Meals on board

[Russ]

We've been doing sandwiches and BBQ for meals onboard but it's getting boring.

What kinds of meals do ya'll bring on your Mac that fit in a cooler?

[Don T]

Hello,
My wife Lynn loves to cook and I, of course, love to eat. We enjoy meals that people in those big yachts at Roche Harbor drool over. One said as he walked by, at the time we were in a 50' slip on the last dock overlooking the harbor at sunset surrounded by huge yachts,"enjoy you're living large with the best view in the harbor."

Fresh caught crab, garlic bread & caesar salad.
Grilled Steak & veggies (egg plant, bell peppers, cucumber, onions) & Salad
Tacos and fresh made salsa (leftover steak if there is any)
Spagetti & Salad w/ garlic bread (sauce made ashore and ziploc bagged for the trip)
Grilled salmon in a wine, lime, garlic butter sauce (tin foil on the BBQ or cedar plank) & caesar salad
Bouillabaisse (fresh caught crab & local seafood) & caesar salad w/garlic bread
Terriaki chicken (family recipe) w/rice & veggies
Texas style BBQ chicken (family recipe) w/rice & veggies
Sardines (cooked in soy sauce) & San Juan rice
All served with an appropriate beverage, current favorites are Margaret River Chardonnay 2006 & Maysara Pinot Noir 2006. We keep the bottles cool in the wine cellar (under the dinette floor), wrapped in towels (sounds better than in the bilges).
Meats are frozen ashore and cooked up when they thaw unless we buy them locally. They are part of the cold mass in the cooler. Sauces can be frozen too (spagetti and bouillabaisse). Just about everything in the cooler starts out frozen.

For us, food is part of the experience. Everything tastes better when we are out sailing. Using the local offerings makes each meal an integral part of the memories from a new place. This includes dinning out at local restaurants. This year we specifically went to Ganges in the Canadian Gulf Islands just to re-live a great pil-pil we had at the Artist's Bistro. It was on our anniversary but alas, they were no longer in business.

Anyone drooling yet? I am so lucky!!!!!

I'm sure if Lynn were typing this, it would sound even better!

[Love MACs]

Depending on how long we will be out here are some of our options after we have consumed the perishables (good stuff) . Also Gander Mountain or other "meals in a bag" or more than just edible. Some are actually good! We like fast easy meals so we can get on with the daily fun. Hope this helps.


Allan


BREAKFAST:

Instant Oatmeal, Cream of Wheat etc.
Pop-tarts
Bagels
Granola Bar
Dried fruit
Pancake Mix (1 cup) (water additive only)
Dry Cereal (2 cup),(1)tsp sugar,(6)tsp instant milk(mixed in sealed bag) We also have learned to use and like Soy/Rice milk that only needs to be refrigerated/cooled after opening.
Dehydrated eggs
Vaccum packed bacon/ham
Bacon log
Bisquick (1 cup) makes two biscuits (need aluminum foil-2')
Instant gravy mix
Freeze Dried meal

LUNCH : DRINKS:

Can/potted meat, fish (small) Kool-Aid (sugar Added)
Jerky Lemonade
Beef log Gatorade (best)
Peanut butter Instant Milk
Bagels Instant Milk/cocoa
Saltine Crackers Hot Chocolate (packets)
Cheese/Peanut butter crackers Instant/Bag Tea
Cookies Instant/Bag Decaf
Granola bar Coffee
Trail Mix (nuts/dried fruit)
Candy Bar-non chocolate

SUPPER: EXTRA'S

Freeze Dried Meal
Can/potted meat, fish (small) Salt/Pepper (packets)
Meat (vacuum packed-non refrigeratable) Sugar (packets)

[John McDonough]

Breakfast;
1 bananna
6oz dry quaker oats
6oz barley juice
12oz instant coffee

lunch;
natural peanutbutter & jelly sandwich on sprouted grain bread
canalope or mellon

dinner;
canned sardines herring or knicker snacks.

evening snack;
peanuts.

my wife, kids and friends do not approve of this diet and usually go to a restraunt or bar.. It is very easy, light and requires minimum ice.

[corkscrew]

I have a small Magma Kettle Grill ($99 @ Boaters World) -works great!

we do:

totinos mini pizzas ($.98 @ walmart) crust is great on the grill - cook at low with lid on move around a lot or crust will burn.

Kabobs: chicken/beef/peppers/onions - glazed with teriaki sauce - pre-make them, keep em in ziplocks

Grilled Panini - pepporoni, moz cheese, basil leaf, roasted red peppers, stone ground mustard. Pre-make store in bags. grill on low...couple minutes each side.

We like to take and eat great stuff where there is little or no pre or cleanup time.
We take coffee and tea as well....we do a version of the panini for breakfast....with english muffins, pre cooked ham or sausage, cheddar cheese, pre-cooked eggs....all stored in ziplocks.

Always a cooler of water, couple bottles of wine, some beers, gew sodas, mojitos (mized in a two liter soda bottle).

[LOUIS B HOLUB]

Our choices have been canned meals--select soups, tuna, sardines, etc. These are easy to warm up, serve, & clean up. But, making these tasty is the trick, and requires spices, onion, lite salt crackers, and select drinks which are usually Orange and Grape juices. Meals on board are a family treat. We just try to keep it as simple and nutritional as possible. Its amazing how enjoyable food tastes when "boat camping" accented with a fine Family DVD in the player, or sitting in the cockpit with conversation, or watching the baited lines hanging over the side, etc. It's all good.

[Russ]

Great suggestions.

One of our concerns is clean up. We still have Roger's dopey pump sink faucet and 5 gal bag of water. That's gonna have to change soon.



--Russ

[Don T]

Hello,
I'm with you on the clean up. There are times where simple is better. When I put in the water system I anticipated being able to stay out longer but all that happened was we use more water, especially during clean up. I find the amount of water use is inversely proportional to how much work it is to get.

[Rich Plumb]

I single hand, and don't like to cook. I have a 600 watt microwave oven on board (that actually draws 900 watts from the generator). I usually throw 4 or 5 TV dinners in the ice box along with some of those breakfast sandwichs from Costco. The last time I sailed North, beating in to the wind all the way, the order of the day was raised glazed donuts and beer, .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_/)~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rich Plumb, "Plumb Crazy"
26X, Covington WA

[nedmiller]

We have a Magma grill on the back and a two burner alcohol stove inside. We have the complete Magma nesting stainless pan set (which is packed low and doubles as ballast!) Grill is used for steak, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken and other meats which are usually packed frozen if we are cruising and taken out in time to thaw on the first day or so out. Inside we cook corn on the cob, regular corn, beans, even spagetti--just like you would at home. Sometimes we boil potatoes for 15 min on the stove and then while still firm, cut up and put on the grill as the meat is cooking. We usually have wine with dinner. The Magma pans are no stick so clean up is easy and plates and silver are washed with water from the "warm-water" pressurized system. Other than the sink being too small, clean up is not a big issue.

[daydreamerbob]

A few skewers and then any kind of meat (shrimp is great), veggie (tomato and squash are fabulous), and sauce (its an admiral thing) on the barbi...

[K9Kampers]

Hours before anchoring... fish or corn on cob or sliced squash into a zip-lock bag with olive oil & herbs...then throw on the Magma...mmm!

[John Christian]

We get the main course from the lake, so we carry all the necessary condiments,

Limes
Coronas
Grand Marnier
Don Julio



JC

[corkscrew]

We love to pre-prep as much as possible. Don't like cleaning up and messing crap up. Here's a great recipe:

(pre cook it and then just storage in the cooler. When prepping dinner, just toss a skillet on the grill)

Spanish Paella

In a large pot add a little olive oil.
Add cut up sausage slices (spicy) (maybe 2-3 links)
Add cut up chicken breast (2-3 breasts)
Cook both until done.

Dice up some onion and green peppers. (about a cup of each)
Toss them in and just sear them.
Add in a sprig of rosemary, pinch of papreka, and some saffron if you can get it.
Add 1 cup of rice and then two cups of chicken stock. cover and simmer.......stir it every few minutes to keep it from sticking.
As most of the water starts to disappear - Toss in a can of petite diced tomatoes. Stir.

You will soon see less and less fluids....thats because the rice is soaking all those great flavors up. Lower the heat as you see less fluid. When it's all gone check the rice, should not be hard. If it is, add an extra 1/4 of water and stir. Keep doing this until the rice is firm, but not hard. or crunchy....don't add too much. One reason to not over do it is when you reheat you should add a little chicken broth from a can or a little water to the pot on the boat....this will keep the paella moist when reheating.

Once it's all done you will find you have a pot of wonderful tasting spanish paella that is easy to reheat on the grill. keep it moist, heat it up, plate and add a sprig of rosemary for garnish. Serve with a red spanish rioja wine.....Crianza is a good choice. You could also make a nice cool sangria! WOnderful tasty and romatic dinner at sunset!

[Billy]

I've done a lot of the things mentioned-- stuff that doesn't need refrigeration, sandwich stuff and harvesting from the sea. But occasionally, I will turn the Engel to freezer and load it with frozen dinners. You wouldn't believe the varieties of Hot Pockets and they're really easy to fix while under sail. Actually between Stouffers and the others, there are a lot of great frozen "gourmet" meals out there. I know, it's never as good as freshed cooked, but a good quality microwave meal and the right wine is not bad---especially the clean up. Then we retire to the cockpit for dessert and watch the sun go down. Dessert? Why ice cream of course--remember, the Engel's a freezer. Just a reminder, you should bring enough to share with the boat you're rafted to.
(They won't make fun of your MacGregor anymore.)