and pasta, and rice, and sugar. Yes that would be me and my galley (aka kitchen). I spent yesterday vacuum-sealing all the dry goods that I purchased into smaller containers. As most boaters know bugs can become a big issue on boats so I make sure to reseal everything with bay leaves in it and I put bay leaves in all my cabinets and on all my shelves. So far Mark and I have been pretty lucky on the bug front (knock-on-wood) so I'll continue to do this. I was pretty happy to find a 500g bag of leaves at Gilmour's for about $4.

During the sealing process I had some problems getting by bags to go into the sealer and realized that they slide in easier with the textured side up. I also took the front cover off and put the sealer at the edge of the counter so that I did have to lay the bag flat and have stuff spill out. I probably should have cut the bags a little bigger but was worried about running out and well I kinda did. I actually went through 2+ rolls and was really hating the fact that the stores were closed and I couldn't go on a hunt for more and then I found some precut bags I forgot I bought and wanted to try. Then I was mad I hadn't been using those because they were the perfect size and I could have skipped the measuring step of cutting the bags.

I also worked more on perfecting my database which is coming along great. I made a few alterations yesterday after seeing how it is working but I think it is going to be invaluable the next time I have to do a big provisioning.

I haven't done a "tip" in awhile so here is one about repackaging.... Designate containers for your staples (flour, sugar, rice, pasta...) things you will always have some of out. Then repackage to fit those containers - not by weight or size of package. I have really nice OXO Containers (which fit perfectly in the galley above the sink for all you other Amel owners). I know that my flour and sugar containers hold 11 cups, my pasta and rice containers hold 6 cups, and my brown sugar container hold 4 cups so that's how I repackage my goods. When I need more I can refill a whole container and don't have to worry about resealing the bags or measuring anything out underway.