Long term provisioning

There are loadsa different types of beans. Spanish supermarkets stock lots of varieties in dry form, in tins and in jars. They can be used to jazz up all sorts of tinned meat dishes. Especially with your favourite spices.

Someone uptrend mentioned dairy. Lots of cheeses store well. The pre sliced stuff lasts for a crossing without a fridge but needs your fave thing to give some more taste.

Veg, again upthread someone mentioned onions. Very good. Carrots too. Soft fruit and veg only last a few days even when stored in dark dry places. Never in plastic bags. Goes rotten from condensation.

Pasta. Great. Week 3 meal with tinned tuna and sweetcorn makes a nourishing meal long last bread is useful, sometimes one has to eat what is available rather than what you prefer. Baking doesn't use too much gas so a once a week loaf and cakes cooked at the same time is a morale booster.

Ch9colate and biscuits and snack stuff like peanuts etc are good to go with a 1600 cuppa. Bear in mind that you may wish to reduce gas consumption on tea and coffee to bake bread. Really its not hard to store extra gas bottles (take a spare regulator.....) its just some moan about the cost. Something to be got over.

Finally, if you're going for a starvation trip, take a couple of body bags., :)
 
Sea Change said:
Maybe. We set off on a boat that we had spent under £40k buying and prepping. That seems to be unusually low compared to everybody else we meet.
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Us too on our Moody 33.

But I've done the crossing more on bigger yachts. The most expensive was £3.5 million of luxury. Got fed up of ice cream. :D
 
I only coastal hop. But like to be out for the full 6 months of summer and self sufficient so that I can anchor up when I find an inviting spot. Or the need arises.

As a veggie, beans/pulses are a natural choice. Pataks / Sharwoods curry sauces add flavour. As do, whilst in France, the amazing jars of Basilic & Provençale tomato based sauces. Wouldn’t be without a case or two of mushy peas either. All improved by the addition of pan fried local fresh veg, as available. Using a good olive oil, also carried. All the pulses around 4% protein.

Do carry dried pasta. But only for emergencies. Basmati rice, for the curries; Bulgur Wheat for the tomato based dishes; and Couscous for salads…..plus when it’s too rough to cook / soups need ‘stiffening’ so as not to slop out of the cup / gas is short. Due to its ability to ‘cook’ it just by pouring a boiling kettle onto it. The grains at 6-7% protein.

Nut muesli also a good source of protein. And not too heavy to carry. Take a good variety in a big storage crate. Protein in the 10-15% range. More nuts = more protein. Needs UHT milk (3%protein) obvs. And that wants refrigeration once opened. But it’s a priority, along with eggs and butter, for what fridge capacity with have, on a 30 footer.
 
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capnsensible said:
Us too on our Moody 33.

But I've done the crossing more on bigger yachts. The most expensive was £3.5 million of luxury. Got fed up of ice cream. :D
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That reminds me of a pal who is a vetran of 11 hurricanes in the Bahamas and Florida.
His last hurricane was in the Florida Keys. He spent a few days before the hurricane preparing his boat and helping others prepare their boats near him in the mangroves. A friend lived near by and told him he could stay ashore at his concrete house as he wasn't there and it's hurricane proof. It told him by the way, the chest freezer is full of ice cream. You may as well eat it as the power will go off and it will all ruin anyway.
Chris lived on ice cream for two days as the hurricane went through. Having lived on a boat for many years with no fridge, he said it was his best hurricane ever😁
 
All this talk of provisioing, I thought I would mention that our latest extra fridge is an Alpicool. Ours if 55L, two completely seperate compartments with individual baskets and individual temperature control. I had them recommended to me and really can't fault their robust design.
To increase the thermal performance, we made an additional insulated cover for the sides and bottom. I gaffer taped 3 layers of 6mm closed cell foam to the fridge. The Mrs made a draw string cover that makes it look neat and professional, with mesh openings for the compressor cooling vents.
When sailing, the cushioning also protects the fridge from bashing into the woodwork.
We use this fridge as a fruit and veg fridge. It keeps it all seperate from the main fridge so less chance of squashing stuff.
Worth a look at these fridges as they are also very good value and don't seem to take much power, especially with the additional insulation
 
Sea Change said:
Maybe. We set off on a boat that we had spent under £40k buying and prepping. That seems to be unusually low compared to everybody else we meet.
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Ah, then a better attitude 🤣 In my defence I didn’t plan to retire when I bought the boat, I was planning to sail the south coast comfortably. It is working well as a live aboard though
 
capnsensible said:
Giving confidence is exactly what giving my experiences of sailing long distance does. For most people.
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That’s exactly the point though, giving experience rarely helps on this one. You can tell people that 5 weeks food for a 3 week trip is sufficient all you want, they’ll still provision for 8-10 weeks and then panic that they don’t have enough and go shopping.

You’re the first person I’ve found that didn’t get the point of the message, which is odd because I’m pretty sure one of your students was the lady that said it!
 
lustyd said:
That’s exactly the point though, giving experience rarely helps on this one. You can tell people that 5 weeks food for a 3 week trip is sufficient all you want, they’ll still provision for 8-10 weeks and then panic that they don’t have enough and go shopping.

You’re the first person I’ve found that didn’t get the point of the message, which is odd because I’m pretty sure one of your students was the lady that said it!
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Wee always over provisions going East to West across the pond as anything left saves us buy food when we arrive. The other way, West to East, we don't over provision, knowing we can have really good quality food in the Azores adds it's far cheaper
 
geem said:
Wee always over provisions going East to West across the pond as anything left saves us buy food when we arrive. The other way, West to East, we don't over provision, knowing we can have really good quality food in the Azores adds it's far cheaper
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Bringing food or drink to Portugal is like coals to Newcastle!
 
geem said:
Wee always over provisions going East to West across the pond as anything left saves us buy food when we arrive. The other way, West to East, we don't over provision, knowing we can have really good quality food in the Azores adds it's far cheaper
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I think a purposeful provisioning of things you want longer term is different though. Ending up with 50kg of pasta and two sacks of rice “just in case” as well as 50 tins of baked beans was more what they were talking about.
We certainly made the mistake the first time, as most do even after being told what to provision.
 
lustyd said:
That’s exactly the point though, giving experience rarely helps on this one. You can tell people that 5 weeks food for a 3 week trip is sufficient all you want, they’ll still provision for 8-10 weeks and then panic that they don’t have enough and go shopping.

You’re the first person I’ve found that didn’t get the point of the message, which is odd because I’m pretty sure one of your students was the lady that said it!
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I've never seen anyone doing that. I must have been hanging around the wrong places....
 
We crossed oceans with limited refrigeration - none whatsoever for 6 months in the south Pacific - and discovered that it was easier than we expected. Butter preserves easily in brine, hard cheese in sunflower/veg oil and meat when canned/jarred. Rice, pasta breakfast cereal/muesli and flour all last well, making tortillas was consistently more successful than loaves of bread. Yoghurt is easily made onboard from UHT milk and wine from fruit juice. Aside from tomatoes, baked beans, Spanish seafood and beer of course, we really didn't use that much in cans.
 
I can't remember which particular book but WH Tilman often mentioned provisions in his sailing books, a bit old school but no fridge of course. He always took Tabasco sauce - jus the stuff to liven up those bland beans.
 
dansaskip said:
I can't remember which particular book but WH Tilman often mentioned provisions in his sailing books, a bit old school but no fridge of course. He always took Tabasco sauce - jus the stuff to liven up those bland beans.
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In my younger days most of the UK MN was powered by "stuff" + lashings of tabasco sauce.
It even works with gin or vodka if you're really stuck. As does "Night Nurse" medicine from the medical locker, if you've gin/vodka but have eaten all the Tobasco sauce. ;)

Nowadays the youngsters seem to prefer Thai sweet chilli sauce for similar duties.
 
All over the place. That you haven’t says more about you than it does me, and your inability to accept that people worry about it is very odd.
 
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