Provisioning for a Pacific crossing

[ob1kenobe]

Hi everyone,
Can anyone recommend a site where you can plan provisioning in terms of weight/size/calorific value/storage etc etc. I have been trying to put a spreadsheet together to see how much flower, yeast etc etc. is going to be needed for 40 days for 4 paople. I am sure thee is someone out there smarter than me who has probably done this already! Hope to hear from all that experience soon

Cheers

[SVAuspicious]

Beth Leonard has a good list here http://bethandevans.com/pdf/Provisioninglist.pdf .

I think people make this out to be more challenging than it actually needs to be.

I set up a notional menu and turn that into ingredients, add the quantities up, round up everything a bit, round up the things that last a long time a lot, and generate a shopping list. The problem with the "pre-fab" lists like Beth's is that there is an underlying assumption about cooking styles. You'll want to have what you need to cook what you like to cook. That may not line up with Beth's style, or mine, or anyone elses.

Boat systems also make a difference - fridge, freezer, oven, or not?

[killarney_sailor]

I agree with S/V A that it is a lot harder than merely figuring out how many calories you need and then figuring out how many of item A this is etc. We are going to be doing a Pacific Crossing in the March/April time frame (from Ecuador) so what we take will also relate to what we can buy there (and previously in Panama). To give you a specific example, we found a Dutch brand of drink concentrate (mix 1:7 with water) in St Martin that was terrific: good price, good taste, did not take up much room. If we could find this stuff elsewhere (haven't seen it anywhere else though), it would have a huge impact on how much Coke, beer, etc we might need. Also you can save a lot of money by over-provisioning where things are cheaper eg Panama versus French Polynesia. Load up in the Americas, it will get eaten eventually as long as you buy the stuff that you like.

Our plan is to buy the sort of food we like to eat and that is available; also food that does require major amounts of preparation and cooking so as to minimize work on a long passage (with a lot of downwind rolling possible) not to mention heat in the galley.

[ob1kenobe]

Thank you SVA & KA for both the link and the wisdom. Everyone is right, getting 'anal' over weight etc is silly especially as the boat is a 46' cat and we more food prep area than Masterchef. It will be a long time at sea so eating is going to be part of our entertainment. I guess I am trying to avoid buying both too much and too little and know that the crew are getting all they need.
So thank you my friends. Will keep the thinking cap on.
OB1

[SVAuspicious]

"Too much" food and "too much" water are self-correcting.

The bigger problem is things going bad and having to clean up. Almost as significant an issue is having lots of food that no one wants to eat. That's the biggest problem with the "cut and paste" approach from books about cruising that tell you to carry all kinds of dried and canned goods that may have nothing to do with how you actually cook.

I can send you my passage provisioning list - a good bit different from Beth's - but what would you do with several boxes of unsalted matzo? What would you do with all the Thai noodle I carry? Do you really want 250g of curry powder?

That's why I suggest you start with menu's that include things you cook and you like to eat. Some things may turn out to be impractical at sea but you are likely to still have less waste than if you blindly follow someone else's shopping list.

[ob1kenobe]

Your help is invaluable and I think my conclusion is to select multiple use basics and have a big herb & spice collection. Chick pease can be added to a salad, make a great curry and be turned into humos....that sort of thing. First off will be asking what everyone like to eat and take it from there. We will have a breadmaker as we have the power and that was my biggest challenge...getting the basics right.

Catch you later some time

B