You can only last approximately three weeks without consumption of food. When provisioning, it takes time to think about which food items you must amass for the future. However, stocking up on any food that is just not both appetizing and nutritious will probably be a waste of time. In our cruising planning procedure we couldn't devise methods to plan for having a continuous quantity of crisp vegetables. As you might imagine, we've got little garden room aboard our boat. Therefore we came across the concept of sprouting seeds; this looked to be a great thought for fresh vegetables.

If it's Alive, You'll Thrive

You need a little food which is living. Live (fresh) plant foods contain enzymes which assist to digest food items. You really need to have a few foods which are a supply of living enzymes as a way to better digest your food. During times of anxiety, your digestive system tends to falter a bit; it needs enzymes to break down the food to operate correctly. Not only are sprouts loaded with enzymes, also they are full of vitamins and minerals.

Each time someone inquires where to begin when purchasing sprouting seeds, I always advise them to begin with the fundamentals: grains and legumes. They are practically infallible. Search for the sprouts you see in the grocery store produce section; maybe even buy a little for a taste test.

So what seeds are optimum to sprout? Wheat works well and you may also sprout grains such as barley, buckwheat, corn and rye. Grains loaded with protein are labeled super grains. These consist of buckwheat and millet. For anyone who is affected by gluten, you will want to consider gluten-free grains including rice. Legumes that can be sprouted comprise: black beans, great northern beans, garbanzo beans, navy beans, kidney beans, soybeans, pinto beans, red beans, lentils, and mung beans. We particularly prefer lentils as they have a shelf life subsequent to sprouting much longer than other seeds. Vegetable seeds that germinate consist of: broccoli, onion, cabbage, and radish. Sprouting seeds can be bought in health food stores or from internet retailers. A good website I take advantage of is The Sprout People.

What do you do with sprouts? You can create sandwiches from them, place them in omelets, stir fry, or as we prefer, just create a large tasty crisp salad. We keep around ten assorted varieties of sprouting seeds on hand and rotate them often. We purchase more when the supply gets run down.

Methods to Sprout

For people with quart glass jars or sprouting trays, you'll be able to sprout. To grow sprouts successfully abide by these straightforward steps:

1. Place the seeds in any jar with a lid containing holes in it for drainage. You'll have to perform a few test runs to work out just the number of seeds to saturate. You can purchase the lids from a seed vendor. If you can not locate plastic sprouting lids, simply punch some openings in the metallic lid.

2. Fill the container with water and wash the seedlings. Drain the seedlings through the lid. In case you have sprouting trays that may be acquired from seed merchants, follow the same basic steps.

3. Top off the container with water yet again and let the seeds soak overnight.

4. The next day, drain the water out of your jar of sprouts.

5. Situate the container in a balmy location, roughly 60-80 degrees F, out of direct sun. Clean the seeds twice each day, draining off excess water every instance. The sprouts will begin to mature. It generally requires roughly 3 to 5 days for the sprouts to grow mature enough for eating.

6. When the spouts are mature, expose the sprouts to sun after they start to mature. Place them on a windowsill for a couple of hours to develop up the chlorophyll that gives sprouts the green tint. You do not need to place them in direct sunlight however.

7. When they have turned green, pick and consume the sprouts. Bean sprouts are best eaten after the sprout pops away from the seed.

8. Sprouts are usually kept in the fridge for a few days in a container using a paper towel underneath the sprouts. Sprouts spoil after 3 to 4 days. If you can not consume all of them, freeze them for use in stir-fry meals.

Sprouts are best if consumed raw in tossed salads or sauteed slightly.

Growing grains, legumes and seeds literally converts the seedlings into fresh produce. It is like having an indoor farm when other green vegetables will not be accessible.

Fresh is Best

Recently, I started thinking of other ways to add to our onboard fresh foodstuff. I reviewed many vegetables to learn which could possibly be container grown, after all, we can't really have a farm plot on board our trawler. I came up with a simple technique to grow some vegetables and be able to take our garden with us. A trip to Wal-Mart produced three plastic trays approximately 18"x28"x9" and some potting soil. The plastic trays were filled with potting soil and planted with radish and lettuce seeds. These vegetables were selected simply because they've got shallow root systems. Both the radishes and lettuce are doing very well and we've already begun to reap some for our meals.

Furthermore, we now have a 5-gallon bucket that we are able to grow tomatoes or peppers in. Our garden is able to cruise with us.