Cooking Aboard

There was another thread that mutated into cooking, so I thought I'd start one dedicated to Cooking Aboard.

I don't. My philosophy is package to mouth. The microwave can be a side-trip, otherwise NO COOKING. But hey, if YOU want to cook (for yourself or all of us) fine, just don't expect me to get involved in the preparation, cooking or dishes.

In fact, I have been using a no-wash flatware system to aid my package to mouth simplicity. If you wanna wash 'silverware' fine - don't do mine and don't expect me to do yours. Just put mine back in the 'one hole' position.



There's plenty of stuff out there that doesn't need heat, and even some of that stuff that has cooking instructions - really doesn't need to be cooked.

My son-in-law loves to provision/cook and I totally enjoy having him and his culinary delites on boat outings, but I'm still not inspired to do it myself.

Meal, Ready-to-Eat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not on my boat 25% of my boating enjoyment is cooking and drinking

Not on my boat 25% of my boating enjoyment is cooking and drinking

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I'm with you. Food and drink are a major part of the fun of boating.

Gotta go with the cooking and drinking theme.
Fresh fish, crabs etc in all forms. You name it we cook it, eating is one of the fine aspects of life on board, also it would be pretty hard not to cook when you live on board.
I would hate to loose my rep as having the best stocked beer frig on the east coast (Aus), along with a pretty fine wine cellar (lazzerette).

Cheers
Benn

I do things a little differently on my boats.....


Tenderloin pieces.....

Shrimp on the barby...


Cooking breakfast on the grill on my old boat

I am somewhat with Jeff. I absolutely despise cooking. I can think of nothing more boring or pointless than being in a kitchen cooking food. Opening a can and dumping the contents in a pan is as far as I will go and even that is done under protest.

I like eating good food and fortunately my wife is a real good chef.

Ironically, until I got married I cooked for myself once I'd left home and I was actually quite good at it. But once I got married that was it, and I never intend to cook anything other than the aforementioned can contents for the rest of my life.

I've been cooking for myself, relatives, and friends for almost 45 years since graduating from college. Don't like doing dishes, but have eschewed the dishwasher even though my land home is so equipped. A waste of water and energy in my view, and a huge waste of space in a thirty-something-foot boat.

I enjoy cooking and believe that a well stocked fridge is a happy fridge. (Food AND drink) I don't have the room, appliances or cookware on the water like we have at home so I can't cook as well on the boat as I can at home, but I still enjoy grilling.

Often, I'll prepare or pre-cook meals for the boat to cut down on work in the galley, then reheat onboard. Grill foods and simple side dishes are the exceptions.

Al, please grill our ribeye medium-rare tomorrow. The home-made potato salad is chilling in the 'frig presently.

Cooking is as much an art as a necessity.Not for everyone.

We cook at home , and cook about the same on board.

4 burner SS gymboled gas range with oven and broiler , good fiddles and pot holders.

Propane fridge and freezer , supplies are no big deal. .

Marin said:

I am somewhat with Jeff. I absolutely despise cooking. I can think of nothing more boring or pointless than being in a kitchen cooking food. Opening a can and dumping the contents in a pan is as far as I will go and even that is done under protest.

I like eating good food and fortunately my wife is a real good chef.

Ironically, until I got married I cooked for myself once I'd left home and I was actually quite good at it. But once I got married that was it, and I never intend to cook anything other than the aforementioned can contents for the rest of my life.

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My position exactly.

When the wife is away, its a Lean Cuisine in the microwave and choke it down. Fast and no dishes. Even that is a pain.

The wife cooks great meals, but she uses three pots when one would do and I get to do the dishes.

dwhatty said:

.The wife cooks great meals, but she uses three pots when one would do and I get to do the dishes.

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David, I'm sure that your wife would really appreciate your pointing out those inefficiencies for her.

Cooking is not only an art is also the only way that we have to choose clearly what to eat. We are what we eat.
Please do not try to convince me that package food is healthy. Microwave oven heated or cooked food is totally molecularly disturbed and chemically unbalanced.
Putting quantities in perspective, no package beats a ribeye with homemade potato salad or anything else made fresh without preservatives and additives to make that look good to the eyes of the client.

One think you often see in a kitchen full of busy people, cooking for the family, is love, laughter, happiness good humor, and all those good things that we cannot buy packed or not, anywhere

This is just my opinion.

Moonstruck said:

David, I'm sure that your wife would really appreciate your pointing out those inefficiencies for her.

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You beat me to it again, Don! I was thinking the same thing.

Portuguese said:

Cooking is not only an art is also the only way that we have to choose clearly what to eat. We are what we eat.
Please do not try to convince me that package food is healthy. Microwave oven heated or cooked food is totally molecularly disturbed and chemically unbalanced.
Putting quantities in perspective, no package beats a ribeye with homemade potato salad or anything else made fresh without preservatives and additives to make that look good to the eyes of the client.

One think you often see in a kitchen full of busy people, cooking for the family, is love, laughter, happiness good humor, and all those good things that we cannot buy packed or not, anywhere

This is just my opinion.

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I'm with you on that Portuguese!
At meal time our family is almost always together. It takes some effort with teenagers, but well worthwhile. No TV, just love & laughter.

Good healthy food made from fresh ingredients takes only a little extra effort but makes so much difference. A fresh grilled fish, homemade soup, and garden salad, - all so easy to prepare. How can a processed meal in a package with a dozen unpronouncable ingredients be better than that.

Portuguese said:

Cooking is not only an art is also the only way that we have to choose clearly what to eat. We are what we eat.
Please do not try to convince me that package food is healthy. Microwave oven heated or cooked food is totally molecularly disturbed and chemically unbalanced.
Putting quantities in perspective, no package beats a ribeye with homemade potato salad or anything else made fresh without preservatives and additives to make that look good to the eyes of the client.

One think you often see in a kitchen full of busy people, cooking for the family, is love, laughter, happiness good humor, and all those good things that we cannot buy packed or not, anywhere

This is just my opinion.

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Well stated!

We live on board, so cooking onboard is a part of everyday life. A typical meal onboard might be grilled steak, arugula salad, potatoes or rice, and a decent wine; another night would be pan seared fish, noodles, and some vegetable.

Yup, it's a bit of work, but worth every moment of prep and enjoyment.

Some of the reasons I love boating is the shared meals on the dock, sandbars or raft-ups. I enjoy cooking breakfast & dinner whether its just me or a boatload. I'am not thrilled doing the dishes but its easiest doing them after a meal & not letting them pile up. My daughter kinda takes over the galley when they're onboard, I then have problems finding stuff that she puts away in a different place than I keep it but I'll never complain or even worry about it.

You guys bring up some great points and it reminds me of the priority we placed on mealtime in our family's lives. Every day we'd sit down for a family meal at 6PM (ish) without TV, radio, computers or music. Just 4 family members sharing the day's thoughts or news. The preparation of the meal was often the same, but just with Meg and me. There's just no substitute for raising kids in a stable family environment and family dinners was the anchor for us.

Tonight (and probably numerous times this weekend at the Asparagus Festival) we're blessed to be able to share that time with some of our favorite TF friends on the CA Delta. Life is good!!

PS. I'll try to get some good pics of the food fight.

Typically meal time is a family affair at home. Everything from planning and preparation to cooking and cleaning is a shared activity. No tv, radio or phone calls just family time. All fresh made with minimal use of pre packaged food stuffs.

Thus far the boat has been used as a picnic cruiser but over time cooking aboard will resemble home. Boating and all our other recreational activities mirror quite closely our approach to meal times.

We try to keep it simple, and do as much on the grill as we can. I leaned early on that fish and vegetables with a little wine and butter cooked in foil are both easy and delicious. Potatoes cooked the same way with butter and onions go with about anything. Corn cooked in the shuck is great on the grill. Soups and sandwiches are easy. We eat pretty well on Moonstruck.

I enjoy cooking, but with long work hours, not as much as in the past - at least when at home. On the boat is another story, since we have more time on our hands. I can't imagine a day on the water without firing up the grill at least once (preferably two or three times). Also, having a condo in the city, we can't grill at home, so the boat is my only outlet. To make it easy, we buy large packages of meat when it is on sale, put it in freezer bags with whatever marinade, rub we want. Then pull the bags out of the freezer on Fri night when we leave for the boat. By Sat having sat in the fridge on the boat, everything is thawed and ready for the grill. Going on seven years with our Dickenson SeaBQ, and she is still going strong (and still on the original burner). The grill was the first accessory we bought for the sailboat, and it now resides on the Tug (first item we moved over to the new boat).

Don
It's amazing how any fish cooked that way tastes so good. Put that butter & wine to work and if you can, add a leaf or two of dill, and you'll have a gourmet dish inside of a foil pocket in the grill. It is quick, healthy and if other people don't see the foil, they will guess forever how in the world did you do it.

Portuguese

Portuguese said:

Don
It's amazing how any fish cooked that way tastes so good. Put that butter & wine to work and if you can, add a leaf or two of dill, and you'll have a gourmet dish inside of a foil pocket in the grill. It is quick, healthy and if other people don't see the foil, they will guess forever how in the world did you do it.

Portuguese

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Thanks for the reminder. Should have mentioned the herbs, lemon and seasonings. Can't cook without those. I put thinly sliced lemon slices over the fish. When you cook the corn in the husk, then cut all the way through at the stalk end. Grab tightly at the silk end and shake the cob out. It should come out clean and cooked.

Oysters and clams steam well on the grill. In season Florida lobster does well grilled.

This is making me hungry.

It is so interesting to read different perspectives! Our meals aboard are not much different than on land. We have pretty much all the accoutrements on the boat that we have on land. Breakfast might be muffins or biscuits in the convection / microwave or bacon and eggs on the range. Or maybe just cereal or yogurt. We've been known to make waffles on board. lunch is usually uncooked, though we nuked bacon for BLTs last Sunday. Dinner is often something we can grill. We are in the process of updating our galley now, hope to be done next week and it will be even more just like home when we are done.

Moonstruck said:

David, I'm sure that your wife would really appreciate your pointing out those inefficiencies for her.

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Luckily for me Don & Walt, she does not frequent this forum. If she did, the dog and I might be eating out of the same bowl.

I feed the dog, but she feeds me.

dwhatty said:

luckily for me don & walt, she does not frequent this forum. If she did, the dog and i might be eating out of the same bowl.

I feed the dog, but she feeds me.

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lol!! :d

Portuguese understands it. I do wonder if the fast food empire would have developed anywhere outside Anglo Saxon cultures.( well it's Friday night, I'm on the boat marinating some beef and interesting stuff, with a hit of chilli's and corriander, not to mention the limes, with the zest and of course garlic... with a nice bottle of ...sorry I digress, and probably put Marin to sleep) :lol:

"The wife cooks great meals, but she uses three pots when one would do and I get to do the dishes."

That works , if the cook is extravagant in the food prep, its fine.

Good food is a good life!

Whoever cooks does NOT do the clean up when underway.

I cook to eat and drink! No micro for me and I LOVE iron ware.

Having said that I need to know if anyone uses an induction cook top. My propane tanks seem too cumbersome and dangerous. Induction seems a perfect solution.

We cook for our travel (up to 7 weeks) at home and freeze it on.
On board we only cook potatoes or rice or other side dishes.
So we have great quality on board and leave the work at home.
Of course we use our grill and cook fresh fish on board.
We have three big freezer and a refrigerator on board.
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Norbert