Provisioning a Bareboat: Feeding Eight People From a Fridge the Size of a Suitcase

The most consequential hour of a bareboat charter usually happens in a supermarket car park before anybody has seen the boat. Eight adults, four trolleys, no list, a rising sense that somebody else is in charge, and a growing pile of things that will not fit in a fridge nobody has measured. Two days later there is no bread, four kinds of mustard, and a discussion about whether the wine was worth the space it took from the water.

Provisioning is the part of chartering that experienced crews take seriously and first-timers treat as shopping. The difference is not skill; it is that a boat has three constraints a house does not — a small fridge running off batteries, a finite water tank, and no shop within reach once you leave. Get those three right and the rest is a matter of taste. This page is about a bareboat, where you provision yourself. On a crewed boat the crew do it from your preference sheet, which is a different exercise covered in the yacht charter guide.

Ask the base before you buy anything

Charter boats vary enormously in what comes with them, and the single fastest way to waste money and space is to buy things that are already in a locker. Send the base an email before you travel and ask what is aboard. A good base answers in detail; a vague answer is itself useful information about the boat.

• What cooking equipment is aboard, how many rings does the hob have, and is there an oven? Many charter boats have two rings and no oven, which rules out roughly half of what people plan to cook.
• Is there a kettle, and does it work on gas or on the batteries? Is there a coffee maker of any kind, and if so which sort?
• How large is the fridge, is there a separate cool box or freezer, and does the fridge run overnight or only when the engine has charged the batteries?
• What is the fresh water tank capacity, how long does it typically last for our crew size, and is the tank water drinkable?
• What basics are already aboard — salt, pepper, oil, washing-up liquid, foil, cling film, bin bags, dishcloths?
• Where is the nearest supermarket to the base, does it deliver to the pontoon, and is there a provisioning service you recommend?
• What are the rules for rubbish? On some routes you will carry every bag for a day or more, which changes what packaging you want to buy.

“The fridge is small, the water is finite, and there is no shop at anchor. Everything else about provisioning is preference.”

Plan by meals, not by quantity

The reliable method is boring and it works. Write down every meal of the week in a column: seven breakfasts, seven lunches, seven dinners. Cross out the dinners you intend to eat ashore, and be honest about how many that really is — in most cruising grounds it is more than people admit at the planning stage, because the evening harbour is the social high point of the day. Then plan the remaining meals individually and buy for those, plus one spare dinner for the night the plan changes.

This one habit prevents the two classic failures. It stops the over-buy, which is what happens when a group shops by instinct and ends up throwing food overboard at the end of the week. And it stops the under-buy on breakfast and lunch, which are the meals nobody plans and everybody eats. Breakfast on a boat is eaten early, outdoors and enthusiastically, and lunch is usually assembled at anchor by whoever is least wet.

What actually works on a boat

Two packaging notes that matter more than they sound. Buy in the smallest sensible units, because there is nowhere to put a half-used family pack. And decant where you can: cardboard boxes take space, absorb damp and become rubbish you have to carry, so a great deal of what you buy is better transferred into a bag or a box before it goes aboard. Cans and cardboard are also where insects arrive, which is why many experienced crews strip packaging on the pontoon rather than below deck.

Water is the constraint nobody plans for

A boat's fresh water tank supplies the taps, the galley and the showers, it is filled at the base and refilled at marinas, and it runs out considerably faster than anyone expects — usually because of showers. If your week is mostly at anchor rather than in marinas, the tank is your entire supply until the next port, which turns hot showers into a rationing decision. Ask the base how many days the tanks last for your crew size and treat the answer as optimistic, because it assumes people who are used to boats.

Drinking water is a separate question and one to settle explicitly. Whether tank water is drinkable depends on the boat, the tank's condition and the source it was filled from, and the only person who can answer is the charter base. If the answer is anything short of a clear yes, buy bottled and store it low in the boat where the weight helps rather than hurts. Buy more than you think: heat, salt water and sun consume water at a rate that surprises people every single time.

Provisioning services, and when to use one

Most charter bases either offer a provisioning service or work with one: you submit a list in advance and the shopping is delivered to the boat, sometimes stowed. It costs more than shopping yourself and it buys back the hour that a group in a supermarket reliably turns into three, along with the transport problem if the marina is not near the shops. It is particularly worth it if you are arriving late, if the base is remote, or if your group is large enough that a single trolley run is not realistic.

The common middle path is the best of both: order the heavy, bulky and boring items in advance — water, soft drinks, beer, staples, cleaning things — and buy the fresh food yourself on the morning. That way the back-breaking part is solved, and you still get to choose the tomatoes, which in most cruising grounds is the part worth doing in person. If you are driving to the base, note that a hire car for the provisioning run has to go somewhere for the week; avoiding hidden car rental fees and one-way car hire both apply.

The honest counter-argument

A sceptic would say all of this is over-engineering a shopping trip, and in the Mediterranean in summer they have a point. Most popular cruising grounds are dotted with villages that have a shop, and a boat that passes one every day does not need to carry a week of food. Buying little and often is genuinely better: the food is fresher, the fridge copes, nothing is wasted, and walking into a village to buy bread is one of the small pleasures the holiday is for.

The reason to plan anyway is that the exceptions are the expensive ones. A route with a long empty stretch, a day when the weather keeps you in a bay with no village, a public holiday that closes everything, or a crew larger than the fridge — any of those turns a relaxed approach into pasta for two nights. Plan the skeleton, carry the emergency dinner, and buy the rest as you go. For where the boat sleeps each night, which decides how often you can shop at all, see marina, mooring buoy or anchor.

Frequently asked questions

How much food do you need for a week on a boat?

Plan by meal rather than by quantity: count how many breakfasts, lunches and dinners will genuinely be eaten aboard, subtract the nights you intend to eat ashore, and buy for that number plus one spare dinner. Almost everyone over-buys on day one and then throws food away, because the fridge is small and shopping is easy in most cruising grounds.

Should you use a provisioning service or shop yourself?

A service saves the hour that a large group standing in a supermarket always turns into three, and it delivers to the boat, which matters if the marina is far from the shops. Shopping yourself is cheaper, lets you see what is actually good locally, and avoids paying for items you would not have chosen. A common compromise is to order the heavy and bulky things — water, drinks, staples — and buy the fresh food yourself.

What is the most commonly forgotten item?

Drinking water, in the quantity people actually drink in heat. After that: bin bags, a decent bottle opener, salt, cooking oil, sun cream in the volume a week at sea consumes, and a torch that is not a phone. Ask the charter base what is already aboard before buying any of it, because a good boat comes with more than you expect and a tired one comes with less.

Can you keep food cold on a yacht?

Less well than at home, and it depends on the boat's power. Most charter fridges are small, run off the batteries and are noticeably less cold than a domestic one, particularly in high summer. Plan around that rather than fight it: buy little and often where the route allows, keep the fridge full because a full one holds its temperature better, and do not rely on it for anything that must stay properly cold for days.

Do you need to buy water for the tanks?

The boat's tanks are filled at the base and refilled at marinas, and that water is generally for washing, cooking and showering. Whether it is drinkable depends entirely on the boat, the tank and the source, so ask the base directly and, if the answer is anything other than a clear yes, buy bottled or bring a filter. Ask how many days the tanks last for your crew size, and treat the answer as optimistic.