Boat Galley: Rotate it!

This week's Boat Galley has tips for keeping fresh stock on board your boat...

Tips From The Boat Galley

By Carolyn Shearlock, author of The Boat Galley, with over 350 FREE articles to get the most out of your boat kitchen with galley tips, insights & equipment recommendations. A few recipes, too - plus an active Facebook community to ask questions and share tips with other readers! The Boat Galley Cookbook, written with Jan Irons, is now available at Amazon and other retailers.

When you bring a bunch of fresh provisions on the boat, where do you put them?  Do you just open the lockers, find an empty spot, and stuff them in OR do you...
...Rotate Your Stock?
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Rotate Your Stock

Years ago, working in a WaWa (a convenience store, sort of like a 7-11), "rotate your stock" was prominently stamped on many of the cartons that I'd have to empty onto the shelves. And it was on the sign over the time clock and again on the inside of the rest room door. It obviously made an impression on me.

Basically, rotating your stock means that you put the newest items in back of the old stock, so that you'll use (or sell, in the case of the convenience store) the older stuff first. And that way, hopefully, nothing will end up being so old that it's no good.

I know, I know... it's a pain to take a bunch of cans out of the locker to put the new cans underneath, or behind. I always tried to figure a way to make it easier. Unfortunately, I never did.

Instead, I finally came to terms with the whole process and used it as a chance to make sure that there weren't bad things lurking - I'd check for bugs, cracked packages, things that had slipped out of position and so on. Periodically - admittedly not every time - I'd take the time to wipe out a locker with a mild bleach solution. I know that I found a number of potential problems before they really became problems, such as the bags of rice that were blocking the air vent for the refrigerator motor and the flour canister that had a minute crack.

And for things that are stored in multiple places - I tucked boxed milk in a number of places on the boat - chances are good that one location is the convenient one where you always go first. Yeah, you guessed it - you really should move items from the less convenient locations to the convenient one, rather than just stick the new stuff in the empty space there. Someday, you'll need that extra stock and be glad that it's not three years old!


About the Author

Carolyn Shearlock is author of The Boat Galley, with over 350 FREE articles to get the most out of your boat kitchen with galley tips, insights & equipment recommendations. A few recipes, too - plus an active Facebook community to ask questions and share tips with other readers! The print edition of The Boat Galley Cookbook, written with Jan Irons, is now available from Amazon and other retailers - electronic editions are coming but slightly delayed.


Photos by Carolyn Shearlock.

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