What do you eat when the lights go out?
No, I'm not talking about the romantic, candlelight dinner ha-ha! What is your emergency food plan if you lost your electricity or other energy sources you depend on to cook & cool your food? Short term is no problem. Living in the Midwest, we have tornados & harsh winters which have the potential to leave one without power for extended periods of time. Do you have an emergency food plan?
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12 Comments:
My plan: collect bowl. Fill with museli. Top with milk if available (or even just plain water). Consume
Other emergency foods include: crackers w. cheese and dips
cold canned baked beans
ridiculous amounts of bread (with or without condiments)
trail mix
dry cereal (granola or similar types)
basically, when the light go, its my excuse just to eat crap :D
choc_puddin at 5:34AM on 08/17/07
It's a good excuse to use some of the many breads we have waiting to thaw in the freezer. We also have a host of different fruit spreads and nut butters that can be had easily during a power outage. Lots of canned beans that can be eaten cold, mashed with some garlic and spices to be spread on all that bread as well.
Might be a good time to look into one of those solar ovens I keep seeing on Treehugger.com. ;D
hereandthe at 9:00AM on 08/17/07
For the big blackout four years ago I had almost no suitable food in my apartment, due to my lazy approach to food shopping in the summertime (one day at a time). Really the only appropriate and edible thing were those really good but hard-as-a-rock pretzels from the Greenmarket, and warm one-gallon jugs of Poland Spring. That's all I had for the 27 hours we were without power in my neighborhood. Needless to say, I won't make that mistake again. Even though I live elsewhere now, I always have plenty of crackers and cereal, nuts, Vitamin water, those cheap peanut butter and cheese crackers. They also sell those pre-mixed tuna salad and cracker snack packs, which ae okay and last forever.
ronfrankl at 12:26PM on 08/17/07
Meals, Ready to Eat and other emergency rations left over from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It's like an adventure! Either that or we fire up the grill where almost anything goes.
Tommy
dukeofpornia at 1:04PM on 08/17/07
Hmmm...what a good question! Luckily I've never had the power go out for days at a time, meaning I don't think I've ever eaten anything when the power has been out! I assume I'd make my way with a flashlight to the pantry for some dry goods. Or, I'd hop in the car and eat out at the nearest restaurant with power!
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 1:17PM on 08/17/07
If you can get your car out of the garage, that's a good plan---depending on how widespread the outage is. Last summer, I couldn't bring myself to open the freezer, but lost everything anyway. (See http://kwmu.org/Programs/Commentaries/commentary.php?cid=682 ) What I find myself stockpiling is batteries, not food.
lemons at 1:48PM on 08/17/07
My unnatural fascination with instant ramen helps me here.
The Guilty Carnivore at 3:25PM on 08/17/07
Jep, I always reach for a cold slice of pizza...your post as me cracking up out loud...my literally mopping up my eyes from laughing out loud. :)))))
cheffy at 4:21PM on 08/17/07
lemons--thanks for your link---I enjoyed reading your other commentaries, too! I, for one, get very panicky when the elecricitiy goes off. I do need to devise an emergency plan. If I had no power & unable to drive or have transportation due to a widepread disaster---total anxiety!
JEP at 7:27PM on 08/17/07
Ugh, is this a reference to my city's hurricane prone-ness? Ha ha. I have yet to be here during a storm (and doubt I ever will be), but I find that in preparation for a possible hit next week, I am finishing the meat in my freezer and preparing to cook some things tomorrow that I can take with me when I evacuate. When we have power outages, which have definitely been more frequent since Katrina, I will eat things like milk, cheese, yogurt, and bread from the fridge that would otherwise spoil or get too warm. We usually end up throwing away meat or leftovers that aren't good cold, so it's a bummer when the power goes BZZZT.
kmnola at 10:20PM on 08/17/07
After Hurricane Wilma tore through south Florida a couple of Octobers ago, many people were without power for over a month. Not very many of us down here have access to natural gas, but I have a line running into my house so I was able to cook inside. Most people resorted to grilling -- until their gas tanks ran out, at which time it was next-to-impossible to get a refill.
We cooked everything in the refrigerator and freezer (as the stuff defrosted) -- not because we were hungry, but because my grandmother taught me that "it's a sin to waste." Also, we were just plain bored -- cooking gave us something to do.
Absent any way to cook, I guess I would resort to eating canned stuff at room temperature. Plus there are a lot of NutriSystem meals in my cabinet from when my wife thought that was a good idea :-)
Dominic
the zen kitchen
dvchurch at 10:41PM on 08/17/07
i live 50 miles north of new orleans in a rural area and went 18 days without electricity when Katrina hit. if you live in an apartment get a tabletop gas grill and either magnalite or cast iron pots/pans, with those items you can cook damn near anything that doesn't need to be baked. this time of year i always have 100 lbs of charcoal on hand, food preservation can be an issue and after a few days i ended up eating rabbits and doves that i harvested in the woods behind me. (ok, ok,....i killed them and ate them but "harvested" sounded so very politically correct)
olddad at 2:00PM on 08/22/07