Emergency Food

[disneychrista]

If you were going to be without power for up to 5 days what food would you buy/stock?

 

[RangerPooh]

I'd have fuel for my bbq grill and camp stove. If I have food I need to cook it.

I'd buy canned goods that require minimal heating.

• Veggies and fruit- corn and olives are eaten out of the can all the time, canned fruit
• Chili requires little heating, you can heat the can on the grill.
• Chef boy r d- not the most nutritional but easy to heat and the kids like it
• Canned soups- again, little heating
• Applesauce, pudding cups (Snack Pack makes ones that don;t require refrigeration)

A few loaves of bread and plenty of PB and J.

I can buy pancake mix that just needs water and make up a large batch quickly using little fuel on my grill/camp stove.

Beef jerky for protein, snack foods like chips/dips/cookies/crackers...because we need our junk food.

I'd also stock up on ice and freeze water jugs in my deep freeze. I can eat out of there for a while as it's pretty cold, but would open only as needed. After a certain point without power the content would be trashed.

 

[Ellie008]

Peanut butter, applesauce, granola bars, quick breads like pumpkin or zucchini. Shelf table fruit like bananas, apples, even oranges and carrots would be fine for a few days. I have a camp stove, so I would get things like pasta-roni or rice-a-roni and plan to cook them outside, you can add canned chicken or tuna if you want. If you have a gas stove that will usually work fine without power. Unfortunately I have electric.

 

[Momager]

When SuperStorm Sandy hit us, we were without power for 11 days. We have a gas stove though, so were still able to cook. We bought loads of eggs, bacon & soup. Easy and quick!

 

[jo-jo]

If I knew I was going to be without power, I'd probably precook some meats and put them in the freezer...like going to a camp site.

But aside from the thought, agree with everyone listed. I would also dig out a cooler or two , throw some stuff in with ice, don't open freezer every 20 mins.

We have charcoal grill, but even without charcoal, I'd use them and bunch of sterno to heat up soups, pasta, etc.

 

[mjkacmom]

Nothing. Knock on wood, we haven’t had a power outage mor3 than a few hours in a couple of years, but I use them as opportunities to clean out the fridge and pantry. Dd and I just cleaned out the freezer, she asked why it was so bad, I told her we’ve been lucky with outages. Tip, throw perishable food you aren’t going to consume right away in the freezer, the6 will freeze and help keep food cold longer in the freezer.

Right after sandy, I read a funny article about how folks might have to actually eat the tuna and soup. Let’s face it, lots could easily eat weeks with the food they already have. We have a gas stove and grill, so we can cook a lot.

 

[DLgal]

Bread, jam, peanut butter, applesauce pouches, bananas, apples, pears, oranges, shelf stable milk, cereal, protein bars, tuna pouches and mayo packets, Turkey jerky, nuts, chocolate, dried fruit, soup.

 

[siren0119]

PB & J and bread
Dinty Moore beef stew, canned chili, canned spaghetti o's or chef boy ar dee
Canned fruit and veggies
gallon jugs of water
Fuel for the camp stove
eggs
coffee grounds and powdered creamer/sugar (if I don't have coffee nobody in my house will last 5 days lol)
Granola bars, apples, popcorn (popped, or the jiffy pop that can go on the camp stove)

 

[Moliphino]

We would really only need water. We have a gas stove, so we could still cook a lot of things we already have. But we have well water, so no power means no water. We did lose power for a week in the October snowstorm in 2011. It was NOT FUN.

 

[smiths02]

We have a gas stove. Good idea to have some charcoal for the grill and fuel for the camp stove. We've never lost power 5 days. A couple years back (on my kids birthday!) it was maybe 36 hours. It was pretty localized and we could leave our house, so we ate out.

Anyhow, we almost always have pb & J, canned tuna, bread, bottled water, horizon individual milks (shelf stable), cereal, jar of spaghetti sauce and pasta, Premier protein shakes, Built Bars, one bars (protein bar), Campbell homestyle chicken noodle canned soup (what my DH likes to eat when sick), canned pineapple, bananas, clementines, apples, few boxes of Annie's mac and cheese, applesauce, chips/pretzels/goldfish, chicken breast and venison in the freezer could be prepared, hot chocolate).

We don't always have, but we bought for a band fundraiser...individual apple juice and orange juice (shelf stable). Also, just went to Costco and kids begged me for cup of noodle soups and ramen.

So that reminds me I need to make sure we have fuel for camp stove and some of the small shelf stable milks.

We generally try not to open our fridge and freezer because it will only be a few hours and we want to keep the food from spoiling. If we knew it was going to be extended, we would first just eat what is in our fridge. We've never lost power and gas. We have a gas stove, electric oven and microwave, so we can just cook our regular food generally.

 

[tvguy]

Boxed milk. Canned soup. Fresh and canned fruit and veggies. Canned meat (beef stew, corned beef hash, etc). Maybe some of those Hormel TV like dinners that need no refrigeration.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

I'd have fuel for my bbq grill and camp stove. If I have food I need to cook it.

I'd buy canned goods that require minimal heating.

• Veggies and fruit- corn and olives are eaten out of the can all the time, canned fruit
• Chili requires little heating, you can heat the can on the grill.
• Chef boy r d- not the most nutritional but easy to heat and the kids like it
• Canned soups- again, little heating
• Applesauce, pudding cups (Snack Pack makes ones that don;t require refrigeration)

A few loaves of bread and plenty of PB and J.

I can buy pancake mix that just needs water and make up a large batch quickly using little fuel on my grill/camp stove.

Beef jerky for protein, snack foods like chips/dips/cookies/crackers...because we need our junk food.

I'd also stock up on ice and freeze water jugs in my deep freeze. I can eat out of there for a while as it's pretty cold, but would open only as needed. After a certain point without power the content would be trashed.

I would have never thought of cooking on the grill. I like to think that if it came down to "survival" , I'd think of it, but I somehow doubt it. THANK YOU!!

 

[Praying Colonel]

If you were going to be without power for up to 5 days what food would you buy/stock?

Had to do this after a Hurricane where we were without power for 5 weeks. Everybody on our street fired up their grills and we cooked our frozen food that was thawing, and that was fun for a few days. Then it got rough.

What I recall is I ate a lot of PB&J and canned stuff--sardines and crackers, tuna, Spaghetti Os, etc. It wasn't especially nutritious, to say the least. If I had to do it again I'd throw in nuts and dried fruit.

 

[Hikergirl]

I'd stock gas for our generator

 

[jdb in AZ]

A cousin who lived near New Orleans said they had "hurricane parties." Basically lived on food from the freezer as it thawed. After Hurricane Katrina, they moved to the desert.

 

[disneychrista]

Our power is expected to be turned off due to high winds as a preventive measure against wild fires.

I have granola bars, crackers, bread, peanut butter, nuts, fruit. I also have jugs of water, iced tea and coffee. I will be going to the store at lunch and picking up a few more things. I don't want to go too crazy and buy a bunch of things I won't eat other wise and then have the power NOT go out. Won't be able to heat anything. I do have a cooler and blue ice in the freezer to keep things cold.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

In my opinion, what you purchase depends upon the kind of scenario you are expecting. If it is anticipated ahead of time (like camping or whatever), I would cook and freeze as much as I could ahead of time...grilled chicken breasts for salads or sandwiches, BBQ beef to serve on buns, etc. However, if this is for emergency preparedness, things can change somewhat. Some suggestions include the following:

Get some mayonnaise packets or small jars of mayo if you want it for making chicken salad or tuna salad for sandwiches. This way, if your power goes out, you only have to crack open small jars to use for chicken or pasta salad. Toss the unrefrigerated portions, as mayo spoils easily, and open a new small jar as needed the next day. The same can be done with jam. A small, unopened jar will keep. The same goes for condiments that you use often, but don't want to have spoil...have ketchup and mustard packets available.

If you go the route of stocking up on freeze-dried meals (like Mountain House) or even things like Cup-o-Noodles, make sure you have access to plenty of fresh water and an efficient way to heat it, or those products will all be useless.

Milk can be frozen by removing a cup of liquid from the jug to allow for expansion. When it thaws, simply shake it up to combine. Other options include
shelf-stable milk or even evaporated milk for making macaroni and cheese instead of using your good drinking milk. Flavoured almond milk can be a nice change.

Tetra-packed soups or stews (Annie's and Trader Joe's are examples)

Shelf-stable bacon (pre-cooked) for making sandwiches. Other dried/cured meats like salami are sold unrefrigerated, but need to be refrigerated after opening. Buying smaller sizes means they can be used up before spoiling.

Snacks and treats are great for building morale, if this is an emergency situation...pre-popped bags of popcorn or snacks, cookies, pudding cups, Nutella or cookie butter spread, chips and jarred salsa, etc.

Many fruits will keep unrefrigerated for five days...apples, green bananas allowed to ripen, pears, etc. Fresh is a nice alternative to canned fruits and veggies. Carrot sticks and celery keep a long time, but do need to be refrigerated...perhaps in a cooler. Hummus is another good choice, but again, needs to bee cool.

For side dishes, potato flakes need only to be rehydrated and seasoned for fluffy mashed potatoes. You can also purchase pre-cooked rice, quinoa, and other grains in shelf-stable packaging. Quick-cooking pastas like angel hair or couscous can help conserve fuel resources.

Breakfasts: Just-add-water pancake mix. Have syrup available. With eggs, milk, and bread, you have French toast. Instant oatmeal.

Buns and bread if you have time to plan ahead. Variety of crackers for stand-by items.

Water enhancers, instant coffee and tea, drink mixes, juice boxes, etc.

 

[RamblingMad]

If you were going to be without power for up to 5 days what food would you buy/stock?

If I was going to be without power for five days, I’d go on vacation. If it’s a day or two, I’d stick with food that doesn’t need to be refrigerated.

 

[barkley]

depends on weather conditions where i was at b/c canned goods do me no good (and many go bad) if they freeze in their cans and jarred crack open (an issue new neighbors w/o insulated garages learn quick here in the winter), bread products mold quickly in hot/humid. other condition would be my available cooking means, in any case it would be stuff that did'nt generate allot of leftovers b/c of concerns w/storage.

coffee grounds and powdered creamer/sugar (if I don't have coffee nobody in my house will last 5 days lol)

years ago we had an outage of about a week w/snow that made it prohibitive to get to the store. one of our neighbors was a coffee junky and was going nuts b/c all his coffee was still in the bean form. never saw a guy so happy as when we offered to loan him an old hand coffee grinder we use as an ornamental feature in our house. as soon as the roads cleared he was on the hunt at old second hand stores to get one.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Our power is expected to be turned off due to high winds as a preventive measure against wild fires.

The times when I have been without power for longer periods of time, my biggest issue was boredom at night when it got dark and I wasn't ready to sleep. Make sure you have a solar charger for your devices and a way to light your home in the evenings. We had to keep flashlights in the bathrooms and used glow sticks from the dollar store (the kind you break and shake up) to illuminate the top of our stairs. Being able to play music or have a radio is good way to avoid the "deafening" quiet when all of the background hum of appliances goes away.

Paper plates, plastic cutlery and cups to save doing dishes. Disinfecting wipes for clean-up of counters.

Freshen your garbage disposal (if you have one) BEFORE the power goes off. Wash all laundry/linens. Wipe out your fridge or any area where things may grow when air circulation becomes poor.