Meal planning

[capn_billl]

All good points, thanks for the posts. I was planning on a 3 week trip with up to 7 days between stops.

I hate soup.

Spam, and canned tuna are probably good go to foods. A loaf of bread might last a week with a jar of peanut butter, and jam.
At home, we generally shop once a week, but some foods stay in pantry for a month, and others run out in a couple of days, necessitating pick up stops on the way home from work.

At home a very large fridge is required to stock a weeks worth of food.

 

[capn_billl]

I haven't seen the canned chicken, where do you find it?

 

[O C Diver]

I've never tried dehydrating my own food. See commercials on TV for the appliance. Wonder how the food is to eat when you go to use it. Might be a viable alternative for extended remote cruising.

Ted

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. cb. While spam, tuna and PB&J are all well and good, up to a point, IF you run into 3 or 4 days of cold wet weather you might appreciate a hot meal. A lot to be said for a nice roast chicken (NOT canned) or beef with mash and gravy.
Just saw posts above...

 

[capn_billl]

I agree, there is a fine line between boating, and camping, but with a generator, and full galley, camping shouldn't be necessary.

P.S. I doubt i'll run into much cold weather in June off of the Gulf coast.

 

[Lou_tribal]

Greetings,
Mr. cb. While spam, tuna and PB&J are all well and good, up to a point, IF you run into 3 or 4 days of cold wet weather you might appreciate a hot meal. A lot to be said for a nice roast chicken (NOT canned) or beef with mash and gravy.
Just saw posts above...

This look really disgusting !

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. L_t. I was NOT trying to be funny or make a joke. Mr. cp is looking for food he can potentially stock his boat with. We still have no idea of his cooking facilities or skills nor his personal tastes. I see on another thread he mentions he has a Sea Ray. Given the fact he says in this thread his refrigeration equipment is limited (small) it most probably is in the 25' size range (purely a guess). That being the case, possibly a small cooktop and maybe a small microwave.
SO...That alone is quite a limitation on both what he can carry and what he can cook. Just trying to be helpful...
Ah. Just saw post # 35. Scratch the above comments.

 

[O C Diver]

I haven't seen the canned chicken, where do you find it?

Canned meat section of most grocery stores or Walmart.

Ted

 

[Tuttouomo]

Costco also has their rotis chicken available in the can. Boneless,skinless and no gelatinous yuk. Very good and easy to use.

Bill

 

[Paul M]

When we sailed to Bermuda and also down to the BVI, my wife pre-cooked meals and then froze them, generally one big meal for each anticipated day at sea. Then we had a good insulated cooler, packed the meals in by the day of anticipated use (first day on top - last day on the bottom) and then packed the cooler with dry ice. The food stayed frozen for over 2-weeks. It sure beat eating canned food. Each day my wife would set out that meal to thaw and heating it up only took maybe 30 minutes.

 

[Lou_tribal]

Last year when we did our first boat trip to get her back to her permanent slip, we spent 1 week onboard. We have a very small fridge and an ice box. We got all the fragile ingredients in the fridge (like meat, milk, cream, eggs etc), and supplementary thing in the icebox (vegetables, drinks, lot of drinks ). We got also a bunch of things that do not require to be kept cool like pasta, or vegetables like potatoes. During our trip we started by cooking the most fragile ingredients and finished by the less fragile. And we were able to cook 3 meals per day for 2 person for a whole week. We would have been able to do grocery on our way but we did not want to spend our time at that.
Beyond that it will greatly depend on your ability to cook raw ingredients, what appliances you have to cook and what you want to eat as well as how much you are eating.

 

[capn_billl]

The appliances I have are one cooktop, one microwave, 2 cu ft of fridge, and 6 cu inches of freezer.

 

[GFC]

I'm not a huge fan of soup either, but here's a recipe I came up with for a KILLER clam chowder. It takes about 10 minutes prep time, 20 minutes to cook and it is definitely a winner.

ClamChowder Soup​

1 package Bear Creek Creamy Potato Soup
7ounces of water
3-4stalks of celery
1-large yellow onion
4-5slices of bacon, cooked
2cans of clams
4-5 pats of butter
8ounces Half & Half


-Ina large sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat
-Cut the onions and celery into small ½’ pieces. Add to the pan and saute until the onions are translucent and the celery pieces are soft.
-Chopthe bacon into very small pieces and add to the pan
-Add the two cans of clams and the juice to the pan
-Slowly add the water to the pan
-Increase the heat and bring the water to a rolling boil
-Whisk in the soup mix slowly, making sure there are no lumps

Bringto a full boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the small potato pieces from the soup mix are tender.

Stir in the Half & Half

Enjoy

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: My recipe:

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Ms WB...

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: Have you tried it, RTF? You might be quite surprised.

For the record, I've never made home made soup or chili and not planning on starting now.

 

[ranger58sb]

Another thought, when you defrost something, cook two meals at once with it (or at least part of it). IOW, make a double batch, cold store the cooked leftovers... and once you've gone through all the frozen foods, repeat the cycle with the leftovers.

Usually saves actual cooking time, too.

Pasta sauces and chili are easy, as are stews. Meat dishes... depends. Roasts make great leftovers when reheated, some of the others make into good salad toppings and so forth.

-Chris

 

[ranger58sb]

The appliances I have are one cooktop, one microwave, 2 cu ft of fridge, and 6 cu inches of freezer.

Thought about adding a propane in the cockpit? Or an electric grill someplace? Or a toaster/oven? Slow cooker? Electric skillet? Electric pressure cooker?

Just thinking of ways to expand your horizons...

-Chris

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. cb. OK, now we're getting somewhere. Thanks. So...stovetop (apologies if some of this has been mentioned). Pastas, rice (either full cook-15min, minute rice-5 min or canned/packaged-Rice Sides, Healthy & Quick Rice Side Dishes, Easy Rice Recipes - Knorr®, instant mashed potatoes-5 min. That's a few suggestions for your daily starch. These can all be stored at room temperature and just need water (mostly).
Protein: Canned meats and fish have been mentioned. If you like bacon and eggs for breakfast you can get canned bacon which will last forever unopened but once opened must be refrigerated. Eggs? Liquid Eggs and Egg Whites | Egg Beaters | Egg Beaters Much easier to store in the fridge than an egg carton. Same size as a quart of milk.
Camping stores have a whole whack of freeze dried foods that you only have to add water and heat and again will store in any locker at room temperature.
Vegetables: Other than the longer lasting cabbage and potatoes you'll probably be limited to canned. Onions don't do too badly at room temp.
Condiments: Mayonnaise for the slaw and potato salad will have to be refrigerated after opening. Ketchup and mustard I think is OK at room temp.
Additional: Vegetable oil (small container) for those fish you'll be catching and frying.
All of the above can readily be done on your cooktop stove or microwave and only a few items need be refrigerated. With the extra space in the fridge you can probably store some salad greens and veg. Cooler with ice for beverages and you may want to consider an extra cooler with dry ice as Mr. PM suggested. That way you can have pre-frozen steaks/chops etc. until the dry ice evaporates. I have no idea what the availability of dry ice will be along your route but you should be good for the first week at least.
Instant oatmeal for breakfasts although you'll need milk/cream (cream lasts a LOT longer than whole milk).
Many, many possibilities. You initially had me worried you were going to be living on Spam and PB&J sammiches for 3 weeks.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Re: post #44. Ms. BB. Good grief. Loaded with saturated fat and sodium. No thanks. Might be good for you youngsters but it would give the Admiral a heart attack to think I was eating it.

 

[Lou_tribal]

I just found what you need:

 

[RT Firefly]

Mmmmm....Smokey BBQ.

 

[Lou_tribal]

Mmmmm....Smokey BBQ.

Must be crunchy and delicious with salsa!

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
THAT'S what I forgot. Munchie food. Chips, salsa, peanuts, microwave popcorn, crackers, chocolate bars, granola bars, cookies etc. Nibbly stuff to take the edge off between meals. All will store at room temperature. If you're so inclined you might include meal supplement drinks (Ensure, Boost). They don't need refrigeration either and they do provide protein, calories and vitamins/minerals.
Might even get some pate to serve on the crackers...

 

[FoxtrotCharlie]

You guys are making me hungry

 

[Lou_tribal]

Or another solution would be to keep some live chicken, hens and rabbit on your deck so when you feel hungry you always have fresh meat aboard and fresh eggs for breakfast.
And when I say hens, I do not mean this:

But more this:

L.

 

[FlyWright]

That brings back memories from almost 2 years ago. I virtually lived at the Walmart in Ketchikan as I was preparing to bring Stillwater to San Francisco. I bought everything there from bed linens to easter bunnies!

Richard

Can't head for home without an Easter Bunny! I hope it was pink. Kudos for planning ahead!

Costco also has their rotis chicken available in the can. Boneless,skinless and no gelatinous yuk. Very good and easy to use.

Bill

This sounds interesting....gotta look for this locally. We love Costco Rotisserie Chicken. It's very flexible for boating meals. At $5 for a BIG bird, it's a great value, too. We'll buy one, cut it into pieces and freeze the pieces in foodsaver bags. Just defrost and eat...hot or cold.

We do a lot of meals in advance of boating and then freeze/vacuum bag single or double portions. It's a great way to carry a variety of meals with minimal prep time. Just heat-n-eat. The microwave works great for this.

On many dishes, if you freeze them before bagging, they won't deform from the vacuum process and will look better at mealtime.

If you're low on fridge space, don't overlook the possibility of using a combination of dry ice and pre-frozen water bottles in a large cooler. In the past, we've done this with a compartmentalized 165 qt cooler, 3 dry ice blocks and a couple frozen 1-gallon water jugs. We were able to pack a week's worth of frozen food for 2 big guys and the steaks on day 7 were still partially frozen. You can designate part fridge and part freezer depending on the placement of the dry ice. Just don't pack your cantelope or watermelon in there or it'll become carbonated. DAMHIK

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

Or another solution would be to keep some live chicken, hens and rabbit on your deck so when you feel hungry you always have fresh meat aboard and fresh eggs for breakfast.
And when I say hens, I do not mean this:

But more this:

L.

Looks like Bakers Boat....
Steve!

 

[Nomad Willy]

I like my cereal in the morning and use soymilk and other beverages. It applies to boating in that it comes in one quart containers and requires no refrigeration at all until opened. Most come w sugar and flavorings. Fortunately "no sugar added" is available but in some stores you need to look for it.

Reading this thread I can't believe some of the things you guys are eating.

 

[Britannia]

Canned meat section of most grocery stores or Walmart.

Ted

Wait - isn't that called "Tuna of the land?"