What Food to Buy Without Refrigeration?

[omgitsgela]

I don't have refrigeration. No, I'm not getting it, don't ask.

What kinds of foods should I stock up on that will keep relatively long and be yummy? Hard cheeses seem appropriate, as well as occasional jerky and pickles.

[Dulcesuenos]

Salt pork and hard tack keeps well. Lol
seriously maybe cured or smoked meats canned meats, canned food items, we dont refrigerate our mayo or mustard and ketchup as long as they don't get cross contaminated.
Whole canned chickens are available

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by omgitsgela

I don't have refrigeration. No, I'm not getting it, don't ask.

What kinds of foods should I stock up on that will keep relatively long and be yummy? Hard cheeses seem appropriate, as well as occasional jerky and pickles.

It would be useful to know where you are as here in the EU all sorts of stuff is available depending on your taste...
Palma Ham.... just hang it somewhere and carve of slices as and when.. vac-packed meals for one are priced well... from 1-3 euros depending on the meal... fried spuds and bacon the cheapest up to beouf borginuons etc...
Curado cheese's last ages as well... never buy fruit and veg from supermarkets... its useless after 3 days... use farmers markets and vary the stages of ripeness.. Basmati rice is great... it absorbs the water so no waste.. ie; 1 cup rice, 2 cups water.. bring to the boil and simmer 3mins then leave to stand with tight fitting lid..
Flour, baking powder, some milk powder and olive oil mixed well and left to stand till risen will give you great pan cooked Nan bread...
Vac packed bacon lasts well (3 weeks), just use it within 2 days after opening...
I've lived well without a fridge...

[Tia Bu]

Canned tuna, sardines, canned salmon, canned chicken. You can make (a few) great meals with Spam. Dried beans and canned beans make good meals. Citrus fruits last a long time. Cabbage lasts a long time. Cucumbers last a pretty long time. Onions and garlic and apples. Bananas. Nuts. Canned olives. Hearts of palm. Artichokes. Carrots. Potatoes. Any canned or dried fruits and vegetables.

Now, start thinking salads. A little olive oil and red wine vinegar, some mustard, some balsamic vinegar, some experimentation, and pretty soon you're eating gourmet meals out of this stuff.

The fridge went out on a cruise to the Exumas a few years ago. My wife still likes to have me whip up some of the meals I dreamed up down there- at home now! We call them boat meals...

Another idea: add blue board insulation to your built-in icebox. There are lots of threads and Internet instructions on how to do that. I added six inches of insulation to our icebox on our new boat- no refrigeration- and it now easily holds ice for up to a week of cruising. So it's like having great, reliable refrigeration, except the beer is colder, there's plenty of ice for drinks, and there's no electrical load!

[JoePa]

MRE's

[carstenb]

Beth and Evans have cruised the world without refrigeration. Her is a link to their website:
http://www.bethandevans.com/pdf/Livi...rigeration.pdf

I can recommend buying Beths book : A Voyagers Handbook

If she doesn't discuss it in her book, you don't need t know it

[S/V Antares]

Check these out

MREdepot Shelf Stable Foods everything you can think of, pricey but high quality.

Hero Food products The best ready to cook potatoes ever... in a long life package, jams and fruit drinks. (Swiss)

Refrigeration is nice but requires a lot of energy. There are so many good sources of high quality long shelf life items. One need not rely on "Camping food".

[MarkJ]

Turn off your fridge at home and then when you are really hungry go shopping.

It may sound stupid... but it works!


Mark

[Sea Frog]

For my zombie apocalypse emergency ration I have stocked up with Wise Food stuff. Not bad at all. My friend is a big fan of Mountain House, I am planing to try it too. For my cruising I will definitely stock up with some of those, for emergency and in general.

[zeehag]

i travel sans fridge and i do NOT eat mres. they sukk..i eat real food-i buy all kinds of cheese and i use boxed cream for coffee and i use real veggies and meats and other yummies...even best foods mayo will last a few weeks in tropics a sans fridge....butter separated but that is not a bad thing. i keep buter in an old pb jar and it works great.
this isnt rocket science--is easy. buy what you want to eat for 2 days then use it and buy more. if on a passage, use the fresh stuff first. i also have canned goods and dried.
getting fresh foods without fridge isnt magic. one does not have to settle for bs items and freeze dried life.

[goboatingnow]

I agree with Boatman, buy your fruit and veggies in outdoor markets and do not buy cooled vegetables.

Eggs will keep ( I never refrigerate eggs anyway)
small potatoes, carrots, onions, vac packed beef.
certain cheeses, especially regional hard varieties, ( scrape of the mould etc)

mandarins, peppers, fruits , 7-10 days with care, apples , grapefruits a bit longer.

ripe tomatoes, 2-4 days, unripe , longer

dave

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I agree with Boatman, buy your fruit and veggies in outdoor markets and do not buy cooled vegetables.

Well then I disagree with both of ya!

I dont think fresh local produce lasts as long as commercially cool stored produce.
I dont know if its from the irradiation process or what. Maybe the bacteria on the skin and bugs are dead so it takes longer to spoil.

In some countries where there really is a viable large local agricultral sector thats selling best quality veg unrefrigerated, then that may be fine. But in the Caribbean and many Pacific islands the local stuff is pretty low quality junk thats far inferior to the forign imported veg (USA rejects as it may be!).

Perhaps when in a porvisioning port test the local stuff against the supermarket stuf? Buy one of each and leave them side by side and see what dies first.

[zeehag]

i tried growing tomatoes and some other items on board--serrano chiles and poblanos--lol didnt work--air is too salty...but the basil took off runnng--i gave that away to a chef on a force 50...lol wasnt doing me any good.
mebbe if i didnt get salt water into the soil they woulda grown better....

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by omgitsgela

I don't have refrigeration. No, I'm not getting it, don't ask.

What kinds of foods should I stock up on that will keep relatively long and be yummy? Hard cheeses seem appropriate, as well as occasional jerky and pickles.

Mayonnaise does not have to be refrigerated. I've been using the jar I have for about 6 months. I have a refrigerator but I don't take up its precious space with things that don't need it.

Where the food poisoning develops starts with what you ADD to the mayonnaise -- and that can include vegetables, so if you have no refrigeration and make tuna salad, eat the remains up rapidly or feed the crabs.

But with mayonnaise, immediately you can make chicken or tuna salad (chicken salad is unsatisfactory compared to it being made from fresh chicken meat, but after a couple of months at sea I'm sure it would taste like a gourmet feast to me!) You can be creative and figure out lots of other ways to use it.

They still make dehydrated milk. In addition, you can buy milk sealed in small (or large) cartons. I don't like to drink warm milk but it's very useful for cooking. Personally I despise dehydrated milk but it doesn't bother some people.

You can get onion juice and onion powder. They're both really good on fish. I hate to fish but I bet I'd learn to love it ...

You can also get dehydrated meals at camping stores, but I have no idea what they taste like. I have to be careful with that sort of thing because I'm allergic (my doctor's term) to black pepper.

I'm not going to quibble over the "no refrigeration" thing. I didn't have it for the first two years I've lived on this boat (I'm at about 2 1/2 now). But I did have easy access to all the ice I needed at no extra charge.

There are all sorts of prepackaged mixes intended for home use in the grocery store that can be cooked up very easily onboard. No stove? Get a camping stove with a wind guard. Then it's a matter of placing it in the cockpit where the windguard will work.

[Sea Frog]

Originally Posted by zeehag

i travel sans fridge and i do NOT eat mres. they sukk..i eat real food.

Did you ever try a properly prepared, high quality MREs? I dunno what MREs are you talking about, I am talking about high quality deep freeze dried stuff. I don't eat any other types of MRE, only deep freeze dried remain all the stuff intact in food. I do absolutely prefer quality fresh local products (if available), no question about it, but proper MRE is very good and for long passages without a fridge, it may be a valid choice when you run out of fresh food. And I doubt you will be able to keep anything for 50 days of transpacific, without a freezer.