Emergency Food on board

I have freeze dried foods from "Be-Well" they have a good range & I often have the porridge or rice ones before a long trip for the energy benefits.
They are easy to prepare at sea & last - if carefully stored- for 4-5 years
They also have an excellent range of energy products & i usually have a small store on board
then there are some tinned items- Tinned steaks, potatoes, Big soups & sweetcorn heated in a pan together will give a stew that will do 2 largish meals. I have a large pan & can store half in the oven for use the following day.
needless to say I am a useless cook
 
I've got tins of spuds, sachets of cous cous, packet of bulgur wheat...just need hot water and a soak. Tonbridge market stall sometimes has rat pack stuff. Rice, sweet corn, sm8ked mackeral or tin fish assemble to tasty kedgeree with spices. Eggs. Onions!! Without a fridge its usually protein more difficult to prov7sion for; tins pulses help there. Carbs plus a vitamin pill would keep me going
 
When my daughter was about 8, we spent an unplanned evening on a mudbank. All we could find to eat was a tin of frankfurters and a packet of instant noodles.
She said it was her favourite meal ever.
 
We just tend to stock up on what we normally eat - and that our spare gas bottle really is full. Even for an Atlantic crossing we simply went to the nearest (French) supermarket and bought a few trolleys worth of what we liked eating.
 
For the far more modest requirement of grub for those occasions when I have not had the chance to shop and don’t fancy marina fare, I join ianfr with the ‘Look what we found’ range for the reasons he gave – but also have some tinned soups, pasta, rice and sauces. A set of favourite herbs and spices helps.

Purists will wince, but sachets of porridge are waterproof - you measure out the long-life milk in them, but I can’t recall exactly how long either of those lasts. Part-baked baguettes last only ca. 3 months without refrigeration IIRC.
 
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 !

Look out for Aldi Petit Salé/Cassoulet 840g tins. Only in stock from time to time. Recommended.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
Look out for Aldi Petit Salé/Cassoulet 840g tins. Only in stock from time to time. Recommended.

The cassoulet is ok, though obviously nothing like as good as the real thing in its native habitat. But personally I found the petit salé (as previously recommended here) fairly unpleasant.

Pete
 
Bombay Bad Boy potnoodle?

About fifteen years ago I was crew on a delivery trip bringing the Army's new adventurous-training fleet down from Orust to Kiel, in February:

Sweden_zpseed61ht0.jpg


The guys in shorts are from the Royal Signals boat. And along with exposing their knees to the Baltic ice, they also decided that they couldn't be bothered with any of this cooking malarkey and shipped provisions consisting largely of case after case of Pot Noodles.

On the REME boat we had a cooked breakfast every morning, and good dinners like Malaysian curry, schnitzel, or roast chicken. The Signals were smug about not having to clean the galley very much on arrival. I think we won :)

Pete

EDIT: Technically they were tri-service boats rather than Army, but in several trips with them I never saw a single crab or matelot anywhere near the place.
 
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I suspect that most "emergency" food works on the principle of Sir Terry Pratchett's Dwarf bread. You get it out …

If you’re lucky - Mrs H did not let me get that far with tinned steak & kidney and steamed puddings. Tinned pepper and bean soups (only) are tolerated whilst actually sailing. Pot noodles I have not tried.
 
We have a dehydrator and vacuum bags.. We then pack it up and allows us to have fresh produce on longer trips after the fresh veg and fruit has long been eaten. We also have packed freeze dried food on board but thats because I know the guy that runs this company. We then use it for climbing trips as we go. Perfectly edible and £100 will get you 25 meals easy.

http://www.emergencyfoodstorage.co.uk
 
An ex paratrooper just advised the chicken and mushroom pasty and rice pudding in army field rations are edible. The corned beef is not. I am sure my father in law said the same about corned beef from world war 2. Perhaps it is still the same batch or corned beef?
 
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