Hurricane food- what do you buy?

[bcla]

It sounds silly but also make sure you have a can opener. Not an eletric one, but an old fashion turn the crank kind. Many a plan has been crushed for want of a manual can opener.

In a pinch I’ve used a can piercer/bottle opener. It’s kind of dangerous though with the sharp edges.

 

[luvsJack]

An hour inland, you probably only need to worry about being without power for a week MAX. Inventory your freezer and see how much stuff you have already. Your gas line will be fine, but be prepared to manually light the stove/oven if you lose the spark.

Have you thought about buying a generator? It may be too late, but it might be worth a call to Home Depot.



The chimney thing is the easiest way to light the grill! Get your DH to show you how. (You put the charcoal in the top, paper in the bottom, light the paper, wait until the charcoal starts turning grey, pour it into the grill).

If this storm is as strong as they think it will be, I wouldn’t count to heavily on that. I am an hour inland. We had no power for a very long time. No water for almost a week.

I wouldn’t stock up on stuff we aren’t going to eat anyway. But I would just make sure I have sandwich stuff and snacks. And be prepared to use what is in the freezer and fridge.

OP, I didn’t know how to light a grill either until DH had to go back to work after Katrina. It’s really not hard. We did everything on the grill. It was truly a life saver.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Nothing special, but (a) we have a generator, and (b) after living rural for a couple decades, I stock a mean pantry. So, on any given day, we have plenty of food--plus, we have a big freezer and an extra fridge in our garage.

The only things I'll do to prep, food-wise are bake some cookies and make some pasta tomorrow. Reheated pasta isn't my favorite, but we're big pasta fans, and I'm figuring we might not have the water to boil it up.

 

[Tiki_Sara]

I didn’t realize a gas stove wouldn’t be affected so that’s good. I thought the gas lines could be damaged.

Fresh fruit, good idea.

Gas lines could go out, but they're mostly underground and safe. Electricity is much more likely to be affected. Power lines can easily come down and sub-stations often flood. We're well inland here in NJ, nowhere near the coast, but buildings and streets often flood after hurricanes because the pumps are out and after Irene our town was under curfew because of downed power-lines. It didn't take long for everything to be up and running again, unlike the coastal towns, but five or six days feels like a loooooong time if you have no power.

 

[Micca]

No use having cans of beans if you have nothing to heat them on

You've never eaten cold/room temp canned baked beans??? Admittedly they are better warmed up, but in a pinch they aren't bad cold.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Make sure you have water to flush the toilet. You really don't want to use your good drinking water. We'd just use the pool water. We have a water cooler, so we always have two five gallon bottles of water on hand, plus several cases of water. cheese, crackers, cold cereal. Make sure you have food for your pets. Make sure you have any meds you or your pets require, at least a weeks worth. Keep a copy of your mortgage, insurance papers, pet innoculations (if case you have to board them or they have to go to a shelter).

But if you lose power, eat all the ice cream first before it melts.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

When storms come we stock up on gas for the generator and may make a quick run to the store. I don’t see the need to stock up on canned goods. Before we had a generator we still managed without having to resort to eating canned goods lol.

 

[mjkacmom]

I suppose it would depend on whether you had the means to cook without electricity. No use having cans of beans if you have nothing to heat them on. If your power does go out and you plan to cook your perishables in your fridge and freezer, do you have something to cook them on?

We lost power for five days here in NJ during Irene and 6 for Sandy and we had an electric stove an oven so no cooking for us and all our perishables had to be thrown away. Luckily, some businesses were open in the local area and we were able to get food (and coffee)!from them. We've now moved house and have a gas stove and oven and one of the first things we did was install a generator (mainly so the basement doesn't flood).

Definitely get a few days' worth of stuff that doesn't need cooking or refrigerating. Chips, dips, jerky, tuna, sweetcorn etc

Our gas grill is connected to our gas line, too, so we’ve used it many times during power outages, a grill can be used as a cooktop and an oven.

 

[NYCgrrl]

For any type of emergency where cooking fuel and electricity is limited or even nonexistent I'd ensure I had the following on hand:

charcoal for the grill
canned peaches and pears
canned or jarred tuna packed in olive oil
a jar of smoked mussels
canned early June peas
canned beans
canned asparagus
vacuumed packed corn
cream of corn to make an Asian style drop soup
a few cans of Veg-All
quart boxes of chicken stock
a jar or 2 of artichoke hearts and roasted peppers
fast cooking pasta such as angel hair; small shells, egg noodles, couscous and/or quinoa. nothing wrong w/ some dry rice either.
dried fruits
nuts
air dried meat such as bunderfleish (wuv that stuff and it's so versatile)
a dry salami
canned minced clams
a bottle of Bloody Mary mix
some evaporated milk
powdered milk
farm fresh eggs (they last longer w/o refrigeration)
A bottle of red and white wine

With the above I could and have made some nourishing and varied meals when the electricity shut off or I was camping.

 

[wishesuponastar]

For any type of emergency where cooking fuel and electricity is limited or even nonexistent I'd ensure I had the following on hand:

charcoal for the grill
canned peaches and pears
canned or jarred tuna packed in olive oil
a jar of smoked mussels
canned peas
canned beans
canned asparagus
vacuumed packed corn
cream of corn to make an Asian style drop soup
a few cans of Veg-All
quart boxes of chicken stock
a jar or 2 of artichoke hearts and roasted peppers
fast cooking pasta such as angel hair; small shells, egg noodles, couscous and/or quinoa. nothing wrong w/ some dry rice either.
dried fruits
nuts
air dried meat such as bunderfleish (wuv that stuff and it's so versatile)
a dry salami
canned minced clams
a bottle of Bloody Mary mix
some evaporated milk
powdered milk
farm fresh eggs (they last longer w/o refrigeration)
A bottle of red and white wine

With the above I could and have made some nourishing and varied meals when the electricity shut off or I was camping.

Thank you, very helpful post!

 

[mjkacmom]

For any type of emergency where cooking fuel and electricity is limited or even nonexistent I'd ensure I had the following on hand:

charcoal for the grill
canned peaches and pears
canned or jarred tuna packed in olive oil
a jar of smoked mussels
canned peas
canned beans
canned asparagus
vacuumed packed corn
cream of corn to make an Asian style drop soup
a few cans of Veg-All
quart boxes of chicken stock
a jar or 2 of artichoke hearts and roasted peppers
fast cooking pasta such as angel hair; small shells, egg noodles, couscous and/or quinoa. nothing wrong w/ some dry rice either.
dried fruits
nuts
air dried meat such as bunderfleish (wuv that stuff and it's so versatile)
a dry salami
canned minced clams
a bottle of Bloody Mary mix
some evaporated milk
powdered milk
farm fresh eggs (they last longer w/o refrigeration)
A bottle of red and white wine

With the above I could and have made some nourishing and varied meals when the electricity shut off or I was camping.

Where’s the vodka?

 

[lovin'fl]

Havent read thread but we prepared today...in the RD area of NC. I got water and other bottled drinks. For DH and I, on low carb diets, got canned lite soup and canned chicken and tuna (cans with pull tabs since I have electric can opener). Got a box of mayo packets that dont need to be in fridge. Got bananas and apples and almonds. Have eggs I will hard boil. Have lots of ice packs from Blue Apron that I saved and they will keep freezer cold for a while. Got big flashlight and batteries. Got charcoal for grill. Have lighter and candles. Got couple boxes of atkins snack bars and some beef jerkey. Also bought TP and paper plates and got cash back to have cash. Made sure I had gas in car. And got a couple bottles of wine and have beer (need to get lime for beer, lol). And have instant coffee, though will have to light grill to boil water (man, wish we had gas grill).

For DS 21 who lives in apartment, I got him bread and PB and jelly. Gave him box of plasticwear and pack of paper plates and roll of paper towels. Bought him flashlight. Got him gatoraid and water. For other food....pop tarts, donuts, fruit by the foot, rice crispy treats, cheese crackers, chetos, 3 packs of ready to eat chicken salad with buffalo sauce and 2 bags of thin pretzel chips.

Make sure to have medications filled, plenty of pet food and candles and maybe a battery operated radio. Also make sure to do laundry and charge cellphones. And run dishwaher before power goes out.

 

[lovin'fl]

But if you lose power, eat all the ice cream first before it melts.

Love this.

 

[bcla]

Make sure you have water to flush the toilet. You really don't want to use your good drinking water. We'd just use the pool water. We have a water cooler, so we always have two five gallon bottles of water on hand, plus several cases of water. cheese, crackers, cold cereal. Make sure you have food for your pets. Make sure you have any meds you or your pets require, at least a weeks worth. Keep a copy of your mortgage, insurance papers, pet innoculations (if case you have to board them or they have to go to a shelter).

But if you lose power, eat all the ice cream first before it melts.

I heard about it on the radio (and our hotel had signs recommending that guest do it) to fill bathtubs with water just in case municipal water was unavailable. I don't know about drinking, but I think the suggestion was for stuff like filling a toilet tank or maybe just general cleaning.

My big worry was my rental car was in the parking lot, and that a light pole could crash on it.

 

[mummabear]

You've never eaten cold/room temp canned baked beans??? Admittedly they are better warmed up, but in a pinch they aren't bad cold.

For sure, creamed corn is passable cold too

 

[Poohforyou]

We have a gas stove so we can cook. We also don't typically lose power for more than a few hours. Sandy was an exception. We were out for about 2 days.

What I did was pack our garage fridge/freezer with food and keep usable stuff in the kitchen one. I had frozen jugs of water to keep things safe. We didn't end up needing to get rid of anything because stuff was still frozen when the power came back on.

Pretty much anything can be made on the stove. My daughter even did mozzarella sticks.

If we didn't have the stove I'd make/buy some easy foods like a cut up vegetables, hard boiled eggs, hummus, crackers, cheese, pb&j, kind bars. Typically we have this stuff in the house, along with beer and wine, so I probably wouldn't buy anything.

We also don't have to worry about septic.

 

[lynxstch]

Not sure about what canned food to get, other than soups, or chef boy r dee type things. Maybe fruit, puddings/jello's in cups. But make sure that you have a MANUAL can opener, if you lose power your elec one won't work, and not everything in cans has pull tabs, even though a lot of them do. Stay safe!

 

[aprilchem]

An hour inland, you probably only need to worry about being without power for a week MAX.

I am in Virginia, 1.5 hours inland, and we lost power for 10 days with Isabel. We live in a town, not in the country, and our electric supply is on the same line as the local nursing home, so we were a priority to restore. Many of our friends were out for 14-17 days.

This storm is predicted to be worse than Isabel, which was a tropical storm when it hit my area.

 

[undertheradar]

What about extra propane for the gas grills?

 

[aprilchem]

I stocked up on bottled water, boxed macaroni and cheese, some canned meats, pasta with jarred sauce, cereal, Cliff bars, beer, sparkling water, and some snack food that we don't normally buy as a treat (chips, pretzels, etc.). I keep 50 lbs of rice on hand for my family and have a ton of bags of freeze-dried veggies for emergencies. We have two camp stoves that we can cook these things on.