Living on a Boat for 9 Days: This is What We Ate.

Breakfast: We departed early in the morning, so an easy pre-packed breakfast was needed. We had some hard-boil eggs made the night before and bagels and fruit that I kept separated from our packed food for easy access.

Lunch: As soon as we arrived to our first destination we settled in and I made these Tomato, Ham & Cheese Croissant Sandwiches and packed them for the beach.

Dinner: We fired up our propane grill and grilled some shrimp for tacos. The Shrimp was frozen so even though it was in the refrigerator, it began thawing and I wanted to use it on the first night. https://concoctionswithoptions.com/grilled-shrimp-tacos-with-creamy-chipotle-sauce/

Prior to having a refrigerator on the boat, I’ve made this same recipe using frozen shrimp with the shrimp stored in a cooler which was great because it acted as an additional ice pack in the cooler.

https://concoctionswithoptions.com/grilled-shrimp-tacos-with-creamy-chipotle-sauce/

Dinner for the kids was a cheese quesadilla, shrimp, tomatoes and guacamole. Same idea, but a little easier for them to eat.

For Breakfast we had my take on Quiche Lorraine that I made before the trip. Quiche or an Egg bake is one of my favorite foods to make and pack for trips. This was a great option even before we had a fridge and couldn’t use our stove or microwave because it’s really easy to transport (no worries about broken eggs) and it can be eaten hot or at room temperature, so it’s perfect if you do not have a way of reheating food. It also can be eaten for Breakfast, Lunch or a Snack. Similar recipe here:

https://concoctionswithoptions.com/spinach-and-artichoke-egg-bake/

I did a bit of prepping before the trip whether it was cooking food, marinating, and removing any packaging to make it easier to stack and store. For lunch, we just had a snack and some fruit. This hammock was a DIY project I did over the winter and it’s worked out great for storing lots of fruit.

For dinner we treated ourselves to the Food Truck that was by the beach. They had amazing Lobster Rolls.

Breakfast: Pancakes and fruit. I mixed all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt) prior to the trip and then stored in a mason jar. Then I just needed to add milk, vinegar and an egg. The trickiest part was cooking them one at a time in a (very) small frying pan, but they were worth it.

Lunch for the kids was some quick PBJs and a pear and chocolate pretzels.

Dinner: Honey, Garlic & Lime BBQ Chicken and Grilled Asparagus. I marinated the chicken prior to the trip, so it was marinating for 3 days and you could really taste it. https://concoctionswithoptions.com/honey-garlic-lime-bbq-chicken/

I stored the marinating chicken in a zip lock bag which took up less space then if it was in it’s original packaging. https://concoctionswithoptions.com/honey-garlic-lime-bbq-chicken/

Our very packed Mini-Fridge. When packing the fridge, I tried as much as possible to store food we weren’t planning on eating till later in the trip in the very back, and food we were eating first in the front. This way I could limit how long I spent with the refrigerator open looking for food and having to reorganizing the fridge.

We had one of the longest legs of our trip and were cruising for about 4 and 1/2 hours. There were bridges, locks and ended with an amazing anchorage. Breakfast and Lunch were simple since we were either getting ready to leave or were in the middle of cruising.

I prepared lunch while we were going through some no-wake zones. Turkey Sandwiches, Sugar Snap Peas and some Trail-mix were easy to make and eat while moving.

A great anchorage and not a bad view while grilling dinner.

Dinner was (Fully-Cooked Chicken) Sausage, Peppers and Potatoes that were grilled in Foil Packs. Foil Packs might be one of my new favorite ways to grill. Once the packs are prepared, they are an individual meal-in-one and are so easy to serve and practically no clean-up afterwards. https://concoctionswithoptions.com/25-minute-sausage-peppers-potatoes/

The recipe for this is on my website if you follow the instructions for #7 in the “Options, Substitutions and Tips!” section. https://concoctionswithoptions.com/25-minute-sausage-peppers-potatoes/

Oatmeal and Berries for Breakfast

For Lunch, I used the Grilled Chicken from Dinner on Day 3 to make a salad. When planning for the trip I tried to have a few of the foods/meals do double duty and have leftovers serve as an additional meal.

Dinner was Cheese Tortellini’s with a Jarred Sauce. I needed to plan meals that did not require refrigerating since our mini-fridge is way too small to hold 9 days worth of food. The good news is there are so many Jarred and Can options that do not require refrigeration. When looking for which Jarred/Canned items to use, I try to pay attention to the Sodium, Sugar and the list of ingredients, and not just the Calories and Fat. This Vegetable Bolognese Sauce was delicious and also had a much lower sodium and not as many additive ingredients, compared to some of the other ones I looked at.

Breakfast was another example of food doing double duty with the Sausage, Peppers and Potatoes from Dinner on Day 4 added to some scrambled eggs.

Lunch was a picnic at the park overlooking the Marina

For Dinner we treated ourselves to some take out from a restaurant (Port) in Greenport. Ahi Tuna Salad and a Shrimp Po’ Boy.

An easy and quick Breakfast so we could walk around town before we needed to depart. Greenport.

Luckily we had enough time to pick up some pastries and coffee.

I made Tuna Salad and Tuna Sandwiches for Lunch with canned Tuna. Canned Tuna is another great option for food not requiring any refrigeration and it’s easy to store since it takes up so little space.

As we neared the end of our trip I had to be conscience of food that even with a refrigerator, would not last for 9 days. Case in point our Dinner, which was probably my favorite meal of the trip, Grilled Prosciutto Pizzas with Grilled Zucchini.

The Pizza base was Naan Bread (I think almost any flatbread would work), a Canned Tomato Sauce and then topped with Shredded Mozzarella and Prosciutto.

Breakfast was Apple Pancakes with the same pre-made dry-ingredient mix I used on Day 3. I had to make some modifications based on the ingredients I had left, and they still managed to come out pretty good. I even got a little better at flipping them in that tiny frying pan!

We had a long day of traveling all the way back home so Lunch was prepared and eaten while we were moving.

We were pretty tired by the time we reached our final anchorage, so dinner was easy boxed Mac & Cheese with some sautéed Broccoli added.

What I liked about using this boxed pasta, is that the pasta cooks much quicker so it doesn’t take up as much energy boiling the water for long.

We had these Smore’s-No Fire Needed a few times for a snack/dessert during the trip. They are so easy to make with Graham Crackers, Chocolate Hazelnut Spread and topped with Mini Marshmallows.

Breakfast was quick cheesy scrambled eggs, the last bit of berries and a Mango that was the perfect ripeness after 9 days of being on the boat!