How do you guys manage the food sourcing? Do you go to farmers markets, big stores, do you cook, or eat out all the time?
Although we've traveled a bunch in Mexico, we, like almost all newbie cruisers, over-provisioned. We tried not to but we did anyway. I think it's just a natural progression. We know people eat everywhere and of course have to buy food, but we packed too much.
Like many newbie cruisers, we too expected to anchor much more than we did, at least thus far. Marinas are affordable for such a small boat plus it's much, much easier to visit landside attractions. For example, we probably would have enjoyed La Paz a bit more had we been in the marina vs the anchorage. Some cruisers are on a really tight budget and can't afford marinas. We also met some cruisers who simply were not comfortable venturing into Mexico so being in a marina was not that important to them. We met a few cruisers with children and marinas were incredibly important for social reasons.
We are somewhat foodies and enjoy eating out, and like restaurants with a more local flair. Street tacos are especially enjoyable. We love shopping at public mercados with their myriad of vendors selling all sorts of stuff. I like smoothie type drinks a lot so frequently stop at the small stores selling licuados and jugos.
But I think you have to be honest with yourself about your comfort level with food outside the US. I'd say about a quarter of cruisers we've met wre aghast at mercados and street food vendors and quite squimish about what they perceive as unsanitary conditions. They strongly prefer to shop at a Walmart but will also shop at large Mexican grocery chains such as Soriana and Chedraui. When they eat out, it's usually at sit-down restaurants with a large gringo clientele that serve recognizable dishes like enchiladas (which do not seem to exist in Mexico except at gringo restaurants).
Middle half of cruisers adapt somewhat and will buy fruits and vegetables from small vendors and the mercados, but still do the bulk of their shopping at northern style stores. Their cooking adapts somewhat to mimic local dishes because that's what's available. As for eating out, they are bit more adventurous but street food stalls are a bridge too far unless a fellow cruiser has vouched for it.
About a quarter of the cruisers are some version of us who, for whatever reasons, accept the local food culture and just lean into it. We fit somewhere in the boundary of the middle half and the adventurous quarter - strongly prefer mercados, but have limits too. Really like street food but won't blindly walk up to any street cart and just order whatever they are serving. We are also pretty good cooks so can easily adapt to wherever ingredients we find. In fact, we are easily inspired by what we find - the mercado in Oaxaca must be seen to be believed.
Also, there is a percentage of cruisers who have constraints. Pets are a common constraint - finding pet food and restaurants that will allow them limits options. Dietary constraints such as vegetarianism or lactose or gluten intolerance would be very limiting. Or if you're on a really tight budget.
When we left Weebles in Chiapas, we hitched a ride on another boat that was headed to Costa Rica where we spent a month with a friend who lives there. While we enjoyed traveling in Costa Rica a lot, the food scene is a bit lame. They just don't have the cultural richness that Mexico has. Street food is extremely rare. The mercados are not nearly as diverse and interesting. We suspect we'll anchor a lot more and prepare our own meals.
I think you have to be honest with yourself about who you are, what your preferences are, and your relationship with food. If you've been a picky eater all your life you'll be a picky eater in Mexico and probably be frustrated as hell because so little of the food resembles what is offered in America. Even the taco is radically different. Like enchiladas, burritos don't really exist either. If you worry the water in Mexico will get you sick so avoid ice in drinks and anything green including cabbage on a taco, you will have limited options in Mexico. We can talk about whether they are rational fears, but in the end, chances that you will change at this age are slim. Better to accept who you are and just adapt it avoid it altogether.
In closing, I'd say bring the stuff that you are unlikely to find. For us that means high impact flavor ingredients such as spices, horseradish (bloody Marys), small tins of thai curry spices, parmagiano cheese, and a few things like that. We carry some sausage spice mixes so we can sort of make our own Italian sausage and breakfast sausage. When we return to Weebles in October, the only food stuff we're bringing are several bricks of vacuum packed Bustello coffee and a couple pounds of fettuccine pasta. Everything else we can source locally almost anywhere. When we finally get to Florida, I suspect we'll still have cupboards full of stuff we provisioned from San Diego. Too much....
Hope this helps.
Peter
When we needed services, we always planned on getting 2 out of 3; schedule, price or quality. Rarely did you get all 3. Check your medical insurance coverage. Medical care is much cheaper but…. I’ll save that for another thread. Do you speak Spanish?
No gal likes to see a good guy unattached. Top secret... American male culture is a perfect match for Mexican female culture.
