Provisioning a Yacht for a Week: List, Costs & Tips

Your charter handover is at 17:00. The marina supermarket closes at 20:00. You have six hungry people, a galley the size of a bathroom cupboard, and zero margin for error. Provisioning is the least glamorous part of a sailing holiday, but get it wrong and you'll spend half the week hunting for a shop on an island that doesn't have one.

This guide covers what to buy, how much it costs, and how to keep it all cold in a fridge that's smaller than you think. It's built for six adults on a 7-day charter in the Mediterranean, the most common configuration in bareboat chartering. Scale the quantities up or down for your crew size.

The Master Shopping List

Print this, share it as a Google Doc with your crew, or screenshot it. Divide the list among two or three people so you're not all standing in the same aisle of a Greek Sklavenitis arguing over pasta shapes.

Drinks

Item	Quantity (6 people / 7 days)	Est. Cost (EUR)
Still water (1.5L bottles)	36 bottles (54L total)	€15–20
Beer (330ml cans)	48 cans	€25–40
Wine (750ml bottles)	6–8 bottles	€30–50
Coffee (ground or instant)	500g	€5–8
Tea bags	1 box (20 bags)	€2–3
UHT milk or oat milk	4 × 1L	€5–8
Juice (1L cartons)	3 cartons	€4–6

Buy water on Day 1 in bulk. Island shops charge €1.50–2.00 per 1.5L bottle versus €0.30–0.50 at a mainland supermarket. That difference adds up across 36 bottles. Canned beer stows better than bottles and won't smash when you heel in a Force 5 (17–21 knots).

Breakfast

Item	Quantity	Est. Cost (EUR)
Bread / toast bread	3 loaves (buy 1 now, 2 mid-week)	€4–6
Eggs	18–24	€4–6
Butter or margarine	250g	€2–3
Jam / honey	1 jar each	€4–5
Cereal / muesli	1 box (500g)	€3–4
Yoghurt	6 pots (buy 3 now, 3 mid-week)	€5–7
Fresh fruit	2kg (oranges, apples, bananas)	€5–7

Buy yoghurt and fresh bread in two batches. Half on Day 1, half on Day 3 or 4. Plan your route so you stop mid-week at a port with a decent shop.

Lunch

Item	Quantity	Est. Cost (EUR)
Sliced cheese	400g	€5–7
Sliced ham / salami	400g	€6–9
Canned tuna	4 tins	€5–7
Wraps or pita bread	2 packs	€4–5
Tomatoes	1.5kg	€3–5
Cucumber	3	€2–3
Lettuce / mixed leaves	2 bags	€3–4
Hummus / tzatziki	2 tubs	€4–5

Lunches on a yacht work best as build-your-own affairs. Put everything on the cockpit table at noon and let people assemble wraps, salads, or sandwiches. This keeps the galley cool and the cook on speaking terms with everyone.

Dinner

Item	Quantity	Est. Cost (EUR)
Pasta (dry)	1.5kg (3 packets)	€3–5
Rice	1kg	€2–3
Pasta sauce (jars)	3 jars	€5–7
Canned tomatoes	4 tins	€4–5
Onions	1kg	€1–2
Garlic	2 bulbs	€1
Chicken / mince (fresh)	1.5kg total	€10–15
Fish (buy locally mid-week)	1kg	€8–12
Olive oil	750ml	€5–8
Salt, pepper, mixed herbs	1 each	€4–5

Cook dinner onboard 4 nights. Eat ashore the other 3. Budget roughly €15–20 per person at a harbourside taverna in Greece or konoba in Croatia. That's €90–120 per restaurant night for six people, around €300–360 total for three evenings out. Buy fresh fish at a harbourside fishmonger mid-week rather than vacuum-packed supermarket fillets. It costs less and tastes better.

Snacks & Essentials

Item	Quantity	Est. Cost (EUR)
Crisps / nuts	3 bags	€5–7
Biscuits / crackers	2 packs	€4–5
Chocolate / energy bars	12 bars	€6–8
Kitchen roll	4 rolls	€3–4
Bin bags (small)	1 roll (30 bags)	€2–3
Washing-up liquid	1 bottle	€2
Sponges	2	€1–2
Sunscreen (SPF50)	1 large tube	€8–12
Seasickness tablets	1 pack	€5–8

Don't skip the seasickness tablets. Even experienced sailors can feel queasy below deck while cooking in a rolling anchorage. Buy them at a pharmacy before boarding. Marina shops charge double.

Where to Shop by Country

Not all supermarkets are created equal. A mainland Lidl will have twice the range at half the price of a harbour minimarket. Here's where to go in the four most popular charter countries.

Country	Best Large Supermarket	Best Small/Local	Notes
Croatia	Lidl, Konzum (large format)	Studenac, Tommy	Lidl stores near Split and Zadar marinas; island shops are Studenac with limited range
Greece	Sklavenitis, AB Vassilopoulos	Local mini-markets	Athens / Lavrion have big stores; island shops markup 15–30%
Turkey	Migros (M or MM format)	BİM, A101	Göcek and Fethiye have good Migros branches; alcohol only from Migros or specialist shops
Italy	Carrefour, Conad	CRAI, Despar	Sardinian marinas often have a Conad within walking distance

In Greece, shop in Athens or your base-port town before heading to the islands. In Croatia, the Lidl on Kopilica road in Split is a 10-minute taxi from ACI Marina Split. Stock up there. For Turkey, the Migros MM in Fethiye is the best-stocked option within 1 NM of the Ece Marina.

Pre-Provisioning Services

Many charter companies will provision the yacht before you arrive, charging a 15–25% markup on retail prices. On a €500 shop, that's an extra €75–125. It saves you a 2-hour supermarket run, which matters if you arrive late or have small children. Decide whether your time or your budget matters more.

Fridge Management: Your Biggest Challenge

A typical 40-foot monohull, say a Beneteau Oceanis 40.1 or Dufour 41, has a top-loading fridge of 100–150 litres. That's roughly the size of a bar fridge in a hotel room. A catamaran may give you 150–200 litres across two hulls, but the principle is the same. Space is tight and there's usually no freezer.

How to Pack the Fridge

• Bottom layer: Drinks , beer cans, water bottles, wine. These are the heaviest and coldest items. Place them first.
• Middle layer: Dairy, eggs, deli meats, sauces. Use a mesh bag or tote to keep them together and retrievable.
• Top layer: Items you'll use first , today's lunch ingredients, yoghurt, butter.

Buy a 2kg bag of ice on Day 1 and Day 4 from a harbour chandlery or petrol station (€2–4 per bag). Place it directly on top of everything. This helps the compressor and keeps the fridge below 5°C even in August heat.

What Doesn't Need the Fridge

UHT milk, hard cheese (sealed), eggs (in southern Europe they're sold unrefrigerated), bread, all tinned goods, fruit, onions, garlic, potatoes, pasta, rice. Store these in the saloon lockers or under the cockpit seats. This frees up 30–40% of your fridge space for items that genuinely need it.

The Meal Plan Approach

Don't plan seven elaborate dinners. You'll eat ashore at least twice, you'll be too tired after a long sail on one evening, and leftovers will cover another. Here's a realistic 7-day framework.

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
1 (Sat)	Eat before boarding	Eat before boarding	Restaurant (celebration meal)
2 (Sun)	Eggs, bread, fruit	Wraps + salad	Pasta with sauce + salad
3 (Mon)	Cereal, yoghurt, fruit	Bread, cheese, ham	Chicken stir-fry with rice
4 (Tue)	Eggs, toast	Tuna salad	Restaurant (harbourside)
5 (Wed)	Yoghurt, muesli, fruit	Leftovers + bread	Fresh fish, grilled, with salad
6 (Thu)	Eggs, bread	Wraps + hummus	Pasta with tuna & tomato
7 (Fri)	Whatever's left	Finish perishables	Restaurant (last night)

This plan means cooking 4 dinners onboard and eating out 3 times. At €15–20 per person per restaurant meal, that's roughly €270–360 for the three evenings out. If you're watching costs, swap one restaurant night for a barbecue at a taverna that lets you use their grill. This is common in Greece for a small fee of €5–10.

Assign the Cooking

With six people, rotate cooking duties in pairs. Each pair cooks one dinner and handles clean-up for another. Post the rota in the saloon on Day 1. Nobody should cook more than once unless they want to, and the person who cooks never does their own washing up. This prevents resentment faster than any charter contract.

Pro Tips from 50+ Charters

1. Bring Zip-Lock Bags and a Marker

Transfer bulky cereal boxes, crisps, and pasta into zip-lock bags. Label them. This halves the storage volume and stops cardboard going soggy in the bilge humidity. A 20-pack of 3L zip-locks costs under €3 at any supermarket.

2. Water Is Not Optional

The yacht's water tank (typically 300–400L on a 40-footer) is for washing, cooking, and showers. Not drinking. Carry a minimum of 50 litres of bottled drinking water for six people over a week. In August heat, you'll want closer to 70L. Check your handover checklist to confirm the tank is full before departure.

3. Don't Forget the Basics

Every crew forgets something obvious. The usual culprits: bin bags, kitchen roll, a sharp knife (galley knives are reliably blunt), a corkscrew, washing-up liquid, and a lighter for the stove. Check what else you need against your packing list.

4. Shop with a Cool Bag

If you're buying cold items and the supermarket is a 15-minute walk from the marina, bring a soft cool bag and a gel pack. In 35°C heat, dairy and deli meat can reach unsafe temperatures in under 30 minutes. A foldable cool bag costs €5–8 and packs flat in your luggage.

5. Budget Per Person

Split the provisioning cost evenly. One clean method: one person pays for all groceries, keeps the receipts, and everyone settles up at the end of the week using Splitwise or a shared spreadsheet. For a crew of six spending €550 on groceries plus €330 on restaurants, that works out to roughly €147 per person for an entire week's food. Less than €21 per day.

The Bottom Line

Shop at a large supermarket near your base port, buy shelf-stable items for the first three days, and plan a mid-week restock at a port with a decent shop. Keep the fridge organised, rotate cooking duties, and don't try to replicate home cooking in a galley that measures 1.5m × 0.8m. The best meals on a yacht are simple ones eaten in the cockpit at sunset, and they cost almost nothing to make.

For a full breakdown of charter holiday costs beyond provisioning, see our guide to charter insurance and group trip planning.