A quiet day of re-provisioning in Petersburg

Wednesday June 26th, 2024

This was a quiet day. We had breakfast on the boat and then headed out for a long walk. Eagles were on the route.

Tomorrow will be an electronic mechanic day helping us out (hopefully) resolving our VHF radio and display issue. In the meantime I’m going to turn it over to Marlene to respond to several posts about how one goes about provisioning for a two month journey on a boat. Take it away Marlene.

I have to admit, although my parents were boaters I did NOT learn anything about provisioning from my mother. Mom and Dad primarily kept pretty close to the San Juan Islands where restaurants and grocery stores were plentiful. Bottom line, my mother did NOT camp, in any way shape or form!! I DID learn a great deal from Lynette Beamer, the wife of Mike Beamer, who teaches in the Waggoner classes which we have attended. She spends about an hour during the teaching day focusing on how to provision a boat for longer cruising travel and she absolutely taught me the basics. So, the first thing you have to do is assess your refrigerator, freezer and dry storage capacity. On Tradition I have two under counter refrigerators with 10×10 in freezers, and we have a 20×20 freezer in the back lazarte . I also have a second State Room, that I use as a pantry. Before we leave I purchase as much protein (which is our family means MEAT products) that I can stuff into the freezers. I remove ALL packaging on EVERYTHING I put on board( thank you Lynette, because trust me garbage is an issue) and I put the meat items into suctioned freezer storage bags in two person servings. Example: two hamburger patties, two sausages, 4 chicken thighs….you get the idea. I then stock the back freezer with other meat items, also in 2 person portions, that we can delve into, like Costco Rib Eye steaks, halibut steaks, shrimp and usually more ground beef and chicken parts. I then turn to the other non-freezer items: rice, instant potatoes, pasta, as well as things we use frequently used items like mayonnaise , ketchup, tarter sauce, barbeque sauce, pasta sauce, breakfast cereals, bread, long shelf milk and almond milk, and soups, as well as popcorn, chips and crackers, and canned items such as corn, and baked beans and I organize them in bins in the second state room. These items are not hard to find when you get to a port that has a grocery store, but you usually have to haul them back to the boat on foot, so I keep extras on board. Once this is done I stock the refrigerators with things we eat on a regular basis, like yogurt, cheese of all sorts to share at “Happy Hour” and more cheese for salads and sandwiches, as well as sandwich meats such as Costco tuna and chicken. I Ithen turn to the perishable items for the second refrigerator. I try to keep it to vegetables that I know we will eat or use for cooking (onions,peppers) and fruit that does not spoil easily such as apples. Also, thank you Lynette, I stock up on lettuce for salads. Lynette taught me if your purchase romaine lettuce and wash it, dry it and then wrap it in foil it will keep for weeks!! This is TRUE. I do this on Guemes Island as well as the boat. Other “green” items such as Arugula I put into “green bags” that I purchase online and it will also keep for weeks if properly stored. We then have a bin for baking items (flour, sugar, baking soda etc.) and if we purchase boxed items for baking such as brownies or scones, I remove the packaging and place them in bags with the instructions on them, so we have them to cook up as we move along the inside passage. Once we reach Alaska, we keep our eyes open for fresh seafood, which is not as available as you think it would be. Most of the commercial fisherman can not sell their fish to folks on the dock. When we can stock up, like here in Petersburg, we try to have our freezers empty enough so we can enjoy the local fish! So, bottom line: think ahead, purchase what you can when you can, and be flexiable . Dinner may not be great, but hey, your ARE in Alaska on your boat!!!