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| Time to lower the waterline: Shopping... |
Isla Pedro Gonzalez, Panama
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| DOMINO at full load |
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| Wash and air-dry all veggies. I even wipe them off with paper towels |
Provision for the way you live. Our stores would probably not please a lot of people. JP and I both enjoy a gourmet meal once in a while, but most of the time we like simple and healthy foods. For example, these are the things you won’t find on board:
- Hamburger meat, most red meats, hot dogs, ham, sausage, cold cuts, cheese slices, or any other processed meat.
- Beer and soda. We found that aluminum cans don’t like to live a long time on the ocean and, tired of cleaning up the mess of exploded or leaky cans, we now reserve a “cold one” as a treat when ashore. Since I no longer drink alcohol (a treat to myself on my 60th birthday) I look forward to an occasional soda, sitting at a terrace café in Papeete.
- Cookies, jam, snacks, or any kind of sweets and processed junk food.
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| All packed and ready to go into the fridge. Tomatoes and zucchini go into their own crispers The slightly blemished veggies will go in a ratatouille today (I made 3 meals that way) |
In order to create our shopping list, I’ve used our provision spreadsheet. Over the years, I’ve kept track of our stores on a spreadsheet: “Where’s my stuff?” Every food item on board is repertoired with its location and quantity. I keep a copy in the galley. The galley stores are my “running cupboards.” Every time I replenish them, I update the “Where’s my Stuff” spreadsheet. Just an update in pen in the number column and I know what I’ve got left. When stores are low, the spreadsheet becomes my shopping list. From that spreadsheet, I can really see what flies out of the cupboards and what sits, ignored, and this helps hone-in the next provisioning.
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| Back from Price Smart. In addition to food, we replace rugs, pillows and chairs, add fuel tanks |
As for shopping in Panama, there are several good choices.
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| Breaking it down into smaller sizes. Helps with stores management AND diet... No more dipping handfuls into the giant can! |
- Price Smart is my store of choice for all household items, large sizes and bundles. Like Costco, it requires a membership card. Cruisers who don’t have a card use the services of Roger, a local taxi-van, who is more than happy to loan cruisers his card and help shuttle groceries. Great place for frozen meat, not that I bought any. I found great deals on almonds, peanuts, olive oil, canned tomato products.
- Mega Depot is the Cruisers’ choice for booze. Since French Polynesia only allows import of 2 liters of alcohol per person on board, we didn’t worry about booze too much. Mega Depot is a good place for all U.S. products, canned turkey and chicken, soy sauce, mayo and spices. We were disappointed with their UHF milk. The carton we bought was strange: some bricks were watery, some were thicker than cream, others were sour and only 2 were actually drinkable. Beware. This said, it’s a great place, conveniently located on the Via Transismica bus line.
- Riba Smith has been my favorite place to shop. There are several stores in town, one on Transismica and also one in Bella Vista. Riba Smith is one of the 2 stores I found to carry bread flour. I raided the store before leaving, loading 8 bags of bread flour (I use almost 2 bags/month). Great place also for specialty items (guacamole dip, couscous, olives) and for fresh produce. The meat is excellent and the variety of pre-packed meat and chicken is sure to please. I bought a whole fillet mignon and a few pork cuts and chicken in all security.
- 99 stores are located a bit everywhere in town, including at the Albrook mall (convenient) and Dorado mall. JP found his transmission oil there while I dug into their incredible varieties of olive… go figure! I like the 99 stores: no-nonsense and good prices.
- Kosher and Super Kosher in the Bella Vista area. If Mediterranean products are your thing and you follow a Kosher diet, this is the place. Grains galore (at least 5 varieties of couscous), olives, oils, and a vertiginous selection of expensive teas. This is definitely not a bargain store, but if you want to treat yourself to something special, it’s worth the trip. Couscous!
- The little Indian store next to Super Kosher (underground parking at the Multiplaza mall) has an impressive variety of spices and curry.
- REY supermarkets are all over town and reasonably stocked and priced. The only place where I found Betty Crocker pizza crust mix!
- REY supermarkets are all over town and reasonably stocked and priced. The only place where I found Betty Crocker pizza crust mix!
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| Love the Chinese store |
- Chinese? It’s all at the Dorado mall. The little Chinese supermarket carries jasmine rice, all sorts of dried mushrooms, Chinese noodles, sauces, spices, and teas. The fresh produce is stocked with Napa cabbage, Bok Choi, Chinese Garlic, spinach, beans, asparagus, and even mandarins. We even left the store with 2 Peking ducks, ate one that day and froze the other one (2 more dinners in the bag!)
- Novey and Do-it-Centers are the most common hardware stores and well stocked with common household items. Since I won’t have the opportunity to purchase equipment in 110v until New Zealand, I splurged a bit. Having solar panel makes me less guilty about using electricity. We decided to have electrical appliances as back-up to our propane (which we might have difficulties filling up in French Polynesia.) A new bread machine, toaster oven, hot plate, egg beater, and stand-up mixer (the bowl stores itself upside down on the base for compact storage) complete our galley.
- Discovery Center (on Tumba Muerto) is another hardware and household items store. JP found a lot of tools, a mosquito light, paint… a bit of a souk, but worth the investigation.
- Mercado Abasto, one bus stop away from Cinco de Mayo on the way to Albrook is an experience. Excellent fresh veggies at wholesale prices, 3 pineapples for 1$... don’t be afraid to walk in the mud or to receive a truckload of lettuce on your head, but shop there early, bring your produce home, wash and dry it, it’s the freshest. I’ve kept local spinach ONE MONTH in the fridge!
- The Duty Free shop at Marina Flamenco: the best place to buy booze if you have recently arrived into Panama. Within 3 months of your arrival, if you present your passport with your cruising visa (or ticket home) you can purchase unlimited quantities of alcohol, tax-free. Good deal!
Our strategy has been to take the bus to the various stores, load up our canvas bags, and return by taxi.
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| All liquids into the hulls |
What to do with the stuff once it’s on the boat?
1) Remove all cardboard, paper, plastic, wood, wrapping… whatever might harbor any kind of bug.
2) Large sizes: vacuum bag it all into smaller packs. Peanuts, mashed potatoes, couscous, beans, flour, sugar, rice.
3) Items susceptible to moisture: vaccum-bag or double-bag them. Nori sheet, Kosher salt (I use that to prepare smoked fish), dry yeast.
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| Double-packed peanuts |
4) Fresh produce: Wash most produce with bleached water (1 tsp/gal), drip dry, and wipe with paper towel. I pack most produce in Ziplocks, laying a sheet of paper towel in the bottom of the bag and leaving the ziplock open 1” for breathing. Celery gets wrapped in paper towel, then in foil. Ditto for cilantro. Since my fridge is usually full the first few days, I keep some items out in a water bath: cilantro, parsley, asparagus, bok choy do well for 2-3 days. Tomatoes go into a container at the bottom of the fridge: don’t want to crush them. Ditto for Zucchini.
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| Spice drawer |
5) Onions: I remove most of the brown skins, inspect them for rot/blemishes, and let them rock in a hammock in the crew’s quarter. Ditto for pineapple: I can keep a pineapple 3 days that way, then cut into pieces for 4 more days in the fridge. Garlic and potatoes go into a basket on the crew’s bunk. Ditto for apples that are wrapped individually. Eggs also go in a basket in the crew’s quarter and get turned over regularly.
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| The galley locker: daily stores |
As for the 4 storage bins, I try to organize the themes a bit.
- Bin 1: foil, napkins, peanuts and dried fruits, crackers, canned fruit.
- Bin 2: canned meats and fish, Italian food (pasta, sauce), beans.
- Bin 3: A bit of everything, condiments, tea, beans and grains, breakfast food.
- Bin 4: Flour, sugar, coffee… the big stores… Chinese and Japanese specialties.
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| Bin #1 - not-so-often used |
Finally, I take extra precautions against bugs and ants. However, since everything is either vacuum-packed or double-bagged, I’m not too worried about major infestations. I’ve learned the hard way, having to throw away huge quantities of flour, rice, cornmeal in the beginning. The boat was fumigated while on the hard last week (a requirement to enter the Galapagos) and I added an “ant motel” in each bin as well as dropped a few bay leaves in each of the bins. I feel pretty good about the stores.
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| ANT MAX... no ants on board |
Are we worried about spoilage and expiration? Not really. Once it's well packed and appropriately stored, foodstuff can last much longer than people think. See today's YAHOO news story about how Trader Joe's is proposing to open a store "The Daily Table" that sells expired foodstuff.
How long will it all last? I’ll let you know! We’ll be able to shop for some fresh produce in the Galapagos, Marquesas and Tuamotues, but we have our staples taken care of.
Meanwhile, I’m posting my “Where’s my Stuff” spreadsheet so that you may have an idea of how I actually find my stuff!
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| Domino loaded up - At full capacity with 2,800 gallons of diesel Prices in Panama? Today: Marina Flamenco $3.98/gal (no cash discount) Marina Playita $3.89 cash price - $4.07 credit card Six months ago, price was $4.08/gal cash One month ago, price was $3.77/gal cash |
Partial shopping list…. We carry extra stuff for trade with local fishermen.
60 lb flour
20 lb sugar (we carry extra for trade)
45 lb rice
10 lb mashed potatoes
8 lb couscous
40 cans tomato products
30 packs various pasta
35 packs various beans
1500 capsules of Nespresso + 4 lb ground coffee for trade
350 tea bags, 7 packs of loose tea
3 kg of yerba Mate
3 gal canola oil
20 liter olive oil
8 l vinegar
8kg Breakfast Muesli
30 canned tuna/turkey/chicken
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| She nose-dives a bit, but will rectify that after a week of running. |
Till next time.... dominomarie