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Old 29-09-2020, 09:29   #76
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

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Originally Posted by Mike OReilly View Post
...We alternate galley duties (between me and she). My meals tend to be more... haphazard . I'm usually guided first by the need to eat anything fresh that might be heading for the compost pile. If we have a central item that can be the focus, but after that I usually just take a look at our provisions, and see what moves me. As long as I have enough spice, I can usually make something quite palatable.
We too share galley duties insofar as when we're able to provision easily/regularly, Lesley cooks using things called 'recipes'; they're a bit like owners manuals, so really just for wimps, but worth a glance afterwards if things haven't worked out quite as anticipated. When we're weeks/months past our last re-stock, then I do the cooking as I'm better when approaching the issue from the opposite direction: What've we got left? OK into what combination can I mix these to produce something edible, without using any chilli. Chilli powder must always be held in reserve for those times when the initial combination and its subsequent additions, amendments and tweaks (perhaps a touch of chilli?) still taste like sh1t; at that point you add lots of chilli powder and serve the result over rice, as chilli con whatever you started with.
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Old 29-09-2020, 10:55   #77
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

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I haven't read every post in this thread but one thing not mentioned (in addition to all of the good ideas that are mentioned) for those choosing to not use refrigeration are "Green Bags" for fresh produce.
...
We have bought the green bags but have yet to use them.

We have noticed that a plain old zip lock bag, with a folded up paper towels, will keep veggies, especially greens, "fresh" for a a week or two longer than just having the food in the fridge.

What we really use is a variety of these storage boxes, https://www.amazon.com/LOCK-Airtight...n%2C194&sr=1-3

They have a gasket and they really LOCK down. They do not leak nor allow air in/out of the container. Far better than our old Tupperware. Food stays fresh for a very long time in this boxes.

The company has egg containers which we bought to protect eggs when bought at Costco. The eggs are sold on a flat with 24 eggs and it is very easy to break the eggs on the trip home from the store. We load up the eggs in the Lock Lock egg container in the parking lot to prevent breakage. What we have noticed is that the eggs stay really fresh in these containers for weeks. I think it is because the containers are air tight and the eggs do not loose moisture when in the fridge.

Later,
Dan
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Old 29-09-2020, 11:15   #78
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

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...
1. What equipment is involved/needed for canning?
2. What equipment is involved/needed for dehydrating?
4.Do you perform these tasks on board and do you feel you have adequate storage for the equipment?
5.If you do these preparations on your boat, How much energy consumption is involved? Use of propane, electricity?
6.Any recommendations for the equipment that you use and why you chose it?
...
We are still in a house but our pressure cooker we use for canning will be put on a boat, if we ever manage to get a boat. The pressure cooker is big, bulky and sorta heavy but it is bomb proof, does not require a gasket, and as long as gravity works, it cannot explode.

This is what we have and it will preserve four quarts at a time which seems to work best for us.

https://www.amazon.com/All-American-...en&sr=1-1&th=1

The cooker has instructions for canning but there is far more information on the following website. I usually refer to both sources when preserving food.

https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/u...s_canners.html

I don't have a way of measuring power usage with the pressure cooker but any source of heat will work. Once it is pressurized, I doubt it uses much power/energy to maintain the heat/pressure. Seems like it needs about 60-90 minutes to can/jar food, depending on the food. Meat takes longer than other food.

For dehydrating, we have this unit, which is big and bulky which will be a problem on a boat. They do make smaller units though. A big issue with it is that it takes power to run this beast. I have not tested to see how much but I suspect a fair amount for a boat to produce unless at a dock or under engine power. I think I was able to buy this unit cheaper from the the company vs Amazon. Seems like we found a discount which lowered the price quite a bit. I picked this because it could dry a bunch of food at one time. There is not that much difference in time to prepare a little bit of food vs a lot of food, so bigger is better. And once you are running the dehydrator, the more food you can dry at one time, the better.

https://www.amazon.com/Excalibur-392...NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Later,
Dan
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Old 29-09-2020, 23:03   #79
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

A pressure cooker is a very handy thing to have on a boat.

Years ago I took a hard cover book aboard which had bed bugs hiding in the spine The nasty little nuisances managed to get behind the hull liner and commenced to colonize the entire boat. I blew ant and roach dust into all the accessible places but could not get it into a number of places behind the liner. I discovered that T tree and eucalyptus oil would kill them fairly quickly but how to get it into the hidden spaces.

The answer was the pressure cooker and a piece of hot water hose.

I used the hose on the pressure relief valve stem to introduce oil containing steam into the cavities and killed off all the little devils which were hiding in there.
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Old 02-10-2020, 06:50   #80
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

Well everyone has said everything but I will add some real luzuries.....

.....sprouting trays, canned butter, canned bacon, canned dinty moore stews!!
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Old 02-10-2020, 07:18   #81
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

Just walk around in any supermarket and look what's available that's not stored/displayed in a refrigerator. Plenty enough to get around for a while. And a good idea to have that look-around during your preparationary phase, so you can think about the diet you are going to follow.
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Old 02-10-2020, 07:20   #82
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

danish hams......and learn to make fish-biltong.
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Old 02-10-2020, 07:28   #83
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

Fresh eggs, dipped in varnish (think: Easter eggs) will keep for three weeks even in the tropics (store in cool place (bilge). I know this from personal experience.
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Old 02-10-2020, 07:43   #84
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

re: emergency food in bucket by companies like "Augason Farms", "Ready Hour".

It doesn't need refrigeration. But before you buy any quantiity of these, taste samples, or one or two meals. Most are terrible and have too much salt.

Mountain House is the long time quality provider but even some of their meals upset my stomach.

I'd suggest buying individual dehydrated or freeze dried ingredients and making traditional dishes with them. You can buy freeze dried fruit, vegetables and meat. Home dehydrated food works fine for a lot of fruits and vegetables. But some things just don't dry well. I hate most dried green beans. Dried "Shellie Beans" are good--but they take about 3 hours at a simmer to cook.
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Old 02-10-2020, 08:16   #85
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

I don’t know where you are located but the British military sells off it’s MRE a few months before they expires and they are great. Others have provided great advice but I would add spices and herbs (some can be grown on board) to make canned and ready meals more interesting and varied. As far as catering is concerned I would increase my stores by about 50% more than your planned trip just in case. It won’t go to waste but you don’t want your last week to be living on rationed water and mung beans!
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Old 02-10-2020, 08:18   #86
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

Canned foods, GORP, Plenty of water and beer.
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Old 02-10-2020, 09:00   #87
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

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Originally Posted by Wckoek View Post
This question hadn't occur to me before, but obviously in the days of Slocum and even up to the Golden Globe race, refrigeration wasn't available to the small boat they are in, and there wasn't packed MRE as well.

Say, you are going on a 3-4 week long voyage on a small boat without refrigeration, how do you provision for food and stuff?
As someone said early on it all depends on your preferences. Diets are something generally ingrained early in life and hard to change later.

If you have a high maintenance diet, for whatever reason, you will have limitations and work-arounds to deal with; I knew a guy who would only eat his peas if they were in mashed potatoes...give me a break.

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Old 02-10-2020, 09:04   #88
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

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Well everyone has said everything but I will add some real luzuries.....

.....sprouting trays, canned butter, canned bacon, canned dinty moore stews!!
One thing to check is the labels for ingredients. I love Dinty Moore but so many canned soups and stews in the US are just full of salt. I am not a fanatic about minimizing salt but if I eat food, and hours later have to drink a couple of glasses of water to quench my thirst, that is too much salt.

I now make our soups and stews. It is so easy to do. I have a big enough pot to make two gallons of soup/stew. One gallon we eat for the week and the other gallon gets pressure preserved in quart jars.

When we spent a couple of weeks in Ireland, we noticed that food quality was very good and the price was lower than the US for the most part. An exception might have been meat but we were not buying steaks and such. The ingredients were real food not high fructose corn syrup in every danged thing. Many of the hot dogs and sausage brands in the US have high fructose corn syrup. It is unreal.

Later,
Dan
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Old 02-10-2020, 09:35   #89
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

I live aboard a 1967 Rawson 30 that does not have refrigeration or an ice box.

Buy this book—it's inexpensive and it is brilliant:

https://www.amazon.com/Storing-Witho.../dp/1681571471

Get a pressure cooker for rice and legumes—faster cooking and less propane use. I eat like a king and never go to bed hungry.

Best of luck, and don't let anyone try to convince you that you need something just because they do!
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Old 02-10-2020, 09:42   #90
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Re: Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

I am impressed with the answers above.
Preventing spoilage & pests (insects) is crucial.
That way 6 months provisions can last 7 months not 3.
Honey lasts a long long time.
You can make Pemmican.
You can dry fish or pack in salt
You can vacuum pack with double lock Zip loc & a straw.
Ziploc everything bought in cardboard or anything else organic like burlap.
If you can't manage the Ziploc plastic.
Wax paper can be sealed with a candle
Keep cardboard OFF your boat as it may carry insect (weavil & Cockroach) eggs.
Same goes for the paper labels on cans.
Add turnips & Limes to your long duration list.
Hence the term "Limey
100 lbs of rice vacuum rebagged. (Can always be traded along the way)
Apple cider vinegar everyday is good for you.
CAUTION with some whole grains eg. wheat.
It can develop Ergot (wheat mold)
AVOID premade mixes such waffle, pancake, muffin, bread mixes !! They have a BB date for a reason. At home once opened - use it quickly.
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