetables. Porridge, UHT milk, pasta, rice. Tomato paste, olives, pasta sauces. Tinned fruit. Packets of dried fruits.

If I see long life items when shopping, I will get them just in case. A recent discovery is smoked ham houghs, vacuum packed, and will keep for a couple of months; and really tasty.

Not forgetting that the wine, gin and tonic supplies are always topped up before it is strictly necessary.

There is also a FB pie lurking somewhere under the saloon seats that was on the boat when I bought it 3 years ago (boat, not the pie, that was included as part of the deal). Not checked the 'best before' date, but I doubt it is recent. A decision will really have to be made about it this fitting out time......

 

[prv]

Have never really worried about emergency supplies. If going off the beaten path for a bit then we generally overstock the boat anyway so an unexpected few days wouldn't be of much concern. There's always an excess of weird things in tins as well.

+1

I used to explicitly stock "emergency food", but realised that for cruising in the Channel it just isn't necessary. There's always enough food on board from normal day-to-day provisioning for a few unexpected meals; my mate Chris does the cooking when we sail together, and he tends to forget what's left on board and bring more just in case. I took four bags of flour off the boat this autumn! In this part of the world being unexpectedly out of reach of civilisation for a week just isn't going to happen.

Probably the nearest I have is a few of tins of corned beef, a couple of tins of chopped onions, and some tinned potatoes, which would do a corned beef hash. Also Sainsburys tinned beef madras is surprisingly good, and there's always plenty of rice in the locker.

We've made bread under way before when we ran out of shop-bought - but that was because Chris deliberately removed it from the shopping list in Guernsey in order to have an excuse to bake

Pete

 

[Fantasie 19]

Aldi tins, potato curry Thai chicken ect. rice in a vacuum pack, soups, beef chunks

Tesco "All Day Breakfast" in a tin...

 

[bedouin]

I used to explicitly stock "emergency food", but realised that for cruising in the Channel it just isn't necessary. There's always enough food on board from normal day-to-day provisioning for a few unexpected meals;
Pete

For us the difference is in the style of food. On board we do not normally eat out of tins so much of what we have would be very hard to prepare and cook in heavy weather. the idea of the tinned rations is to be able to get hot food into the crew in any conditions in which they are well enough to eat it.

 

[duncan99210]

We used to have four or five 24 hr ration packs. They were packed away as a last resort: in other words, we'll have to be very hungry to eat them. They never got eaten. When they got to their tenth birthday (ration packs were marked with date of manufacture, not 'best before') I chickened out and dumped the meals but we ate the chocolate and sweeties.
Now, we carry several tins of baked beans, sweet corn and bockwurst. Drain sweet corn, mix with baked beans and add a jar of bockwurst chopped into chunks. Warm for five minutes and you have a meal that'll keep the wolf from the door. Monotonous when repeated but in a situation where rations have otherwise run out, it works for us.

 

[macd]

An aunt of mine in a moment of forgetfulness put a Fray Bentos steak pie in the oven without removing the lid. Coincidentally we arrived at her door five minutes after it exploded, removing the oven door and redecorating her kitchen with a pastry and steak pebbledash effect.

The pastry I understand, but where did the steak come from?

 

[prv]

On board we do not normally eat out of tins

Same here, except for stuff that we'd also use at home like tinned tomatoes or occasional baked beans. The tinned onions and potatoes I mentioned above are by way of long-life standbys rather than normal provisions.

so much of what we have would be very hard to prepare and cook in heavy weather.

Again it depends on the kind of sailing you do, I think. On Ariam at the moment the longest passages we do are across to Alderney or St Vaast, or last summer we went Solent - Brixham in one leg which is probably slightly further. But all just a long day or an overnight, so we're quite unlikely to be overtaken by unexpected heavy weather and need to spend days at sea cooking one-pot stew in a storm . I'd probably fall back on the tinned curry, but I suspect Chris faced with an expected bouncy crossing would prepare a pan of chilli or similar before departure, clamp it firmly to the stove, and heat it up when called for.

Pete

 

[Momac]

I am sure there is always a bottle of whisky on board. Not so sure about food.

 

[stuartwineberg]

porridge oats (can be made with water or milk), honey, energy bars or flapjack, cup a soup, dried mixed fruit as well as a lot of already mentioned stuff. You aren't going to starve in most situations but you can run out of blood sugar and become cold and exhausted and need a quick "buzz" so it's all about getting easily metabolised sugars and hot drinks for me. We don't have it but instant hot chocolate drink would be a good one as well. Just look up what Jamie Oliver says should be banned and put plenty of it on the boat - you'll be fine

 

[LadyInBed]

Tinned food, rice, pasta, couscous is my normal fayre onboard, so boat is always well stocked.
I do have a sort out every couple of years or so