U.S. Navy Looks Into Freeze-Dried, Automated Food at Sea

Christmas dinner at sea may be changing soon for U.S. Navy sailors, based on new experiments conducted by the Navy's food lab. If the service's food scientists succeed with new menu innovations, warships could stay at sea for longer between each underway replenishment or port call, and with fewer sailors stationed in the galley.

The Navy's food service requirements are different than the other armed services. Because of the limitations of provisioning and cooking at sea, the ingredients list is shorter and the galley equipment is more limited than what one would find on a military base. Space on board is at a premium, and all of the gear to cook with has to fit through the available hatches and passageways - some of which are very small, as on submarines, food lab project officer Rick Watts explained for a recent profile.

To help ships stay on mission for longer with the resources available, Watts' small team tests out new ingredients and new equipment. One innovation: freeze-dried meat, which is shelf-stable and can be stored anywhere on board, freeing up valuable freezer space for perishables. The substance has been a familiar (if not beloved) staple for hikers and outdoorsman for decades, but is new to the Navy. Several ships have tried out freeze-dried recipes, he said, with some success.

On the manpower front, Watts' team looks for ways to upgrade shipboard equipment to reduce labor requirements. The Navy has been trying to develop "less-manned" technology for far longer than its new focus on "unmanned" technology - at least since the Age of Sail gave way to steam power. Every reduction in enlisted headcount saves recruitment and personnel costs, adding up to significantly lower total cost of ownership (TCO) over the ship's lifetime. Labor-saving devices have only become more important with the Navy's recent recruitment challenges.

One place to save manpower is in the galley, thanks to newer equipment with better automation. That includes retrofitting existing systems with automated options, or introducing new ones where practical. A new take on the proven tilt skillet - a versatile standby in commercial kitchens, used to saute, boil or fry ingredients in huge quantities - would reduce the cook's workload to loading a hopper and pushing a button with preprogrammed settings, like operating an Instant Pot.

Others promise to deskill some of the more complicated tasks involved in feeding an entire crew. The lab is trying out an industrial-sized automated bread maker, like those found in the home kitchen but far larger. In testing is the BreadBot, a "fully automated bakery" that does everything from mixing to kneading to baking in one machine. All the sailor has to do is add bread mix in a hopper.

"This machine can make up to 10 loaves an hour. So, we figure in a 23-hour day, with an hour to clean, we could probably pump out 230 loaves," Watts said.