Apprehensive Newbie

[Undine]

Start slow is the best advice. I'm a lake sailor about to start on the coast! For the lake boat we started with lots of sandwiches and precooked food, also raw veggies and fruit. Supplement that with a few have-on-hand items which can be eaten straight from the package w/o refrigeration. Be certain to have plenty of drinking water! (not just soft drinks or adult beverages) For our "delivery trip" of the new to us old boat, I precooked breakfast food. This included french toast and breakfast sandwiches. Lunch was roll-up sandwiches and fruit. As we had no AC and it was July in FL, we ate cold cereal with milk for supper. And we had crackers and spread and raw veggies with our sundowners. It was adequate for 6 days of travel. When we arrived at the new marina we had a great lunch at the restaurant - no sandwiches!

[therapy23]

A stainless steel thermos.........or two.

[Undine]

OK, this is a semi-hijack of your thread. There is one thing you need to concentrate on in the very beginning. Learn to sail/motor the boat well enough to get to help in an emergency. Yes, this is do as I say not as I did! I was lucky, Hubby had his incapacitating injury at the dock. It could have happened in the middle of the lake. If it had I probably could have motored back to the marina, but I didn't know how to start the outboard. The first thing I did when we bought the big boat was learn to start the motor!

[CGMojo]

Read Suzanne Giesemann's great book, "It's Your Boat Too"---you're not a galley slave, you're the Executive Officer and First Mate! Suzanne is an old friend, a retired USN Commander, and a great writer. She and Ty, her retired USN Captain husband, have a great relationship, live aboard, and have sailed extensively. She has a regular column in Blue Water Sailing magazine that is funny and very informative.
Enjoy your new boat!

[ODaySundance]

We bought our O'Day 27 last fall. It has a very large galley (I'd rather have more cockpit space now that I've had the time to experience such an oversized space on a small boat).
I am the captain and the cook.
I hand over the tiller on a regular basis to make sure everyone is watered and fed, and I usually enjoy that task very much. I took a lot of time stocking the galley, but here is the list of things I use all the time:

corkscrew/bottle opener
Knives (essential for the limes, cheese) you can get a good ones with sleeves from discount stores
plastic (reusable) wine goblets
melamine plates
cutting board (if you can find one that doubles as a sink cover - even better)
stackable serving bowls
one skillet
one camp griddle ($5 at the mart)
two burner propane stove (about $15) (I have an gimbaled old Homestead alcohol stove/oven that I haven't taken time to work on)
I save all my plastic grocery bags for garbage (store in a kleenex box)
one box large garbage bags
ziplock bags in multiple sizes
stainless steel mugs with lids
"lil sucker drink holders" (AMAZING)
Propane Match
tea kettle
sponges

Last galley must: portable speakers and an ipod/iphone/mp3 -
your guy will love watching you prepare food and dance simultaneously.

I ditto the idea on non perishables (tuna/soup)
The frozen prepared bag dinners I have kept frozen in the bottom of the icebox for 48 hours
wasabi peas... yum
Pancakes are a breeze with the shakable pancake mixes, just add water!
You can buy bacon in a package that doesn't need refrigeration.
Extravagant snacks.. forget it.. I just spent the evening wishing I had purchased premade foods
stick with cheese/crackers/grapes, just vary your cheese selections to keep it interesting

Most of all, have fun. We try to keep all the food/drink stuff to non-critical moments (too many spilled drinks while trying to get underway or docking), when everything is even keeled and we're all chillin'.