STORAGE
Often “plastic milk crates” fit under salon seats and you can store your canned goods there. If you do, date and label the top of the can so when you open the area you can see what you have without removing the cans.

You can also go to RV/Trailer stores and find supplies that fit motor homes will often work nicely on a boat-i.e. small sink dish drainers!
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Keep a “Master List” of your food supplies and where you have them stored.
Sometimes small is better than large! Though it might cost more, small jars of mayo work easier in Mary’s refrigerator than the standard size.

Packets of tuna are a great storage saver!

Plan to put many of your foods into plastic containers. Remove all cardboard, cutting out cooking information and put in the container. This helps reduce garbage.
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Crackers keep better in plastic containers.

MENU PLANNING
Depending on the length of your cruise, plan at least a weeks worth of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Then you can mix and match as needed. Make allowances for mood and weather changes. Have ingredients for a quick hearty soup which you can make up on a moments notice if the weather changes. Plan to have the ingredients for spur of the moment dock potlucks!

While at home, repackage all your meats and chicken etc, into recipe size portions, place in freezer zip lock bags, label and freeze solid. One pound of hamburger can be flattened and placed in a sandwich size zip lock! This way your frozen meats etc, are nice and flat and will stack well in you freezer. When you are in a port re provisioning buy more fresh meat and chicken and use that immediately, leaving the frozen meat frozen, thus prolonging the time you have “fresh meat” as you head “further North” into the “wilds”! The availability and selection of fresh meat is often quite expensive in remote marinas/ports.

Bacon: The fully cooked linked sausages are better for boating. Not only will they survive longer in the cooler/ice chest but they’re easier to cook than bacon and you don’t have all that extra grease. Plus you don’t have to worry about pan flare ups or the spitting and spattering of hot grease associated with cooking bacon. Another option if you must have bacon is canned bacon. It is pretty good and its long shelf life makes it an ideal traveling companion for boaters!

Cabbage, onions, garlic, potatoes, limes, oranges, and melons keep well at room temperature if allowed to breathe.

When planning watch what you take into Canada. Often we will buy all the needed canned goods before leaving and then make a note in the margins of the menus/recipe lists which ingredients need to be purchased once in Canada.

Customs
While the restrictions often vary from season to season, citrus, stone/pit fruits, apples, potatoes and/or some sausages are frequently on the list. Check before you go! Also check on the alcohol and tobacco allowances.

Canadian Shopping Carts
Keep Canadian quarters handy as you will need them to unlock a grocery cart! In Nanaimo you can take the shopping cart to the dock with you as there is a place on the dock to return the shopping carts. Once you return it, you receive your quarter back!

In Nanaimo the local “Thrifty Foods” advertises that they will deliver to your boat—HOWEVER you must have your shopping completed before noon!

Favorite foods: Plan to take extras of your favorite foods, i.e. crackers, chips, and snack items. These items, though available, are usually terribly expensive in those little marina stores. We would rather stock up on those items in the States and try new local items, i.e. a new dip or spread, or a food item not readily available in the States.

If you like toast, but can’t justify a toaster on the boat, a little fold up camp toaster can make decent toast! They can be found in outdoor stores.

Boxed milk can be bought at the commissary; stores unrefrigerated, and tastes just as good as regular milk. Once opened, it must be refrigerated. This milk has helped us in a pinch several times.

Paper Products: Again, stock up and stow Paper towels, paper napkins, Kleenex, TP, zip lock bags of various sizes, aluminum foil etc. They are soo much cheaper in the states and usually we run out at an inopportune time! A fly swatter is a definite provisioning must!

GARBAGE/RECYCLING
From the Canadian Gulf Islands northward to Desolation Sound, garbage or the act of getting rid of your garbage is a challenge! There are some marinas that do not take garbage and at others, even if you are a paying guest there, they charge you. In the Desolation Sound area as of this writing there are three known Garbage Dump areas. There is a “garbage” barge in the Refuge Cove area. You come alongside of the barge, hand the young man your bag(s) of stuff, which he charges by the bag, and off you go. In Squirrel Cove you need to anchor off the dock (rarely is there dock space) launch the dinghy with you and your garbage, and pay the kids at the head of the dock to take it away! There is another garbage barge up in the Octopus Islands area of Quadra Island. All this to say: Get rid of all of your needless packaging materials while in a major port, transferring cereals, crackers, flour, sugars, etc to plastic containers when possible.

A Little Known Thought: In Canada, any store that sells sodas, beer, wine, alcohol, etc. is required to take back the empties and refund your money! However: DO NOT CRUSH YOUR ALUMINUM CANS!!!!! They need to be full size!