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| Scary, isn't it? |
You know that whole economy starting to rebound thing? Yeah, well, I think we might be causing it. We're in the process of purchasing a ton of stuff to get the boat and ourselves ready to sail away. We need a new anchor chain (shockingly expensive), a smorgasbord of safety equipment (PFDs, tethers, epirb, foul weather gear), a new handheld VHF and marine GPS, a new dinghy, new line, new clothes (shorts, swimsuits, sunglasses), and now ... our trip to Costco.
I've been wondering how we would handle provisioning for this trip. Do you take a ton of food? Or just buy food along the way? As you can see, we've gone with the former. When we finally got to the checkout line, it looked like we were getting prepared for a beach apocalypse, complete with swim fins. Seriously, I could barely push the cart.
We purchased 15 pounds of basmati rice; 20 pounds of flour; 10 pounds of sugar; 10 pounds of oatmeal; innumerable cans of soup, tuna, tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce; chicken stock; 1 package of canned chicken (still dubious about this one); pasta; batteries; paper towels; Ziplocks; peanut butter; olive oil; white vinegar; toothpaste; grill lighters; coffee; and an impulse buy of prepackaged lentils (why not just buy regular lentils? I don't know! I kind of lost it toward the end).
We also got a great deal on snorkel gear, a 1.5 terabyte hard drive, new contacts for yours truly, and some really handy reading lights. Perhaps we've overdone it. It's certainly more money than I've ever spent on groceries in my life, but how do you say no to 20 pounds of organic flour for $10? I've read that you shouldn't bring the entire grocery store with you when you go, but, honestly, except for the canned chicken we will use all of the stuff we bought, just as long as we store it correctly to protect it from moisture and bugs. And to repeat my new mantra, now we just have to figure out where to put all this stuff.
Basmati rice is the best! I ate it a lot when deployed to Afghanistan. A friend sent a 50lbs bag from over there and now down to 28lbs (I gave a lot away too). Your provisioning of food and supplies sounds more like a headache but at least you're rewarded with some fun during the travels.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Thanks, Dan! It's been both fun and exhausting getting ready for our trip. Lots of loose ends to wrap up, but I'm pretty sure we'll get everything done that we need to before we cast off.
ReplyDeleteHa! I just bought Costco chicken and roast beef because everyone says it is edible. I wanted to see if this was the case while still in close proximity to Mission Burrito if this turns out to be a big fat lie. :) So excited for you and Vlad- sad and frustrated to still be tied to the dock but glad to see you getting ready to cast off!
ReplyDeleteLet me know what you think of the chicken. I'm not that brave yet! Don't get too frustrated about those dock lines. You guys are going to be so prepared and so ready and will have an amazing time. And what a gift to your kiddos! It's wonderful that they get this experience.
ReplyDeleteOk, chicken update. Very much like canned tuna. If you have visions of grilled chicken breasts you will be sorely disappointed. I made pasta with the chicken, sun dried tomatos, well drained canned spinach and mushrooms in a dry packet alfredo sauce. The challenge was to use canned items to see if it was edible. Not bad actually...the kids ate it without complaint which is a win in my book. :)
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