Packing a cooler and other food related questions...

[Coden]

Toes - you make some very good points. The cooler would be our only checked luggage. Maybe we'll forgo packing it and just buy everything on island. When we arrive on Wed, we'll get our spices, hot sauces, coffee and such from Ruth, and then hit the grocery, Josephine's, etc on Thursday.

Thanks for the input...we are going with no checked luggage. Unless we overpack, then this all changes.

[tropicdawg]

Coden - our first trip we bought everything on island. Proteins were not to our liking; we are fans of organic chicken and grass fed beef (protein snobs?). We are now Polar Bear cooler people and we check our cooler. We have never had a problem and everything is frozen solid upon arrival at the villa.

It is so worth it to us to have a nice cut of meat that we can supplement with J's greens and whatever else looks good at the market. We vacuum pack all the meat using a Foodsaver system and many times pack it already marinated. That makes for low effort good eating. We take steaks, chicken, shrimp and snapper and some specialty sausages for Villa Gravity lunches.

We get some kind of multigrain bread from Starfish that I think is provided by Baked in the Sun that I LOVE and dream of all year long. Taking a cooler allows us to experience the best of both - favorites from home and STJ favs.

[PA Girl]

For the 2 weeks, this will get us through many lunches and dinners. The question is...Is it worth our while? We have to buy all of it here (except for the steaks), prepare it, freeze it, then pack it and pay $25 to the airlines.

Just wondering if we should even worry about it. What is everyone's view on this?

Thnx!

How picky are you about your meats?

Not so picky? It might be not be worth it.

Picky/selective? It will likely be worth it. We are picky. Now, I have heard recent reports of decent selections, I would have gone without before purchasing the meats I have seen at Starfish and STJ Market.

[Coden]

Tropicdawg & PA Girl - see, that is our problem with meat...we are very selective and don't really buy meat from the main grocery stores here in town. We buy from the local farmers for just about everything, even our milk, cheese and yogurt.

When we were there in '06 we brought all of our dry goods, flours, pasta, etc with us, even tofu. We ate no meat while we were there unless we dined out. We were feeding 4 then, now it is only 2. So, maybe we take a break and don't worry about it and eat whatever we find, wherever. LOL

We'll see what happens come August.

[PA Girl]

Tropicdawg & PA Girl - see, that is our problem with meat...we are very selective and don't really buy meat from the main grocery stores here in town. We buy from the local farmers for just about everything, even our milk, cheese and yogurt.

When we were there in '06 we brought all of our dry goods, flours, pasta, etc with us, even tofu. We ate no meat while we were there unless we dined out. We were feeding 4 then, now it is only 2. So, maybe we take a break and don't worry about it and eat whatever we find, wherever. LOL

We'll see what happens come August.

yeah, we are on the same page. I don't even order red meat at STJ restaurants but that is no hardship for me, I want to eat fish/lobster/local when I am on STJ.

We haven't taken a cooler in a few trips. I did it when the grandparents were with us and they were staying home at night with our son.