Onboard food storage

[Popeye77]

Just for perspective I need to mention we're in the planning stages and downsizing in preparation for moving aboard and cruising.

I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for "dry goods" food storage. I've been debating on one of those vacum sealer machines thinking they would keep whatever I put in it dry.

My wife felt the packaged soups, sauces, mixes etc already have an adequate container. We're avoiding canned goods, but do plan on having refrigeration. I may have to refit for the right refrigeration for us, but we will have it.

We have no illusions about living off the sea, but will fish and eat what we can (when edible). In the event our fishing skills fail we want to be prepared. I know we'll have to find a "balance" between what we want to take on board and what we can take on board. That said any thoughts on storage?

[Valiente]

The vacuum sealers have fans aboard, but also for spares, gaskets, etc. to keep them free from rust. Others favour "home canning" in Mason jars, with such little tricks as blocks of cheese in olive oil in sealed jars, stowed with plastic dividers in Rubbermaid snap-lid bins. You eat the cheese and then use the cheese-flavoured oil for cooking or salad dressing. Other tricks are using rice grains in spices and salt as a desiccant, and having a 12 VDC cooler for beer/pop/cold water when motoring to save opening the fridge. Four amps out of the alternator isn't going to kill your battery charging regime, and the key to a low draw fridge (beyond insulating the hell out of it) is to have the contents memorized and arranged so that the lid is open for as few seconds as possible.

Regardless, there are a range of snap-lid bins that will more or less fit stringers and frames, and if you look for wide and long spaces with only a few inches of height, you'll find plenty of space aboard. Keep a log or diagram of your stores, and try, as always, to keep the heaviest loads near the middle of the boat, and to organize meals ahead of time so that a week's food is in the topmost, accessible bin. The other thing that seems to be important is treats and snacks...if you have an evening ritual of a hot coffee and a bit of chocolate, for instance, get really good examples of both. This makes the occasional "stew three nights running" periods bearable, and takes you well away from the feeling you are on an endless camping trip. Likewise, choose meals that can be prepared in one pot or pressure cooker for those times underway when cooking is problematic and you just want to add hot water to a package of soup.

Your wife and you may want to consider the possibility of weevil, bugs or vermin brought aboard and how to a) prevent that and b) fight it if it happens. The biggest offender here is apparently cardboard boxes in the tropics. I have read in several books that cardboard is left on the pier and goods are brought in ziplocs held in string bags as a weevil/roach deterrent. Others also use "Chinese hat" conical line barriers on dock and even mooring lines (rats swim quite well).

Don't rule out canned goods, but be aware that the glue on the labels will both melt and be eaten by bugs. The traditional method is to strip the label, write the contents and date on the lid with marker, and then varnish the can to reduce rust. Such cans will survive even damp bilges undamaged, although really it's the humidity you should worry about and keeping the boat vented.

There's many books on food prep and storage aboard. Most favour the fairly Spartan approach in that the fridge is something you should keep for specialities, as they can and do fail. Better a small fridge/freezer with a high turnover than something that if it goes, rots a few hundred bucks worth of steak.

Wow, I wrote more than I had intended. Apparently, I've been visualizing my own passagemaker as a vast storehouse of calories.

[rtwfamily]

have green houses been done on boats? growing your own food underway? Would that survive?

[Omatako]

Originally Posted by Popeye77

My wife felt the packaged soups, sauces, mixes etc already have an adequate container. We're avoiding canned goods, but do plan on having refrigeration.

I agree with Valiente, don't sell can goods short. There is a huge range of really tasty and nutritious food available in cans these days. Most of the foods that we use are kept in their original packaging which does an acceptable job of preservation. And it doesn't require refrigeration. In our experience the rusting of tins is really a thing of the past and plagued the sailors who kept stocks in the bilges and similar wet spots. The modern boats are dry and we very rarely have problems with rusty cans.

Vacuum packing things like rice and pasta will not help with weevils. If any of these dry goods are kept in your store long enough, they will get weevils even though their original packaging is seemingly air-tight.

Keep veggies in a dark cool locker and they will last much longer than you think. Keep eggs in their original packs, preferably the paper mache type, in a cool spot, rub a very thin layer of vaseline onto the shell and gently turn the boxes over weekly and your eggs will stay fresh for months without refrigeration.

Keep lots of salami - it keeps forever and is really good as an appetiser.

Originally Posted by Popeye77

We have no illusions about living off the sea, but will fish and eat what we can (when edible).

The problem we found at sea was that there are fish around and you can catch quite easily but they're generally way too large and we baulk at killing something for a meal and throwing most of it away, although my son-in-law keeps reminding me that what we throw back will not be wasted, it just goes back into the food chain.

And having said all that, refrigeration is great for keeping fresh stuff longer and also for cold drinks which have much more value to comfort than one would believe. But in my view, it's the most troublesome accessory. Well, on my boat anway.

[Lostmt]

You have to buy eggs that have never been refrigerated for them to stay good for a few months. Hard to find that way you have to go to a farmer and ask them not to refrigerate them.

These are really good for keeping dry food dry along with cell phone.

locknlock You can find them at WalMart about the same price.

[Freesail99]

Vacuum packing things like rice and pasta will not help with weevils. If any of these dry goods are kept in your store long enough, they will get weevils even though their original packaging is seemingly air-tight.

Packing the above with a few bay leaves in each sealed bag will keep weevils and other bugs away.

[Omatako]

Originally Posted by Lostmt

You have to buy eggs that have never been refrigerated for them to stay good for a few months. Hard to find that way you have to go to a farmer and ask them not to refrigerate them.

It would probably improve the situation if you did. As it happens we have always bought our eggs in the supermarket and have never had a problem with longevity. But then, thinking about it, the supermarkets in the places I have sailed to and from don't refrigerate the eggs.

My wife did the stocking of our boat in the US so I can't comment, don't know. Are eggs refrigerated in US supermarkets?

Originally Posted by Freesail99

Packing the above with a few bay leaves in each sealed bag will keep weevils and other bugs away.

Yes I believe that works but bay leaves are strongly aromatic, does it not permeate into the food?

[Freesail99]

Yes I believe that works but bay leaves are strongly aromatic, does it not permeate into the food?

If you are talking about pasta's or even rice so what? Any italian sauce worth it's salt, has a bay leaf in it anyway.

[tdw]

It really does help if you are open to eating local cuisine. Insisting on steak if you are in SE Asia or on a South Pacific island is going to make things difficult and we most certainly do not want to haul around a freezer full of meat.

We like to eat fresh so tend to buy locally but still keep enough packaged stuff so that we can stay away from 'civilisation' for weeks at a time.

Some people tend to try and carry enough food to keep them going for an entire cruise and that's simply unrealistic.

As for canned food, yep we do carry some but what I have found is that we now have cans on board that have been there since we first bought Raven three years ago. On the other hand things like packet noodles and pasta are being constantly replenished. I'm a fan of Ramen and Miso soups and find either make for relatively satisfying meals when produce is running low. We do go through a fair amount of tinned fruit and vegetables rather than tinned meats which never quite make it for us. Tinned fish works well. Eggs purchased as fresh as possible seem to last for us but we've never needed to keep them for longer than a month.

We do find that snap lock containers work well but you need to be careful as to the design. We bought one type that clipped down to fasten and found that it was easy for them to unclip if conditions were somewhat bumpy.

Found a new type last week that only one one clip and a hinged sprung loaded lid. If they work it looks like a good design.

The stuff we do stock up on are things like coffee and tea. If you are fussy about such things getting a good solid espresso coffee or a quality loose leaf tea can be a problem even if within a few hundred miles of a major city.

[eryka]

Originally Posted by Popeye77

My wife felt the packaged soups, sauces, mixes etc already have an adequate container.

We've found those packets are quite a bit more permeable than we'd like to believe. Cut the "use by" date in half, or store the packets in a clicky container. And I echo everything that's been said already about weevils and cardboard. We learned it the hard way. (eeeuw!)