No on board fridge & healthy cooking for 2 weeks.

[scruff]

It's coming up to my annual cruise up the west coast and I'm starting to think about on board catering.

In the past I've eaten loads of pasta, tinned curries, cheese and bucket loads of wine only to return home, waist band in my trousers straining from having put on a few extra kilos.

I don't have that luxury this year as I'm doing an ironman triathlon 3 weeks after I return from my cruise and need to maintain race weight.

So I need healthy recipes for a boat with 2 burner hob & no grill & no cold food storage.

Planning on being away 2-3 weeks at the moment. Whilst I undoubtedly will be able to reprovision, it will only be sporadically and at small shops.

 

[theoldsalt]

Recipes are down to individual taste so would not dare to advise.

We have been coastal sailing in the UK for years and although our boats have been fitted with fridges we have never turned them on. We find that shopping every 3 to 4 days for fresh provisions including milk, meat bread and veg etc we eat very well and the food keeps. Just store the food in the coolest part of the boat. If you have a clean dry bilge that is ideal.

Boats kept in hotter climates eg Med especially when crew enjoy ice cold beer then a working fridge may be essencial , otherwise save your valuable electricity.

 

[Davegriff]

SWMBO says puy lentils. (well I dont see why I should have to suffer them alone)

 

[capnsensible]

Done a lot of long distance with no fridge.

Fruit and veg keep well if you get local rather than chilled stuff from big supermarkets. Sounds like you are in the right place for that.

Fish. Lots of tinned varieties that do the same as tinned meat but without the fat.

Fresh fish??

If I don't buy biscuits and chocolate, I might miss them offshore but for compulsory dieting!!!

Oh, lots of salad ingredients.

And grapes.

:encouragement:

 

[duncan99210]

Look at what your normal diet is. Then look at the base ingredients for that diet and separate out the items that will keep well at ambient temps: lay in a stock of them for the trip and store on board (it'll mostly be carbs like rice and pasta and tinned goods like tomatoes, chick peas, etc).

Fresh veggies: spuds, onions, carrots and the like will keep fine for a week or three if stored in nets out of the light, so if they feature in your diet, buy on the day of departure. Softer stuff like mushrooms, broccoli, peppers and so forth will not keep as well but will still last up to five days quite happily, so plan dishes to use them before they're likely to go off and buy on departure. Salad stuff will last two or three days max, so plan to buy and eat quickly.

Meat no fish is not going to last more than 24 hours safely. So, either used tinned stuff (difficult to get without too much fat) or bottle some for yourself. Easy to do this in a pressure cooker: we use kilner or old bockwurst jars, clean well before use, fill to about three quarters full with lean diced meat of your choice, season it with pepper and salt before packing the jar, seal jar tightly and place in pressure cooker with a fair bit of water. Bring to pressure and cook for about fourth five minutes to an hour. Allow cooker to cool naturally and that's it. It'll keep for over a year. You can the use the meat as you see fit. If there's just one on board, use smaller jars so you're only opening one per meal.

With two burners you can cook just about anything with a bit of planning. If you do the spuds first whilst cooking the meat, you can let the spuds stand whilst doing veggies. They won't loose much heat. Alternatively, buy a cheap set of steamers and you can cook just about anything in one go.

Menus are very individual as stuff we regard as staples might well not suit your tastes at all, but hopefully the above give some food for thought......

 

[southseaian]

Don't forget porridge and eggs.

 

[Dave-Shafa]

I spent 6 months on the West Coast with no fridge and 2 burner stove and survived.
(Have no fridge or freezer in ma hoose.)

 

[AngusMcDoon]

Those Spanish dried sausages keep unrefrigerated. Sweet potatoes are the most indestructible veg invented long outlasting normal spuds.

 

[BlackPig]

I tend to loose weight sailing. For treats its apples, trail mix, nuts. No coke instead I mix 100% fruit juice with fizzy water (apple and grape). No bread on board. Tin fish when I cannot catch any. I have a single meths burner I often cook noodles first, then stick in a tin of curry.

 

[Seajet]

Scruff,

I'd think / hope military ration kits are reasonably healthy, at least re calories.

Amazon has loads of dehydrated food packs etc, must be something useful there ?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Cold filtered milk keeps much better than ordinary milk - a week in a cool locker. But you might have to get it from a supermarket rather than a local store.

 

[Woodlouse]

You shouldn't have to vary your normal diet much at all. Keep the more perishable stuff in the bilge where it's coolest. The only thing I change when sailing with out the fridge is I get UHT milk instead of fresh. If possible sachets of milk too since I only usually use it for tea and even a pint can go bad before I finish it.

 

[BobnLesley]

Recipes are down to individual taste so would not dare to advise

Me neither, in particular with regard to training/diet regimes for doing anything vaguely athletic; but some hints from a long-distance cruiser:
Butter in bribes easy to store and lasts six months in the bilge (one jar we missed recently got eaten at nearly two years old)
Cheese stored in oil - again, easy to do, lasts 3-6 months in the bilge
Good (I stress good) salami sits happily in a locker for 6 months, probably longer, but ours have never survived the plate for that long.
If you 'can' meat (google it - you need a pressure cooker and some jam jars) it's certainly good for 6-9 months, again ours has never survived the plate longer.
Most fruit and veggies will last a couple of weeks - buy from a market stall rather than a supermarket chiller-cabinet.

 

[Seajet]

Those Spanish dried sausages keep unrefrigerated. Sweet potatoes are the most indestructible veg invented long outlasting normal spuds.

Mattesons do a variety of variously flavoured big curly sausages which don't seem to need refrigeration; probably best not to think too much about the contents and health etc, but they can be handy !

 

[scruff]

Thank's for al ideas chaps, given me some good ideas there, except the mathesons sausage idea - had one once, it was so salty I felt dehydrated for a week! foul things.

 

[BruceDanforth]

You might be able to get some mackerel.

 

[PhillM]

I found me the sterilised milk from sainsburys or telco lasts about 3 months opened, 1-2 days opened depending on weather.

Sainsbury's do smaller containers so you can afford to buy one a day.

But tescos have a screw top, so is easier to keep after being opened, when on a beat / heeling.

 

[SamanthaTabs]

It's coming up to my annual cruise up the west coast and I'm starting to think about on board catering.

In the past I've eaten loads of pasta, tinned curries, cheese and bucket loads of wine only to return home, waist band in my trousers straining from having put on a few extra kilos.

I don't have that luxury this year as I'm doing an ironman triathlon 3 weeks after I return from my cruise and need to maintain race weight.

So I need healthy recipes for a boat with 2 burner hob & no grill & no cold food storage.

Planning on being away 2-3 weeks at the moment. Whilst I undoubtedly will be able to reprovision, it will only be sporadically and at small shops.

Low carb : high protein? If so there's lots of recipes on my website. I'd recommend cooking some things in advance and taking a decent sized cool box.

Do a quick "crossfit" food google search, you'll get tons of answers there.

Then the obvious, bananas; nuts; protein bars, whey powder; almond milk etc? Have fun

 

[DownWest]

One of the US long distance sailors said that mayonaise in a jar kept for quite a while uncooled, as long as one use a clean spoon to dig it out each time.

 

[BobnLesley]

One of the US long distance sailors said that mayonaise in a jar kept for quite a while uncooled, as long as one use a clean spoon to dig it out each time.

Yep, but like beer, it tastes a lot better if you can find some space in the fridge to chill it.