One of the more interesting aspects of living aboard a boat is the intrigue that accompanies it… I have to admit I’m always curious about how others live aboard. Perhaps we sailors are a nosy bunch, ‘we’ always have an eye for other boats; designs, layouts, routines, galley’s and especially the favorite products of our fellow boaters. If a fellow blogger posts about their favorite items, or favorite galley items for the matter, it’s a must read!
In my recent blog reading I came across Sailing Chance‘s post, Favorite Galley Items for Your Sailboat and it got me thinking about the products that we use regularly aboard our Monster… I was inspired! So here’s a glimpse into OUR favorite items in our galley…
French press and manual coffee grinder… A few years back Gordon and I treated ourselves to an anniversary gift of a lovely double walled Frieling Stainless French Press in the large 36 ounce size. It’s perfect for us to have a decent sized cup of coffee every morning, plus an extra half cup or so each. We have no complaints about cleaning out the press each morning, and I find the key is a good spatula to scrape out all those grounds. A quick rinse and it’s good to go. To grind our beans we, as time allows, manually grind with our stainless coffee grinder. The beans come out with a nice even coarseness that makes an ideal cup of coffee with no added floating grounds.
Stainless wine glasses, tumblers, and sleeves… In our quest to be greener we decided against the common plastic type beverage holders in favor of stainless steel. I immensely enjoy these GSI Glacier Nesting Wine Glasses. We chose the ‘red wine’ option for their larger size, as they are also ideal for other drinks, juices, cocktails, etc. We currently have six hanging in an overhead glass rack, but when the time comes that they need to be stowed, the plastic stem unscrews and nestles inside the body of the glass. The rim is pleasantly thin and even on the lips to savor our tasty beverages.
Our Son uses these GSI Glacier Stainless Pints or tumblers as I refer to them. They are sold as a set of 4, in fun bright colours. According to our Boy, milk tastes the best out of the blue cup. I only suggest, as we learnt the hard way, do not stack and store them when wet. When he so desires a straw, they too are stainless steel.
Lastly, every boat needs a few insulated sleeves. Our Innate Saison Beer Sleeves are double walled stainless and hold the average pint of beer. They truly keep our bevvies cold and we’ll often find ice cubes intact at the bottom the following morning. Last summer Gordon accidentally knocked one into the drink off the dock. There it sat for several weeks until we were able to retrieve it, and I couldn’t tell it apart from the others after it had a good wash.
Method Soaps… Simply said, I really like these soaps! We use both the dish soap and hand soap, and usually purchase them in their refill format which provides two plus refills for existing bottles we already have. I much prefer to use an environmentally friendly biodegrable product, and these soaps are also kind to my sensitive, excema prone skin.
Dish Brush & Bottle Brush… I use a Full Circle Dish Brush to wash the bulk of our dishes. With my sensitive skin I try to avoid having to immerse my hands into a sink of soapy water and so I like the long handle of this scrub brush. Bonus, it’s made of biodegradable plant plastic, with replaceable bristle heads, and a natural bamboo handle. I am quite thorough in my dish scrubbing and additionally like using a bottle brush to reach inside all those cups and bottles we use. Dried milk in the bottom of the Boy’s tumblers can be stubborn. These bottle brushes, that I discovered at our local dollar store, are on a swivel and do an adequate job. They may not be my greenest choice but with a hot water rinse and a thorough drying they usually last a couple months.
Restaurant dishes… I have discovered in my reading that the ‘best dishes’ aboard is a vastly varying matter of opinion. Some really prefer Corelle, and some like Melamine, but here aboard our ship we use traditional restaurant plates and bowls. These plates are durable, and sure take a battering in commercial kitchens and restaurants, and they’ve done us just fine. We used them in our kitchen ashore prior to moving aboard, and I can’t tell you what happens when they break as I’ve never seen it happen. Even in my many years of waitressing it’s a rare occurance to see one of these plates break.
Storage containers... We much prefer glass containers over plastic, and have been using a variety of containers without much of a leading favorite. The Anchor Hocking brand are alright, though much to our chargrin the lids seems to always split and the contents ultimately spill in our cold box. I was rather excited the other day to come across replacement lids though I feel they may eventually face the same fate. We also have a few Lock & Locks by Starfrit and so far so good. The locks on each side of the containers are quite secure, and it’s a bonus they are square. I can’t get that saying ‘If it’s round, put it down’ out of my head. Despite my best research who do I attribute this to?… Boat Galley? We also tend to reuse mason jars, large and small, as they are reliable and sturdy, plus easily recyclable.
On my Wish list… Wonderbag! Last of all, I’ve been admiring these Wonderbags for some time. The Wonderbag looks like a big tufted cushion, and essentially it is a slow cooker that you put a pot of food into once it’s come to a boil, and the Wonderbag allows it to continue cooking. It’s ideal for Boaters as no electricity is needed. Check out their website to learn how the Wonderbag Foundation is bringing change to Africa, as for every Wonderbag purchased one is given to a family in Africa, at no cost!
And just for the record, we prefer the single sink too. 😉
Please stand by for more ‘favorite’ posts!
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