Storing Food Without Refrigeration: Camping, Rving, Boating, and Living Off-The-Grid

With a little planning and foresight, refrigeration is absolutely not necessary. In this book, the author discusses how to store food and make delicious meals without the use of a refrigerator. From milk and cheese to eggs and meat, the book lays out ways any boater, hiker, or camper can have home-cooked meals without artificially freezing or cooling their food. Broken down into handy categories, this reference guide gives techniques on how to properly wash, store, treat, and cook your food for maximum flavor and usability. Written by a dedicated sailor whose own skills were honed on months-long journeys, the tips in this guide can be put to use by anyone trying to avoid heavy, power-sucking refrigerators. Sailors, campers, and hikers all could benefit, and the books serves equally well for those in RVs, those with limited space, and those trying to live off the grid.

Long ago, Carolyn realized that there were two essential ingredients for great trips: sleeping well and eating well. Food didn’t have to be fancy, but it shouldn’t be a gray blob, either. Over the years, trips have progressed from weekend Girl Scout camping trips to more rugged adventures on three continents lasting as long as four months. Both through her own trial and error and advice from others, Carolyn has refined her techniques for storing foods and cooking tasty meals, sometimes with a tiny refrigerator, sometimes with a cooler and sometimes with no way to cool food. From 2002 to 2008, Carolyn lived aboard Que Tal, a Tayana 37 sailboat and cruised full time with her husband. In 2010, she created her website, The Boat Galley, to help others navigate the challenges of provisioning, storing food and cooking aboard a small boat. In response to reader questions, the site has expanded to include buying a boat and gear, living on a boat, cruising and chartering, boat work and potential problems. In 2012, she and Jan Irons published The Boat Galley Cookbook, a collection of 800 everyday recipes and cooking tips they’d each collected while cruising with their husbands. It has become the go-to galley reference book for cruisers... and many RVers and campers also appreciate the easy from-scratch recipes and extensive substitutions and variations to suit what’s on hand. In 2016 she began a podcast on Boat Radio. Carolyn, her husband Dave and dog Paz now live aboard their second cruising sailboat, Barefoot Gal.