Storing Food

[Healer52]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

No argument there. I do load up before heading out -- certainly rolls of bags, paper goods, wine, and the odd bits of food.

Even at the prices you quote I would continue to vacuum seal. With care the bags can be reused, and the cost of waste from infestation and damp and just plain spoilage is worth avoiding.

Just make the bags a bit longer than they need to be, and be careful opening them. They seal up again just fine.

I also use my food saver to protect items in my medical kits. Fragile items like surgical gloves become quite durable, and I've tested some glove packs that I sealed up 5 years ago, they're technically out of sterilization but still soft and usable. I do bandages like that too. However, if I seal something I may not use all of at once I put an unsealed ziplock bag in with them, and vac-pack all of that together. When I open the vac bag I still have a waterproof bag to reseal things in, until I get back to the vacuum sealer.

[JanetGroene]

Originally Posted by Sailabel

Hi Janet... checked out your blog... nice. A question regarding plastic vs. glass: I know that the 'softer' and more pliable plastics can be victim to mice or other critters gnawing on them. But I don't know about the 'harder' and more rigid plastics, such as used by Lock n Lock and other products. Do you have any experience with them and gnawing animals? I agree that I want containers that are airtight, but will also resist 'critters'.

Mice and rats are a real problem. Hadn't really thought about them and our pantry... my main concerns are the wiring, hoses, and cushions. Any evidence of 'critters' means all out warfare on our boat. We stock everything from rat traps, sticky boards, sprays, roach traps, borax, etc. So far, no problems....

Steve

Some say it it's just a question of when you get a rat, not if, unless maybe you have a big, hungry cat on board. I believe some dogs are also good ratters. During the (brief but awful) time we had a rat problem , it did eat through a heavy duty, pliable plastic food container--Tupperware quality or maybe even heavier. When at sea you have a good chance of catching the rascal eventually but at some docks you may get a night-time visitor who gnaws through a screen or enters through a place you never even dreamed of. They're gone by morning. This can go on for several nights despite traps until you get smarter or they get bolder. Have a great cruise! Janet

[Kindle]

I have actually experienced losing all of my canned food labels. It was many years ago when I was sailing with my father. We took on a lot of water during a crossing and all of our canned foods (along with most everything else) were submerged. The labels were lost.

The rest of the summer was spent shaking cans and playing "guess" at dinner time. I don't think I ever had beans for dessert, but I distinctly remember a dinner comprised of canned peas and pinapple slices. YUM .

Even with this experience, I'm pretty lazy with labeling and removing can labels.

I do, however, appreciate BIG, multiple, and back-up manual bilge pumps!


Thanks to everyone who shared photos of their storage solutions. I am just starting work on my current galley and really looking for ideas that I can customize. I was trying to make with a spice rack similar to the one made with the binding-thanks for the help. Also, I am going to see if the Ocean spray bottles will fit well in one of my lockers. Keep posting the photos-they are great!

Deborah

[avb3]

Originally Posted by Entlie

We use an Excel spread sheet as a shopping, inventory and location list. It's 9 pages long. Punched in a 3 ring binder...

Entlie
Sailing Catamaran Sunspot Baby

Entlie, any chance you could post that spreadsheet? Perhaps make it a shared s/s on google docs if posting on here doesn't work.

I always like stealing other people's good ideas

[shipofools]

just found these, and ordered two to test. Worst case I can use them on the dinghy as a cheap drybox.

Gamma Seal Lids Gamma Lid Resealable Bucket Lid Products Plastic

Seem to be a good option for food storage. If you search online you can find better pricing for bulk purchases.

Cheers

[fishwife]

A contact just passed on this URL Really Useful Boxes Inc - Welcome - Buy Online Now! They have lidded boxes of all sorts and sizes. I've been searching for these boxes for a while, having seen them on other boats and thinking how useful they are. I understand that they are also available from Home Depot as well.

P.

[barnakiel]

Those magic tricks and urban ideas were 70% BS and perhaps 30% true to us. Example: "smear your eggs with bearing grease and they will keep 3 weeks". BS. Fresh eggs keep up to a month without fridge. No turning them upside down either (well, maybe you have to, if you have a cat;-)

And so on and so forth. I think some of the advice comes from times when food processing technologies (and food processing hygiene) were different.

We never used water additives (why bother if it is chlorinated nearly everywhere). But we never drank tap water either ...

We never used the fridge. (But the fridge is probably the No 1 food preserving technology available around).

Where we did lose some food was when provisioning was done in countries where hygiene is not considered a high priority and there were beasts in the food off the shelf (weevils and other such creatures) - RSA, Brazil, Portugal.

We always remove all paper packaging - it is a great shelter and hatching place for roaches, which we try to avoid as much as we can (once you do get them it takes some time to get rid of them). The alternative is just give them christian names and let it be.

b.

[osirissail]

One helpful hint I got from a lady cruiser is to line the bottom of the storage area for cans, etc. with pieces of "Dry-Dek" plastic matting cut to size. Now the cans are off the "floor and air can circulate under them to help prevent the rust on the bottom of the cans.
- - I had a rat on board a few years back and it was a nightmare that lasted 6 months or more, even after the rat was finally killed. You cannot rely in a cat or dog to find/dispatch the rat. The rat hides below the cabin sole and behind lockers where your trusty animal cannot get at it. Also your trusty animal is well fed and really has no passion for catching the rat. Avoiding marinas in 3rd world countries goes a long way to keeping the "ratones" off the boat. I also installed steel shelving grids over all vents holes in the boat to the outside and trimmed up the holes in floorboards to a quarter inch to keep the rats from getting to the bilge.

[zopi]

Roaches...Make soft ball candy with a bunch of boric acid...sugar and water cooked down in a double boiler...roll into little balls squished into little squares of foil and push them back in to the dark corners...

[barnakiel]

Roaches - buy the Eco-gel and put a drop any place they might hide. Tried, tested, works.

I bet the boric acid balls are equivalent therapy. I have not tried them but I know they work.

b.

[janeck]

I've just started out with my boyfriend, but we've had good luck with tons of ziplocs and a few OXO pops.

Out of curiosity, where do the roaches really start to become a concern? We're in Annapolis now, working our way down the ICW to the Caribbean.

Thanks!

[osirissail]

Roaches are everywhere on the planet. They were even found living in King Tut's mummy. One of the easiest way to prevent them from invading your boat is to never bring cardboad or paper grocery sacks onto the boat. Cereal boxes, cookie boxes and other "glued seam" boxes are made with an animal derived glue that is reported to contain huge amounts of roach eggs just waiting for a moist environment to hatch.
- - Plastic bags, plastic containers that seal are the common storage items used on cruising boats. Everything is removed from paper/cardboard boxes and sacks and stored in plastic. Some folks won't even allow the bags and boxes off the dock and repackage before bringing the stuff on board. I think that is rather excessive but I do not allow the bags/boxes to remain on board after repackaging.
- - Also remember to have a good supply of the roach killer little plastic squares and also spray that will kill crawling insects. Ants and spiders and other "crawly" things get on the boat via dock lines and dock electric cables and water hoses. So they need to be regularly sprayed with killer spray.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by osirissail

Roaches are everywhere on the planet. They were even found living in King Tut's mummy. One of the easiest way to prevent them from invading your boat is to never bring cardboad or paper grocery sacks onto the boat. Cereal boxes, cookie boxes and other "glued seam" boxes are made with an animal derived glue that is reported to contain huge amounts of roach eggs just waiting for a moist environment to hatch.
- - Plastic bags, plastic containers that seal are the common storage items used on cruising boats. Everything is removed from paper/cardboard boxes and sacks and stored in plastic. Some folks won't even allow the bags and boxes off the dock and repackage before bringing the stuff on board. I think that is rather excessive but I do not allow the bags/boxes to remain on board after repackaging...

INDEED, and worth repeating!

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by janeck

I've just started out with my boyfriend, but we've had good luck with tons of ziplocs and a few OXO pops.

Out of curiosity, where do the roaches really start to become a concern? We're in Annapolis now, working our way down the ICW to the Caribbean.

Ziplocs are good - we use them a lot. Still, you have to be careful about things that might puncture the bag. Vacuum seal systems like Foodsaver keep food longer and are more robust. On Auspicious we use Ziploc for day-to-day stuff and vacuum bags for cooking ahead and breaking up big provisioning. I got a good price at Wal-Mart five years ago for the sealer and wait for the sales online from Foodsaver.

The OXO containers are okay but I have yet to find anything better than Lock-n-Lock containers. Get the real deal brand-name stuff and you'll never look back. If you have a mailing address you can use QVC (the TV shopping channel people) have good prices.

The glue in cardboard is reported to be food for roaches - at least as big a problem as the eggs. We keep cardboard off the boat as much as we can, right up to pulling the tubes out of paper towels. The big issue for me (allergies) are Kleenex boxes. Microwaving kills eggs, but doesn't do anything about the food value (to roaches) of the glue. So far we've avoided infestation but I do continue to worry about it. I haven't gotten to the point of putting Kleenex in Ziploc bags but obviously have thought about it.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by osirissail

. One of the easiest way to prevent them from invading your boat is to never bring cardboad or paper grocery sacks onto the boat. Cereal boxes, cookie boxes and other "glued seam" boxes are made with an animal derived glue that is reported to contain huge amounts of roach eggs just waiting for a moist environment to hatch.
.

Yes. But maybe not always because we have used carboard booxes for the last, nearly, 3 years and TOUCH WOOD! have never had a problem.

When I look at the enhanced safety of keeping some products in the carboard box instead of letting them loose to slither about the place I think the chance of getting a tin can in the head is worse.

Certainly the can on Baygon is in good use on this tub... but all the rest is like a normal home.


Zip lock bags are in use too as well as Lock & Lock boxes.

the only pest problems we have had is from weivels... and Lock & Lock and Ziplocks controll the spread of that.




Mark