Excel Food Provisioning List

[welshdiver]

Again thanks for shareing it has also given me the idea for doing my exspences as well, a few ajustments to what is on the list but works great . Thanks agin

[surfmachine]

Ahoy shipmates...

parmesan cheese
spaghetti suaces
bread flour
yeast
vegemite
methylated spirits for preheating kero stoves
good fishing lures
muslei

All are impossible to get in the islands?
Keith...

[TheManWhoSpoke]

TBH This list does not seem all that helpful, it is simply a list of everything in my pantry. Try adding some quantities beside those items, then indicate you're duration of travel and some substitute items for different refrigeration options. How long will foodstuffs last? What can you use for longlife alternatives?

I would recommend you draw up a typical menu with some variations. What kinds of meals to sailors like to eat while cruising? Have a combination of short and long preparation meals, then sum the ingredient quantities to give a typical consumption rate for each item, on a per week basis - substituting fresh ingredients for long life ones after the first week. Then you might have something usable... But then again, when you restock at a foriegn port, the local foods will be quite different.

Then there are contingencies, for instance: What fish are you likely to catch? what will you need to prepare them? How will you adapt to local foods? Will you carry a reserve of "ration pack" style meals and consume to local fresh supplies or carry all your food throughout the trip? Also, have you though about pre-made home meals instead of cooking ingredients? A pre-cooked curry&rice meal frozen in a chinese food container can be easily reheated in a microwave. All that cooking done in your kitchen at home would be well worth it.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by TheManWhoSpoke

TBH This list does not seem all that helpful, it is simply a list of everything in my pantry. . . .

There is a good reason for that - everybody's eating preferences are quite different. Cooking styles vary from scratch cooking to simply reheating canned or packaged meals. So there is no single "list" that can be applied to most everybody even remotely.

What I did to prepare for provisioning is to track via a spreadsheet everything I purchased and ate for 3 years before heading out - and then continued tracking while cruising for a decade in the Atlantic and Caribbean.

My spreadsheet has 743 line items of different foods (not counting meats and drinks) and most of them are purchased in less than a dozen units per year. Here is a list of stuff that I have purchased more than a dozen units per year:
Apple Sauce; Avocados; Baked Beans, canned; Biscotti; Uncut Bread (bread rounds); Bread Bagguettes; Bread Hoggie Rolls; Bread Sticks; Capers (for sauces); Celery; hard Cheeses; Corn (canned or frozen); Cracker Jacks; Crackers, Ritz, etc.; Croutons; Fruit, Apples; Fruit, Bananas; Fruit, Limes; Fruit, Misc canned (nectarines, oranges, peaches, pears, etc.); Gravy, packaged dry powder; Juice, CERES boxed; Lettuce; Melons; English Muffins; Nuts, canned; Onions; Pancake Mix (Aunt Jeminia Complete, just add water); Pastry, local; Peas, sweet canned; Popcorn; Potatoes, instant powdered; Pretzels; Ramen Noodles packages; Sauce or Paste, Tomato canned; Soups, canned; Spagetti; Sugar; Tea, bags

As you can probably see, the variety/mix of stuff is probably not what you would choose. Most of the stuff is canned but also dry packaged. Even the "initial setup" of spices, salt, etc. is also extremely dependent upon your eating/cooking habits. So start keeping your own spreadsheet of what you purchase and eat.

[SPARK]

For world cruising, how would the list be affected by customs and quarantine requirements. How much alchol would be allowed to have on board before you had to pay costoms and exercise. What restrictions would countries e.g Australia have on foodstuffs aboard. I think that provisioning would have to take these into account.

I would think that you would to carry as much as possible but know that you would need empty larders when entering certain countries. It it no use arriving in a country with six months of food aboard and then having to dump it to enter the country.

[osirissail]

As to official agricultural restrictions world-wide - you can normally find them in Noonsite or cruising guides for the particular area. Part of the cruising lifestyle is doing the "due diligence" looking up the requirements of where you will be heading next. Not only nautical charts and harbors and obstacles to navigation, but also Customs/Immigration and other restrictions like on pets and even bottom paint. It is not very wise to head out and just "show up" somewhere without doing some degree of planning. All the information is out there and cruising guides, especially, make their money by publishing such information.

[KDH]

Originally Posted by welshdiver

What iteams are in short supply "out around islands" & what would you of taken extra ?

We underestimated how much meat we actually eat and did not bring enough of the really good canned meat (despite several warnings of other members on this forum) like corned beef. We are in the BVI and have just tried the local beef with an "eye of round" roast. Husband and son ate it but I did not care for the flavor and couldn't chew it.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by KDH

. . . We are in the BVI and have just tried the local beef with an "eye of round" roast. Husband and son ate it but I did not care for the flavor and couldn't chew it.

Local beef and other local meats, in the islands is normally "free-range" or grass feed meat. So the percentage of fat is considerably lower than "feed-lot" meat that is the normal in major countries like the USA. So the taste is quite different and without all the fat "graining" the meat is tough to chew, kind of like wild meats like deer, etc.

[bobconnie]

As far as Tough meat from free range cattle go's, have you guy's forgotten a cruisers best cooking tool?? a Pressure Cooker ! it will make the toughest cuts into great tasting, easy chewing, meals useing less power,or gas whatever. been useing a small one for years, even works on a single burner wall mount!! Just my 2 cents Bob and Connie

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by Aussiesuede

Here is yet another spreadsheet to add to the mix. I've pretty much the exact same spreadsheet with color coding as well which automatically changes the background color of an item from green, to yellow, to red - depending on where it is in it's lifecycle. One of these days I'll salvage the hard drive from that dead machine and post that one as well (amazing what you'll do to cull boredom on a long plane flight!).

For how long and for how many people???

[chuckr]

greetings and Merry Christmas -- i have sent along 2 - one that was given to us by an old (experienced) cruiser and ours
we have been out 4.5 years and are still making adjustments but it is a start
we are currently in panama

just our thoughts
chuck patty and svsoulmates

[Aussiesuede]

Originally Posted by hpeer

For how long and for how many people???

That particular provisioning was for 5 adults, aged 28-43. Some provisions were for 3 months, and others were for 6 months, for a Milk Run from Costa Rica to Ecuador to New Caledonia. Could have definitely used more meat as fishing did not pan out nearly as well as we'd hoped. Amazingly, were were out of beer BEFORE reaching Tahiti. Seemed like a lot at the start, but 5 lushes drink more in 3 months than originally envisioned - ESPECIALLY on the almost 3 week stretch from the Galapagos to the Marquesas! lol 1000 beers only allowed for 2/day/person for 3 months when the reality is we were knocking them back at a pace of about 5/day/person. Most of us were primarly beer drinkers, so our spirit & wine provisions lasted all the way to Fiji, though our overall alcohol consumption plummeted significantly once we arrived in the Marquesas and were doing a lot of diving.

[saylor240]

3 month trip
4 live chickens
8 cases redbull
3 cases Vodka
3 cases Rum
3 Cases southern comfort
18lbs Beef jerky (spicy)
1 case of Spam cans
1 cast net
case of butter for dipping Fresh Lobster in
3lbs of trailmix
1 tomato plant

[Yofy]

Every provisioning list will depend on the size of your boat and food lockers, if you have a refrigerator or freezer on board, how many you are provisioning for, your food tastes, your cruising destination and your budget. It really does become an art.

Erin's ripple: that is a very complete list. Its interesting how you intend to carry more canned food. In our little 30 footer, we carry only basics in cans and mostly fresh produce.

Ausiesuede: I stand with those who smile at the large quantity of spirits . Manny would probably love to be able to provsion with 1000 beers but we don't have that much storage space. LOL.

I wrote a 2 part blog on provisioning that included our list for Yofy which you can read here http://www.sailblogs.com/member/yofy/?xjMsgID=137317

Robyn

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by saylor240

3 month trip
4 live chickens
8 cases redbull
3 cases Vodka
3 cases Rum
3 Cases southern comfort
18lbs Beef jerky (spicy)
1 case of Spam cans
1 cast net
case of butter for dipping Fresh Lobster in
3lbs of trailmix
1 tomato plant

No beer?