Meals during EMERGENCY

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With all that went on in Texas and Florida, it got me thinking.

If the electric power goes out,
If the Generator won't start,
I got rid of my propane grill (to much to clean after each use) replaced with an Indoor Grill (similar to a George Foreman)

How could I make some simple meals ?
This is what I bought: Small Burner you screw onto a fuel tank.
I'll probably never use it, but in an emergency it would be handy.
Just thought I'd post a photo incase it would help anyone.
I live near Buffalo NY and mostly prepare for Snow & Ice emergencies.

 
It's surprising how many people forget about their outdoor grill when the power goes out.

If you are buying a propane grill, spend the little bit extra for a side burner. Or just put the pans directly on the grill. It's not efficient to boil all of your water, but it's good enough to heat up food.

That doesn't help you if you need to evacuate, but hot meals won't be your immediate concern.

As for canned water.. that's pointless. A can of water is expensive and won't go very far. Use cans for dense nutrition that can be eaten directly from the can, warm or cold. (A thumbs-up on the beef stew and condensed soup.) Use the space for a filter or sanitizing tables.
 
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I used to live in Katy and have a Katy neighbor and his family staying with us now. What the rain didn't take the looters got. Anyhow, when I lived there several neighbors found out about my stash of food, water, and other supplies prepared for long-term storage and they did the same. I'm hearing that it came in real handy. To celebrate my new house guests we have been making meals out of my current stash. I think it tastes great because of what it represents, meals in a time of need without outside help. This may sound silly but everyone here agrees with me. We had a great time opening packages, bottles, and containers and working up meals. We're going to "rotate" all this stuff and I'll start a new stash. This helped turn some sad times into a temporary distraction and a good time was had by all.
 
I try to keep a relatively fresh stock of MREs for 'gotta go' type situations. For long term storage, I have mountain house #10 cans. And then I have a few NATO water cans that sit in storage.

If there were ever a major disastrous event, you need to fill up that bath tub ASAP along with any other large container you have. Potable water matters more than food.

I'm not too worried about heat to cook food - Fire is one of the simplest things that mankind has figured out.
 
the 3 big cans with some tweaking + some sand/gravel, can be made into a mini-rocket stove which could burn pretty much anything combustible.....(outdoor of course)

some candles in a pinch

probably you need either water in 1 gal/5gal, or an emergency/outdoor type water filtration system...

if cold weather, get everybody bunched in as close(and safe) as possible to the heat source.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
I used to live in Katy and have a Katy neighbor and his family staying with us now. What the rain didn't take the looters got. Anyhow, when I lived there several neighbors found out about my stash of food, water, and other supplies prepared for long-term storage and they did the same. I'm hearing that it came in real handy. To celebrate my new house guests we have been making meals out of my current stash. I think it tastes great because of what it represents, meals in a time of need without outside help. This may sound silly but everyone here agrees with me. We had a great time opening packages, bottles, and containers and working up meals. We're going to "rotate" all this stuff and I'll start a new stash. This helped turn some sad times into a temporary distraction and a good time was had by all.


Will they return to Texas or decided on a new life in California ?

Nice of you to open your home to former neighbor.
 
We've been living off grid since the start of hurricane Erma. Meals are no problem. One good thing to have is cans of tuna and bread for sandwiches. Along with plenty to drink. I've been working outside in the yard cleaning up. Consuming tons of water, about double or triple my norm.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
I used to live in Katy and have a Katy neighbor and his family staying with us now. What the rain didn't take the looters got. Anyhow, when I lived there several neighbors found out about my stash of food, water, and other supplies prepared for long-term storage and they did the same. I'm hearing that it came in real handy. To celebrate my new house guests we have been making meals out of my current stash. I think it tastes great because of what it represents, meals in a time of need without outside help. This may sound silly but everyone here agrees with me. We had a great time opening packages, bottles, and containers and working up meals. We're going to "rotate" all this stuff and I'll start a new stash. This helped turn some sad times into a temporary distraction and a good time was had by all.

May I add another point-of-view?
It is also a teaching experience... Not a lot of people know how to cook from scratch/with limited supplies...
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
...Meals are no problem. One good thing to have is cans of tuna and bread for sandwiches. ...

pasta/rice
tuna
oil/lard
onion/garlic
tomato sauce/paste

Palm hearts...oranges....etc

I wonder how the FL indigens survived? What local stuff did they eat?


P.S. Does hanging a few alligator skins on the fence may resolve your bad neighbors problems :p ?
 
Originally Posted By: larryinnewyork
With all that went on in Texas and Florida, it got me thinking.

If the electric power goes out,
If the Generator won't start,
I got rid of my propane grill (to much to clean after each use) replaced with an Indoor Grill (similar to a George Foreman)

How could I make some simple meals ?
This is what I bought: Small Burner you screw onto a fuel tank.
I'll probably never use it, but in an emergency it would be handy.
Just thought I'd post a photo incase it would help anyone.
I live near Buffalo NY and mostly prepare for Snow & Ice emergencies.




The only emergency at my house is when my wife has to cook more than this....Apparently we are in a state of perpetual emergency. "Nutrient dense" in our repertoire is peanut butter or that peanut mash the UN hands out. Just like most major disasters - You're on your own around here brother.
 
Most likely earthquake than anything else, we are pretty far from the shore. Power outage is not an emergency to me.

Live in a dense city so there must be something for the 800k or more of us around here. In the worse case, I have a lot of canned food I can eat cold, and a outdoor propane grill with 30 lb (around?) of propane left in it, so I can grill or boil something from the freezer. If that is still not enough I have some scrap pieces of 2x4 I can burn on that grill to cook something simple with our neighbor. He has a vegetable garden and I have the propane.

If we ran out of all the above, we also live next to a Target so I can probably pickup some damaged stuff in their trash bin during the cleanup effort.
 
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Originally Posted By: Reddy45
I try to keep a relatively fresh stock of MREs for 'gotta go' type situations. For long term storage, I have mountain house #10 cans. And then I have a few NATO water cans that sit in storage.

If there were ever a major disastrous event, you need to fill up that bath tub ASAP along with any other large container you have. Potable water matters more than food.

I'm not too worried about heat to cook food - Fire is one of the simplest things that mankind has figured out.


In the aftermath of a Cat-4 you will have likely lost your roof and finding dry fuel sources is not very easy. Besides a fire made of these various materials create much unwanted byproduct smoke compared to a small fuel canister pictured.

A small camp stove is very smart of the OP and doubles for boiling water for sterilizing utensils and for First Aid. All things to consider in a severe weather event.

And the suggestion of cold soup is from someone who has no experience because a hot meal is a huge morale booster and good for strength. Anyone with an infantry background will tell you that.

Thumb up to the OP.

But swap the canned water for canned milk and get big jugs of water AND a water purifier--either chemical (Iodine) and/or mechanical (fitration) work great.
Water shortage was the greatest risk along the coast due to the threat of lift stations being shut off.
 
If you pop the top off the soup can, and rip the label off, you can stick the can right on the burner. No need to dirty up a pan.

Years ago I worked in a guard tower at a prison for 12 hour shifts. No lunch break, no microwave, no fridge. They did have a coffee pot, and I used it as a hot plate to heat up a can of soup or my lunch on occasion.
 
Originally Posted By: Pajero
MRE's are great!


I have a few cases of them. They are great to take along while travelling. And of course, for emergencies. But good-fresh ones are not all that cheap, at about $100 Per case.
 
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