Can Night - Preparing for live aboard cruising !

[Suky]

Calling all live aboards and cruisers of long distance and even short distances -
What canned foods do you like ?
Starting Monday, I'm beginning my can night.
What are your favorite canned foods and brands ?
What would 4 essential items be ?
What about dry goods and how do you keep them dry on a boat ?

When I'm not looking at boats for sale, or reading about boat design, I'm planning for a month or more of food stores aboard. I've been spoiled on land with easy access to healthy fresh & seasonal foods, and really don't eat canned foods. But I know I will need to have a large store of canned goods. After reading an online article from a famous cruising couple (forgive me, I can't remember their names right now - from Cruising World I think), who started can night at their land home before leaving, it seems a wise and prudent idea.
Now, I know some cruisers, who will remain unnamed, could care less about variety. That's ok. I'm easy going, I can go eating the same d*** thing day after day but I know I'll be happier with variety.

So, starting Monday, I'm beginning my can night.
How about you ? Please share

[Peter Kafer]

Life is not worth living without canned tomatoes. Useful for all kinds of sauces, salsas and just plain stewed tomatoes. You can make anything if you've got canned tomatoes! Canned corn is good and canned green beans. We like beets, so canned beets are goo. Small tins of canned fruit, mushrooms, artichoke hearts. Smoked oysters, sardines, tuna fish. Canned chicken, beef stew. Lots of canned soups. We keep dry goods, rice, flour, sugar, grits, etc in lock 'n' lock boxes. I read somewhere that if you don;t eat it at home, you won't eat it on the boat. Nonsense! We never use canned goods (except for tomatoes) at home, we never eat canned soup at home and rarely even eat soup. We try to eat fresh whenever possible, but canned foods are good for rounding out a meal or providing a bit of variety or sometimes just plain ole easy.

Use a permanent marker to note the contents and the date of the can on top. Paper labels have a way of peeling off! Also might harbor roach eggs. Marking the top of the can makes it easy to identify without picking it up.

Peter
s/v Now or Never!
P323

[zeehag]

have you considered cannuing your own veggies and fruits?? is always a possibility...and sauces, pastas, beans in a can are much easier to use than the having to soak and make dry ones in a seaway...i use pintos and black beans as staples ---i buy in mexican markets---cubes of cilantro by knorr and caldo de pollo and caldo de tomate and caldo de res are goood to use--by knorr.....excelllent stock and soup base makers as \well as basis for camarones al mojo de ajo---yummmy......tomatoes in a can---making boy food--mashed taters and canned veggies--is easy with nido milk or fresh and canned what ya wanna put in---i go to certain markets here in san diego which specialize in good canned goods for 99cents per regular sized 2-4 serving cans and taters in pouches and ..tuna and other fishies in pouches take up so little space.....tang is gooood to stock--comes in all kinds of flavors in the barrio---have seen orange in the white folks's markets..lol......uvas and melon and many interesting flavors in the barrio....soups.....stews.....chilis....whatever ya likes.......store easy and use with simplicity.....simple is best underway......tuna and make yer bread--keep yeast and bread makings in special air tight containers ....label yer containers and cans--is hard to figger out what stuff is when the label has removed itself in the moist atmosphere of the bilges...lol......surprise wtf doesnt always cut it!!!!could be kat or doggie fooodz...lol.......salsas for flavor.....and zest--add vitaminC to your diet in a nicely spiced way.....go well with seafoods also.....pouches as i sed already store easily and smoked clams, mussels, oysters, scallops and unsmoked salmon, tuna and flavored tunas all come in these and store well in a gear net or in a cabinet.....what did i miss......oh yes---coffee and chocolate syrup.......gotta have chocolate syrup for my coffee lol....then i donot use sugar which is hard to store.......sea salt......i use a grinder and a package--the grinder is easy to store and the salt doesnt clump.....coffee in bean form and a hand grinder......herbs and spices last about 6 mos and some are hard to find like nutmeg whenya want a painkiller lol.....coconut milk...canned foods are available in carib in stores for not much money also.....have fun!!!!!......

[Suky]

Clearly nutmeg and coconut milk have to be on essential list. I will now plan do some canning. Canned peaches, blueberries....so I've always used bell jars for 'canning'. But that seems to be heavier than tins.
Great provisioning Zee - perhaps I should just sign on as crew with yr vessel !~!~! btw the way congrats on making it to the home stretch.

[Suky]

Whole, stewed, salsa - Yum & I am going to try to can my own beets. They are a big fav.
Roach eggs....??? YUK ... a desperate source of protein.... all those paper labels are history.

[Suky]

http://www.lehmans.com/store/Kitchen___Canning_and_Preserving___Can...

I love this company just discovered after tracking down manual crank washer. This looks to be an interesting piece of kitchen equpment..

[Liv]

Suky,
you can use the pressure cooker for canning.
I used to can home made sausage in metal cans in a pressure cooker, but that was such a long time ago, I don't remember the details . All I remember is that for canning meats, a pressure cooker is recommended.

[Suky]

Alright Liv - Thanks, I'm off to look into that. Thank Goddess for google !

[Andrea]

Hi Suky!

Great Discussion. I only wish I had been more disciplined to start a weekly can night. I am struggling for the menu for our next leg of our trip that we need to stock food for at least a month. I will be reviewing all the comments here and in the group chefs at sea to get some more ideas...you can only eat pasta so many times! ;-)

Here is my can recipe:

Lentil Salad: Cut fresh tomatoes (large), baby tomatoes, canned tuna and lentils (strained from the can) with some olive oil, salt and fresh pepper. Sometimes I will also cut up olives and sprinkle them in.

I haven't tried this recipe with the canned tomatoes yet. If you do, let me know how it is!

- Andrea

[Suky]

Hi Andrea,
So good to hear from you. I didn't get any updates on your progress to Bermuda so I'm happy to hear from you !
Progresso seems to be a good brand. Look around and see if you can find tomato vinegar where you are. Italian most likely and amazing !
I'll try your recipe with canned tomatoes, maybe I'll try stewed tomatoes.

[Suky]

Canning book published in 1917 that is a hoot AND helpful. Some amazing illustrations and old photos.
I'd love to have some pics of the girls and women canning on aboard ! You can read it on Google books, no charge.
Successful Canning and Preserving by Ola Powell.

[Rebeccaburg]

good food on long travels away from shore has always been a challenge for me too, especially since I don't eat meat, eggs or dairy! (just a taste thing, not political) Those "tasty bite" brand ethnic food in non-refrigerated plastic packs are great, nicer than that awful can taste. Easier to store too. There's a number of different brands that package food in these plastic pouch things and they're not as bland as typical American food. MREs can also be ordered on the internet and make fast, hot meals on those long trips. Sealed tofu, quick rice and dried fruit/vegetables are great too, but it's tricky to keep the dried stuff away from the tropical moisture where I cruise. Buddy boat, Defiant, likes to sail with packs of those non-refrigerated mayonaise, ketchup, jelly, ect. that you see in eateries.
r

[Suky Cannon]

some great ideas Rebecca. Thanks. I agree about those refrigerated plastic packs and those little pacs of mayo etc. Tonight I tried a new brand of Indian food and it was great. Jyoti ~ natural, no wheat or gluten. Some of them are dairy free too. Thanks and safe travels.