Heading out for a few weeks and not sure how much food to take? You want to have everything you need without overbuying, and without duplicating what’s already buried in the bilge. That’s exactly what this free boat provisioning list spreadsheet is designed to solve. I put it together in my first year of living aboard, have refined it ever since, and I’ll email it to you the moment you sign up.
Get the free boat provisioning list spreadsheet here — I’ll email you the spreadsheet and a detailed instruction sheet immediately.
How to Build a Boat Provisioning List That Actually Works
The key to provisioning well is answering three questions for every item you want to bring:
- How much do you use in a typical week?
- How many weeks until your next provisioning stop?
- How much do you already have on board?
Once you have those three numbers, the math is simple: (weekly usage × weeks) minus what’s already on board equals what you need to buy. The tricky part is doing that calculation for every item on your list, remembering the minimums you want to keep on hand for hard-to-find things, and tracking what’s stored in different locations around the boat.
That’s what the spreadsheet automates.
One more thing worth saying before you dive in: a good provisioning list is built around what you actually eat, not what seems practical on a boat. If you’ve never liked canned spinach, a passage isn’t going to change that. The Second Rule of How to Provision Your Boat is worth a quick read if you’re tempted to stock up on things just because they store well.
What the Spreadsheet Does
This is really a combination inventory and provisioning tool. It is not a recommendation of what you should take. That depends on what you like to eat, how many people are on board, and how long you’ll be gone.
What it does is handle all the math so you don’t have to.
Here’s what it calculates:
- How many of each item you need for the number of weeks you’re provisioning for
- How much you already have on board (tracks up to 4 storage locations)
- How many of each item you still need to buy
- A shopping list you can sort by store aisle so you grab everything in one pass through each section
It’s an Excel .xlsx file that works in Excel and in any program that reads Excel files, including Google Sheets. It does not work with Apple Numbers.
How to Use It
Start by entering the number of weeks until your next major provisioning stop. Then for each item, enter:
- The average amount you use per week (for the whole crew, not per person)
- A minimum number to keep on hand for hard-to-find items
- The amount already on board
The spreadsheet does the rest.
It comes pre-loaded with a solid list of common provisions to start from. Add what you want, delete what you don’t eat, and adjust quantities to match how your crew actually eats.
If you’ve never tracked your weekly usage before, my article How Much Food For a Sailing Trip walks through a simple system for figuring that out.
Shopping With Your Provisioning List
Once your data is in, you can sort the spreadsheet to show only the items you need to buy, grouped by category. All the baking items together, all the canned goods together, and so on.
When you’re standing in a store aisle, you see everything you need in that section at once. No backtracking, no missed items. This is especially useful when you’re doing a big run before a passage and the store is the size of a small city.
A detailed instruction sheet walks you through every step. You don’t need to be a spreadsheet expert.
Get the free boat provisioning list spreadsheet here — enter your email and I’ll send the spreadsheet and instructions right away.
Want a Complete Provisioning System?
The spreadsheet handles the mechanics. If you want to go deeper on the strategy side, our course Provisioning, Meal Planning, and Food Storage covers how to build your whole provisioning system: what to bring versus what to buy along the way, how to plan meals so food actually gets used, and how to shop confidently in places you’ve never been to before.
Carolyn Shearlock has lived aboard full-time for 17 years, splitting her time between a Tayana 37 monohull and a Gemini 105 catamaran. She’s cruised over 14,000 miles, from Pacific Mexico and Central America to Florida and the Bahamas, gaining firsthand experience with the joys and challenges of life on the water.
Through The Boat Galley, Carolyn has helped thousands of people explore, prepare for, and enjoy life afloat. She shares her expertise as an instructor at Cruisers University, in leading boating publications, and through her bestselling book, The Boat Galley Cookbook. She is passionate about helping others embark on their liveaboard journey—making life on the water simpler, safer, and more enjoyable.
Edward Turner says
been cooking for most of my life (40 yrs). learned some great tips in your site – thanks and keep living life to it’s fullest.
Steve Bryant says
First, I thank you for your blogging ability.
I am looking at your provisioning spread sheet and I wonder what the “A” thru “D” entries are in columbs “I” thru “L” of row 5? I can read: “Enter amount(s) of item that are already on board” but why would you need B, C, & D entry positions? I will as this same question on your FB page. Thank you again!
Steve
Carolyn Shearlock says
Steve —
Many times on a boat, you don’t store all of an item in one spot. For example, I had some flour in a locker right next to a galley counter, some under one settee, some under another and still more under the floor (some spaces were small, but also by splitting it up, if some got ruined it wouldn’t be my whole stock). This way, you can enter amounts each place that you find a particular item . . . or if it’s just in one place, just use one column!
Hope that clears it up!
-Carolyn
Michelle Beatty on Facebook says
Perfect!! Thanks
Marta Crichlow on Facebook says
Using it to provision for our trip to the Queen Charlotte Sound islands. It is a great tool! Recommend it!
c says
now we need a spreadsheet with what clothing and equipment we need on the boat 🙂
Danny Covington says
I think you can manipulate this one to do that. I haven’t tried but the cells may not be locked.
Danny Covington says
I can also use this for my End of The World supplies list.
Thanks
Ellen Barrios says
Wow, what a fantastic resource! Not sure if my retirement will find me living aboard a boat, an RV or on land, but the vast amount information I have found in your blogs has been quite helpful in planning for my multiple scenarios.
I’m new to this site and found myself dreaming again–something that I gave up years ago! Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and thank you to your readers who share theirs as well! Keep it coming!!
Diane Hallaways says
I’ve used it on my cruising boat and now on the superyacht where I’m chef. Thank you.
Lenka Novoa says
It’s a good template too, thanks
Ginny Teatro says
Thanks for sharing!
Mary Brandt says
Thank you for your template.
Karissa Coffey says
Thank you for sharing all your tips! I love following your journey.
JP Pedro says
Very usefull
Trevor says
Thanks
down in Oz we call some of the items different names but great checklist!
Pamela Dakin Harwood says
You and I eat very differently, however, I started with your spreadsheet and simply added and subtracted items to fit our needs. I like how you have laid yours out, alphabetized within categories — easy to check to see what is needed.
The Boat Galley says
We don’t eat the way we did when I originally posted that spreadsheet — I change it some every time we provision for a trip 🙂 . . . but the whole idea is really to change it for what you want, and how much you eat, not specific items!!
Pamela Dakin Harwood says
For those of us who have yet to embark, it is a great starting point. While we are in this rental until the boat splashes later this summer, I am using the utensils, and cooking implements that we will have on the boat, and cooking what we will be eating once we leave the dirt. Interesting to notice the changes in what I thought were essential ingredients and implements, but I continue to simplify, simplify, simplify. Of ANY website or blog, Hugh and I agree TBG has been the most useful!
The Boat Galley says
Thanks so much!
Karen Matthews says
Great. about to set off on a 4 week trip around Indonisia, this will be a great help Thanks
Deb MacConnell says
I use the app Out Of Milk, very easy
Love this app.
Anonymous says
Bridge Kellie Gorrow D’Urso you were just talking about this.
Anonymous says
YES!
Crystal Adams says
I was going over your list and am just wondering where you store all of these things. I noticed 30 1/2# hamburger, 30 canned hams, 12 doz eggs, etc. I know we have to adjust it to how we eat but I’m not sure where I would put all this. Especially the Hamburg and eggs. We are planning our first trip to the Bahamas on a MY and will be gone for a few months. Just trying to figure out the food.
PS: it was nice seeing you at Jamie and Behan’s get together at the sail show in Annapolis. Even though I didn’t get to meet you personally, it was nice to put a real face with the picture.
Carolyn Shearlock says
Don’t feel that you have to take all the food for your whole time in the Bahamas. On my list, the way I do it, eggs are not by the dozen, but by the individual egg. So 12 eggs is one dozen. The ham cans are the size of tuna cans — 30 don’t take up that much space. Ditto for 15 pounds of ground beef, or a number of chicken breasts (get boneless, skinless to make the best use of space).
Remember that people in the Bahamas eat. You CAN buy food there. There are good stores in Marsh Harbor in the Abacos, in Nassau, in Spanish Wells and Rock Sound on Eleuthera and in Georgetown, and smaller stores in many other places. Food is more expensive, but you can keep costs in control by eating what the locals eat.
Crystal ADAMS says
Thank you for clarifying. Typically when we travel we do eat what the locals eat. It is less expensive. I also like fresh fruits and vegetables, which I know I can get there. Also thank you for the list of places to shop.
Cathy says
Love this site and all the information!. We are just staring out cruising.and .in the short term we are camping with a small cooler. I read your articles on modifications you made with he diabetic diagnosis. I am so thrilled that you got it in check and in control so quickly. I would love to see more LCHF provisioning and cooking tips.
MaryK says
Looking forward to seeing this! I see that it was just updated a few days ago (June 2022) and am curious what has changed from earlier versions. Your information is always so thorough and useful, and I love the cookbook. Thank you for so generously sharing your wisdom. After planning off and on for over a decade to live on a boat, and after almost 4 years of full-time RVing, we are now seriously shopping for a sailboat 🙂
Carolyn Shearlock says
It was the text here that had a couple of changes, not the spreadsheet!