What's for dinner?

[Lollygag1]

Forgot to mention I bring the rake and dig quahogs and steamers.

Envy the folks that can do multi week and month cruising. Would enjoy planning these menues

 

[BandB]

Pleasure.....as in Pleasure Boating.

Quality of food is an important aspect. I'm not going to eat meat out of a can other than occasional soup perhaps. I'm going to eat as near as home as possible. That means a freezer or even a freezer cooler and food that is vacuum sealed stored in it. We grill and we use instant pots.

 

[HiDHo]

I've wondered - what kinds of things do people take on board (to eat) t

Aside from canned chicken and tuna (and Spam?) - what kinds of canned or otherwise preserved meats are easy to find in a grocery store that taste as close as possible to "regular food that you would eat at home"?
Thanks,
John[/QUOTE]

Oh canned chicken John, yummy !

 

[AlaskaProf]

...you guys from the PNW buy frozen fish to take on the boat? Your cruising grounds have some of the best sea food around. it just takes a little effort..

I have about 1 cu ft of freezer space. No frozen, but a lot of smoked. As for the fresh, many of the popular ports-of-call have excellent fish vendors, some even on the pier.


Leave it to the pros.

 

[AlaskaProf]

...other than occasional soup perhaps.

Some of the dishes consumed on Seeadler are just nostalgia from decades of little boats with no refrigeration and two burners, even one. (Ever make dinner for three on a SeaSwing stove?


One of my favorites is "Daddy's Homemade Canned Soup". Canned soup (Progresso Split Pea or potato are good) Load it up with thin sliced sausage, potato, carrot, garlic, and whatever else you find in the cooler. Yum.

 

[menzies]

Back in my sailing days off the north west coast of Ireland we used to store canned food for multi day off shore racing. Often the labels would have been well gone and all we were left with were the metal cans with no idea what was in them.

We used to just pick two or three cans for the sauce pan and dump what ever was in them into the heat. The true Pot Luck!

Green beans, chicken soup and mandarin pieces all from one pot anyone (and yes, that was one of the meals!).

 

[FlyWright]

As a kid, Dad took us fishing in a 16' runabout on the Delaware Bay. Mostly trout or weakfish, as they are called. As an adult (or older kid, as it were), I have fished the Adirondacks, but never caught anything until this year. In June, Bro and I canoe-camped and caught and ate largemouth bass. We were so proud that we finally figured out "catching" was more fun than "fishing."

I was there years ago, as so many of us were. I grew from a kid fishing cemetery ponds on my bicycle to rivers and lakes with my Dad's 5HP Johnson SeaHorse outbooard to now when I'm a retiree fishing for sturgeon measured in feet on my LRC. My last big girl was over 9 ft...too big to measure solo.

I always remember those friends and the early days with great memories. That's what boating and fishing is all about, anyway...

So let me get this straight, you guys from the PNW buy frozen fish to take on the boat? Your cruising grounds have some of the best sea food around. it just takes a little effort.. Fresh is so much better then frozen any day, Spot prawns and Dungies are some of the best eating there is, not to mention freshly caught salmon. A couple of rockfish for tacos how good is that? How about Spot Prawn cerviche? Thats 1/2 the reason I own a boat....

Catch and Release (C&R) has been my SOP for the last several years. Occasionally I'll keep a smaller one for a friend in need. I'd rather support the local economy and fish without pressure for providing subsistence. I prefer relaxed fishing without the pressure of having to feed oneself or compete in a real or imagined competition. To me, tournament fishing removes ALL the fun.

We love to have friends like you. While we are kayaking, hiking or biking ashore, and chasing wildlife and scenery with a camera you are catching fresh fish and crab for dinner. And believe me, we are happy to appreciate the effort you expend!

I like friends who know how to cook and can provide variety!! Don't get me wrong...I love hosting for dinner but it's extra fun when friends cook after a long day of running the boat...as long as they're not vegetarians or any of that other non-meat variety. I need protein.

There is a seafood co-op that delivers whatever the fresh catches are. They do our area on Thursday so we just place an order and leave out a cooler and get all sorts of great stuff. If need be we freeze it but prefer to have fresh. We have made a priority to buy local to help small business plus the quality is better.

Heading out tomorrow thru Tuesday so we have:
Giant scallops
Swordfish
Yellow tail flounder
Ribeye (from local farm)
Fresh veggies

Sounds like you found a great source for fresh and variety without having to get 'there'. Wish we had that everywhere. Maybe a new business model in the new world.

I've wondered - what kinds of things do people take on board (to eat) t

Aside from canned chicken and tuna (and Spam?) - what kinds of canned or otherwise preserved meats are easy to find in a grocery store that taste as close as possible to "regular food that you would eat at home"?
Thanks,
John

Oh canned chicken John, yummy !

I think I just spit up in the back of my throat a little bit after seeing that image!

 

[BandB]

Back in my sailing days off the north west coast of Ireland we used to store canned food for multi day off shore racing. Often the labels would have been well gone and all we were left with were the metal cans with no idea what was in them.

We used to just pick two or three cans for the sauce pan and dump what ever was in them into the heat. The true Pot Luck!

Green beans, chicken soup and mandarin pieces all from one pot anyone (and yes, that was one of the meals!).

Wifey B: I read these stories about "back in the day," but I don't freaking want to go "back in the day." I don't want to eat like an offshore racer.

 

[ScottC]

<<What's for dinner?>>


First choice: Reservations

Second (and more frequent) choice: Plan dinner around local/seasonal ingredients. We were spoiled in France last year as it seems every town or village, no matter how small has market days with local, fresh produce. Tomatoes to die for. Not like the tomatoes we get here in Sweden which have the firmness and flavor of baseballs.


A few years ago, we cruised around Denmark. We spent a few nights on one side of a large commercial fishing harbor and quickly came to understand that if you bring your bucket(s) to any of the large fishing trawlers coming back to port around 8am, they would fill them with fresh blue mussels for you (free!). This was fantastic, as earlier in our trip, we had visited a museum in Limfjord, the epicenter of mussel farming in Denmark. The museum tour included a 1-hour cooking class on how to steam mussels. To our amazement, we learned that you can steam them in just about anything. Forget white wine. Too boring. Consider, beer, Coca Cola, Tobasco, Coconut milk...be as creative as you dare!

 

[caltexflanc]

Having plenty of refrigeration and storage, and full size cooking appliances, and a proper assortment of pots and pans, definitely makes the full time cruising life and anchoring out more enjoyable:

 

[Frosty]

What are other common / frequent things that people stock up on, that will last a long time (months to a year?)

It sounds like many here don't provision like that. If you are interested to learn more of the tricks of the "trade," you can get a lot of information from sailboat cruising boards. Or at least you used to be able to.

As someone mentioned above, the first thing is that many foods that we "know" need refrigeration don't. Some don't need it at all, and some only need cool storage (say 50-55º).

A classic read on the topic is "Care and Feeding of the Sailing Crew," by Lin Pardey. It's also a fun read if you like that sort of thing. What she does is chronicle their voyage from Japan to the PNW, something like 45 days out. She goes over the provisioning, and then the rest of the book is sort of like "one post a day" about what they are eating, how she's managing the stores, plus sailing news and a few digressions.

When I sailed we didn't have refrigeration, and most of the time we were in the tropics. Here are some of the things we did (we were not "pros" like the Pardeys).

- Bought unrefrigerated and unwashed eggs (call a farm) and then put them all together in those dozen containers they make for camping. Turn container once a week.

- Brought lots of ingredients for baking bread, cookies, cakes, quick breads. With these ingredients (flour, sugar, yeast, flax seed, baking powder, cracked wheat, raisins, etc.) you can make fresh food from basically powder! Nothing like the smell of fresh bread wafting up the companionway as you cruise along (butter will keep in those cool areas or there is canned butter for really hot places).

- Stocked up on "treat" items in cans or jars. These are things that really zing up a meal, yet keep forever and don't take up a lot of space. Examples would be black olive tapenade (spread), roasted red peppers, capers, pickled ginger (wasabi powder), olives, etc.

- Dried mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, etc.

- Spices galore.

- Pots of fresh herbs if you have the space and inclination.

- Good old canned fruits and vegetables. Instead of a variety, we stocked up on four or five favorites (I'm not a fan of canned foods, but there are a few I'm okay with).

- Things in long-pack cartons (coconut milk, soup).

- Canned treats such as certain types of creams.

- high quality powdered *whole* milk

- Hard cheese.

- Vegetables that keep well, and be mindful of not storing certain ones next to each other (they can cause each other to ripen sooner). Think of olden days root cellars: Potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage.

- Fruit such as oranges, bananas.

- Condiments such as good balsamic vinegar, powdered wasabi, hot sauce, etc.

- Tea, any powdered drink mixes you actually like, instant coffee if you drink it, cocoa mix, etc.

- Stand-bys of peanut butter and jelly, if you like them (they become more wonderful on fresh, boat-baked bread).

Then of course get fresh food whenever possible and eat that instead (since the stores are mostly long-keep items, they can just wait until you need them).

We weren't big meat eaters, so my list reflects that.

This isn't food, but my motto was "It's never going to be any easier to provision (we had a car before we left, local stores were well-stocked)." So we added cases of paper towels, toilet paper, and other often used similar items. They are light, last forever, and are easily crammed into odd spaces.

************
Most people here don't have the desire or need to provision this way. You may not either but since you asked, that's my take on it.

 

[bill.kimbell]

Definitely NOT Spam, Dinty Moore, etc. Vacuum seal and freeze meats, etc. No air in the package means they keep longer, even once thawed. We leave home w several pounds of pre-cooked breaded chicken cutlets...use for lunches, dinners. Don't buy pre-cooked bacon...cook a couple of pounds and keep in plastic bag in fridge. If you grill at home, grill onboard even more often. If you will do lots of long cruises, change out the 2 burner electric for a 2 burner propane stovetop. If not, buy a portable 1 burner butane camping burner...they work great, much hotter than the electric.

 

[AlaskaProf]

Almost forgot:


"Shelf stable" milk. Requires no refrigeration until opened. Just like the little half-pint squeeze boxes you put in the kids' school lunches.


Great on your oatmeal or granola. Alaskans buy it in cases of quarts. May be harder to find in your local Walmart, but worth the effort.

 

[Bellakins]

We lived on our sailboat in the Caribbean for 6 months a year for 3 years. With solar panels and a new refrigerator and freezer that ran off DC power, we were able to keep fresh food almost as long as we can at home. We anchored out or were on moorings most of the time, but the solar panels kept up. We rarely ran our generator. We now have a trawler and haven't been gone on extended trips yet, other than 6 weeks bringing the boat from western FL to NC. We have added solar panels to it and replaced the refrigerator with an apartment sized one that will run off AC or DC. The freezer is cold enough to keep ice cream. On both boats we have always eaten the same kinds of things we eat at home, although more simply. Fresh/frozen meats, fresh and frozen veggies, fruit, salad, etc. Solar panels and the right fridge/freezer that will run on DC will work well for you. I took some canned/dry goods to the Caribbean but ended up not using them. A trip to a grocery store once or twice a week worked just fine.

 

[tom hudson]

We cruised aboard our '87 Chris 410 for several years, and found what worked for us in that galley. Other boaters were envious of the apartment size fridge-freezer and the storage pantry underneath the fridge and galley sole. The sink was deep enough to wash dishes without getting everything around wet. But for most tasks, it was decidedly a one-butt galley.

We would often prepare some dishes at home that we knew would make several meals, and could be stored in the space we had available, both in the fridge and the pantry; broiled flank steak, and boneless chicken breasts baked with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese come to mind. We had several quick prep dishes that one of us could heat and bring up to the helm while the other made the pre-dawn departure to reach a lock on its first opening of the day; one of those was microwavable frozen sausage on buttermilk biscuits, two to a pack, with a dollop of spicy mustard on each.

On the Gulf and the Carolina coasts, fresh jumbo shrimp bought at the boat after it docks would go straight into a cooler for that night's dinner, usually with rice. Weather permitting, we ate most of our dinners on that aft deck.

 

[koliver]

I think I just spit up in the back of my throat a little bit after seeing that image!

 

[John R M]

We cruised aboard our '87 Chris 410 for several years, and found what worked for us in that galley. Other boaters were envious of the apartment size fridge-freezer and the storage pantry underneath the fridge and galley sole. The sink was deep enough to wash dishes without getting everything around wet. But for most tasks, it was decidedly a one-butt galley.

We would often prepare some dishes at home that we knew would make several meals, and could be stored in the space we had available, both in the fridge and the pantry; broiled flank steak, and boneless chicken breasts baked with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese come to mind. We had several quick prep dishes that one of us could heat and bring up to the helm while the other made the pre-dawn departure to reach a lock on its first opening of the day; one of those was microwavable frozen sausage on buttermilk biscuits, two to a pack, with a dollop of spicy mustard on each.

On the Gulf and the Carolina coasts, fresh jumbo shrimp bought at the boat after it docks would go straight into a cooler for that night's dinner, usually with rice. Weather permitting, we ate most of our dinners on that aft deck.

Have you ever tired mixing mayonnaise with the parmesan for the chicken? Keeps the chicken very moist, one of our favourites.

 

[FlyWright]

Have you ever tired mixing mayonnaise with the parmesan for the chicken? Keeps the chicken very moist, one of our favorites.

I just learned something!! Thanks!!

(I fixed your spelling of favorite! )

 

[John R M]

I just learned something!! Thanks!!

(I fixed your spelling of favorite! )

You mean you Americanized the Canadian spelling!

 

[menzies]

You mean you Americanized the Canadian spelling!

The proper English spelling you mean?

This is a global forum, not a US one, I believe.

We have at least one Australian moderator, hopefully they will change it back to what you originally posted.

No moderator should be changing a member's post without their permission

 

[markpierce]

Got wine?

 

[FlyWright]

The proper English spelling you mean?

This is a global forum, not a US one, I believe.

We have at least one Australian moderator, hopefully they will change it back to what you originally posted.

No moderator should be changing a member's post without their permission

LOL!! I never changed his post! I only joked with him as I Americanized his spelling only in the quoted portion in my post, as I mentioned. Where's your sense of humor?

Maybe take the boat for a ride.

 

[AusCan]

The only difference between food we eat on the boat and what we eat at home is the seafood is fresher on the boat. Its usually cooked within the hour.

Here's one of my meals while I was in quarantine.

 

[FlyWright]

Here's my meals list for this current boat trip...

BBQ Chicken with corn on the cob
Tempura Shrimp Yakisoba Bowl
Savory Beef and Veggies
Crabcakes and corn on the cob
Mexi-bowl with Spicy Chicken
Veggie and Meatball Al-fredo
Spicy Chicken with Stir Fry Veggies
Corned Beef and Carrots
German Pork Roast with Sauerkraut and Applesauce

All homemade except for the Costco tempura shrimp and Popeyes Spicy Chicken.

Bon Apetit from FlyWright!

 

[menzies]

Here's my meals list for this current boat trip...

BBQ Chicken with corn on the cob
Tempura Shrimp Yakisoba Bowl
Savory Beef and Veggies
Crabcakes and corn on the cob
Mexi-bowl with Spicy Chicken
Veggie and Meatball Al-fredo
Spicy Chicken with Stir Fry Veggies
Corned Beef and Carrots
German Pork Roast with Sauerkraut and Applesauce

All homemade except for the Costco tempura shrimp and Popeyes Spicy Chicken.

Bon Apetit from FlyWright!

Do you make or buy your own crab cakes.

We find that the Philips brand from Costco are pretty good - not Chesapeake fresh-made good, but good!

 

[FlyWright]

I make my own crab cakes from store bought crab, sometimes fresh, sometimes canned.