Food for Emergency Situations

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Disaster Meals
Your Guide, Linda Larsen
Food for Emergency Situations

Are you prepared for a disaster? From tornadoes in the summer to earthquakes anytime to hurricanes in the fall, Mother Nature can take us by surprise. Take some time and think about your own emergency preparedness. There are foods you can store, recipes to collect, and things to do that will help keep you and your family safe even in the worst emergency.

Usually in emergency situations like hurricanes, blizzards, or other incidents, the power goes out and your refrigerator, freezer, and oven become useless. If you're lucky enough to have a gas oven with a pilot light instead of an electric ignition, you should still be able to cook. For information about loss of power and food safety, see What About Power Outages? - http://busycooks.about.com/library/l...oodsafety3.htm . An outdoor grill can be a great appliance to use, but please, do not use it indoors, even in a garage.

So what do you do if you have an electric stove or oven and the weather is too bad to grill?

I find that canned and dried foods can really come to the rescue in these situations. Purchase low sodium varieties and store them in a cool, dry place, making sure that you mark the purchase date on the product. Rotate your stock occasionally to make sure that your supply is fresh. Of course, water is an important staple, not only for drinking but also for rehydrating dried foods. So keep a good supply of bottled water on hand, for drinking, cooking, and even brushing your teeth.

For a list of staple pantry foods, see Pantry Staples - http://busycooks.about.com/library/a.../blstaples.htm . I would encourage you to have enough on hand for at least three days' worth of meals. Keep the recipes that use these staple foods in the pantry too so in an emergency you won't have to search through cookbooks.

Remember that if you don't have a source for cooling foods, you'll need to make just enough for you to eat within 1-2 hours. A cooler filled with ice is just fine for keeping foods cold, but it won't chill warm or room temperature foods fast enough to prevent safety problems. So either eat all the food within the 2 hour timeframe, or discard it.

If the weather is safe enough so you can grill outdoors, make Dinner Packets - http://busycooks.about.com/library/weekly/aa060702b.htm - with heavy duty foil. These one-dish meals can be lifesavers; and cleanup is minimal.

I'd also recommend stocking paper plates, cups, napkins, and plastic utensils. I ordinarily don't recommend these because they're not as environmentally-friendly as I would like, but when you are faced with a water shortage, they make your life much easier, and safer too. So go to the next page to get the recipes, stock your pantry, and stay informed. You'll feel better knowing your family is prepared.
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