Healthy Food

[Donald Tyson]

We like to eat meat, starches and green veggies at almost every meal. how do you provision your boats with green veggies in quantities large enough to be worthwhile. Since most Fresh and all frozen take up fridge room and little can be kept there I've thought I might try dehydrated of canned green veggies. Is there any real food value in them.

I love canned Greenbeans and hate canned peas. Canned Limas are okay and there are many more. What do you do?

What area of the boat do you consider to bet the pantry or dry food storage area. Is it a specific spot or does it change frequently?

How many days of food do you carry on a 22 or 25?

[Tom Hruby]

Good question. I did a little research on line and found that freeze dried foods maintain most of their nutritional value. There are websites that sell a large variety of freeze dried meats, veggies and fruits. They are a bit pricey but will keep for 25 years.

For myself and my wife, we rarely go out for more than a week so we get by with canned meats, fruits and veggies, and carry a 2-3 day supply of fresh foods in our fridge (Dometic). We store our food in watertight boxes in the cockpit. These also make a good step for getting in and out of the boat from a dock.

The following description is from https://nutristorefoods.com/blogs/blog/the-nutritional-health-benefits-of-freeze-dried-is-it-good-for-you?srsltid=AfmBOopXX7qEcetQ_gxShaBFGWVHM4_y5L4NUr5wZd2CbskZSFJLu4EA

Freeze-drying preserves 97% of the original nutrients. As compared to other food preservation methods such as canning retaining only 40% or dehydrating retaining only 60%.
Freeze drying maintains much of the original flavor and texture when reconstituted. Freeze-dried foods do not shrink or shrivel, nor does the freeze-drying process make the food tough or chewy.
Freeze-dried food, when stored correctly, has a 25-year shelf life. This is up to 10 years longer than other preservation methods such as; canning - 3 years, dehydration - 10 years, or traditional freezing - 2 years. To learn more about the shelf life of freeze-dried goods, check out our “How Long Freeze Dried Food Really Lasts” blog post.
Freeze drying has been around for a long time. Since 1906 to be exact! Because of this, the process has been perfected over the years to keep food at its optimal nutritional level, while simultaneously maintaining its taste.
Freeze-dried food has little to no preservatives or additives. Unlike other packaged goods or produce you find at the grocery store, freeze-drying technology locks in all nutrition without using harmful preservatives or additives to help increase shelf life.

[thataway]

Cabbage can last a month out in the air, we store in a mesh hammock. Onions and Potatoes (regular and sweet) can last a month.

We had both a freezer and refrigerator on last few C Dorys (chest type 12 V DC//120 V AC.). On our large cruising boats we we had very efficient freezers and could store 6 months worth of frozen food. Thus we could keep frozen food for at least a month. Marie makes meals for many weeks each time she cooks. Make 6x the amount you will eat, and then freeze the rest in two serviing seal-a-meal bags. She does this at home also. So we can go the freezer and the entree is already cooked, and ready to eat.

On our lake Powell trips we would have food aboard for a month. We stored food in every nook and cranny availabe. We also had large dunnage boxes. These typically were 4 feet long, 18" wide and about 18" high. We used them as seats or platforms in the cockpit.

[colbysmith]

I/we will frequently over the summer go on 1 or 2 week trips. Have also been gone as long as a month. This was true on both our current 25 and past 22. With the 25 I have the boat's refrigerator, plus the portable Engle that we use as a freezer. (On the 22, I just had an ice cooler. I may have had the Engle then also.) We'll keep a couple containers of ice cream along with meats (bacon, lunch meat, steaks, hamburger, etc.) The refrigerator holds condiments and cold foods. Usually a bag of romaine lettuce (as it seems to last longest of the lettuces, and the bag is the one that has 3 heads in it), a couple containers of macaroni salad, some Greek yogurt for Rosanne, and any other foods that have to be kept cold. (Small carton of milk, one soda and one beer, to be replaced upon use.) Then a lot of canned goods. This is for both vegetables, meats such as ham and spam. Also dried pasta and some box meals that don't need to be refrigerated. Most the cans go in the compartment under the table in the 25. I also keep a plastic tub with prepared dry foods along with cooking condiments, under the sink on the floor. All these areas are kept cool by the water surrounding the hull. We'll keep breads under the sink and apples under the table. I also have some space behind the refrigerator. (I cut out a hatch opening under the seat cushion to access this area.) Also store a large tub of extra dry foods in the cabinet under the aft seat. Bags of chips can go just about in any of the cabinets. I'll also put some foods, like extra bread, under the v-berth bunk in cabinets there. Farm fresh eggs that have not been washed or refrigerated can last quite a while, and I'll place those under the sink on the floor. The 22 didn't have as much space, but I still stored stuff in pretty much the same way. We've been able to go out for a month with out really having to replenish anything. I had the 22 when I spent almost two months on the Inside Passage, and don't think I needed to buy any other food, except maybe some fresh fruits when I had the opportunity. We have dry milk for when the fresh stuff runs out. I've started eating more peanut butter sandwiches to cut down on the refrigerated space needed by lunch meat. I found some of those little jelly packets like the restaurants have, so don't need to refrigerate jelly and can add that to my sandwiches. Maybe not the healthiest style of eating, but really not much different than how I'd eat at home, other than more fresh fruits and veggies at home.

[Donald Tyson]

Fantastic, Its what I had hoped. Easy to store and normal food.

[Donald Tyson]

This sounds fun but I won't have frozen space.

[Donald Tyson]

Very normal, nice.

[Hunkydory]

I’ve made 10 extended cruises in SE Alaska with our CD22 in varied durations from a month to three months. The food was pretty much stashed throughout the boat with its weight & bulk determining where. On one trip, I weighed all the food items & it was 400 pounds. This mostly was of bulk items from Cosco consisting of a variety of canned & dried goods including cereal. Milk was either soy or almond in quart containers, that didn’t need refrigeration until opened. Many plastic containers of unsweetened Seneca applesauce, a variety of jams, nut butter, honey & tea, instant coffee & pop for drinks. Trail mix, dried fruit & Cosco belvita for snacks. For the most part only picked up at towns with grocery stores, bread, lunch meats, all beef hot dogs, cheese, fresh veggies & bananas with an occasional sweet treat. Always plenty of food on board, where picking up more along the way not a necessity for the remainder of the cruise. No refrigerator or freezer, just an ice chest with 40 pounds of ice when topped off, which we would replenish with ice from grocery stores, fish ice, snow banks & glacier ice. In the ice chest would go opened milk, lunch meats, hot dogs, cheese, applesauce & condiments & sometimes left overs from canned foods. In the rare case no ice was available it was not a problem due to the foods needing kept cool, would for the most part run out about the same time as the ice. Condiments, applesause & cheese & the left over in the quart milk container could then be stored against the inside boat bottom, where the Alaska ocean water would be cool enough to keep it good until more ice found.

[thataway]

Eggs if unrefrigerated, not washed and direct from the farm, will last months when turned over every week (keeps the shell memberane intact and keeps oxygen out.

The water temperature in AK is close to refrigerator temperature all of the time. At Lake Powell it can be 86* with air temp close to 100 degrees some days. We found that a single freezer at lake Powell takes almost 200 watts of solar panel, or a couple of hours of 1000 watt generator time, putting 30 amps into the batteries for a total of about 60 amps total for 24 hours of the freezer.

We have purchased freezers from $200 on up to over $1000. The cheap ones have worked as well as the more expensive units. Some of the more expensive failed right after warranty expired! Currently we have a "Black Forrest" freezer, with a "cheap" LiFePO4 battery, used Chinese clone of the Victron 702, and a Victron Battery to battery charger running off the vehicle start battery. We can keep frozen food for at least 2 days, without charging with this setup. It is large enough to keep main entrees for several weeks to a month. Cost was about $220 for the freezer, $300 for the battery, $30 for the monitor, cables and fuses etc another $100. I did have a mains 120 V Ac charger for the Li battery another $50. All total cost was about $700. This was watching for sales over a few weeks. It is portable and we can move it from car to car or to the boat. It is handy for brining frozen food home from the grocery store, diet meals on a trip in the RV or boat.

My first Li battery, Victron components came it at over $3000 with Battle Born battery, Victron 2000 watt PSW inverter, changer (80 amps) and boost mains power 50 amps, Victron monitor, etc.

We also keep "emergency rations" aboard the boat or vehicle: Several Mac and cheese/similar dinners, oatmeal packets for breakfast, plastic container single serving fruit cups, etc, just in case we have spend several extra days on the water or road.

[Marco Flamingo]

My "go to" method is home canning. No freezer. No fridge. No cooler. Only "evaporative cooling" used on my CD 16.

Home canning might be beyond what many want to try for extended cruising, but on the 16 it is sort of required (unless cruising between marinas). Everything from chili to venison dolmas. Canning is really great for things like meat that usually require freezing and then messy cooking aboard. Long cooking times (like corned beef) can simply be reheated with veggies. Things like bacon can be canned and then quickly fried. We have canned 2-person servings of taco meat, curried chicken and other things that you can't find at the grocery store.

The biggest "hassle factor" is that home canned goods are in glass jars (that I want to keep). We simply keep the ubiquitous thin foam packing material that we accumulate over the year and wrap the jars. Have only lost one jar of clam chowder over the decades. A small price to pay for gourmet boating.

Fresh veggies can last a couple weeks when placed in a damp burlap sack. You need some air movement to really keep things cool if it is a hot day. Carrots, potatoes, cabbage, onions don't need that much pampering. (Don't store potatoes with onions). Even eggs that have been refrigerated can be kept up to a month if coated with mineral oil. Sprouts are possible, although they only work on long cruises. Because they can take a week to sprout, you may have to start them before launching. Fresh basil plants are sometimes available at the grocery store, making caprese hors d'oeuvres possible after a week out (assuming you remembered the tomatoes and mozzarella in olive oil).

I've also used a vacuum bag machine a lot. Easy to keep cookies, crackers, pilot bread, etc. crispy for months (actually years). One of my favorite treats is vacuum bagged muesli and powdered milk. If you haven't had full cream powdered milk, it is impossible to tell from the stuff that needs refrigeration. I simply cut off the top of the bag and add water, stir, and eat. I only do that when solo, as Beth thinks that's crude even though it saves washing a bowl.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085RJJ5WG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Mark

[gulfcoast john]

Don,
Don’t worry, you’ll be able to eat EXACTLY as you do at home. These Dorm Room fridges (with small freezers) can hold more than you’d think. When ours died we replaced it with a Norcold 751, which is 2.7 vs the avg 1.7 CF (had to sawz-all out a larger opening for it).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/205011856954?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-167538-502585-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=205011856954&targetid=4580771615667709&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=604241028&mkgroupid=1234752618195161&rlsatarget=pla-4580771615667709&abcId=9439823&merchantid=51291&msclkid=adc22bab89541d6f1d7b4cf358c151e7

We supplement dry goods storage with two Engle Dry Boxes strapped to the aft gunnels (not sure if a CD22 has the room there). They are weather proof, off the cockpit floor and take up no extra space compared to other options.

[img]www.c-brats.com/albums/CAT-O-MINE/DSC04873.jpg[/img]

We supplement fridge options with one or two RTIC ice chests that we store on the engine bracket, again out of the cockpit. Using 2” ice cube trays, the fridge can make enough ice daily to mostly replace what melts with a 100w solar panel and/or engine on fast idle.

We don’t advise prolonged (over 2 months) wilderness off grid adventures for newbie owners until they have 90 or so nights on the boat together.

But that’s just us.

Get your clothing down to all fit in a brown paper bag (including high tech rain gear) with NO cotton for a 6 week cruise. Jeans are stupid on a boat, they take forever to dry. Wash and wring out your high tech shorts and shirts in the marina hot shower and use Camp Soap for dishes and basin baths when anchored out.

Our anchor out nights are pretty much unlimited with a simple 100w solar panel, MPPT controller and circuit breaker ($250 total) with careful load management ie, after the last fridge opening for the night cut it down to min with the door closed.

You guys will figure all this out really quick, so don’t worry so much about it. It’s just like staying on a floating RV for a few days, a few weeks, or a few months, or whatever you like. It will take time (maybe years) to figure out what you really like, and that is normal.

Have fun hunting!
John