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Other food people bring to St John
Other food people bring to St John
Hi, I have seen the item about people bringing frozen meat to St John. What are some other items people pack to take down? Thanks for a great board! Kim
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SOonthebeach
- Posts: 1707
- Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2010 10:01 am
- Location: Texas
Since we are getting ready to go and are cooler folks, here is what we bring in addition to meat:
In the cooler:
Pork Roll (yeah we're from Jersey)(does that count as meat???)
Cheese for cheese & crackers and sandwiches
Guacamole (vac packs from Trader Joes)
Frozen Veggies
Frozen fruit (for Blender drinks)
Cans of frozen drink mix to fill the holes in the cooler
In the suitcase:
Crackers (triscuits and Kashi TLC work best)
Trail Mix
Granola Bars
Cereal (packed in ziploc bags)
English muffins
Tortillas (for fajitas and sandwiches)
Uncle Bens ready rice pouches
We bring enough to cook for 4-5 days and eat out the rest of our meals. Two trips ago, we brought enough food for the whole trip and I felt we were too tied to the villa for meals and over ate on top of that.
Something else we have done in the past is bring a meal from a meal assembly place and pop it in the oven the first night when nobody feels like cooking. Plus, hubby and I get two free bags each on Continental so it does cost us extra to pack a cooler and we use the one on wheels with the suitcase handle.
Enjoy!
LB
In the cooler:
Pork Roll (yeah we're from Jersey)(does that count as meat???)
Cheese for cheese & crackers and sandwiches
Guacamole (vac packs from Trader Joes)
Frozen Veggies
Frozen fruit (for Blender drinks)
Cans of frozen drink mix to fill the holes in the cooler
In the suitcase:
Crackers (triscuits and Kashi TLC work best)
Trail Mix
Granola Bars
Cereal (packed in ziploc bags)
English muffins
Tortillas (for fajitas and sandwiches)
Uncle Bens ready rice pouches
We bring enough to cook for 4-5 days and eat out the rest of our meals. Two trips ago, we brought enough food for the whole trip and I felt we were too tied to the villa for meals and over ate on top of that.
Something else we have done in the past is bring a meal from a meal assembly place and pop it in the oven the first night when nobody feels like cooking. Plus, hubby and I get two free bags each on Continental so it does cost us extra to pack a cooler and we use the one on wheels with the suitcase handle.
Enjoy!
LB
Pipergal
We bring stuff that is really expensive on the island and isn't too heavy or big to carry. We bring coffee, small plastic bottle of olive oil, whole wheat cous cous, crackers, sweet and low, whole wheat english muffins, sm ketchep and peanut butter. It really helped and whatever we didn't use we left in the villa for the next group (or the cleaning people).
We bring lots of the above, plus our "must have"...smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, onion for bagels. That is the breakfast we have had every morning on pretty much every St. John vacation....yummmm
Also another great thing is a pad thai kit. That goes so well with so many meats, shrimp, which we also bring. We like to bring couscous and rice mixes also.
Ned smokes a big batch of almonds.
Finally for the we like the little cups of fruit chillers. Good for the kids and good for us when thrown in the blender with some rum!
Also another great thing is a pad thai kit. That goes so well with so many meats, shrimp, which we also bring. We like to bring couscous and rice mixes also.
Ned smokes a big batch of almonds.
Finally for the we like the little cups of fruit chillers. Good for the kids and good for us when thrown in the blender with some rum!
"Sponges grow in the ocean...I wonder how much deeper it would be if that didn't happen."
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ShipwreckPat
- Posts: 139
- Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:03 am
- Location: St John
Pipergal
Instead of stuffing juice into the holes in your cooler, you may want to bring extra pork roll, Taylor is the best. You could probably finance your entire trip by bartering it to all of us former Jersey folk than still crave it. Now if you can find a way to bring a hard roll (if you are North Jersey, you know what I mean) to go with it, I can guarantee shear bliss from many of us and that is worth a lot in the bartering world!
Sorry to all you folks out there that do not understand but it is one of those things you have to experience for yourself. I will not try to convert anyone else to its' virtues as there is probably not enough in the world to go around as it is.
The Giants disappointed but there is always Taylor Ham! Congratulations NO Saints
Instead of stuffing juice into the holes in your cooler, you may want to bring extra pork roll, Taylor is the best. You could probably finance your entire trip by bartering it to all of us former Jersey folk than still crave it. Now if you can find a way to bring a hard roll (if you are North Jersey, you know what I mean) to go with it, I can guarantee shear bliss from many of us and that is worth a lot in the bartering world!
Sorry to all you folks out there that do not understand but it is one of those things you have to experience for yourself. I will not try to convert anyone else to its' virtues as there is probably not enough in the world to go around as it is.
The Giants disappointed but there is always Taylor Ham! Congratulations NO Saints
My cooler always has:
shrimp
chicken
steak
marinades and sauces for the above items. I make them at home and then freeze them into vacuum bags.
sausage
bacon
good butter
parmesean cheese
gruyere
cheddar
tin of good thick olive oil
spices, measured out into small tins
my chefs knife
a microplane
a screwpull
shrimp
chicken
steak
marinades and sauces for the above items. I make them at home and then freeze them into vacuum bags.
sausage
bacon
good butter
parmesean cheese
gruyere
cheddar
tin of good thick olive oil
spices, measured out into small tins
my chefs knife
a microplane
a screwpull
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
We're bringing less and less. Our minimum is Edward's dry cured bacon (no refrigeration necessary), ground home-roasted coffee and a water stone for sharpening knives. The last couple of trips we've stopped on St. Thomas to get a case of single serving bottled water and some staples and have picked up good chicken and steaks on island.
Cheers, RickG
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
For trips where I needed to make sure our son and the grandparents were fed, I planned all their meals ahead of time and took the meats and dry ingredient portions of the dish. I filled in the sides from the Starfish. I did this for my own sanity, I didn't want to waste any vacation time planning and shopping on island.
We also have taken breakfast meats and speciality cheeses for snacking.
We also have taken breakfast meats and speciality cheeses for snacking.
We usually bring things like:
Coffee (take out of jug and place in ziplock so it can lay flat)
Filters
Cans of Tuna (I only like Bumble Bee packed in water)
Box or 2 of Rice Pilaf (Stop & Shop 10 for $10)
Small candy bar sleeves(my husband is a choc. junkie, get them at the dollar store)
Sugar & Equal
Ritz Crackers (usually the small box with one sleeve of crackers)
can't really think of anything else right now but usually its small things that won't take up much precious space in the luggage and I start looking for sales about a month before our trips (10 for $10's are great).
Also, zip locks! BIG and SMALL! Another dollar store purchase and I buy a box of each. I not only use them in the kitchen but for our wet suits for travel beach days and usually our last day
This next trip i have to bring beach towels also, not happy about that, but we are staying in a private condo and they only give us one each for the week and no washer and dryer. I lined the bottom of my luggage with them already and still fit all my cloths and flip flops.
Coffee (take out of jug and place in ziplock so it can lay flat)
Filters
Cans of Tuna (I only like Bumble Bee packed in water)
Box or 2 of Rice Pilaf (Stop & Shop 10 for $10)
Small candy bar sleeves(my husband is a choc. junkie, get them at the dollar store)
Sugar & Equal
Ritz Crackers (usually the small box with one sleeve of crackers)
can't really think of anything else right now but usually its small things that won't take up much precious space in the luggage and I start looking for sales about a month before our trips (10 for $10's are great).
Also, zip locks! BIG and SMALL! Another dollar store purchase and I buy a box of each. I not only use them in the kitchen but for our wet suits for travel beach days and usually our last day
This next trip i have to bring beach towels also, not happy about that, but we are staying in a private condo and they only give us one each for the week and no washer and dryer. I lined the bottom of my luggage with them already and still fit all my cloths and flip flops.
We are now carry-on only people and ship down breakfast bars, nuts, coffee and small spice packets and that's it. Our approach to food on island has changed some over the years. We tend to eat big for a late lunch/happy hour out and then salads or something light for a late dinner. I'll probably grill up whatever I see that looks good in a store to throw into the salads or will keep in the fridge over a few days.
We all have our own approaches to how we feed ourselves on the island. Perhaps this will necessitate a whole other topic. We tend to favor restaurants that serve flavors that aren't readily available at home.
We all have our own approaches to how we feed ourselves on the island. Perhaps this will necessitate a whole other topic. We tend to favor restaurants that serve flavors that aren't readily available at home.
I really only bring that's that are absolutely necessary. I also bring things that we must have.
Porkroll
Scrapple
Chicken (I only buy chicken at one place here at home)
Bacon (way too expensive in the Islands)
Spices - I go to the craft store and the the small zip lock bags. They in the jewelry department. Best thing I ever did. I label them.
Zip lock bag of mixed nuts, pretzels, dried fruit.
Besides that. I figure I can get anything I want on Island We only buy for a couple days at a time because we never know what we're going to be doing.
Porkroll
Scrapple
Chicken (I only buy chicken at one place here at home)
Bacon (way too expensive in the Islands)
Spices - I go to the craft store and the the small zip lock bags. They in the jewelry department. Best thing I ever did. I label them.
Zip lock bag of mixed nuts, pretzels, dried fruit.
Besides that. I figure I can get anything I want on Island We only buy for a couple days at a time because we never know what we're going to be doing.
"Paradise...it's a state of mine"