Storing Food

[zeehag]

rats and mice are not as common now as they were in tallship times. but they are still out there. placing a collar on your lines after they are placed was the way the ships prevented the rats and mice from gaining entry. they couldnt get past the collar(in theory) therefore , they helped. also , the ships each had cats on board. these were working cats--hunters of mice and rats. they were crew as were the humans on board. i dont know if kat was terminated if not doing his job, but i know there were cats on board for the hunting and killing of rats and mice. had to be --the vermin ate the stores and left the rest contaminated, therefore a real need for a hunter mouser at all times on board.
today , i havent seen a mouse or rat gain entry to anything besides shrimpers and fishers and derelicts. cockroaches are a totally different problem, as all areas near water have them. they DO board boats.they DO eat wiring, and seem to thrive on it.
ants do as well. and are most difficult to get rid of, as they , too , seem to enjoy the natural remedies best--thrive on them--gawd i love spray--thankyou for inventing it!!!!! i spray the lines and boat to keep these things out and my stores safe for human consumption. cat does the rest.
my boat is always 100 percent bug free. always.

[MarkJ]

Folks in the marina in Malaysia got a rat.

He painted a piece of cardboard with contact cement.

Left it in the bilge overnight.

One ratus in the morning.

Not a happy rat. Happy owner.


I thought it a bit cruel.

[off-the-grid]

Wow! I haven't had a chance to read through all of this. Been busy, finally getting my butt back in the water.

I'm already starting to collect those rectangular containers. Allows me to buy a bunch of coffee and premix it. I like 2 parts rocket fuel and one part flavered. Already repacking some things to save space, avoid soggy cardboard, and to get rid of wasteful packaging as someone mentioned earlier.

So, after a quick skim through, looks like a vacuum sealer may be in my future. Can anyone recommend a good one. Did a quick look on Amazon, and the ones with decent reviews were either ridiculously expensive, or pretty big. Do any of them run on 12v?

[nautical62]

I really like dry bags. Being flexible, they fit through openings and conform to non rectangular spaces (common on boats) that rigid containers would not, while still keeping out moisture and critters.

[off-the-grid]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Vacumme sealing cost $1 per bacg so its too expensive for us.

On second thought. I'm think lots of zip lock bags and lock and lock boxes and/or those pop containers.

Originally Posted by zeehag

roaches love borax and seem to thrive on it.

Really? I have a giant tub on board left behind by a previous owner. May as well just dump it if it's that useless. Glad I've only ever seen one aboard...once.

Rats? And yet another vote for staying on the hook.

[MichaelC]

I am truly sorry to hear that the new roach population is not killed by borax. Back when I was sailing in my schooner [late 70s early 80s] and dusting [okay covering] of borax in the lockers kept roaches completely out of my boat. I don't like to think about spraying toxic crud into my boat .... but I like the idea of roaches even less ... bad word, bad word ....

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Vacumme sealing cost $1 per bacg so its too expensive for us.

Golly. In the US, full retail is 0.50/bag(ish). If you buy rolls and make your own custom-size bags it's half that. If you sign up for the Foodsaver e-mail list there are regular coupons and discounts that cut that by another 30%.

Buying in bulk - flour, rice, pasta - and breaking up the packages into vacuum sealed bags more than covers the cost of the bags, not to mention avoiding the issues of bugs and other infestations as well as protection from damp. We use the Lock-n-Lock container designated for pantry storage as the measure for sealing so when we open a vacuum bag the contents fit in the L&L.

My sealer (Foodsaver V2420) was about 80 USD at WalMart a couple of years ago, and came with several rolls and a number of bags.

We just broke up a 25# bag of flour yesterday. We're getting low on rice, and out of sticky rice, so there will be more to do soon.

In addition to storing pantry staples we use it for cooking ahead of passages, simplifying reheating.

[Entlie]

We provision Sunspot Baby for six months at a time. Main pantry is a double berth with mattesses removed. Boxes are locking lid type, with categories, i.e. canned fruit & vegetables, meat and fish, baking (larger box for this), ethnic, etc. Boxes are labeled on both ends and on top with P-touch.

We write on the tops of canned goods with thick sharpie so we can read without removing the cans. We don't remove labels and no rust problems. Remove all mixes from their boxes and store in zip locks (save directions and product name). Most of the time, we cook from scratch, and put bay leaves in all dry products (flour, corn meal, etc.) We have never had bugs in dry products on board. I put 3 bay leaves in the top of each working canister. That way, I always know to remove three leaves before baking. Doesn't affect the flavor of the flour, etc. I've never had to do this with sugar, and no bugs in sugar on its own. We buy box wine, remove the cardboard, and store it in the boxes.

We keep a white board on the fridge and write a grocery list. Every week or so we do a pantry dive with a boat hook, bring out the boxes, and move what's on the list to dry lockers in the same cabin.

This is a system that works well for us. Of course, we also store things throughout the boat, but this is our primary storage. No cardboard on the boat, ever. We had a small vaccuum bagger on board but it didn't survive the climate. We use a big one at home and most meats, etc. are vaccuumed bagged before we leave.

We use an Excel spread sheet as a shopping, inventory and location list. It's 9 pages long. Punched in a 3 ring binder, I don't update it when we cruise, we pretty know how much we have from our pantry dives. I do write notes on the punched copy for the next cruise, and update than when we get home.

I think we are pretty organized, but many of the photos on this thread show how we can improve.

Entlie
Sailing Catamaran Sunspot Baby

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

Golly. In the US, full retail is 0.50/bag(ish). If you buy rolls and make your own custom-size bags it's half that. .

I keep on telling people the USA is VERY cheap!
Make sure you provision well in all departments because what you get in the USA is the best price IN THE WORLD! And especially when you consider quality.

Vacuum Sealing Rolls 2x per pak
Two Rolls in one pack 30cm x 600 cm - (11 1/2” width x 20’ length)
These rolls can be cut to any length to suit item being sealed.
Price: $31.99 inc GST within Australia

I just did a quicky google search so the may be better deals out there, but $32 seems a lot to me.

[Blue Stocking]

Hey Mark,

Whats wrong with beans for dessert? Makes a cruising breeze. Wind's gone aft!!

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I keep on telling people the USA is VERY cheap!

No argument there. I do load up before heading out -- certainly rolls of bags, paper goods, wine, and the odd bits of food.

Even at the prices you quote I would continue to vacuum seal. With care the bags can be reused, and the cost of waste from infestation and damp and just plain spoilage is worth avoiding.

To each their own.

Now if I could just find sticky rice without a long subway ride I'd be happy. Annapolis is a culinary wasteland and you have to go elsewhere for much of anything interesting.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

To each their own.

.

Its still on the cards sometime. Just not as high up the list when I found out the bags were more than 1 cent each. The other thing is I saw someones unit and I thought it look quite 'domestic' and I think for the boat I would like a more heavy 'commercial' sealer.

All the best

I am noticing Christmas is just arround the corner and I can have a land address for pressies to be posted


Mark

[Healer52]

Originally Posted by grunzster

Wow! I haven't had a chance to read through all of this. Been busy, finally getting my butt back in the water.

I'm already starting to collect those rectangular containers. Allows me to buy a bunch of coffee and premix it. I like 2 parts rocket fuel and one part flavered. Already repacking some things to save space, avoid soggy cardboard, and to get rid of wasteful packaging as someone mentioned earlier.

So, after a quick skim through, looks like a vacuum sealer may be in my future. Can anyone recommend a good one. Did a quick look on Amazon, and the ones with decent reviews were either ridiculously expensive, or pretty big. Do any of them run on 12v?

We've used foodsaver brand for years. Unfortunately the pumps all seem to give out after a few (2-4) years, and they have to be replaced. The sealing element seems to be much more durable. I buy bags at Costco, and have bought the last couple of sealers at Home Depot (they were on special, for around $50 so I bought three).

I don't know of any that are 12 v, but realistically you don't use them that much. They only draw power when being used and it takes maybe 45 seconds to seal a package.

[Healer52]

Originally Posted by nautical62

I really like dry bags. Being flexible, they fit through openings and conform to non rectangular spaces (common on boats) that rigid containers would not, while still keeping out moisture and critters.

Yeah, but....they're hard to pack items in that are themselves kind of fragile, and most dry bags are round so there is a lot of wasted space - even if you cram the excess into a spare corner.

There are more suitcase shaped drybags, here is a good source for them:

Vargo Driseal Cargo Bag

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

The other thing is I saw someones unit and I thought it look quite 'domestic' and I think for the boat I would like a more heavy 'commercial' sealer.

I've got a rather domestic one that had a good size pot on top of it all across the Atlantic. It's got more than a few scratches on it, but more than four years downstream it's still doing well. We only use it once or twice a month, but when we haul it out then it does get a workout.