Store cupboard

I have a couple of battered old insulated bags, one kept inside the other, which will keep food slightly cooler than the rest of the cabin. For the first couple of days of a trip we will have freezer blocks in there too. We keep them down behind the coal box, just above the water line, to help to keep the temperature down.

Despite this milk will last only a day and cheese has to be bought regularly. Any frozen or chilled stuff needs to be eaten within a day. Butter will however keep OK.

In some parts of the canal network stores and supermarkets are few and far between, so we have to be inventive, and have a number of dry and tinned foodstuffs.

In the table cupboard we keep mostly dried products and a few packets.

• tea
• coffee
• oatmeal (not rolled oat, oatmeal makes much better porridge)
• dried pasta
• wholegrain rice
• risotto rice
• small bag of plain flour
• squeezy golden syrup
• sugar
• stock cubes and blocks

In the bed locker are tins, bottles, jars and larger, bulky packets.

• soup
• baked beans
• tinned chopped tomatoes
• small tins of vegetables - generally French because they understand that food should not taste like packing materials - peas, green beans, mushrooms
• small packs of passata
• beer
• wine
• squash
• a box of herbs, spices and various powders in small jars: curry powder, baking powder, etc