Long ago I was in the Falkland Islands and was amazed that, out on the farms, they had to buy all they needed for the next six months the twice a year that the supply ship came. I often went shopping twice a day because at lunchtime I wasn’t sure what I needed for dinner.
In Scotland Heidi patiently taught me that we could keep a few weeks supplies on board and thus increase our freedom to visit remote islands. In Kyle of Lochalsh the supermarket was next to the dock and for the first time we filled two shopping trolleys.
In Tenerife we discovered home delivery and filled lots of trolleys for the Atlantic crossing. Since Martinique we always stock up with enough for the next three months. With full food lockers and a water maker, we are free to stay where ever we wish.
We now have an extensive list of all that we need so the “basic” provisioning is done just by ensuring we have everything listed. This is easy and allows me to be useful and collect items just by consulting the spreadsheet. It leaves plenty of time to search for new interesting items to try and maybe add for next time.
For Heidi it has also been a learning process. As a farmers daughter, she was unaware that you could buy meat in tins nor cheese in bottles and she had never used powdered milk. But she has learned to cook without a cow in the barn or a butcher’s down the road.
When we find fresh food at a sensible price we buy some, but it is good to know that we can create a pizza or a lasagna even after a month without seeing a shop. Often village shops only have a very limited choice but you need to remain flexible. If they don’t have potato we buy yam and if they cut a bucket of lemons off a tree then you create a new lemon drink.
With good planning followed by a dose of flexibility we eat healthy, enjoyable meals and are getting closer to the six months of provisioning I remember from the Falklands.