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longer than stuff lasts in a frige

14K views 87 replies 25 participants last post by  Capt.aaron 
#1 · (Edited)
I stay away from town for a lot longer than stuff will last in a frige. I sprout lentil's, chick peas, wheat. I make sprouted lentil burgers on sprouted wheat bread with sprouted chick pea humus. It's awesome. I throw some lentil sprouts in the hot pan with olive oil, honey and dryed organic blue berry's and serve on jasmine rice. Living, fresh and nutritous food I can keep for months. Wax Boxed tofu and soy milk. Cereal's, dried fruit. I pickle okra, eggs, I put peppers and green beans in olive oil. I simplify the sprouting process by just throwing the lentils in a cook pot, watering once and forgetting about them. You can run the wheat sprouts through a hand cranking food grinder and it comes out as dough. I have a solar oven I made from Sailing the Farm and just put the dough in it. Bread. The list of wonderfull, fresh food I'm eating on week 6 in some out of the way anchorage like Bahia de Ascension in the Yucatan or the Marqueses in the key's, is endless! I've been living a board since I was 8 and inherited the boat when I was 18. I'm 41 now and have never had a frige. Salami's, canned butter from Holand, pastas, sundried tomatoes. Saute' up some canned chicken breast with white wine and garlic. Fresh pickled cucumber. I could go on and on and on about how I can stock my boat with 6 months of great non frige food. Do you know how long a Parm cheese wheel lasts?! I use electricity for lights and......?? music... and a small fan. I use a pump up bug sprayer as a shower and get cleaner than dribbling water from a shower head. I have a 65 gallon water tank under my V bearth, and a 40 gallon one where my engine was. Any plastic gidget gadget that had wires poking out of it has broken and not been replaced. If I can't beat it with a hammer it's useless to me. The more I've gotten rid of, more freedom I've gained and the longer I've been able to stay away from town. I know this bare bones style isn't for everyone, but little aspects of it may interest some of you.
 
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#49 · (Edited)
It's an aquired taste, like wheat grass. I like wheat grass, they say the less toxic you are the sweeter it tastes, It taste's sweet to me.( and I must to be a little toxic) Spiralina I even like sprinkled on my mac and cheese. But blended with orange juice and honey is a good start.
 
#52 · (Edited)
I don't pressure can things, but my mother does and I plan to spend some time learning from her. She does apple relish and her tomatoes, some sauces.

I picle, ocra, egg's and cucumbers green beans, carrots, beats and peppers. A fairly freshly pickled cucmber is a different monster than a pickle. They are basically still just a cucumber.

These things add many choices and combos to very tasty meals.
 
#53 · (Edited)
The thing about canned and jarred foods is, you want the smallest portions. small jars, In the tropics you want to open a serving of the stuff. You have a day to eat it so you don't want a big a$$ jar packed with a lot of food. Baby food size jars are great for this. The canned butter I like comes in a can just a little to big, I get butterd out trying to eat it all.
 
#55 · (Edited)
Yeah that is a good thought, I use pint sized jars for most of the soups I can for that reason, I just want something I can open, heat, and eat.

It's that the butter "ghee" that I read about, or is that an actual canned butter that you have found somewhere ? They don't sell that in the U.S. that I am aware of, at least not at any store I frequent.

I am going to step out for a few hours, bbl
 
#56 ·
The first that comes to mind is my sprouted lentils, thrown in a skillet of hot olive oil, some garlic, a little honey a squirt of Bragg's fermented soy sauce and dehydrated organic blueberry's , a pinch of cayanne, served on jasmine rice. or some varyation of that. I make potato soup a lot, potato's last. I throw some nutritional yeast on the soup. It's my comfort food. I mentioned earlier my newest fav. Canned chicken breast, canned butter, white wine and cappers, served on penne pasta.
 
#60 ·
I eat it with in 48 hours. I open it to make my chiken, caper, and white wine thing and use 1/3 of the can for that. If I get Lobster I will open a can as well. As I said before I get butter'd out on the second day, but I've never kept it around long enough to go ransid. It's a treat. I use olive oil for just about everything.
By the way, it is awesome butter!!
 
#64 · (Edited)
It is. I splerge on some Gormet items, like my organic dried blue berry's and dark chocolate bars, good wine etc. Since my operating cost's are so low, and very little maintenece, plus practically never going to a marina, I have money for great food and night's out in the many cool places I sail to, Like Isla Mujeres and Livingston G. And Cartegenia.
If you carmalize slices of a nice canned ham in pineappple jucie and garlic and serve it on sweet potato slices browned in that Dutch Butter, some jarred asparugus and pair it with Cambria chardinay, It really takes away from the discomfort of a wet day at sea. and satisfies that need for something good to eat, and I can make that meal months away from the Grocery store.
 
#65 · (Edited)
There are a few things that will drag me back to town after a few months anchored out in the middle of no where. Sometimes I just want to sit in a Bar and people watch, play some pool with freinds and have a laugh. But an even greater pull is my craving for a steak. There is a recipe for canned steak and onions I've found on line by some dude up on Big Turtle Creek. Any body doing Long passages with no freezer, or people like me who crawl up into Back country lagoons in Mexico or Belize for months at a time, Know this craving well. I plan to try this recipe out when I get back to land next week, and serve it on day six during my up coming voyage to Honduras in april. I'll let Ya'll know how it turned out. Or, if I poison my self, I'll leave instructions not to try this at home. Normally I stick with a vegatarian diet as far as preserved foods, supplimented with fresh fish, lobster and conch, a side from the canned chicken and ham and tuna which only I break out when My body is calling for protien beyond the eggs and tofu, and other soy products. But steak is my weekness and many times I've cut adventures short to satify the craving. Often I'm saying to myself, "If I had a steak I could of stayed out there another month."
 
#67 ·
Yum, think I'll BBQ a nice steak on the boat tomorrow night for the Mayan End of the World party. :) Then, a nice bottle of whiskey to split with buddy who lives on his boat full time.

Capt.Aaron, just tried the spirulina. Man, that's intense stuff. How much of it do you consume in a day? Research indicates that minimum amount would be 1 tablespoon, approximately 14.2 grams, advising to take no more than 50 grams a day, being sure to drink tons of water.
 
#69 ·
Great posts Aaron. Thanks.
Cheese submerged in cooking oil lasts forever, and you can still use the oil for cooking.
Buy a copy of "The Bean Book" by Rose Elliot. Lots of bean recipes in it.
You can use a pressure cooker for beans and pea soup, as long as you put a bit of cooking oil on top of the water to stop it from foaming.
Mix a can of sweetened condensed milk with a half can of vinegar and a teaspoon of mustard and you have a very tasty mayonaise which needs no fridge.
Buy a large caner( scrapyards are a good source) and use it to can meats and fish. Works well for venison.
Blackberry leaves and any strawberry type berry leaves make a good tea, as do stinging nettles, thimble berry leaves, hawthorn berries, etc.
I once lived in a housekeeping room which had a fridge . I only used it once in two years. Never had one since ,over 40 years ago.
 
#70 ·
Cheese submerged in cooking oil lasts forever, and you can still use the oil for cooking.
Excellent. Thanks Brent.

Mix a can of sweetened condensed milk with a half can of vinegar and a teaspoon of mustard and you have a very tasty mayonaise which needs no fridge.
Added that to my cooking/recipe file. Thanks again.

I think I have that Bean Book. I do lots of beans in the pressure cooker. I think it's one
of the best products from Carl's Kitchen.

Much to learn in changing my diet and becoming more self-sufficient and off the grid, both at home and on the boat.

Time for another dose of spirulina and orange juice. :)
 
#72 ·
Do you use cooking oil on top as I believe Brent suggested above ?
No. First time I heard of it, was here. Will try it though, as I also do garbonzo beans for making hummus, which I pretty much eat every day.

I basically just watch the levels of ingredients I put in and be sure to clean the vents. I gave my stovetop pressure cooker to a fellow sailor and bought an electric Fagor combo low/high pressure cooker, with low/high slow cooking, rice maker, and browner/warmer. It's awesome. Sorry I gave away the stove top. Will be replacing it soonest, so I can pressure cook on the boat.

With the exception of breakfasts, every time I cook, I'm using that electric pressure cooker. Best thing I ever bought for the kitchen.
 
#73 ·
I also use a pressure cooker for almost every meal, and I have been reluctant to use it for split peas and beans because I have had problems with them foaming up and I believe there is a risk of clogging the vent and causing dangerous pressure build up. I could plainly see the residue of the froth on the inside of the lid at the vent. I would like to find a way to get around that problem because the pressure cooker does such a great job of pressure cooking beans.
 
#74 · (Edited)
I also use a pressure cooker for almost every meal, and I have been reluctant to use it for split peas and beans because I have had problems with them foaming up and I believe there is a risk of clogging the vent and causing dangerous pressure build up. I could plainly see the residue of the froth on the inside of the lid at the vent. I would like to find a way to get around that problem because the pressure cooker does such a great job of pressure cooking beans.
Let's both try the oil thing and write the results here. Since it's been mentioned here, I'm sure it works. Not sure how much oil to use.

Thanks to Capt.Aaron, I'm now doing Spirulina daily and just can't believe the energy levels I get from it. I believe it's actually helping to cure my acid reflux, which just sucks.

I'm going to an 80% "Hippy Diet" this year. I've already lost 70 lbs over the last year and a half and don't want to go back. A film called Forks Over Knives helped make this decision, too. I plan on doing dried peas and lentils of all sorts in the pressure cooker. Looking forward to trying the oil on top method tomorrow. I'm absolutely convinced the whole food, natural diet is the way to go, however, I'm not giving up eggs, cheese, and I like a little meat once in a while. I eat oatmeal and flaxseed, with dried fruit, most every day. Up to a couple months ago, when monsoon season hit, I completed seven full months of riding my bicycle to work. Looking forward to getting back on the bike in March.

I'll be reading Sailing the Farm tomorrow while cooking, and am planning out this year's garden right now (indoor, outdoor containers, and outdoor raised beds, and I plan on building a small greenhouse). The only thing that will be new is the greenhouse.

I want to be off the grid as much as possible for the rest of my life. Hell, my sailboat hasn't been hooked to shore power for 2.5 years. I have lights, stereo, Chartplotter and most all the comforts of home on board.

Thanks again for this thread, Captain. You have the lifestyle I can only dream about at this time.
 
#75 ·
I have cooked beans in a pressure cooker for ages and never had any issue.
I used to cook with only water, but what I do now is to season it before I close the lid - put some oil in the pan, sautee onions, herbs, drop a couple of bay leaves, etc, close the lid and pressure cook for about 20/25 minutes. Open and check firmness, cook more if desired.
Do not add salt - it will prevent the beans from cooking properly - it reacts somewhat and I am not sure why or how, I only know that if you add salt, you mess it up. Salt to taste after the beans are cooked.

Macrobiotics - I am reading the cookbooks (never mind the philosophy) and see what I can gather - looks interesting and it relates to most of the stuff in this thread - anyone out there who is a macroB or have tried the diet or some of the diet?
 
#76 ·
Macrobiotics, sans the philosophy (which is to be learned later) is basically what I'm doing, it seems. I'll still call it the "Hippy Diet."

used to cook with only water, but what I do now is to season it before I close the lid - put some oil in the pan, sautee onions, herbs, drop a couple of bay leaves, etc.
Yup, that's what I do. No salt during initial cooking of beans. Once onions, etc. put in, I add salt.

Another thing I want to do after I get a pressure cooker for the boat is get a mortar and pestle, so I can make hummus on the boat. :) It would come in handy for other things as well.

EDIT: Just ordered mortar and pestle from Amazon. Will have it Monday.

Winter or not, I'm going to be spending a bunch more time down on the boat. I hate the City. :(
 
#79 ·
This thread is awesome! Keep the ideas and recipes coming. Anyone use handcrank blenders at all? I've always heard mixed reviews of them.

On a food note, while camping in the Keys or OBX we do ceviche a lot, I've made it with everything from striper to tuna. No cooking necessary as the citric acid (lime, lemon, tangerine and/or orange) "cooks" the fish. So for those hot days, when extra heat isn't wanted, ceviche tacos are pretty awesome (especially fresh caught fish)
 
#80 ·
Blender. I loved my 12 volt blender, it was my fav. electrical gizmo. I would make chocolate soy milk and banana smothies for dessert. Spirulina and boxed O.J. smothies for Breakfast. I have'nt replaced it yet but plan to. Never seen a hand crank blender, I'll keep an eye out for one. I'm also fix'n to try this boxed bacon I see unrefrigerated at the grocery store.
 
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