Cruising without refrigeration

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Many available in remote areas

1. Peanut butter
2. Jam, jelly, honey, syrups, etc.
3. Mayonnaise, which can be used as a base for other sauces
4. Most savory condiments: pickles, salad dressing, relish, mustard, ...
5. Canned tuna
6. Canned tomato products: spaghetti sauce, paste, whole tomatoes, ketchup, salsa
7. Juice in cans, jars, or pouches. Available varieties vary regionally
8. Nuts of any kind
9. Candies and sweets
10. Chili

You forgot the canned corned beef and Tulip products (or SPAM?).
Available just about everywhere.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Jammer

10 things you can make using dry ingredients you can get anywhere

...

Grain dishes other than rice (millet, quinoa, bulgur, etc)
..

Your concept of "everywhere" and mine are vastly different if you think millet, quinoa and bulgur are common commodities

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by StuM

Your concept of "everywhere" and mine are vastly different if you think millet, quinoa and bulgur are common commodities

Yep. My experience in the Bahamas and Caribbean, outside the very few larger towns the only grain you will ever find is plain white rice.

[roverhi]

When we were out most boats did not have refrigeration and those that did spent most of their time trying to get it fixed. My newest boat had a working frig when I signed the purchase papers. Worked for a little over two weeks and then quit. Haven't felt the need to get it fixed.

As others have said, there is a ton of food that doesn't require refrigeration, most of the food in our home fridge doesn't need to be there and tastes a lot better at room temp. We bought produce from the local markets and ate it before it spoiled in 3-4 days. Other than fish didn't eat a lot of meat largely because it was unavailable unless we shot it. With a vacuum sealer, a lot of foods will keep for a long time without refrigeration. Also allows you to buy in bulk (Costco) and break it down into more reasonable packages.

For us, refrigeration is way way down the list of comfort additions to the boat. If I was to go with refrigeration would go for a small freezer. A freezer really preserves food for long term storage. Of course you'll have to watch out for the trailing sharks that will gobbling up the rotting food that you have to throw overboard when the freezer dies.

[gonesail]

without refrigeration you can have no cold beer. guess i could switch to rum or bourbon at room temperature

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by gonesail

without refrigeration you can have no cold beer. guess i could switch to rum or bourbon at room temperature

best on or over the rocks .

Then there is the joy of ice cream .

I have cruised with and without and trust me if you can have it and support the power it requires I would say get at least a portable unit .

[Paul Howard]

We made good a 2 1/2year coastal voyage and then a five year circumnavigation of the world without refrigeration. And made passages of up to 30 days during the circumnavigation withno problems.
It does take planning and choosing of foods, we carried no freeze dried foods, but relied heavily on canned meats and canned fruit as well as veg such as carrots, cabbage, potatoes that keep well without refrigeration. While in port and for several days after leaving port, most things keep quite well.
Having said that, our next boat had refrigeration and solar panels to keep it fed and we ran the engine with a high-output alternator to top up the battery bank when at sea. And that was on a larger boat with few of us onboard.
Small and simple boats owned by people on a budget can easily manage without refrigeration.

[DHLyman]

We lived aboard for a year in the Caribbean without refrigeration.
Our Bowman 57 had a SeaFrost system, which included 2 cold boxes, each with a cold plate, and one freezer box with 2 plates. But the system was out of date and refrigerant was not available. So out came the entire system.

SeaFrost quoted me around $5,000 for a new, 12volt system system.

That wasn't in the budget. So, off we went with ice, for the entire year! When possible, we froze our own ashore in plastic tubs. Or, on the move, we could make it half way from Bermuda to the BVI on ice. Then we had to make do.

Island hopping meant finding a source of ice ashore, almost daily, mostly cube ice, often from bars.

I'd tell my 9 year old son to hop in the dinghy with a 5EC note and bring back a bag of ice for the rum and tonic hour. He's speed in, but take his damn sweet time getting back with half the ice melted.

But we spent a total of $700 for ice for the entire year.

[SV THIRD DAY]

There is in my mind a Myth and Ethos that to fully experience Mother Nature and the Sea you need to experience it as seafarers did 100 or 500yrs ago. Well they didn't have flushing heads back then and whipped their rear end with a sponge rather than toilet paper. So going Al Natural isn't all it's cracked up to be my friends. When the low for the day is 80-deg and the high is 99-degs, having some cold water, fresh food and a little convenience can make the difference between enjoying yourself and wanting to call and end to the Cruise Experiment.

Going Cruising doesn't mean you have to suffer to do it right....it means you just suffer in paradise.....why.....

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Going Cruising doesn't mean you have to suffer to do it right....it means you just suffer in paradise.....why.....

do it like savages it's the only way

[Trimaran Ken]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Do you utilize a culinary strategy that minimizes or eliminates your reliance on refrigeration? What kind of food do you eat? What techniques do you use for food acquisition, storage, and preparation?

In my mind, cruising is supposed to be a relaxing and enjoyable experience, not a contest in minimalism.

I have a small refrigerator and enough solar energy to keep it happy. For some longer outings, we also carry an ice chest. I would not go cruising if having a good meal turned out to be a major chore. We do vacuum seal stuff so that it lasts longer in the frig and can't leak on other things.

Ken
===

[surf_km55]

I suppose fridgeless is one way to avoid having to invite anyone aboard for a meal or drink; at least a meal or drink anyone would actually want.

I did a trip to Catalina a few years back on my buddy's Pearson 30 sans fridge. If not for the restaurants on the island, the trip would have been solely Hormel chilli & Dinty Moore stew. Ick.


Canned food sucks. Warm beer sucks.

[RickG]

We stock a good load of shelf stable foods and eat very well on them. We also have a freezer and a small refrigerator. 1/3 of our refrigerator is beer, the rest is leftovers. Getting ready to start year 3 of cruising and we are learning to scale down our recipes to reduce the leftovers.

When our freezer/refrigerator dies I am very tempted to pull it out, add dry storage, and run an Engel to keep some fresh meat and luxury items around... cold beer.

There are a lot of resources out there on living without refrigerator. One I like that is not dogmatic is written by Carolyn Shearlock of theboatgalley.com. This book helped us reduce the clutter in the refrigerator by a lot.

https://theboatgalley.vipmembervault...courses/view/5

Cheers, RickG

[GBR134]

Of course you can manage without refrigeration. However my investment of £399 to convert the cold box to 100ltr fridge seems entirely worthwhile every time I pull out a cold beer to help me through those long solo watches! (Mind I do feel the need to turn the AIS alarm up to full to counteract any alcohol induced drowsiness at night!).

2 x 90 Ah leisure batteries, 150 watt solar panel and LED throughout means I rarely need to run the engine solely for batt charging.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by surf_km55

Canned food sucks.

And this to me is the bottom line. I spent more time and money on the fridge than any other part of my refit (except the cost of new sails) and I consider it worth every penny and every hour I spent.


Eating canned and dried food supplemented by a few potatoes, onions and the like might satisfy some of the people all of the time or all of the people some of the time. I fall well into the some of the time category.