Provisioning

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4 Comments

Comment by Jay Pasco-Anderson on November 28, 2008 at 5:09pm

For three or four races we used to pre-cook full meals and thawed one per selection each day depending on conditions and what the crew felt like. It was delicious, but we found that we threw out half-eaten casseroles since often times some of the crew wasn't very hungry.

For the past four or five races we have used another approach that we really like: Six or seven menu items are pre-cooked then frozen in individual portion vacuum bags. At dinnertime, each person picks whatever they want from the menu. We thaw the selected servings in the microwave then drop them into boiling water inside of a big pressure cooker pot (with a safe locking lid). We add some bread and a salad. If someone is off-watch and is sleeping, they can easily heat their meal later. We find that we no longer throw out half-eaten casseroles, each person gets to pick what and how much they want to eat. The quality of the food is amazing (thanks to Pat Cody, our shoreside chef). It is far from tatestless mush that you might imagine would come from a packet. This approach also works great for frozen fruit and bread items. They pack really well in the freezer. There is almost nothing to clean up. The pot of hot water can stay on the stove. It really makes things easy for us and allows us to focus on racing and resting.

PS Some of us use the vacuum bagger to seal our clothes and other personal items. It keeps them dry and easy to store.

Comment by Roy Greenwald on November 26, 2008 at 6:11pm

We have done several MtB races and take a similar approach to Gian. One of our favorites is to actually pre-cook a turkey breast. We serve it with stove-top stuffing and green beans about half-way through the race in decent conditions. It's always an event when we have the turkey dinner in the cockpit on the way to Bermuda.

Comment by Gian Luca Fiori on November 11, 2008 at 10:06pm

Part of the beauty of the Marion-Bermuda race are our meals on Vivaldi. I prepare five to six good meals the week before the start and freeze them. Then, I complement with rice, spaghetti, a good use of leftovers. I have found out that the crew is happy when their belly's are full. We make a point of having a social time from 5-7pm when dinner is served.

Comment by Gian Luca Fiori on April 7, 2008 at 4:01pm

You don't want to sail to Bermuda on a PBJ sandwiches diet!
There are better diets that require a little of preparation before start and creativity on the way.