Yacht provisioning: the charter day checklist that actually works

Provisioning a charter day looks like a supermarket run and behaves like logistics: sea air doubles appetites, galley fridges hold half of what you assume, and anything that needs a knife, a plate and a stable surface becomes a comedy sketch at anchor. We provision and cook aboard boats out of Vilamoura, Portimão and Lagos all season; this is the math and the checklist we actually use.

The quantities, per person at sea

Water is the line people undercount and regret. Sun, salt and alcohol are a dehydration machine; the boat that runs out of water turns for home early, every time.

What survives a boat (and what does not)

Heat and swell are the editors. Survives beautifully: cured meats and hard cheeses, tortillas and frittatas, marinated salads that improve warm, ceviche kept properly cold, fruit that peels, anything served in a bowl with a fork. Dies before the first anchorage: leafy salads dressed ashore, chocolate anything, mayonnaise-based dishes in August, crusty bread by hour four, and every food that requires assembly on a moving surface. The rule: build everything ashore, serve from containers, bring double the napkins.

The galley reality check

Before buying anything, learn your boat: how many cold litres the fridge actually holds (charter catamarans: often less than a family kitchen), whether the hob is usable underway (mostly no), and what the skipper allows aboard (red wine and crisps have stained enough decks that some boats ban both). Five minutes with the charter office answers all of it and reshapes the shopping list.

DIY vs provisioning services vs a chef aboard

DIY works for casual days: one big shop, smart choices from the list above, €15 to €25 per person, plus your morning spent shopping and your afternoon spent serving. Marina provisioning services deliver your list to the pontoon, worth the small margin for early departures. A chef aboard changes the category: menus designed for the vessel, everything prepped ashore in a professional kitchen, service and cleanup handled, from charter-day packages through plated dinners at anchor at €120 to €180 per guest. The honest threshold: for a birthday, a client day or any group past ten, the chef option costs less than it appears once someone prices their own holiday hours, the same math that governs boat parties in Lisbon.

The checklist, printable version

Drinks: water (2 to 3L per person), beer, one white and one rosé (screwcap), juice for the kids, and ice, more ice than that. Food: built sandwiches or wraps, one cold main (tortilla, poached salmon, roast chicken pieces), two container salads, hard cheese and cured meat, fruit that peels, salty snacks, one sweet thing that will not melt. Kit: cool box, chopping board you can sacrifice, one good knife, paper towels, bin bags, sunscreen next to the snacks so people actually reapply. Skip entirely: glass where possible, anything mayonnaise-heavy, dressed leaves, chocolate, ambition.

Provision like this and the boat stays happy from marina to marina. Or hand the whole column to us and just sail.