Provisioning
10 April 2009
I mentioned in an earlier blog that I would start the bulk of my provisioning in May, but I actually have started buying already.
In May I'll take my lists and do some major shopping, but in the meantime I am watching adds for my local stores that often have some great deals -- like buy one get one free, or 10 for $10 -- that beat the price I'd pay at Costco. A couple weeks ago the Bartell's ad featured some canned goods so I stocked up on those. They also had a variety of different cup of soups, cups of noodles and mashed potatoes that you just add hot water to -- which are great foods to have handy on a long passage when it can be hard to fix a hot meat -- so I also loaded up on those.
People always ask us, "how do you know how much ___________ to take?" And that can be anything from toothpaste to chili. Well, here's what I try to do.
Make a master list of all the non perishable products you usually buy at the grocery store, drug store or a big box store. Then for a week or two or even a month make a note of about how much of it you use (how many times do you change a roll of toilet paper in a week?).
Next plan out how long you could have to go without being able to purchase these items. With our current plans we will be leaving Gig Harbor May 31st and our first big stop will be when we spend the month of October in San Diego. So I would like to be provisioned up to last 4 months, since I will re provision in San Diego. I will, however, stock more than 4 months of something that I find a great deal on instead of waiting to buy more at a regular price.
Then I just multiply the months or weeks I'll be gone by the approximate amount I use in that time period and you have a good guess at how much you should buy.
The exception to this method of figuring out what to buy by what you typically use at home is when it comes to canned food. Most of us don't use a lot of canned food when we have such wonderful selections of fresh meats, fruits and produce at hand. But on long passages and even while traveling through many areas, fresh foods can be hard to come by. A good rule of thumb is to plan to have on hand enough canned goods to provide at least 1 full serving of protein per person per day. That can be canned tuna, chicken, roast beef, soups, stews, chili -- what ever you like. And be sure to augment that with canned fruits and vegetables to round out your meal. Hopefully, you'll find great markets and catch lots of fish to keep eating fresh, but you must have the canned goods to fill in the gaps. Plus, they are usually nice "quick to fix " meals when you're cooking in a rocking boat!
Buying all the goods is just the first step, however. Once you get it all down to the boat, where will you put it all? More on that later.........