As has been discussed previously wine etc are always on the list, however if one is planning a 10 day offshore trip what should we be taking and what should we be leaving (except the other half)
Total requirement was for 17 "man weeks" of supplies. (i.e. with the number of people changing as we moved down the coast and back again we worked out the number of people times the number of weeks for which we needed provisions.)
At the end of the trip I removed at least 10 weeks of supplies and we are still eating them at home!!
The mistake was that we "made a list" and then went en masse to ASDA. "The List" was readily filled and then came the "we should have a few of those" and "let's not forget that" and "I really like those at breakfast."
Net result (as an example) enough bran and high fibre cereals to block every toilet on the East Coast. How much was eaten? Two packets. Why? "Oh if you're going for croissants Ian I'll have a couple."
Another "no-no" - if anyone says they like pickled onions, gerkhins or (especially) beetroot take them to one side and strangle them. Unless you are Arnold Schwarzeneger every pickle jar has to be "pierced" before you can break the vacuum on the lid and NO-ONE can eat a full jar at a sitting. The jar then sits there and waits for a convenient moment to roll on to its side and spill vinegar everywhere. I prefer the smell of diesel to pickle vinegar and it's definitely easier to clean diesel off the upholstery than beetroot juice. Screams of "Who left that there?" fall on deaf ears.
My recommendation is therefore:
o One tin of soup per person per day.
o One packet of dried soup per person per day.
o One packet of "crispbread" (Rivita is good) per person per day.
o One tin of beans per person per day.
o Large quantitiy of coffee and tea.
o Large quantity of milk and sugar (in cubes as granulated manages to spill everywhere).
After a couple of days the crew will be desperate to buy you dinner ashore.
Assuming you have the bare necessities in the form of liquid refreshment on board , you need something to eat with it i.e nibbles in the form of crisps , peanuts and as someone already said , Bombay mix.
We always carry a mixture of fresh and long life food on board. The fresh food comes straight from the supermarket in the form of fresh meat , chicken etc and we reckon on it lasting 3 days. The long life food is for emergencies and stays aboard for the season and consists of things like tinned steak pies , tins of curry , tinned spuds and such like , things you can rattle up quickly either when you arrive at a port late at night or under way. I do a mean "Channel Stew" which consists of one tin of stew , one tin mixed vegetables , one tin of mixed spuds , all mixed and heated and served up in a soup bowl with a hunk of French bread. Just the job on an overnight passage. My wife also bakes an old Scots cake called black bun. Baked properly it can easily last a fortnights cruise. Lastly porridge. A plate of hot porridge first thing in the morning after an overnight passage tastes wonderful.
There is a very good article covering provisioning at www.sailingindepth.com I think it's called Fridgeless Food
We have a few staples that we always take for long passages. Part cooked vacuum packed bread rolls. They last at least 10 weeks out of the fridge and smell and taste wonderful. Tins of Cassoulet bought in France. Solid ribsticking stuff that is cooked in one pan. I tasted my first Cuppa Soup (or something like that) recently and was really surprised how good they are. We also bottle a number of meals and keep them on the boat. They require no refrigeration and last something over two years as long as the seal is still good. Favourites are pheasant breast with shallots and mushrooms - rabbit with baby carrots - chicken breasts in tarragon sauce and so on. All these can be reheated in one pan and either served on their own or with rice and bread.
Minimise the garlic. Not good for seasickness. A few years ago we were aboard a yacht with about 8 people anchored close to the mouth of the River Mersey to watch the Tall Ships set sail. One of us brought a large pan of soup with a very high garlic concentration. After eating it we all felt terrible and some were forced to go ashore to recover. Several of us were "iron stomached" but that soup pushed us very close to the edge.
i hope its not the english channel we are talking of here ,
it would be very sad to provision for two weeks and then
sail around all those french restaurants and markets whilst eating
baked beans and cup a soup.
...at a CA lecture, "stock up on tinned meaties in the UK, because once you leave this sceptic isle, the only meat in tins you can find are frankfurter sausages, or meatballs." Is that worse, I wondered, than Corned Dog? Spam? Fray Bentos Tinned Jake and Sidney pies? Tesco Economy Chicken Curry?
I thought at the time that he'd never been around a French store, so for me a quick stop somewhere near a French hypermarket would be scheduled in. Pate. Rillettes. Confit de canard. Cassoulet. Choucroute garni. Terrine de lapin. etc. And a big salami which combined with a sailing knife makes a good way to fight off the munchies.
Of course quite a lot of comestible liquids in bottles could also be advantageously purchased at the same time.
I always avoid heavily salted tin meat and that powdered fruit drink mix. I do not know what the preservative is in it but I can guarantee an instant upchuck without warning even on a calm sea if I eat/drink these.
Take tin stews and soups, powdered soups [always good value], vacuum pack meat, bacon and bread lasts well, well packed FRESH eggs checked daily [to get rid of rotten and cracked ones] and kept cool will last months, fresh vegs in good condition [potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onions], rice and pasta, tinned vegs tomatoes, peas, beans], and of course tinned baked beans and spaghetti, tin fruit, tin steamed puddings, flour and baking stuff [raisins dried fruit etc for frying pan bread if no oven], cabin bread biscuits, cheese, coffee, tea. Oh yes, take along your favourite breakfast cereals.
If you want instant stuff, then use the freeze dry dehydrated junk that is specially prepared for mountain climbing and tramping and survival ration packs [depending on where in the world you live], suppliment4ed with rice and pasta. Thats what the speed merchants live on in the round the world yacht races. Yuck!
However if only 10 days with ability to go ashore for meals, then why rough it, enjoy the local fare and company of the locals, just take along snacks and breakfast stuff and the odd emergency victuals just in case.
Heard of similar problems before, but I happen to love garlic especially grilled with the prawns on the barbecue which hangs off the back of the boat (best present I every got). But seriously (Ha Ha) what about toilet paper how much do I need for 4 men with no stops for ten days? I am trying to get some ideas since will be picking new boat up in Florida next year to bring back to Europe. Maybe it's easier to go single handed but still not's sure on paper issue will have to start counting.
When I did the YM Triangle , we suffered from lack of wind ( no pun intended ) , and ran out of toilet paper. In desperation we turned to the onboard McMillans and the first page we started on , on opening the book freely was the port info for Flushing.
Don't forget the powdered milk and sugar to use with your tea and coffee - plenty of both. Fruit also keeps well and is always popular, should be plenty of choice in USA. As someone has already said make a list and stick to it.
This time last year a friend of mine was helping take a converted trawler from Exmouth to Kings Lynn and i did the shopping for them - I included a tin of dog food as a joke. Unfortunately they shipped a fair bit of water and all the labels came off the tins....... never did find out whether they ate it!!!
Have read that it is a good idea to mark tins with permanent marker in case of above.
For 10 days you will need 6 cartons of beer per person, four casks of Port per person, two chickens and a loaf of bread. Throw one of the chickens out on the second day. Catch fish if you need to.
of inviting a friend to join us on a round the island race. I explained the skipper's rule - he pays all the boat expenses, crew bring what they want to eat and drink.
So Steve turned up clutching two six packs of Heineken and two giant packs of kettle chips!
Be sure to check out the full range of Mr Heinz fine 57 varieties. On our last week-long cruise, a tin of their all-day breakfast provided an interesting start to the day... I found their website(!!) very informative too, printing out recipes before we went. It is, unsurprisingly, www.heinz.com
My father recommends stodgy Bread Pudding, which, being quite resistant to staleness, provides great sustenance for the lonely single watchperson.