Provisioning: Can’t Just Run to the Store
When we left the boat in Anacortes, Washington in October of 2014, I left a few food items on board that could make the long trip (by truck) to Mobile in January, 2015—nothing that would interest a cockroach or an ant.
Checking those food items in March, I found instant coffee, tea bags, tight-lidded glass containers of flour and sugar, basic spices, and some odds and ends like cans of soup, corn, sun-dried tomatoes, tuna, and a jar of capers. I knew I had a bit of shopping to do.
When cruising, we carried ten gallons of bottled water for drinking and cooking. The 100 gallons of fresh water in the tank was for cleaning, bathing, and toilet flushing. Soft drinks and beer were kept in an outdoor ice chest. Wine (important to Sonoma residents which we were then) went wherever I could store it.
The rest of the food? Menus were done for a full ten days. Because I couldn’t “run to the store” I had to be very careful that I had all the ingredients I needed for each meal. Two tiny cupboards held coffee, tea, breakfast bars, and anything that came in a small box. One tall cupboard held oils, vinegar, syrup…things that came in a plastic bottle because that cupboard, we learned, would fly open in a heavy chop.
Cans, boxes, soy milk, and jars were stored under the L-shaped bench seat in the salon, which was reached by raising a long cushion, which I held in place with my head, while reaching down to lift the wooden lid over the storage area to pull out what I needed. It was like dumpster diving, only for good stuff.
And the fresh food? I had a small refrigerator under the galley counter and a small freezer next to it. The freezer generally had room only for ice and a few packaged meats. So the rest was crammed into the refrigerator—condiments, eggs, butter, veges, cheese, fruits—whatever I could get in there. Did I complain? Heck no. Our first boat had an ice box.
Oh, I forgot to tell you…I had a two-burner propane stove top, an oven-sized microwave underneath, and a barbecue outside. Beef Wellington? I don’t think so.
Next week: Moving in