Auntie's Junk Drawer

Make a single-pot meal before you head offshore. This should be something non-sloppy that can be served hot or cold if reheating becomes prohibitive due to rough seas.  Serve in bowls, and you'll only need a fork or a spoon.  Pasta Nova Scotia is a good example.

Of course you can always make up sandwiches in advance.

Baking mixes have a small amount of oil in them that will get rancid.  So pay attention to expiration dates and keep your stock rotated.

Canned New Zealand butter, commonly found in the Bahamas, is equivalent to 1/2 pound. (Scaramouche)

Lock N Lock storage containers have gaskets and seal well. (Salty Paws)

Olive oil. Store bulk oil in the fridge and decant into a smaller bottle for daily use, which is always fresh.

Prevent mugs from sliding around with silicone (Le Bella) or hot glue (Salty Paws) placed on the bottom of them as a non-skid.

A rice cooker is a multipurpose appliance which uses only 200 watts.. \ Good for non-slop cooking underway. Success with rice and tapioca. (C_Language)
Also good for: steel-cut oats, heating leftovers without drying out, steaming lobster.

Make your own carbonated beverages with Sodastream. Use a CO2 canister, tap water, and add flavor.  Canisters come in two sizes to make either 60 or 100 liters.  Cheaper and easier to store than cases of soda. (Cabria)

Bread Mix. Fleischman's "Homemade" no-knead bread mix comes in various styles.  Easy to store. (Barefootin, Second Sally)

Butter flavor Crisco will give food a buttery taste. Easy to store. (Salty Paws)

Hungry Jack Hash browns. Four ounces in a dry storage container will yield 1 lb. of hash browns.  Tasty good too. (Blue Jacket, Salty Paws)

Pizza dough dry mix (any brand) comes in easy to store packets.  Very convenient and inexpensive. (Valkyrie)

Zatarain's Fish Fry. Seasoned Southern Style is choice. Coat fish.
Fry or bake.

Carrots. Blanch, cube, and freeze.
(Scaramouche)

Cheese.  It's not perfect, as some thawed cheese has a crumbling tendency. Best bet against the crumbles is to thaw thoroughly to room temp before opening the package.

Cookie Dough. Make your favorite recipes at provisioning time when all ingredients are likely to be onboard. Freeze the dough in zip-bags.

Cream Cheese.

Green, Red, or Yellow Peppers, chopped.

Ground Beef.  Brown and drain it in bulk quantities, then pack and freeze it in meal sized portions. (C_Language)

Marinated Meat.  When freezing meat, add some marinade to the zip-bag before tossing it in the freezer. The meat will self-marinate when thawing.

Meatloaf.  Make enough for one or more meals. Place each raw portion into a sealed zip-bag.  Later: Thaw and bake.

Milk.  Afterwards, shake thawed milk vigorously before opening, to blend the solids back into the liquid.

Onion, chopped.

Tea Cubes prevent dilution of iced tea and keeps it cold. (Salty Paws)

Whole Roasted Chicken. (Bought hot at supermarket delis.) Allow it to cool to room temp. Transfer chicken and it's juice into a zip bag and freeze. Later, thaw and heat for 20-30 mins.  Save the wishbone!

Make whole milk by mixing evaporated milk with water. Ratio is one to one. (Tilt)

Nestles Media Crema (a canned cream product) can be poured over fruit, etc for desserts.  Shake well, then pour.  (Bonnie Lass)
Find Media Crema in the Latin foods aisle. (Scaramouche)
If you like it chilled, store cans in the fridge. (Dyad)
It's easy to make sour cream with Media Crema.  Recipe. (Early Out)

Nestles Nido can be used as a coffee creamer. (Cat Tales)

Klim products taste good. (Time Enough Too)

Large containers of oats from the store have lids that aren't too boat friendly. Rough seas or big wakes can knock that wimpy lid off, and you'll find stray oats in strange places for weeks.

A one-gallon plastic jar, with a screw-on lid will house them securely and keep them fresh.  The square shape is easy to store upright or on it's side. Never lose your breakfast again!

Pretzels and other snacks sometimes have a lot of loose salt or seasoning laying on the bottom of the bag. With scissors, snip close to a corner of the bag.  Shake and release the salt through that hole. Then open the bag and fill your serving bowl.

Test for freshness before you crack the shell. Believe it, this is easy on the nose if you find a spoiled one.  Fill a cup or bowl with plain water. Place the egg in it.  If it floats, it's a bad one... think "belly up."  If it sits on the bottom, it's a good one and deserves your love.

Why does that happen? A spoiled egg emits gas within it's shell.

Things that work
Coating unrefrigerated eggs with Crisco really does work for long term storage. (Cat Tales)

Eggies are devices that boil eggs and supposedly eliminate the need to peel them.  They're not easy to use, the end result is poor. They do not work for ice-making either, as you have to chip it out. (C_Language)

More Feedback

Easy to solve. The smelly culprits are usually food packages. They're non-organic, so they can't go directly back to nature with the fish bones. What to do?  Stuff the stinkin' offenders into an empty jar and cap it or into a zip bag.  Store it outside on the deck until your next trash run.

No bugs, no odor.

True: The food editor of a well known cruising magazine wrote an article about warm drinks for cold weather. While prefacing the article with responsible advice about drinking and boating.

The featured recipe (to serve onboard, of course) was a coffee drink. The final ingredient is ONE CUP of Brandy to serve four.

"Heat all ingredients except coffee in a saucepan. When steaming, ignite with a long match and allow to burn for 30 seconds. (The flame will start out large and get smaller.) Pour the flaming liquid into four cups that are 3/4 full of hot strong coffee."

Yowza! Does Boat US cover this?

Well-crafted printable cards are available online
and they're free to grab. Google on 'recipe card printable'.
Organizing recipes isn't what most of us would choose to do with our time, but it might make a good boat bound day project.

Can Openers,  Coffee,  Conch,  Green Produce Bags,  Ice Cream,  Ice Making,  Key Lime Juicer,  Lobsters,  Pasta,  Scones, Sea Salt,  Silicone Galleyware,  Tortillas,  Vacuum Sealers (food),  Vegetables.

Related:  Oven/Stove,  Refrigeration,  Propane.