What I do with my time...

...or lately, "Provisioning, provisioning & more provisioning".

I'm going to start this by saying that I am not complaining, just describing.

Since I am the cook on board, I am charged with provisioning the boat. This has been my responsibility since we moved on the boat, but never to this extreme. We are preparing for up to 16 weeks in the Bahamas. Yes, there are grocery stores there, but you're not going to find Jewel or Dominick's on the Exumas anywhere. According to cruising cookbooks, sailing magazine articles and word of mouth, you're more likely to find something more like a shop the size of a cubicle that might have condiments, frozen bread, Velveeta and one refrigerator containing very limited produce (if you're lucky).

Beer is available, but VERY expensive - to the tune of $60/case. Liquor, however, is available and cheap, so I don't have to worry about that. Paper products, when available, are also very expensive, as is just about everything else you might need. Needless to say, I've been loading up the boat as much as possible. Further complicate this with the fact that the fridge and freezer on the boat are each about the size of a med-large cooler. Most of the things I bring on board cannot require refridgeration. Like milk. There's a 3-year-old on board. We have to carry lots of milk. Fortunately, I've been able to find UHT milk. We are currently holding about 8 gallons worth. We probably have around 60 juice boxes, 20 or so boxes of mac & cheese, 60 individual cups of applesauce, and among other things, probably in the neighborhood of around 4 cases of canned vegetables.

Now, let's tack on that I no longer have a car. I did have the benefit of one major trip to the store with the use of Gregg's parents' jeep. The reciept from that trip was around 5 feet long. But now I am sans auto and walking to the store, which is about 6 blocks away, with a West Marine wheeled cart, which is slightly larger than a milk crate. Since I can only carry so much at a time, I have been to the grocery every day for the last two weeks. I'm still not finished. How much food, beer, milk, paper products, etc., would you go through in 4 months?

One more thing. Food in cardboard is bad. Bugs, moisture, etc. So, every food item that comes in a cardboard box must be repackaged in some type of plastic - be it just a ziploc, an airtight container, or actually vacuum sealed (items like coffee, flour, sugar, salt, rice, etc.). This and stowing adds about 1-4 hours to every trip to the grocery. All meats to be frozen have to be vacuum sealed as well. This eliminates the risk of freezer burn and reduces the amount of waste from packaging on board later (important also because some places charge per bag for garbage disposal).

On top of provisioning, I do the laundry (via the hauling the filled wagon to the laundromat), keep the inside of the boat pretty clean, teach school for Quinn, and do all the cooking.

There ya go. I've been a little busy. At least I'm not freezing my butt off in Chicago.

Gotta go. I'm off to the store again.