How much food is too much?

[Joh.Ghurt]

Originally Posted by GreenWave

100% and take up less space. Also easier to freeze and thaw than bread.

Who would ever consider freezing bread? That sounds like a sacrilege. Next someone will eulogize the abomination of precut-bread.

Sometimes it's really hard to be tolerant of such misguided concepts and accept that some people never had the chance to see the light.

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

we make real meals

I don't know what a swag meal is

I can, and have, put enough meat in the freezer for the 2 of us for 3 months. The problem is normally bread and eggs

Scientific wild-ass guess

[rexposeidon]

First, thank you all for your answers!

Lots of great info. I knew the hive mind would offer lots of potential solutions.

Thanks Mac for translating SWAG.
My thought there was through meal planning to remember rotation of stock and also creating the "balanced" diet.

I like the idea of 25-50% extra to planned duration and it does make sense to buy cheaper where possible.

For those who make bread do you pre-portion/pre-mix dough?

Anyone else do anything similar for other foods?

[rexposeidon]

And oh yeah a hot toasted flour tortilla with butter is a damn close second to buttered bread.

[Mirage35]

I've done wilderness backpacking and in that context, any food that you have left at the end of the trip is too much, at least in terms of weight.

That's one of the things I loved when I discovered sailing: You like canned ham? Throw in a couple. A case of wine? Bring it on.

A friend says that when you have to repaint the waterline it's a sign that you're getting carried away.

[TrentePieds]

Rex:

That's the classic "how long is a string"?

What do you consider food? Are you into whipping up elegant gourmet meals three times a day? Or are just just interested in filling you belly?

We have a basic ten day meal plan consisting of belly-filling items - lotsa starch, root vegies that will easily keep aboard, tinned meat/fish. Kale. As an example: Classic kedgeree: Steamed rice. Fresh or tinned fish depending on availability. Eggs. Curry sauce made from a prepackaged spice mix. Garnish of carrot curls and water cress. Or chopped kale. Tinned tomatoes and fresh onion on the side. There is nothing there that will not keep aboard for months, even years, if correctly stowed. Powdered milk keeps for ages, but why eat corn flakes when you can have real food? The dry ingredients for nan (Indian style flat bread) will keep for ages so you can have fresh bread every day if you like. You don't need a tawa. An ordinary cast iron skillet will do. Bacon keeps for ages. Save the fat (or bring some with you) for making bannock.

After ten days I don't mind seeing the same dish again as the ten day plan reiterates.

I can stow food for two (including wine) for a three week voyage in a single seat locker. Canned milk is useful. Doesn't taste like fresh milk, but why should it? And remember the old advertising jingle:

Carnation Milk is very grand,
the best damn milk in all the land.
No tits to pull, no hay to pitch -
Just punch an hole in the sonovabitch!

While the kedgeree does in fact give you a balanced meal, remember that for a three week passage you DON'T need to have balanced meals. You need to have your belly full! Such a passage is only an interlude, and the body copes easily with that.

You may have to examine the "normal" North American diet for efficacy. It don't have none! Modify your diet to what kept your peasants forebears healthy, wealthy and wise :-)

Bon appétit :-)!

TrentePieds

[Gadagirl]

Originally Posted by rexposeidon

And oh yeah a hot toasted flour tortilla with butter is a damn close second to buttered bread.

Topped with confectioners sugar and some cinnamon of course!

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by rexposeidon

First, thank you all for your answers!

Lots of great info. I knew the hive mind would offer lots of potential solutions.

Thanks Mac for translating SWAG.
My thought there was through meal planning to remember rotation of stock and also creating the "balanced" diet.

I like the idea of 25-50% extra to planned duration and it does make sense to buy cheaper where possible.

For those who make bread do you pre-portion/pre-mix dough?

Anyone else do anything similar for other foods?

So much depends on what you like. For going from the tropics to somewhere cold, i liked to mix up powdered milk, cocoa, sugar, and instant coffee in a jar. Then measure out enough of the mix for one mug. Add one tablespoon cold water to dissolve the stuff, then fill the mug with boiling water. It's really nice in the middle of one's night watch. Also, have added rum to it on occasion, mostly when we were racing, on the downwind leg. In the US, when we were there one could buy instant hot chocolate, but we mixed up our own, to our own taste (less sugar).

It is that you learn how to provision for yourselves. People vary so much in what they like to eat. And, some people dry their own vegs, which actually taste better than most canned vegs...to us. Some people home can their meats, and amazingly good, better flavor than commercially.

As to making bread, it can be done in one bowl, and if you do it that way, the cleanup is less onerous, especially under way.



Ann

[dougweibel]

There are lots of things you can do to add variety by making perishables out of non-perishables. For example we grow sprouts from seeds and make yogurt from dried milk. We make kombucha from plain sugar and black tea.

I have a SodaStream machine with a hose that allows it to be attached to a 5 lbs CO2 cylinder. We can create the equivalent of 160 lbs of soda from 5 lbs of CO2 and water from the water maker. 5 lbs of CO2 costs ~$15.

[Talk Story]

We have at home which will go on the boat freeze dried proteins - steak, chicken - with a 10 year shelf life. It depends on what your plans are, but after covid and a few too many prepper websites, I would prefer to have some of those try options available onboard in addition to the non perishables. It seems like having a 30+ day supply back up food is a good option - certainly good prep for being in Florida during hurricane season.

[Tellie]

How much food is too much?.............All of it, after 20 hours in 10 foot seas

[Smokeys Kitchen]

Originally Posted by Joh.Ghurt

Who would ever consider freezing bread? That sounds like a sacrilege. Next someone will eulogize the abomination of precut-bread.

Sometimes it's really hard to be tolerant of such misguided concepts and accept that some people never had the chance to see the light.

Off topic

Folks are all different about bread. It is held in very high esteem in some countries . For instance in France you would not go to the bakery in the morning for any bread that you would be serving at dinner; you would go in the afternoon. Lest you be revealed as serving “this mornings bread”, a big social faux paus.

[rexposeidon]

Again thanks for all your comments!


Trente, that's exactly the kind of information I was hoping for.
Tellie, No Doubt!!!
GadaGirl, oh you know it!
JPA Cate, makes good sense, dried and drying one's own is a cheap way to make/store food. How does this affect your water consumption?
Talk Story, do you do this yourself or purchase commercial?
Smokey, you are not wrong there lol!

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by rexposeidon

JPA Cate, makes good sense, dried and drying one's own is a cheap way to make/store food. How does this affect your water consumption?

We used about 1/2 gal. of water per day per person for years. One doesn't use all dried foods for one meal. Also, things like French cut green beans, dried, moistened and then dressed with vinegar, olive oil, and garlic, fresh squeezed, makes a "salad", and can also use with cabbage, which keeps well, wrapped in newspaper, only use the outer leaves first. It rots if you slice it.

A comment about water usage, here. One does need to drink fresh water, imo. But one does not need to waste it washing. Any method that helps you conserve it (it becomes one's most precious thing on a long passage) is a good thing. Washing bodies and dishes in sea water does no harm, and people hair benefits from a little fresh water rinse. People live in this world on less than what we did. People used to bathe only very rarely. Needs vs. wants is the deal, you get to play with them.

The freeze-dried foods for long time storage and emergency rations works great. We had a few vacuum bagged, retort packed meals for stormy conditions, too. Place bag in boiling water, cook 5 min., pour in bowl. When one is feeling seasick and food odors make one want to heave, it is a reasonable supper solution, to us. Ymmv.

Ann

[SeaStory]

We don't exactly meal plan, but we do various amounts of batch cooking before setting out. Some is to get through the first couple of days when I may or may not be eating and certainly am not taking my turn in the galley, some goes in the freezer to simplify life in bad weather or when otherwise exhausted.