As I’m sure you’ve heard, there’s a hurricane moving up the eastern coast of North America. Being in the path of the storm, I thought I should stock up on a some food and water, but I wasn’t quite sure what to get. Looking on the web turned out to be not much help – all the advice seemed to assume that if the power went out, I’d have easy access to a grill, a BBQ, or at least a camp stove. Unfortunately those things need a yard or a balcony, and if you live in the city like me, affording those is a bit of a pipe-dream. So what’s a city girl to do?
The general principle for stocking up, as far as I see it, is that any food you buy has to be consumable in it’s current state – i.e. without heating or refrigerating. Even if it would taste better hot or cold, at least it should be edible as is. So with that in mind, I suggest:
- Canned meats – tuna is popular and the grocery store was almost out of it, but you should also consider corned beef, spam, canned salmon, vienna sausages, deviled ham, etc. They may not be fancy, but they’re edible cold, straight out of the can and that’s what counts.
- Nuts – surprisingly, this section of the grocery store was largely untouched. Why? No idea. Nuts are tasty and high in energy. Stock up on all your favorites.
- Canned vegetables – again, this section of the grocery store was pristine, and yet people were buy fresh produce. That’s just silly – that big bag of lettuce your buying wont last if the power goes out, but you can eat canned potatoes, peas or carrots straight from the can and they’ll keep for, well, ever?
- Canned fruit, or fruit sauce – again, this seemed like the natural go-to section for me, but people were instead buying fresh fruit.
- Granola bars, cookies, crackers, potato chips – I was pretty shocked to see that people weren’t stocking up on these. Sure, they aren’t a meal, but they keep, they’re tasty which will lift your spirits a bit, and they’re pretty high energy. Indulge a bit.
- Jerky – processed so that it keeps without refrigeration. Sure many brands are pretty high in sodium, but you’re not eating it forever, just until the power comes back.
- Baked beans, canned – not great without heating, but edible and full of energy.
Things to skip or buy in small amounts:
- Pasta and rice – most online lists I saw were pretty heavy on these, which is fine if you’ve got power. Rice and beans or pasta and beans is a healthy, energy heavy meal that will keep you full and ready to face the hurricane clean-up. But if you don’t have power, these might as well be sandbags.
- Beans – canned baked beans not withstanding, most beans are not so good straight from the can without heating. You could probably get buy with eating red beans from the can, and refried beans are fine, but you’ll probably get gassy… just saying.
- Canned soup – now, I don’t know about you, but unheated canned soup just seems so unappealing to me. I’d skip this and get some more nuts instead.
- Water – okay, I know what you’re saying – “I need water!” – well, of course you do. But you don’t need to spend $50 on water – there’s this little thing I like to call “the tap” and water comes out of it for free. And now, before the storm, that water is probably fine to drink (obviously if it’s not, you should buy water but you probably do that already so you probably don’t need to stock up). So grab up all your tupperware, all your used soda bottles, water bottles, thermoses, anything with a lid, and fill them from the tap. You can store some in the fridge and some in the freezer. While you’re at it, don’t forget to fill your mop bucket or bathtub with water so that you have something to flush the toilet with if the water main breaks. You’ll thank me later.
So, that’s my 2-cents. What tips have you come up with for preparing for hurricanes, or other storms?
