Sailing across an ocean sounds romantic and adventurous but there is quite a bit of preparation that goes into making sure the journey goes smoothly. One of the key elements is ensuring there’s enough food to comfortably last the trip.
When the time came for us to sail across the Atlantic Ocean, from Gibraltar to Trinidad we’d already done a few extended passages in the Med. We took what we learned there and used it to successfully provision with enough food that we had a bit left over on arrival.
Every crew and boat is different but to help out with your next ocean crossing, here’s an overview of what we took to eat on our Atlantic Crossing. Our estimate was for 28 days, which was about right as we experienced low winds for the whole passage.
As you read it, just keep in mind that I’ve left out all of the random things we normally carry aboard, such as spices, sugars, flours, fried chicken powder, vinegar, mirin, miso paste, peanut butter and my Vegemite!
Precooked main meals
For our Atlantic crossing I pre-cooked and froze 24 meals which were largely stored in our Engel.
4x Bolognese sauce + 4x pack pasta
1x stroganoff sauce + 1x pack pasta
2x meatballs in tomato sauce + 2x pack pasta
2x beef korma curry sauce (with cream) + 6x cups of rice
2x beef korma curry sauce (with natural yoghurt) + 6x cups of rice
2x beef massaman curry sauce + 6x cups of rice
2x beef tikka masala curry sauce + 6x cups of rice
2x chicken Thai green curry + 6x cups of rice
1x chicken Thai red curry + 6x cups of rice
2x chicken South African curry + 6x cups of rice
2x pork carbonara + 2x pack pasta
1x Moroccan lamb + 1x serve of potato (mashed)
1x red wine lamb stew + 1x serve of potato (mashed)
Having the Engel aboard has been a game changer for us. It’s almost doubled our frozen food storage capacity while using less power than our other fridges and freezers. We chose to get an Engel over other brands because all three of us have grown up with them and have family members whose Engels are decades old, but run like clockwork.
Tip 1: For more info on this part check out ten meals we precook for passage or meal planning for ocean crossings.
Main meals to cook while sailing
We had another 4 meals that were intended to be made during the passage. The reason we precook so much food is I am susceptible to seasickness and I find it easier to batch cook meals at anchor or in the marina anyway, but it’s nice to occasionally have a freshly cooked piece of meat or something that’s not in a sauce.
For this crossing we went for steak, prawns and some ribs.
1x ribs (for Trent's birthday) + ½ bag of frozen chips
2x steak + 2x serve of potato (mashed/baked/boiled/fried)
1x prawns + ½ bag of frozen chips
I also planned for additional meals that could be made if we caught a fish or the crossing took longer than expected. When selecting the menu, I made sure that the ingredients could be stored at room temperature and the dish could be served vegetarian or with seafood we caught along the way.
fish batter – dark beer, flour, baking powder
tuna mornay – flour, milk, butter, chili, brined tuna, pasta
seafood curry – coconut milk, fresh garlic, fresh onion, curry paste, rice
fried squid or fish – panko crumbs, tempura flour
garlic sauce for seafood – fresh garlic, fresh shallots, long life cream, rice
seafood marinara or tomato pasta – fresh garlic, fresh onion, canned tomatoes, lemon juice, pasta
Daytime meals
During passages we tend to eat a main meal at night, a day meal if we feel like it, and lots of snacks. The day meals are usually left overs from the main meal as I purposely overcook, or something you’d normally eat for breakfast or lunch.
Here’s the menu I put together for day meals.
2x chicken burgers
2x chicken tenders and chips
2x sausage rolls
3x chicken wraps
2x beef wraps
3x bacon and egg wraps
This is roughly what the shopping list looked like:
6x chicken breasts + fried chicken coating
1x 8 pack of burger buns
2x packs of chicken tenders
1x pack of chips
2x packs of sausage rolls
8x 8 pack of wraps
3x 600g packs of chicken thigh
2x 500g packs of thinly sliced steak
3x 350g packs of bacon
2x 12pk of eggs
4x tins of baked beans
2x 1kg blocks of cheese
On some things, like wraps, eggs and cheese, I purposely overbuy in case someone gets hungry and wants to make a snack.
Our daytime meals are usually cooked inside the saloon on the gallery stove or using the air fryer when we have enough solar to use it .
Tip 2: During passage we store fresh vegetables outside in nets for longevity.
Drinks
We have a water maker aboard our Leopard 45 as well as a laundry list of spare parts so most of the drinks we’re buying are to make the passage more enjoyable. What drinks you buy really depends on what your crew prefers, but here’s what we took.
2x 24pk Coke
1x 24pk Sprite
20x 1L long life milk (+ the coffee beans!)
4x fresh orange juice
4x long life pineapple juice (used to make icy poles as well)
Trent: 6x ginger beer, 4x Monster Energy, 2x chocolate milk
Telicia: 8x Sicilian lemonade, 4x Red Bull (watermelon)
Tynan: 4x Red Bull
Tip 3: When changing countries or crossing an ocean, take a look at what’s available at the next country and stock up on anything that’s more expensive or not around. If I was crossing from Gibraltar to Trinidad again I’d take lots of coffee beans, wine, apple cider, Italian and Spanish cured meats, cheese, Thai curry paste, potato chips cooked in olive oil, Italian herbs and lamb.
Condiments and staples
As I mentioned at the start we took all of the staples and condiments we have aboard the yacht as part of our usual stores. These are some of the things that were more relevant to the passage.
10x tins of diced tomato
10x tins of coconut milk
6x jars of curry paste
castor sugar, brown sugar, flour, plain flour, corn flour, cacao powder, baking powder, rice, panko crumbs & yeast
tomato sauce (ketchup), Nando's sauce, soy sauce, BBQ sauce & Kewpie mayonnaise
olive oil & coconut oil
lemon juice & lime juice
Tip 4: If you have a microwave try experimenting with “cake in a cup” - the egg free recipes are often good for passage where fresh ingredients can be limited!
Fresh fruit and vegetables
Due to the amount of precooking I do we generally don’t need to take a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables with us on passage. For this journey, we took garlic, onion, potato, bananas, apples and carrots. I don’t bother taking frozen vegetables anymore as they just don’t get eaten.
Snacks
Like drinks, snacks are something that is very much crew dependent. On our boat we have a list of snacks that are considered communal, as well as individual snack stashes that belong to each person.
Communal: pancakes with syrup, popcorn, chicken/ramen noodles, chorizo, prosciutto, cheeses
Telicia: Sea salt potato chips, gyoza, crackers, honey and ginger lollies
Trent: Olive oil potato chips, ice cream, Bounty chocolate, Mentos, shortbread cookies
Tynan: Oats, cheap potato chips, Doritos, chocolate cookies, sour candy
Other supplies
Aside from what I’ve mentioned above, here’s some of the other things to consider when provisioning.
Toiletries: soap, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, hair lackeys, deodorant, floss
Cleaning: trash bags, multipurpose spray, disinfectant, vinegar, sponges, dish washing liquid
Cooking: paper towel, aluminum foil, baking paper, plastic wrap, zip lock bags, trash bags
All in all, provisioning for a long passage takes time and careful planning, but you’ll be glad you did it once you’re out on the ocean sailing away.
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