Since we have been back in Anacortes it feels like I have made a hundred trips to the store. And there has been an Amazon delivery of the day. I have never provisioned the boat for a two month cruise and my motto is more is better!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Wally gave me strict orders not to put all the heavy stuff on the starboard side of the boat but I can only do so much with the space I have. It’s not my fault the best place to store 3 ½ cases of wine is in the starboard side lazerette. It’s also not my fault that the galley is on the starboard side and that’s where the huge under counter storage area is.

 

 

I did manage to store all our beer in the guest stateroom locker, which is on the port side along with 10 lbs of coffee beans so that made him happy! Yep, I aim to please!!!

 

 

 

RVing is so much easier as you are never that far from a grocery store or a restaurant. I typically, shop for about 5 days when we are on land but since we are going so far north on the boat this year I had to come up with a provisioning plan. Trust me, we will be taking advantage of every marina pub or restaurant we can find too!

Using an excel spreadsheet really helped me get my head around what I needed to purchase. I geeked out and create formulas to calculate how many meals to plan for, how much pet food to buy, how much cat litter and most importantly how much wine to load on board. Can’t you buy wine in Canada one might wonder and yes, that is true. North of Nanaimo the choices get quite limited and unfortunately I don’t like Yellow Tail or Black Box Wine. Call me a wine snob, but hey I like what I like, so what ever!

 

 

 

Buying all the stuff is one thing but remembering where the heck I put it all is not being left to my good memory! In addition to using my Paprika app which has a groovy pantry feature, I geeked out some more on the excel spread sheet and created columns for where the items were stored and coded it with the location. Now all I have to remember is what the code means!!! Was GF galley frig? What is FF?? Oh yeah, that’s the flybridge frig Leslie!

 

The biggest food challenge on the is cruise is going to be getting and keeping fresh produce. On our recent 10 day shakedown cruise, I cooked through all of our fresh veggies. There are a few small stores in the Broughton Islands but keep in mind everything is brought in via boat or float plane. Timing is everything…get there right after the boat shipment arrives and the choices can be pretty good. Get there the day before the boat shipment arrives and you might score a few bruised apples and an old head of cabbage.

We have a decent sized refrigerator in the galley, an ac/dc freezer-refrigerator on the flybridge and a huge cooler. All of which will be packed when we headed out. I have one final Costco run to do and that will conclude the provisioning.

I made some of our favorite condiments and froze them in flat bags so they stacked evenly in the freezer. Pesto, Cilanto Sauce, Chimmichuri, Smoked Red Peppers and even some fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. The key to getting the most mileage out of the freezers is to have things as flat and uniformly shaped as possible.

 

 

Not only do we have to have food but the list of non-perishables is huge too. Seriously, I can’t believe that I found room for the Costco size package of TP and paper towels in addition to extra dish soap, laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, toothpaste, shampoo….yikes, that’s why we are listing.

Oh, and don’t forget all the spare boat parts, belts, oil filters, fuel filters and tools. Plus the toys…2 kayaks, fishing gear, prawn traps, crab traps, the electric pot puller (which better not be on the starboard side or some guy is going to catch hell).