Provisioning

After crew and water, the next concern is food! Once we arrive in Barbados, we'll be able to provision again, but there are very few convenience stores mid-Atlantic. Another of James' wonderful mods has been to install a roomy fridge in the galley and, more recently, convert the quirky but impractical zinc-lined cool cabinet in the companionway to a chandlery store, chart table and chest freezer, enabling us to carry frozen provisions for our trip.

James thinks the crossing from Cascais should take four weeks, but with 4000 nautical miles to cover, it could take as long as 40. I sought advice from other boats and had some great ideas and stores lists from Andy and Fiona from "Atlantis". Some long-distance runs gave me plenty of thinking time and a provisions list was drawn up. All the dry stores and tins were bought back in July and stashed aboard before Croix des Gardes left the UK, but the fresh stores and meat to freeze will need to be bought in November in Cascais. We shall carry as much fresh bread as we can store/freeze but I have bought ample supplies of flour and yeast that we can make our own on passage. As a "virgin-baker", I had a practice at home and the results were surprisingly pleasing, with a couple of loaves, some pizza bases and a tray of chelsea buns all being pleasantly received by the guinea-pigs, sorry, family.

First attempt at chelsea buns

Meal plans:
I had to find foods which would keep, be easy to prepare on board in potentially heavy seas, and provide a variety of contingencies, ie do we have enough 'heavy' food if the water maker fails, can we still eat stuff if we lose all the cooking gas, etc.


Breakfast

• Breads and jams
• Porridge
• Cereal
• Fruit juice / tea / coffee

Lunch

• Sandwiches / roll (cheese, ham, salami, tuna)
• Soup (tinned and cupasoup)
• Fruit
• Cereal / chocolate bar 

Snacks

• Packet biscuits and cake each day
• "Creative baking" - scone mixes, cakes, buns, cookies, flappjack etc

Evening Meal - rotation of nine meals four/five times

• Beef curry and rice
• Pasta with pesto
• Thai green fish curry
• Sausages and mash with veg
• Beef chilli and rice
• Pasta bolognese
• Fray Bentos pie, potato and veg
• Cassoulet or moroccan chickpea tagine
• Cottage pie (made with fresh mince or corned beef when we get more desperate)

Puddings

• Selection of fruit crumbles, stewed fruit with custard, angel delight, jelly, more biscuits, home-made icecream (project for the kids as we empty the freezer)

Emergency supplies if we're stuck at sea forever.....

• Tinned hotdogs
• Tinned beans
• Pasta with instant cheese sauce
• Tinned meatballs

We'll also be at sea for James' birthday, and most likely for Christmas too so I've managed to squirrel away a few sneaky treats for a special meal on these days. We intend to cruise across in style!