Food preparation for long voyages without refridgeration

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by stevebguy

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.

I have run tests with vaseline and found it works for up to a couple of months. Dipping them in sodium silicate (waterglass) is supposed to work well but I have not tried it.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by CaptainRivet

There is a very easy method to discover if an egg is bad or not: take a big cup or a small pot and fill it with water (sea water is ok)
- a fresh egg lies on the bottom horizontally, fine to eat in any form you like
- if one end of the egg rises up but still on the bottom, you can still use the egg but it need to be cooked or backed through.. No fresh use like a 3min egg with soft inside but an omlette or pancake is fine
- if egg swims on top its bad, throw away

That is a really reliable method for eggs told to me by a friend who is head of convenience food at Bell and he needs to now all that stuff. He explained to me If an egg is "aging" the chemical reactions in it produces a gas that is lighter then air. Small amount, means still eatable gas concentrates on one end so it still stays on the bottom but one end of egg goes up...swimming means reaction produced more gas so egg swims up=>bad, throw away

We found this method not to work in real life. There was no correlation between how and egg floated and if it went bad or not.

Plenty of bad eggs rested nicely on the bottom of the water.

I chalked it up to begin only occasionally accurate for very specific types of gas producing spoilage.

The sniff test and the visual test are much more accurate.

[Wckoek]

Originally Posted by JanetGroene

I wrote The Galley Book with recipes for all sorts of food prep including corning, candying and canning in tin cans. It's out of print but probably available on Amazon. My newer Survival Food Handbook (International Marine) covers all phases of provisioning with supermarket staples including stowage tips and recipes. Advice: don't overstock with expensive doomsday survival rations until you try them.

Just got your book and the recipes are interesting and helpful.


I am very surprised at so much response and helpful insights, experience and advice shared in this topic by different members.
(The sulfur preserving technique is interesting to learn even if I might not use it on the sea)

Thank you



Discarding weeks of can and packaging on the sea is an issue as well, and I didn't have space for a rubbish compactor, I have to rely less on food with a lot of packaging and metal cans.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I have run tests with vaseline and found it works for up to a couple of months. Dipping them in sodium silicate (waterglass) is supposed to work well but I have not tried it.

With waterglass you don’t dip them but keep them submerged. It works by far better than any other method. During tests it was at 100% effective after 3 months which no other method achieved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUYgguMz1qI

[Kupe]

Originally Posted by atoll

take a goat if you like fresh milk,and some chickens for fresh eggs.......

Just watched Master and Commander for the thousandth time...so this brought a smile!

“Killick there!”

“Which it will be ready when it’s ready”

[JAFO]

Originally Posted by shanter

I have also read that you could check them by putting them in a glass of water and when they sink to the bottom they are still fresh...when they rise up they have gone bad...they rise up because there is some air inside the egg. Is that actually true that you can’t use eggs anymore when they don’t sink to the bottom? Mine was already swimming on the surface and I got rid of it - but I didn't let it stop me from opening the egg and seeing if it was really bad...it had been almost six weeks after the expiration date. In my opinion it still smelled and looked normal (except that the yolk was already a bit more liquid)...I played it safe and threw the eggs away...what about you? Would you still use such eggs for baking for example?

Here is what I've learned, keeping unrefridgerated (and not long-life treated) eggs at home. Before reaching the point where they float, eggs will stand up on end, just touching the bottom. Those are fine. Next, they'll rise off the bottom, but stay low in the water. Again, all is good. If the egg floats but stays just below the surface, it should be used the same day. In any way you like.. fried, boiled or scrambled will still be just fine. But if the egg floats on the surface, with part of it sticking out of the water, I toss it. Would I use such an egg for baking? Maybe, if just a little bit was poking out of the water. But if more than, say, 5-6mm (1/4 inch) is out of the water, I don't think I'd trust it at all. The higher they float out of the water, the more gas is being produced inside.

[s/v Jedi]

LOL basically you guys are discussing when the egg is too rotten to stil eat

[JAFO]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

LOL basically you guys are discussing when the egg is too rotten to stil eat

Heh.. which is to say, no different than well-aged beef, really.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

With waterglass you don’t dip them but keep them submerged. It works by far better than any other method. During tests it was at 100% effective after 3 months which no other method achieved.

As I said I have never done it. However, since it's the calcium in the egg shell which will react with the sodium silicate to form the durable membrane which keeps the oxygen in air from penetrating the porous shell and one would want to ensure sufficient time for this to occur a soak is probably required.

I also have a confession to make.

The lab rat for the vaseline coated eggs was my little cruising mate.

I used the vaselined eggs to make him scrambled eggs and when he'd finished eating them asked him "How were you're eggs". Since he normally ate pretty bland food I'd added some sliced shallots and a very light sprinkle of chili powder and served them on salted butter toast.

His reply was that they were "The best damned scrambled eggs I've ever eaten.

Then I told him about the egg preserving experiment. After a long moment of silence he said "They were still the best damned scrambled eggs I have even eaten.".

So whilst I cannot vouch on the basis of personnel experience for the efficacy of a vasilene coating for the preservation of eggs, I have it on good authority that it is so.

[BBill]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

As I said I have never done it. However, since it's the calcium in the egg shell which will react with the sodium silicate to form the durable membrane which keeps the oxygen in air from penetrating the porous shell and one would want to ensure sufficient time for this to occur a soak is probably required.

I also have a confession to make.

The lab rat for the vaseline coated eggs was my little cruising mate.

I used the vaselined eggs to make him scrambled eggs and when he'd finished eating them asked him "How were you're eggs". Since he normally ate pretty bland food I'd added some sliced shallots and a very light sprinkle of chili powder and served them on salted butter toast.

His reply was that they were "The best damned scrambled eggs I've ever eaten.

Then I told him about the egg preserving experiment. After a long moment of silence he said "They were still the best damned scrambled eggs I have even eaten.".

So whilst I cannot vouch on the basis of personnel experience for the efficacy of a vasilene coating for the preservation of eggs, I have it on good authority that it is so.

When we were cruising, coating with vasilene was popular and it worked. We
used it at first but later abandoned the vasilene because our storage was only needed for a couple months at a time. Same with coating with parrafin...did it too and stopped. Our problem was storing enough eggs to last any longer and the natural coating worked as is.

[sailorladd]

I never did nor would I use vaseline to coat the eggs, but rather I used olive or maize oil and turned them over once a week..

[Mike OReilly]

It just seems to me that a lot of people must really love fresh eggs. I really find it no burden whatsoever not to have fresh eggs all the time. But if you gotta have them, well then varnish or wax or oil or vaseline away. I'm quite content with my powdered eggs .

[sailorladd]

it's a source of fresh, healthy protein....

[PirateFoxy]

Originally Posted by dannc

Jars used to preserve food can be reused. Only the lids need to be single use.

For added confusion, with the kind of food preservation jars more common in Europe by my experience, which are glass with a glass lid, a rubber seal/gasket, and often some form of metal clamp which holds the lid and seal on during the canning process, it’s only the rubber seals usually which need to be replaced each time you can with them. (Depending on your jars I suppose the metal bit may not last well, either, some of them are flimsy.) Since the actual lid is just a solid piece of glass it can be fully sanitized just like the jar.

(Note that the jars with the metal hinge and bail arrangement also make decent dry goods storage and for that you can reuse the rubber seal as long as it is in good shape, as getting a perfect seal for preservation purposes is not necessary. I particularly like them for storage where there’s more rodent risk, as they can’t chew through the glass but can get through many plastics given enough time. So stuff you’re planning to stash in the back of a cupboard somewhere perhaps.)

[shanter]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

We've been using these bags for a few years now. I can't honestly say for sure what effect they have. Stuff does seem to last longer, but I've never done the side-by-side comparison. It's apparently due to their ability to release ethylene gasses as produce rots.

A lot of fruit and veg last a long time without any special effort. Harder apples that remain unbruised can easily last many weeks. Citrus will also last weeks if kept out of the direct sun. Most root-type veg can last for weeks or months if kept dry and out of the sun. Cabbage is awesome and will last for a couple of months.

Mike OReilly, ok, I see...it would be actually pretty interesting to see how such a side-by-side comparison would turn out. I'm generally always a bit cautious when I put several foods together. If one is bad, others might go bad too. The ripening process could also be accelerated. That's why you should never put apples and bananas together, for example, because otherwise they ripen a lot faster. This also has something to do with the ethylene gasses...But don’t ask me how and why! I don't really know anything about that either...I only speak from my own experience I have also learned some tricks from the internet or from television…the best would be to gather some experiences and see what works best for you
By the way, fruits and vegetables should never be washed and then stored. They lose a natural "layer" and quickly go bad. So it's best to wash the vegetables and fruit just before eating or cooking.