Emergency Cooking Without Power or Gas

You can lose power for days in a row due to damage from a hurricane, tornado, earthquake, or other disaster. But you still have to feed the family. And canned Spam goes only so far.

There are some foods you can make with what you have on hand that are several steps above ramen.

So what are we talking about?

Something to Cook With

First of all, you need a cooking option for when the gas has been shut off and the power poles have been snapped like twigs, looking like Tokyo after Godzilla's drunken Saturday night outing. That can mean acquiring a gas burning stove, such as a one-burner butane stove. The problem here is that you use the butane (or propane) tanks up too quick and also the dangers inherent in storage of gas.

Another possibility is the family hibachi, Dutch oven, or backyard barbecue, whether a little $5 job from WalMart or the brick grill-and-pottery-kiln in the yard. Stock up on appropriate fuel. You can also construct your own solar oven.

Another cooking option that will help speed up the process is the creative use of well-insulated thermos jugs. All you need to do is heat your water to boil (no more), then pour it into the thermos with the ingredients for your hot breakfast, stew, or whatever, and let it sit for several hours. There's a similar option using a haybox, consisting of a heavily insulated box and lid. We're not talking high-tech. It can be a pasteboard box lined with blankets, hay, or wadded newspaper with an opening in the center for the cook pot. The larger the pot the better. Close the pot lid, put more insulation on top and close the box.

Instruction Manuals

Pick up some appropriate cookbooks. A couple titles I've come across (I haven't read them), which include recipes are The Storm Gourmet: A Guide to Creating Extraordinary Meals Without Electricity and Apocalypse Chow: How to Eat Well When the Power Goes Out. Another title is The Can Opener Gourmet : More Than 200 Quick and Delicious Recipes Using Ingredients Already in Your Pantry which focuses on the exclusive use of canned food, to include baby food, to produce such dishes as curried chicken and artichoke salad, fettuccine with pumpkin cream sauce, and turkey tetrazzini. Another title is Pantry Cooking: Unlocking Your Pantry's Potential. The latter delivers recipes that take 20 minutes or less to cook, to minimize use of your precious fuel. Some require no cooking at all. Order from your favorite book store or check them out at Amazon or Half.com.

Stock Up

Above all, you need to anticipate the emergency by building up your pantry. When disaster strikes, you will start by eating any perishables in the fridge, of course. You'll also turn to the freezer. although it will be good for several days without power, provided you open it up only when absolutely necessary.

MRE's are a no-brainer for the real emergency, long-term fallback option. But for the stage between wilting lettuce in the fridge and tearing MRE packets open with your teeth, you can rely on stockpiled canned goods and nonperishables.

You need to be putting aside containers with dried beans, certainly, but also canned vegetables, canned meats, herbs, and the like against a rainy, disastrous day.

Start a vegetable garden. Even if you only have a little yardspace, at least get a couple plants going. Use containers if you have no yard space. A kitchen window herb garden is certainly a viable option. This increases your options.

Water

Incidentally, one of the first things you need to do in an emergency is check the water. For this reason, you should have water set aside in clean, plastic milk jugs. These can be renewed regularly. When disaster strikes, fill the bathtub. In a pinch, you can use the toilet. No, dummy, not the bowl. That's for the cat's Kool-Aid. The toilet tank. (Seriously,. make sure you put aside water for your pet, as well.)

Practice

As with any survival skill, it is best to experiment with some of these emergency cooking skills when you don't need it so you are prepared when you do. Think of it it as a constructive hobby.