Junk Food

[captain58sailin]

Hot chocolate with a shot of Myer's dark rum, Ramen noodles, dried fruit, dried or smoked fish. Some kind of hard candy. We took bubble gum to the Marquesas but none of the crew ate it, we just passed it out to the local children. I like sunflower seeds in the shell, but don't allow them on board due to the bilge pump clogging issue, don't ask me how they get in the bilge, but they find a way. After a long crossing, the biggest craving seems to be for fresh meat, & bread. Pilot bread and peanut butter are okay for time, but nothing beats fresh baked bread with Aussie canned butter & strawberry preserves.

[Sea Yawl Later]

We just finished our first 6 month sail to the Exumas. At home we were big into sweets. I bought a lot of those 100 calorie snacks - mostly cookies. I thought we would eat them everyday, multiple times during the day. I still have quite a few left. We found we just didn't want them. My advice is to take some so you have them if you want but you may find that you don't snack as much. We didn't. I had three nets in the galley. One for produce, one for snacks, coffee, crackers etc and one for croutons, chips etc. I didn't have to worry about them getting smashed though Pringles work pretty good. I have two of the nets stacked and it works fine. l really don't think there is a right answer about sweets no sweets etc that to me is more about what you can live without and be happy. I baked bread, made homemade pizza, learned how to make tortillas, biscuits (all easy recipes I got from other cruisers) thought I would bake more cakes but they just didn't get eaten and at home they would not have lasted two days. We love nachos so not having chips was not an option. We took a few bags but was able to buy some in the Bahamas. I guess where you are going will determine what is available. I was told you can get everything in the Exumas. I did not find that exactly true. I guess it depends on what you want and where you are. The bottom line is we ate two to three good meals a day and snacked very little. I hope that trend last on land. We both lost weight (without trying) and for me that is a miracle.

[Chief Engineer]

I was onboard a vessel for a week....the owners were vegan......

The Biggest lies

The Check is in the mail

Were from the government...we are here to help...

It tastes just like.......

[captain58sailin]

If it isn't on board, I really don't miss the snacks. Given my druthers, I would not carry them. Some canned food for when it is too rough to cook is about all I need, noodles fill the bill as well.

[Little Otter]

I always pack junk food when I take Wind Song out to sail for a weekend or so.

[fishwife]

Aside from a well found boat, I've found that the food is the biggest factor in keeping the crew happy. With five or six of us on board we've found that a personal supply of your own favourite 'treat' that you can chose to share, plus an agreed supply of 'less than healthy' food that sits in the snack locker works well for us. Mainly the 'less than healthy' stuff only gets eaten when we are making a long passage and folk want something to enjoy on watch. I've never had rules about things like this, keep the crew happy with what they perceive their needs to be and life for everyone is better.

P.

[bloodhunter]

After stowing the beer, there's not much room left for junk food.

[Mariness]

Well, that helps! Thanks
We don't drink, so I guess we can use nearly all the beer space for munchies!
Don't want an unhappy crew...but don't want to spend the entire month's food budget stocking up on imported snacks from home while we're in some distant port either. The cravings seem to hit around late the first day, so maybe they go away if we're out longer than just a week or so?

[captain58sailin]

One of the problems with "junk" food is the cost per pound is horrendously expensive. Though I used to get 30 gallon garbage bags full of chicharronis in Mexico for not much and they are delightful.

[nautical62]

I'll often pack food items away in dry bags not be opened until later to ensure all the good stuff doesn't all get eaten right away.

[capt_douglas]

I avoid stocking snacks but I do carry a few treats:

- Bailey's - goes great in coffee, hot or cold
- Nutella - a Nutella/peanut butter sandwich is almost as good as a strawberry preserve/peanut butter sandwich
- Gosling's Black Sea Rum and Ginger Beer - for those Dark and Stormy's after one of those days

[Mariness]

MMMMMMMM Nutella! Yes, very good with PB; also good alone on crackers/pretzels/whatever.
First time the Man of the House saw it though, brought it out of the cupboard with 2 fingers, like it was a dead rat or something, and asked, "What - are we French now?" (Clearly he doesn't understand how chocolate works. Ironically, it really was a French friend who introduced me to the stuff!)

And no, I will not admit to eating it straight from the jar! What do you think I am, some kind of barbarian?

[BubbleHeadMd]

I try not to confuse "junk" with "convenient" food.

I'm on a small boat without a built-in cooking appliance and it's hot as balls so I wouldn't want to fire it up anyway.

I try to pack low sugar, low fat, high protein energy bars, a lot of water, Gatorade G2 (G2 has much less sugar and tastes the same). I like dried jerky but it's high in salt and fat but it does have the protein.

I like thin sliced deli turkey on dark breads like rye or pumpernickel. Lots of fiber and lower on simple carbs. As long as the ice holds out anyway...

The boat I crew on for Wednesday night races is a totally different story. We have a crew position called "snacktician" and we carry all kinds of junk food- chips, cookies, brownies, 3-4 different kinds of beer, margaritas.....

Hey, they don't call us "the fun boat" for nothin'.

[barnakiel]

Yep. I too think things like Nutella etc do not qualify as junk. There is the fat, the sugar, the cocoa - all of which good for your body. Just avoid a 100% Nutella diet (;-) yep, I know, difficult;-) and you will be fine.

b.

[Ex-Calif]

The never ending ingenuity of the yanks - Frito pie! And if you don't have a bowl just pour all the ingredients into the frito bag - brilliant!

For this Sandwich Monday, a listener sends in her take on Frito Pie. : NPR

BTW - In America we can make just about anything a healthy junk food snack by puring warm, melted, yellow sauce on it. (I won't insult anyone by calling that stuff cheese...)

My favorite snack food on the boat are granola bars - Yum...