Provisioning

Menus we are using for provisioning

We have just a few days before we leave home to spend a week on Breeze On, then sail her from New York to the Chesapeake. We are working hard on our plans for provisioning. In theory, it shouldn't be that much different from what we do every week before we do our grocery shopping. For years wehave made a list of menus for the week. Then we develop a grocery list from the planned menus. We now use an iPad app called Paprika to hold our recipes and menus. The photo above shows the planned menus for our first week on the boat. Even though it shouldn't be that different from what I already do I am finding the idea of provisioning very stressful. I believe the difference is that I will need to bring absolutely everything I need for all the meals we are going to eat. The only food or utensils I will have on hand are the ones I brought with me. I also don't know how it will be to cook and eat on the boat. I have been using The Boat Galley Cookbook and The Boat Galley Blog as a resource. I am still finding it hard to translate the suggestions into what we will actually be eating when we are on the boat.

I have read that, when cruising, people eat in a way that is similar to the way they ate at home. If they didn't eat out much at home, they won't eat out much while cruising. If they didn't like corned beef hash at home they won't like it when they are cruising. We don't eat out much now and I assume we won't eat out much when we are cruising. We are definitely going to have to make some changes, though. We are currently very dependent on our microwave. We received one as a wedding gift 38 years ago and have used one several times a day since. My husband thaws his frozen blueberries for his cereal. I warm up steel cut oats that I prepared in advance. We both warm up leftovers for lunch. We warm homemade bread for dinner in the microwave. We do have a microwave on Breeze On but it won't be practical to use it if we are at anchor or a mooring ball. We don't eat many sandwiches at home but sandwiches are very practical when you are under way on a sailboat. I once bought a salad to eat while we were sailing and most of the lettuce blew away! We will definitely have to make changes in the way we cook and eat.

My husband made a provisioning spreadsheet using an iPad app called List Master. Once we bring all of the food and supplies onto the boat we will write where they are located on the spreadsheet.

Screenshot of the provisioning list

I have started labeling the lockers in photos to make finding items easier.

Galley lockers with measurements

 

Salon lockers with measurements

To make matters a bit more complicated we will be driving from Maryland to Syracuse to attend our daughter's graduation (a very happy occasion), then helping her pack and move to Massachusetts where she will begin her new job (hooray!). So, although we will leave home on Friday we will not get to Breeze On until Monday. Everything we are taking to the boat we be sitting in the car for three days. For that reason we are not going to try to cook and freeze any foods ahead of time. We will wait until we get to Mamaroneck (where Breeze On is located) before we buy the cold foods.

Breeze On has two refrigerators (one is a drawer for drinks) and no freezer. I am concerned that any meats we buy and plan to cook will not last for the entire week (especially chicken). We decided to try using canned chicken instead of fresh. We have one recipe that uses turkey sausage and we are going to take a chance on that.

Another issue that is a challenge for me is the need for flexibility when cooking on a boat. One needs to be very organized in the provisioning but also flexible with the meals. I imagine that cooking on Breeze On will force me to be more flexible.

 

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