s/y Nine of Cups Passage Provisioning |
Provisioning for an overnight or a weekend requires some reasonable thought in advance, but provisioning for a long passage...one month, two months, three months, six months...that requires lots and lots of forethought, meal planning and an Excel spreadsheet for Nine of Cups. There's no easy way to provision, although the planning aspect gets easier the more you do it. Here are some of our hints for long passage provisioning that might be of interest and help to others. |
Left, David looks at the results of one of several trips to MiComisariato, the local supermarket in LaLibertad, Ecuador where we provisioned for our 40 day direct passage from Ecuador to Puerto Montt, Chile. We've found that just by asking, most stores will deliver free of charge when you're making such large purchases. |
Provisioning 101 - 404 1) I really do use an Excel spreadsheet for making our provisioning list. I modify it depending on where we'll be doing our provisioning. Certain items available in the US or Europe are not available in other areas, so the list changes to reflect availability of specific fruits/veggies, canned items, etc. If we estimate 40 days between shopping trips, I provision for 90 days. Extra is okay in my book. Running out is a bummer, especially if it's a basic item, so I tend to over-provision on items which will keep and we'll use it on the next trip. The positive of using a spreadsheet is that you have a place to enter your current inventory and what you think you'll need and the "buy" quantity is calculated for you. Once I've completed the spreadsheet for a trip, I print it out and use it as my master shopping list. 2) Before using the spreadsheet, I first take an accurate inventory of what's aboard as close to provisioning day as possible. I check for out of date and obvious no-use products. If "out of date" items look okay, they are moved to where they'll be used first. Dried up drink mixes, bulging cans, etc. are discarded. 3) I check out the local supermarket(s) and fresh markets, butchers, etc. to determine what's available, what's not, best deals, etc. 4)I do basic meal planning to get an idea of how much of everything I'll need. For instance, if I'm provisioning for 90 days ... that's 90 breakfasts, 90 lunches, 90 dinners and 90+ snacks. We eat lots of pasta so I'll assume we'll have a pasta meal of some sort at least twice a week...for about 13 weeks...that's 26 pasta meals. We get 2 meals from a .5kg package of pasta, so I'll need 13 packages to cover 26 meals as a minimum. What else will go with the pasta? tomato sauce, spices, grated Parmesan, meat?, mushrooms, canned or fresh veggies? It sounds tedious, but after awhile you develop "typical" meals and the menus and ingredients come more easily. 5)We long ago gave up things like facial tissues and regular use of paper napkins. We hope, however, NEVER to run of toilet paper! We have found that paper products are very expensive in foreign countries and stock up whenever we find a bargain. 6) Medical supplies (antibiotics to band-aids), other than vitamins or OTC products, are a separate list and are inventoried annually or after previous passage use. 7) I label all cans with indelible black marker: contents and "use by" date before stowing. We use a vacuum sealer to seal drygoods (flour/rice) and keep them weevil/critter-free. Finding refill bags is not easy outside the US. 8) I buy fresh market stuff last...the morning we leave if possible...and preferably fruits, veggies and eggs which have never been refrigerated. Other than the US, by the way, eggs are never refrigerated. They'll available on the unrefrigerated, on the shelf. Fresh produce is usually stored in hammocks. 9)Before stowing eggs, I dipped each egg in boiling water for about 5 seconds then return it to its carton. I stow cartons in an easily accessible crate and turn the cartons twice a week. We rarely have any eggs go bad and we've kept them for 3 months+. We've always eaten them before we could determine how much longer they would have kept. 10) Beyond planning, buying and hauling, keep in mind where you might stow what you buy. We don't have an elaborate system for stowing provisions. We've purchased plastic crates and hammocks and tiered hanging baskets. We use every available nook and cranny, but I try to use the same locations each time so I remember what's where. Canned goods are stowed in an old, unused water tank in the bilge which David cut the top off of. We found an area under some drawers in the aft cabin which afforded us a nice area for stowing wine. |
Fishing David is a pretty good fisherman and I usually count on his success as an angler as part of my provisioning stores. As specialty items, not on the usual provisioning list, I try to have the basic makings for sushi and California rolls aboard like nori wraps, wasabi, pickled ginger and rice vinegar. |
Canning Because we have limited fridge/freezer space and because what we do have consumes lots of power, we've looked for other ways to stock provisions, especially meat and poultry, that do not require refrigeration. Canning is one option which I tried in Chile prior to our Pacific crossing and it worked out well. We were able to purchase 1/2L (pint) jars in Chile at the local hardware store. Pint jars seemed to be the right size for two people meals. I opted to purchase extra lids just in case I couldn't find the right size in New Zealand. In anticipation of our Pacific passage, we purchased a Presto aluminum pressure canner (Model 0175) when we were back in the US ($80) and carried it back with us in our luggage. Actually, Kiersten on the Danish boat "Sol" inspired me to give this a try. They have no refrigeration and can meat regularly. I also purchased a book on the subject "Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving" which answered lots of questions and provided exact procedures to follow so I didn't poison the crew. I pressure canned 72 pints of ground turkey and chicken breasts. I did not find it that difficult and seeing the bin containing the results of my labors was very satisfying. |
A few more hints...
|
We found a plastic crate which held all 72 pints. I used cardboard dividers designed to separate wine bottles to cushion the glass jars. |