Provisioning for a Long Distance Voyage

[Wavewacker]

Smithfield Hams are pretty good...does anyone stash away MREs?

Military MREs Meals Ready to Eat seem to last forever. They are much better than the olde C Rations, canned stuff. You can get them at most surplus stores I guess and there is a higher quality (mayne) in nicer packages at sports stores that cater to backpackers...

[svpattyd]

I bought freeze dried vegetables and fruits from overstock.com. They were in the camping/survival section. Very good quality, no extra salt or sugar. Take up very little space.

[svBeBe]

Originally Posted by svpattyd

I bought freeze dried vegetables and fruits from overstock.com. They were in the camping/survival section. Very good quality, no extra salt or sugar. Take up very little space.

Freeze dried veggies can be very good, especially the green peas. The Surprise brand by Continental are especially tasty. Just watch the expiration dates closely. Freeze dried items do expire and the older they get the worse the results when cooked. I recently threw out a couple dozen packages which had been purchased in Australia in Sept 2009 because the quality had deteriorated past acceptability.

Judy

[savoir]

One more vote for fresh local produce. There are so many strange foods to be discovered so here are just two that I had never even heard of before going sailing.

Manioc - it looks awful but tastes just like potato only more chewy. The roots will last for a month.



Flat coriander - this stuff has lots of different names and tastes just like coriander. It will keep for 10 days.

[SimonV]

No one has mentioned the sailors staple....SPAM, the most versatile meat product ever made.

[w32honu]

With regard to canned meats........if you don't like or can't find a brand you like there is another option. Home canning is easy and you have total control of the quality and additives. It's a bit more work but the results are far better than store bought. Fresh canned meat will last at least a year. It was good enough for pioneering folks back in the day. I figure its a great way to solve the same age old problem. Lots of info out on YouTube. With a bit of research and effort you can provision meats and vegetables for a long period of time.

Also Lin Pardey has a good book for reference......... "Care and Feeding of Sailing crew.". It's a great resource.

[Blue Crab]

I've always been curious about the nutritional value of (store-bought) canned vegetables. Has all the "life force" been cooked out? Can one stay healthy eating canned foods?

[w32honu]

I know what you mean about "store bought" canned food. Although I am no nutrition expert..... Living long term on cans can't be a good. Everything is about making a buck.........if they can stuff scat into a can and sell it, they will.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by SimonV

No one has mentioned the sailors staple....SPAM, the most versatile meat product ever made.

Oh, I've seen SPAM made. If I were starving in a life raft I would have to think about it.

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Oh, I've seen SPAM made. If I were starving in a life raft I would have to think about it.

Yep. Here in the US, the latest outrage is called "pink slime" being OK to add into meat. I'm not a vegan yet but....

[summerfield]

My wife found that vacuum packed meat kept a very long time (3 weeks +) in our fridge. One time she brought out a chicken that smelled pretty bad but she skinned it and then washed it with vinegar and it was fine as only the skin had gone off. She also found that wrapping cheese in white kitchen roll before putting it in a plastic wrapping helped keep it mould free for many weeks, a trick I still use at home.

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Oh, I've seen SPAM made. If I were starving in a life raft I would have to think about it.

if i were starving in a life raft i would try to catch a fishie barehanded before i considered spam...is nasty stuff.....
i provision for longer passages by adding more of what i already eat normally and add finger foods of the sammich variety... catching fishies underway is a blessing as well... i keep canned/packaged tuna and canned veggies for when the fishies refuse to bite my lures.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by savoir

One more vote for fresh local produce. There are so many strange foods to be discovered so here are just two that I had never even heard of before going sailing.

Manioc - it looks awful but tastes just like potato only more chewy. The roots will last for a month.

Attachment 38651

Flat coriander - this stuff has lots of different names and tastes just like coriander. It will keep for 10 days.

Attachment 38652

Here in Guate called "yuca" and "cilantra". The "cilantra" has a flavor almost identical to "cilantro" (coriander), but grows wild. We just pluck it out of the yard around the house -- great stuff. The "yuca" can be harvested (root) and then the bits of the tree stuck back in the ground where it will re-root. Have a small patch at my place that we just continuously re-propogate.

Another favorite from here in Guate: Chile Coban....very nice smoked pepper.

[capn_billl]

Good info, living in modern US I've become somewhat of a fridge addict. It's hard to realise, but refridgeration has only been around a few decades, (well maybe 7 or 8), before that if you didn't have ice, you had nothing.

It would be good to relearn and preserve the knowledge of keeping food at room temperature. In asian countries, where frideration is still rare and expensive, they mostly keep their food by adding copius amounts of salt, spices, and or drying the meat under the sun.

On maple syrup I used to keep it out, but I had some mold once.

Someone should start a food outlet, (IE whole foods, epicurian, etc..), that caters to naturalists, and cruisers. Food packaged for cruising or other outdoor sports, that has minimal, (biodegradable), packaging, and a non refridgerated eat by date clearly marked.

I've tried to buy old staples, like an oak barrel of pickles, or crackers, but so far not much luck.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by capn_billl

Good info, living in modern US I've become somewhat of a fridge addict. It's hard to realise, but refridgeration has only been around a few decades, (well maybe 7 or 8), before that if you didn't have ice, you had nothing. ...

In many parts of rural Guatemala electricity and refrigeration is still uncommon. I lived w/out refrigeration or grid-power for about a year. I enjoyed it because I had to eat only "real" fresh foods. Much healthier I think than all the processed stuff common in developed countries.

Although, it is handy to have access to developed-country-like provisioning resources to get specialty items you want. Here in Guate, WAL-MART is now establishing a significant presence. We are just in Guate City and shopped at a new WAL-MART location (one of many). It was huge! Like Super WAL-MART in the US. We did not buy any food items, just other provisioning related specialty items which are hard to find anywhere else.

However, here in Guate WAL-MART is an upscale shopping experience. I found I really missed what I call the "cross-cultural entertainment value" so common in WAL-MARTs in the USA (think "Jerry Springer Show").