Years ago when I started in this business, all the ships and tugs had professional cooks on board. You want to talk about being spoiled.
The cooks and the "steward dept" handled all things related to food.
They shopped for it, prepared it and cooked it.
All we had to was eat it.

Like any restaurant, some meals are better than others.

As times changed over the years with cutbacks and downsizing, the merchant marine industry was affected. More to the point, our stomachs were affected.
Where most if not all shipping companies still employ cooks, many of the tug companies decided to save money by removing the position of cook on their vessels.

My company is one of them.
The good news is, they didn't remove the food budget. They give each boat X amount of money per month and it's up to the crew to figure out who is going to go shopping and who is doing the cooking. For the most part it works out really well. Depending on the crew, sometimes we eat like kings.

Sometimes not.


Really????