usvi-on-line
Share your food list!
Share your food list!
We have some amazing cooks on the forum (yes, Liamsaunt I'm thinking about you!) and several folks have mentioned that they bring certain foods down with them for their stay.
IF you do bring food, what do your bring?
IF you do bring food, what do your bring?
*Another fine scatterbrained production
I always bring too much food with me. This past trip I brought down:
2 lbs. organic butter
2 packages Nieman Ranch bacon
2 lbs. wild caught Key West shrimp
4 packages of marinated organic Amish chicken breast--2 per pack, in 4 different seasonings: chipotle, lemon pepper, garlic teriyaki, and Italian
6 packages of various frozen fruits, for smoothies and such
my spice kit (small metal tins containing a couple tbsp. of the spices I know I will use--this saves a ton of $$ and I know the spices are fresh)
a block of parmesean cheese
a block of cheddar cheese
a round of brie topped with jam and wrapped in puff pastry
a box of organic chicken-apple breakfast sausages
a package of three garlic-cheese pork sausages from my farmer's market
a package of three organic roasted garlic chicken sausages
2 bone-in ribeye steaks, again from my farmer's market--organic and grass fed.
A package of pita bread from the farmer's market--it's not like regular pita at all, it is thicker.
my chef's knife
a microplane
a screwpull
Of the eleven nights we were at Colibri, we ate breakfast at the villa every morning and dinner in every night but two. We ate lunch out almost every day, and then all meals out the four nights we were at Caneel.
Just as important, I think, is to assess what did NOT get eaten that I hauled down:
all of the shrimp
all of the butter (I forgot that I had butter delivered as part of my Villa Food package)
4 of the six packages of fruit
one package of bacon
the brie-puff pastry thing
half of each of the cheeses
I gave away all of the extra food (along with all of our un-drunk alcohol), so I didn't feel bad about not eating everything.
Basically I bring down foods I can't get on St. John. I like to cook (OK a lot) so it's worth it to me to haul it down. We still spent a ton of money in the restaurants and at the food markets--it's not a saving money thing--it's that I am picky.
2 lbs. organic butter
2 packages Nieman Ranch bacon
2 lbs. wild caught Key West shrimp
4 packages of marinated organic Amish chicken breast--2 per pack, in 4 different seasonings: chipotle, lemon pepper, garlic teriyaki, and Italian
6 packages of various frozen fruits, for smoothies and such
my spice kit (small metal tins containing a couple tbsp. of the spices I know I will use--this saves a ton of $$ and I know the spices are fresh)
a block of parmesean cheese
a block of cheddar cheese
a round of brie topped with jam and wrapped in puff pastry
a box of organic chicken-apple breakfast sausages
a package of three garlic-cheese pork sausages from my farmer's market
a package of three organic roasted garlic chicken sausages
2 bone-in ribeye steaks, again from my farmer's market--organic and grass fed.
A package of pita bread from the farmer's market--it's not like regular pita at all, it is thicker.
my chef's knife
a microplane
a screwpull
Of the eleven nights we were at Colibri, we ate breakfast at the villa every morning and dinner in every night but two. We ate lunch out almost every day, and then all meals out the four nights we were at Caneel.
Just as important, I think, is to assess what did NOT get eaten that I hauled down:
all of the shrimp
all of the butter (I forgot that I had butter delivered as part of my Villa Food package)
4 of the six packages of fruit
one package of bacon
the brie-puff pastry thing
half of each of the cheeses
I gave away all of the extra food (along with all of our un-drunk alcohol), so I didn't feel bad about not eating everything.
Basically I bring down foods I can't get on St. John. I like to cook (OK a lot) so it's worth it to me to haul it down. We still spent a ton of money in the restaurants and at the food markets--it's not a saving money thing--it's that I am picky.
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
For our Changes in Latitude Tour in May we stayed 12 days and 11 nights. We brought a 12-pack Polar Bear that we checked inside the dive bag. In that we carried:
2 boneless ribeyes
2 boneless marinated chicken breasts
2 pork chops
2 hamburger patties
1.5# ground sausage
1.5# ground beef
1# bacon
12 sausage patties
The chicken breasts were huge. Each one made a meal for two. The ribeyes were also huge. It took 4 people (our hosts joined us) to eat two. The meals were fairly straight forward. Sorry Liamsaunt, none of it was near your standards for presentation.
On Island we bought:
milk
eggs
veggies
salad & dressing
soft drinks
cereal
snacks
We froze the meat and took 12 hours door-to-door and found everything frozen solid when we unpacked it at the villa.
Why did we do that? The quality and price were both so much better than we could get there. We found a poorly cut ribeye in the meat case in Lilly's at $12.95 per pound. We prefer to spend our money on the dive boat and at the bar.
We went out for dinner twice, breakfast once and lunch once
JIM
2 boneless ribeyes
2 boneless marinated chicken breasts
2 pork chops
2 hamburger patties
1.5# ground sausage
1.5# ground beef
1# bacon
12 sausage patties
The chicken breasts were huge. Each one made a meal for two. The ribeyes were also huge. It took 4 people (our hosts joined us) to eat two. The meals were fairly straight forward. Sorry Liamsaunt, none of it was near your standards for presentation.
On Island we bought:milk
eggs
veggies
salad & dressing
soft drinks
cereal
snacks
We froze the meat and took 12 hours door-to-door and found everything frozen solid when we unpacked it at the villa.
Why did we do that? The quality and price were both so much better than we could get there. We found a poorly cut ribeye in the meat case in Lilly's at $12.95 per pound. We prefer to spend our money on the dive boat and at the bar.
We went out for dinner twice, breakfast once and lunch once
JIM
Last edited by jimg20 on Fri Aug 06, 2010 1:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Man it's like some dream we live down here....
We had a group of 11 - so we cooked at home mostly. We took TONS of bacon and sausage. Makes such a great breakfast - gets you going! We also took lobster tails - our local grocery store chain had tails on sale for a STEAL - so we took about 17 of those. Had them with steaks one night and then with scrambled eggs the next morning - AMAZING! We also had fajitas - I had marinated / frozen the flank steaks in Mojo Crillo and then we had chicken. CAN'T forget the hot dogs (right Pip!) and burgers!
On our most recent trip we packed our 24 can Polar Bear, which we carried on, with the following;
Four filet mignons
Four hamburgers, preformed
Two pork tenderloins
A package of cooked, vacu-sealed pulled pork
Two large chicken breasts.
Block of cheddar cheese
Block of meunster cheese
A variety of frozen "steam in bag" veggies
And on top of the frozen stuff we filled up the cooler with an assortment of crackers, nuts, and fruit.
Four filet mignons
Four hamburgers, preformed
Two pork tenderloins
A package of cooked, vacu-sealed pulled pork
Two large chicken breasts.
Block of cheddar cheese
Block of meunster cheese
A variety of frozen "steam in bag" veggies
And on top of the frozen stuff we filled up the cooler with an assortment of crackers, nuts, and fruit.
Come see us!
We only brought down a few things (organic cereals, peanut butter, snacks, microwave popcorn, etc), but one item that I threw in last minute after reading Pipanale's list was banana bread. I always have a loaf of homemade banana or zucchini bread in the freezer. I just took a frozen loaf out of the freezer and threw it in the suitcase before we left. It was tasty for breakfast and also for a "tide me over" snack at the beach.
4 adults, one child. 1 week on St John. 47lbs of food:
Chicken breasts. 16 in total
Steaks: 4 1lb+ rib eyes
Pulled Pork: A big bag of it: 3-4 lbs total
Hot dogs: 50
Cheese: 1.25lbs of 3 kinds and a 1-lb block of another
A wee salami
1 loaf banana bread
1 loaf blueberry bread
Coffee
Tea, sugar, gator-ade sleeves
Cake Mix
Vinegar - for potato and macaroni salad
Elbow macaroni
Cold cuts
Burrito wraps
Also in the cooler:
Spare zip-lock bags
Saran wrap
AL foil
On the Saturday Noon-time repack (after coming back home), I added
2 onions
Some leftover Trader Joe's Tuscan bread
We didn't touch the wraps or cold cuts. We had leftover cheese. Not being there the first night screwed up the food balance for the week. That said, we donated our leftovers to a worthy cause.
Chicken breasts. 16 in total
Steaks: 4 1lb+ rib eyes
Pulled Pork: A big bag of it: 3-4 lbs total
Hot dogs: 50
Cheese: 1.25lbs of 3 kinds and a 1-lb block of another
A wee salami
1 loaf banana bread
1 loaf blueberry bread
Coffee
Tea, sugar, gator-ade sleeves
Cake Mix
Vinegar - for potato and macaroni salad
Elbow macaroni
Cold cuts
Burrito wraps
Also in the cooler:
Spare zip-lock bags
Saran wrap
AL foil
On the Saturday Noon-time repack (after coming back home), I added
2 onions
Some leftover Trader Joe's Tuscan bread
We didn't touch the wraps or cold cuts. We had leftover cheese. Not being there the first night screwed up the food balance for the week. That said, we donated our leftovers to a worthy cause.
I am guessing Pip got Liamsaunt's loot.
Gromit, think about what you eat, or at least what you would like to eat on vacation, and then think about what you can and can't buy on St. John. I am very picky and brand loyal so we bring most of our meat, peanut butter, frozen bread, and some snacks.
I didn't see it mentioned but we also bring individual coffee in the filter and tea. I also throw in some of our favorite spices, salt, pepper, sugar.
xoxo
Gromit, think about what you eat, or at least what you would like to eat on vacation, and then think about what you can and can't buy on St. John. I am very picky and brand loyal so we bring most of our meat, peanut butter, frozen bread, and some snacks.
I didn't see it mentioned but we also bring individual coffee in the filter and tea. I also throw in some of our favorite spices, salt, pepper, sugar.
xoxo
All, thanks for sharing your lists!
@ XOXO: Just to be clear, I know what I would normally bring but was just curious what others bring and thought that newer folks or first-timers might like to get some ideas about what people bring and why.
Planning to post my list later....
@ XOXO: Just to be clear, I know what I would normally bring but was just curious what others bring and thought that newer folks or first-timers might like to get some ideas about what people bring and why.
Planning to post my list later....
*Another fine scatterbrained production
It is just a habit I guess to throw in my favorites.