Our meals were becoming highly creative. Would you like canned corn with those rice noodles? Or Chili with canned asparagas? Pineapple with black olives? We definitely needed to get the expired food out from the bottom of the bilge. And the staples replenished. It was January of 2023 when last cleaned out all the lockers on the boat in preparation for our trip to Alaska. At that time, I had purchased a lot of soups and warm comfort food -- none of which sound great now when it is 70 degrees.
So, much to Dan's dismay....I pulled everything out of the cupboards (while watching an entire season of 'The Home Edit' on Netflix). I was now thoroughly inspired to get rid of things, categorize and label everything. In the hopes that going forward we could find what we were looking for.
After taking everything out where I could see it. I inventoried everything that was going back into the cupboards -- and created my starting list for what we'd be needing for the next 6 months in the northern part of the Sea of Cortez. We understand there are some provisioning stops along the way but that we should only count on the basics (rice, beans, tortillas and the makings for salsa). Next step shopping!
Provisioning in another country is always a bit of a process. Its 10x harder when you don't speak the language and you have to read every label. My ability to speak spanish is improving. But I was starting at zero. One time we bought hamburger patties only to find out that the ingredients were actually "poultry products, soy products and beef products". We bought what we thought was a marinated steak -- that was pork (It was good but not what we expected!) It is also very expensive and difficult to find specialty foods. We saw hummus one time, and haven't seen it again (nor can remember where we saw it!) We have learned that even if a grocery store had something one day -- if you go back in a week -- they may not have it again. Unfortunately, this has created a bit of a food hoarding habit. If I see that pasta sauce that I liked -- I better buy 6!
In Loreto, there are 3 major grocery stories and several smaller speciality stores. None of them seem to have all the things on the list. Yesterday, we visited 5 stores. The Bodega store (Mexico version of Walmart) has lots of good drinks, yogurt and some good fresh produce. Super Ley has a broad selection of cheese and is probably the closest thing to a Safeway -- but has narrow aisles, many people and if you go after 11 am you might wait 40 minutes to check out--good luck finding things. El Pescador has a wide variety of US type foods, occasionally Kirkland brand, a good deli and specialty items like Tofu. To close out our shopping day we head to the meat market and the local delicatessen (which has some gluten free foods and all the favorites from costco like almond butter!) The day before we'd gotten produce at the market. It makes for a full day and likely several days.
After every trip to town, then you have to unload everything out of the car, into the cart, down the dock, into the boat, and then into the correct (and now labeled) storage locker. If the product isn't wrapped well enough then you have to seal it up in ziplock or vacuum pack. You'd think we'd lose weight in the process -- but no such luck.
Next project... the aft cabin....
I managed to clear out one entire hanging locker for our guests, re-organize all of our clothes, camera gear, office supplies and other miscellany. My closet is now organized as well as it can be for a boat. Its not quite as 'pretty' as The Home Edit closets might be -- but it will have to do. The real question now is 1.) can Dan find anything? 2.) will it look like this in six months. Only time will tell.
My inspiration: https://thehomeedit.com/ and https://konmari.com/
Hi guys: We will be in Cabo at the Somar time share? See you there!