Snacks and Drinks to Pack for Deployment

Powdered Drink Mixes (Mio, Crystal Light)

Ship water tastes like ship water. A drink mix makes every canteen fill something you actually want, and the caffeinated ones are cheaper than the energy drinks in the ship's store.

Candy

A bag of candy in your locker is currency, morale and a mid-watch pick-me-up all in one. Buy the individually wrapped kind so it survives the heat.

Gum

Long watches, meetings and long stretches between chances to brush your teeth. Gum covers all three.

Beef Jerky

Real protein that needs no fridge and no prep. It is what you eat when you missed chow because of an evolution and the next meal is five hours away.

Snack Box

A variety box is the easy way to stock a locker without deciding on forty things. It is also the most-requested item in the care packages we send.

Instant Coffee

Galley coffee has been on the burner since the last watch. Single-serve instant packets and hot water from any coffee mess get you a cup that does not taste burnt.

Assorted Tea Bags

Not everyone runs on coffee, and hot water is available around the clock. A tea sampler covers the night watch, a sore throat and winding down before you hit the rack.

Creamer

Fresh milk is gone a couple of weeks out of port. Single-serve creamers keep your coffee drinkable for the rest of the deployment.

Slim Jims

They fit in a coverall pocket, last forever and taste like home. A box of them will make you friends in the shop.

Mixed Nuts

Dense calories and protein for the stretches when you are working through a meal. Single-serve bags keep them fresh in a humid locker.

Seeds

Sunflower seeds are the unofficial snack of every lookout and bridge watch. They keep you awake and give your hands something to do at 0300.

Snack Bars

Breakfast in the morning rush is often a bar eaten on the way to quarters. Keep a box in your locker and one in your pocket.

Chips

The ship's store runs out of chips first, every time. A variety pack in your locker makes you the person everyone comes to on week three.

Popcorn

Most work centers and lounges have a microwave. Popcorn plus the movie drive from the entertainment chapter is a rack night done right.

Cereal

Single-serve cereal cups mean breakfast even when you cannot make it to the galley. They also make a fine dry snack when the milk is long gone.

Ramen

Hot water is everywhere on a ship, so ramen is the original mid-rats. Bring the good kind; you will be eating a lot of it.

Instant Rice

A microwaveable rice cup is a real meal in ninety seconds. Combine it with the spices below and your locker starts to outperform the galley.

Mac and Cheese Cups

Just add water, microwave, done. It is comfort food for the nights the menu lets you down.

Kodiak Flapjack Power Cups

Protein pancakes from a cup and hot water. They fill the gap between the gym and a galley breakfast you already missed.

Takis

Every ship has a Takis economy. Whether you eat them or trade them, they are worth locker space.

Applesauce Pouches

Fresh fruit disappears a few weeks into deployment. Pouches are the fruit you can still get on week ten, and they need no fridge.

Fruit Roll-Ups and Gushers

Pure nostalgia. On a bad day a Gusher from the bottom of your locker does more for morale than it should.

Protein Bars

The most reliable meal replacement on the ship. Keep a few in the pocket of your coveralls for the days the evolution runs straight through chow.

AeroPress

More compact than a French press AND makes a smoother Cup of Joe!

Real coffee underway is a luxury very few people have. The AeroPress is plastic, nearly unbreakable and makes a better cup than anything on the ship.

Spices and Sauces

Taco Tuesday and they ran out of hot sauce?!? Good thing you have your own. Burger Wednesday and there is no more ketchup?!? WELL…..good thing you have your own. You get the point haha make sure to get spices that you use regularly as well.

Galley food is cooked for hundreds and seasoned for none of them. A small kit of your own spices and a bottle of hot sauce fixes almost any meal.

Reusable K-Cup

Some work centers will have a Keurig. Make sure you have one of these so you can make your own coffee.

K-Cups run out, ground coffee does not. A reusable pod lets you bring a bag of the coffee you actually like and use the shop's machine all deployment.

Spork

If they lock the scullery up at night because people aren’t returning silverware you will be glad you have this for your snack before that night watch!

A steel camping spork lives in your pocket or your rack and means you never eat mac and cheese with your hands. Mid-rats do not come with utensils.

Food Containers

Use this to save food on nights you really enjoyed the meal and eat it the next day when the food is not as good. Or if you are bulking and need more calories.

Leakproof containers that nest are the ones that survive a locker. They also keep opened snacks away from the humidity and whatever else lives in berthing.

Dish Soap

To wash out your Tupperware or shaker bottle.

Ship sinks come with hand soap, not dish soap. A small bottle keeps your bottle, spork and containers from developing the smell that gets them thrown out.