June 2021 Vacation - Day 1 - Provisioning for 9 Days

 

(Note that ongoing vacation photos will appear here as they get copied up to SmugMug.)

Today was about gathering all the provisions, packing the car and then moving in to the boat for the week.  How do you provision for a week?  I basically went back to my boy scout's cooking merit badge... prepared a brief menu plan and then made sure I had all the necessary items.  

My goal was to keep it simple... three breakfasts (eggs and spam, banana chip muffins & yogurt, and bagels with cream cheese).  Lunch would be sandwiches (a loaf of my oatmeal bread, peanut butter, nutella, ham and swiss cheese - not necessarily all at once).  For dinners, I have a variety of proteins (steaks, salmon, chicken), some rice as well as Bisquick and instant potatoes among my staples, and a variety of veggies.  I'll post the shopping list at the end for my future reference.  After unpacking, here's a quick gander at the loot.

Freezer

Fridge

Pantry

Snacks & breads tend to stay on the counter

My thinking on provisioning is "hey, this is vacation... you'll probably eat out a lot".  But I also wanted to have enough that if I decided to be a loner, food wouldn't limit my options.  So I have roughly a third fresh stuff (tomatoes & mozzarella, salad stuff, eggs, and homemade bread), a third frozen items that can be thawed and used this trip or just stored in the freezer for another weekend, and 3 days of freeze dried food for if I really need it.

I brought some thawed drumsticks from home that I wanted to use, once I unpacked.  To make this work, I prepared the marinade this morning for my "Mongolian Drumsticks" and transported it all as it was marinating.  I made some rice by cooking it briefly (3 to 5 minutes) and then putting it into a thermos to cook over the next 1.5 hours.  I took a nap and then put the drumsticks into the instant pot to cook, while I went outside and swabbed the deck.

The thermos was an easy way to cook rice and it always comes out perfect. 

The drumsticks were just depressurizing as I finished cleaning outside.  I confirmed that our stove does indeed have a broiler and broiled the drumsticks to crisp them while the marinade reduced to a hot & spicy Mongolian BBQ sauce.

We have a broiler on board (and it works)!

I even had some leftovers for later in the week!

The downside to making this dish is that clean up is a hassle.  After cleaning up, I had an evening snack at the sunset while I double-checked that all my maps and firmware were up to date.

Tomorrow we start the excursion.  I have reservations at St. Michael's Marina and plan to stay two nights exploring this quaint town on the Eastern Shore. 

I have heard that there are shoaling problems in Kent Narrows, so I plan to go the long way around.  It looks like it will take 6 hours.

Summary of Provisioning Costs 

Acme - $140

Costco - $110

Total - $250 (but I ate out a lot and brought about half back with me, so lets call it $125)

Provisioning List for 9 days:

Brought for this trip

Ground coffee

2 containers of half-and-half (plus backup creamer)

8 eggs

3 Spam Lite packages

3 bagels (frozen)

1 tub of Salmon cream cheese

4 home made banana chip muffins (frozen)

4 key lime yogurts

1 container of raspberries

1 container of blackberries

1 loaf of my homemade oatmeal bread

1 container of sliced black forrest ham

1 container of sliced thin swiss cheese

3 heads of romaine lettuce

1 container of cherry tomatoes

1 small bottle of Italian dressing

2 beefsteak tomatoes

1 pkg of sliced fresh mozzarella

1 Onion

1 bunch of scallions

3 packs of diced onions and peppers (frozen)

1 pkg of pulled pork (frozen)

1 pkg of bisquick 

1 pkg of instant mashed potatoes

lemon cake slices

4 pack of chocolate pudding

various snacks from the big Costco box (cookies and crackers)

1 small Lebanon bologna (to cut and snack on while sailing)

1 package of half sticks of butter

2 botttles of wine

2 small flasks of ....

Already on board

1 pkg of mac and cheese 

1 pkg Costco stir fry veggies (frozen)

1 pkg frozen sausage (4 links)

1 jar Peanut Butter

1 jar Nutella

Various condiments (ketchup, mustard, crushed garlic, minced ginger, jelly)

Various spices (salt, pepper, italian mix, cajun mix, etc.)

Various staples (flour, sugar, rice, etc.)

Various oils & vinegars

1 bottle each of wine and Prosecco (Thanks Craig!)

Water
2 full tanks of freshwater (technically drinkable, but I usually don't) - 110 gal.
3 - 2.5 gal containers for cooking and drinking
12 pack of 1.5 L bottles for use while sailing

Holding capacity
2 tanks totaling 54 gal. (will be pumped out in the AM)

Fuel
57 gal tank - almost full