Provisioning tips

ARC provisioning guru Clare Pengelly

Clare Pengelly, who has worked at every ARC since 2003 and completed several transatlantic crossings herself, continuously gathers tips from participants to add to her provisioning advice.

• Buy fruit and vegetables with different ripening times.
• Meat: Chicken lasts the shortest time, then lamb, pork and beef.
  Choose a solid cut of steak without any veins, add red wine, vacuum pack and freeze. That will be good for the duration.
• Wrap tomatoes and lettuce in kitchen roll and keep in the fridge. Change the paper frequently.
• Wrap root vegetables like carrots in tin foil. Juicy root vegetables should be allowed to dry out slightly before being wrapped.
• Salt water and cans don’t mix, so beware bilges: use watertight lockers.
• Double-wrap pasta, bread and flour in plastic bags or watertight boxes to avoid infestation. Don’t buy all your pasta from the same place or store it altogether.
• Have snack boxes for each week and ask each crew member what their favourite snacks are.
• If you’ve just got one fridge, think about eating the chicken and lamb very quickly, and store frozen things together.
• When you’ve cooked something like mince, cook it and keep the pan lid on, the next day
  stir it and cook it: eat it again and put the pan lid back on. Do the same the following day.
• Anything you cut with a knife won’t last as long as solid food as it will have air contamination.
• With legs of cured meat – pull back the fat, take meat slices and then lay the fat back on. Rub with salt if it starts to go off.
• Water is very important. Have a 2lt water bottle for each crew with their name on it, so all the crew can look after each other, and make sure they’ve drunk enough.
  Big bottles mean less plastic. If you have a really big bottle, get a plastic pump (2.5 euros) so you don’t have to move it on a rolling boat.
• Water budget: At a minimum you’re looking at 3.5lt per person per day – 0.5lt for brushing teeth, 2lt for drinking, teas, coffees etc, 0.5lt for cooking and washing-up, and 0.5lt for everything else.
• Liquid is liquid. If you’re a British boat, remember to take a lot of UHT or powdered milk for tea.

Nothing goes to waste

The Caribbean has taken a while to catch up with the European drive to recycle, but ARC sailors are now urged to separate their rubbish ready to recycle in St Lucia.

ARC participants can also pass surplus food on to the ARC office for distribution to a number of charities.