What do you wish you'd stocked up on?

Kelpie said:
Well that's what we're doing at the moment.
I just find the purée leads to less waste and mess. My attitude to cooking is that it's about final taste with least effort and I find purée a bit more practical.
In other news, I use tea bags instead of loose for similar reasons.
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Why not make your own.?
Simple & will be much higher quality garlic from the local market & no added chemicals. Won't keep so long though. Same with other things, mayonnaise takes moments in an immersion blender & is delicious. No chemicals again. I found some garam masalla whole ingredients other week with is light years better than shop stuff after grinding to a powder with the blender.
Imho pressure cooker & immersion blender are 2 vital tools in a cruising boat galley when you can go for weeks without seeing a shop.
Self sufficiency is king ?

Ps. Kefir is fantastic as well imho if you can get some starter culture ?
 
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GHA said:
Why not make your own.?
Simple & will be much higher quality garlic from the local market & no added chemicals. Won't keep so long though. Same with other things, mayonnaise takes moments in an immersion blender & is delicious. No chemicals again. I found some garam masalla whole ingredients other week with is light years better than shop stuff after grinding to a powder with the blender.
Imho pressure cooker & immersion blender are 2 vital tools in a cruising boat galley when you can go for weeks without seeing a shop.
Self sufficiency is king ?

Ps. Kefir is fantastic as well imho if you can get some starter culture ?
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We have been using kefer for a few years now. Pressure cooker gets a lot of use. Also an electric hand blender for making soup etc.
 
I don’t think there is much. You can get everything there except there is not much organic food, but that’s not practical to sail over with. Spirits, expecially non prestige brands are dirt cheap. Beer the same. Basic veg and provisions similar or a bit more. Deli food is nuts, so are pineapples. All tins are maybe double, so stock up. Chandlery boat parts are also nuts, so bring what will break, but you can ship from the US for a small premium.
 
capnsensible said:
Load up your kindle. (y)
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But to be fair that‘s the easiest thing to do in the Caribbean when you drop into a bar with WiFi. Over the years I find there’s nothing I miss and can’t get somewhere like Barbados or Antigua with big supermarkets and in smaller islands just make sure you have stocked up, and eat as local a diet as you can.
 
Zing said:
I don’t think there is much. You can get everything there except there is not much organic food, but that’s not practical to sail over with. Spirits, expecially non prestige brands are dirt cheap. Beer the same. Basic veg and provisions similar or a bit more. Deli food is nuts, so are pineapples. All tins are maybe double, so stock up. Chandlery boat parts are also nuts, so bring what will break, but you can ship from the US for a small premium.
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We are heading back to the boat soon with a couple of cases full of boat bits. So much cheaper in the the UK
 
RupertW said:
But to be fair that‘s the easiest thing to do in the Caribbean when you drop into a bar with WiFi. Over the years I find there’s nothing I miss and can’t get somewhere like Barbados or Antigua with big supermarkets and in smaller islands just make sure you have stocked up, and eat as local a diet as you can.
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Agree we've never had a problem victualling anywhere on local stuff. The Chinese supermarkets everywhere are great but wouldn't buy veg and fruit too many days in advance of chomping.

I do have an aversion to taking electrical things to bars. Transport and custody may prove hazardous ....... :D
 
A very specific question- I've got some coppercoat touch ups to do. Plan is to lift out in Grenada whilst we're waiting out hurricane season. Worth buying a pack before we leave Europe?
 
Kelpie said:
A very specific question- I've got some coppercoat touch ups to do. Plan is to lift out in Grenada whilst we're waiting out hurricane season. Worth buying a pack before we leave Europe?
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You can buy in St Martin and Curacao. Not sure where else
 
geem said:
You can buy in St Martin and Curacao. Not sure where else
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If you need any boat parts then St Martin is generally cheaper and better stocked than elsewhere. In addition, you can ship tax free into St M quickly and easily. Just pick up from FedEX depo. Budget Marine and IWW have there bases in St M. There are also other suppliers there for electronics and electrics. Easy to ship parts in from the US.
For general chandlery there are a couple of good shops in Martinique. The boatyard in Le Marin is good plus the chandlery n the marina
 
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I still have a old brown china teapot that has sailed the Atlantic .. because , one teabag in the pot wedged in the corner of the cockpit goes a lot further than one teabag in a mug. Saves on gas too of course
So, less Is more in a sense ??
 
Blueboatman said:
I still have a old brown china teapot that has sailed the Atlantic .. because , one teabag in the pot wedged in the corner of the cockpit goes a lot further than one teabag in a mug. Saves on gas too of course
So, less Is more in a sense ??
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We bought a s/s motorway services kind of teapot years ago. Hold 6 cups. It can take a knock. It's a great boat teapot.
 
geem said:
If you need any boat parts then St Martin is generally cheaper and better stocked than elsewhere. In addition, you can ship tax free into St M quickly and easily. Just pick up from FedEX depo. Budget Marine and IWW have there bases in St M. There are also other suppliers there for electro ics and electrics. Easy to ship parts in from the US.
For ge really chandlery there are a couple of good shops in Martinique. The boatyard in Le Marin is good plus the chandlery n the marina
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(y)

Have also found the Rodney Bay Marina chandlers in St Lucia well stocked......and tax free.
 
geem said:
For general chandlery there are a couple of good shops in Martinique. The boatyard in Le Marin is good plus the chandlery n the marina
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The electronics shop at Le Marin is very good (the one in the upper floor), it repaired two Raymarine instruments for a nominal amount, still going strong after several years.
I'd avoid like the plague "Caraibes greement", unfortunately there are not many riggers around those islands. The boss is very good, except it leaves the work to be done by several people often having no idea of how to do it properly, and there is no final check. I had to replace my forestay and three sections of the furler profile, apart from the final price -about 70% of the cost of full rigging replacement, of course I did not complain- a) I fortunately went up the mast after having taken the boat back to check the wind transducer, the forestay toggle pin had no cotter pin, a few vibrations and the whole cable would have fallen on deck with possible dismasting; b) the lower tang had a split pin but it was simply inserted, without spreading the two half legs apart; 3) all of the set screws keeping the furler light alloy profile sections tied were not thread locked: they unscrewed, made tiny holes on the genoa cloth, and prevented the genoa furler upper bearing to be brought down, once in the Azores I had to climb the mast and come down little by little along the stay with the unfurled genoa still hoisted to tighten the screws one by one.
Let alone my genoa furler profiles were of an old, out of production model, they said "we have a few used ones from old riggings" and they were billed at 1.5x the price of equivalent new profiles.
Companies having local monopoly can give good service at whatever price they want, which I was confortable with, after having experienced the mess they can make, never again if at all possible.
 
Roberto said:
The electronics shop at Le Marin is very good (the one in the upper floor), it repaired two Raymarine instruments for a nominal amount, still going strong after several years.
I'd avoid like the plague "Caraibes greement", unfortunately there are not many riggers around those islands. The boss is very good, except it leaves the work to be done by several people often having no idea of how to do it properly, and there is no final check. I had to replace my forestay and three sections of the furler profile, apart from the final price -about 70% of the cost of full rigging replacement, of course I did not complain- a) I fortunately went up the mast after having taken the boat back to check the wind transducer, the forestay toggle pin had no cotter pin, a few vibrations and the whole cable would have fallen on deck with possible dismasting; b) the lower tang had a split pin but it was simply inserted, without spreading the two half legs apart; 3) all of the set screws keeping the furler light alloy profile sections tied were not thread locked: they unscrewed, made tiny holes on the genoa cloth, and prevented the genoa furler upper bearing to be brought down, once in the Azores I had to climb the mast and come down little by little along the stay with the unfurled genoa still hoisted to tighten the screws one by one.
Let alone my genoa furler profiles were of an old, out of production model, they said "we have a few used ones from old riggings" and they were billed at 1.5x the price of equivalent new profiles.
Companies having local monopoly can give good service at whatever price they want, which I was confortable with, after having experienced the mess they can make, never again if at all possible.
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I do all my work myself. Never employed anybody in the Caribbean
 
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