TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Bringing frozen meat

We are newbies to BAREFOOTING in BVI. Is it ok to bringing food from USA. We are flying into Beef Island & not sure what the etiquette is on this. Thinking about bring in frozen meat for couple of meals aboard.

Thank you

Not a problem - as long as it is for personal consumption - freeze the hell out of it.

and less than 50 pounds if I recall.

I brought tenderloins down for a wedding one year. A bit of extra work but worth it. If it were just Hamburger and chicken? I'd buy it local.

We do it every single trip (4 trips in last 4 years).
Tips: vacuum seal if you can (portioned out into meals), freeze it, pack in a Polar Bear cooler. Fill the cooler with frozen meats, cheese, etc.k Stays frozen for 48 hours. Some trips we've been charged a "tax" (never more than $10), some trips no charge. Seems discretionary :-)
We mainly do this for the ease of meal prep - no messy steaks or chicken leaking in the fridge, easy to pull the "burgers for night #2" when it's time to prep, and I can precook things like taco meat, sausage for pizzas, chicken for cold salads, etc.

Look at what you are thinking of bringing down and compare to the prices at online at Riteway and Bobby's. I know everyone has a budget but our thought is we are going down for a great vacation and to put back into the economy there. Bringing in food to save a few bucks doesn't really help the BVIs to get back on their feet. Just a thought.

You can almost always find USDA choice and better ribeyes and strips at around $15-$16 pound. from a purely economic standpoint you would have to buy your beef in the US under $10-$12 a pound to justify the effort after the 10% duty and approx $30-$35 baggage fees (air + ferry).

OTOH, a few pounds of Georgia or gulf coast shrimp is well worth the effort.

I wouldn't disagree with Glenn but for me it's more about quality than price. We eat and drink at the local bars and buy plenty from Riteway so I don't think it's about supporting the local economy! Polar bear coolers are the s*#t and I'll be getting a new one but I've even used a lessor soft cooler, carried on the plane, fits in the overhead so no charge and it was still frozen solid after all day of travel. Just pack it full with not a lot of empty air space. Nothing thawed and I didn't use any ice, ice packs or dry ice. Done it 3 times in BVI and Bahamas and never even got questioned much less taxed. We usually use a coupon for Omaha steak packages which include steaks, chicken, burgers, etc. or buy some bulk meats and cheese from Sam's Club.

I find it's a combination of things like quality, availability and money.

Steaks, good Italian meats for HH etc and shrimp are all better and cheaper here. Add prepared foods like marinated chicken and precooked bacon because it's easier and sometimes safer to prep it here than on a rocking boat. When you have a small crew and little time from landing to shipping off, the more you have with you the easier the morning when you're stowing provisions and doing boat and chart briefings.

I understand feeding the local economy but we're spending $thousands on boat, restaurants and alcohol. The $250 we put in the cooler seems like just filling in the blanks.

The only times we were ever charged bringing in food was on Fri and Sats. Guess the money was used for going out - just hope the guys split up the $10 or $20 they charged. We were never charged during the week and this was over 35+ years.

Quality is one issue, but bigger for me is pre-prepped. Easier on the cook. Vac Packed so if I "Forgot" to thaw steaks, I just put the vac packed in bucket of ocean water and light the grill... When grill is ready, steaks are ready.

I do find Riteway has good choices. Acceptable quality.

Thank you

Thank you