I receive a weekly gluten free online newsletter. With permission, I share last Friday's (April 29, 2011) newsletter. Although she is speaking specifically of gluten free foods, it all applies to everyone, regardless of what we typically eat.
Staying Gluten Free in an Emergency
Yesterday my husband and I drove through the community of
Phil Campbell Alabama. An enormous tornado whipped through
that town Wednesday afternoon and miles and miles of homes
were completely destroyed. We didn't even realize that we
were getting close to the town as we drove because all of the
physical landmarks were completely gone. Homeowners stood by
the road looking at a landscape of debris trying to figure out
what to do next. And unfortunately, the same sort of scene
could be found throughout Alabama yesterday.
Our house did not sustain any damage - a tornado went by in
the air early Wednesday morning while we were asleep and a
tree fell to within feet of our home. As I saw the
destruction yesterday and read more coverage online, I began
to think about whether our pantry reserves are large enough
and whether we were prepared to obtain and cook gluten free
food during an extended emergency period. Unfortunately, the
answers were "No" and "No".
Here are a few lessons learned from our experience.
Lesson #1: Having cash on hand is essential.
We use debit cards or online banking for 99% of our
transactions. However, when the power is out debit cards and
online banking are useless. And unless your bank has a
generator you won't be able to get cash from the bank or ATM.
We ate breakfast at Waffle House on Wednesday morning (beware
cross-contact from the grill) and they let us leave a check
until we were able to get cash from an ATM and come back and
pay our bill.
Lesson #2: Food preservation requires planning.
I was pleased that we were able to salvage most of the food in
our refrigerator and freezer. We have one large cooler and I
packed it full with frozen fruits and vegetables and the
refrigerator perishables. There was enough frozen food that
we didn't need (or have room for) ice, but everything kept
cool for two days.
In the past we've stored lots of food in an upright
freezer. I'm not longer a fan of this because there is the
potential to lose so much food in a power outage. Unless a
generator is available, I think canned food storage is the way
to go for food stores that cannot be consumed within 48 hours.
Lesson #3: Heat is required to cook. We
ended up leaving Birmingham and going to my parent's farmhouse
because they have a gas stove. We knew that the power might
be out there, but at least we'd be able to cook easily.
(Little did we know that the tornado devastation near the
farmhouse was much worse than what we had at home).
If that hadn't been available, then we would have needed to cook on the grill. I've done some grill cooking in pots, but not much. It's something that I plan to practice.Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a gas campstove available for emergencies. If none of these are an option, then I think it would be good to keep produce on hand that keeps well. We ate a good bit of salad and fresh fruit while the power was out.
If that hadn't been available, then we would have needed to cook on the grill. I've done some grill cooking in pots, but not much. It's something that I plan to practice.Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a gas campstove available for emergencies. If none of these are an option, then I think it would be good to keep produce on hand that keeps well. We ate a good bit of salad and fresh fruit while the power was out.
Lesson #4: A stash of GF convenience foods will
keep you sane. I don't keep a lot of GF processed
foods on hand. We're not eating a lot of grain-based foods
right now, and when we do I generally make it by hand. That
being said, I was very grateful for my Mom's stash of GF food
that she keeps at the farm. It was so helpful to be able to
whip up a batch of GF pancakes for the kids on Thursday
morning (Thank you, Betty Crocker and Mom).
John and I talk a good bit about gluten free food stashes
in our ebook, The Gluten Free Survival Guide.
After the past two days, I think we need to restock the food
stash in the Yukon. Cheetos, nuts, juice boxes, and bottled
water go a long way towards keeping everyone happy if you need
to drive out of a disaster area. (On that note, I'm also
thinking that I'd like to keep more gas in the Yukon)
Lesson #5: Be prepared for the long-haul
Between my pantry and the food Mom had left at the farm, I was
able to cook very good meals without doing any shopping for
two days. However, if we had been without power for a longer
period, then we would have been having some very strange meals
and run out of food pretty quickly. Some communities in
Alabama will not have power for at least a week (the main
transmission lines in many areas of the state were
destroyed). Ice storms in the winter can knock out the power
for two - three weeks.
Based on my experience this week I can count on frozen food
for 2 days refrigerator food for 2 - 3 days, fresh produce for
2 - 5 days, and canned food indefinitely.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
I've sent this recipe out before, but it's such a good
one. Only 4 ingredients, and it's stuff that you usually have
around the house. As long as you have a gas stove (or can
figure out how to bake over a grill), then this cookies will
go a long way towards cheering you up.
1 c. sugar
1 c. peanut butter
1 large egg
1 c. peanut butter
1 large egg
1/4 - 1/2 c. chocolate chips
Mix sugar, peanut butter and egg together until thoroughly
combined. Stir in chocolate chips and refrigerate for 15
minutes. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough onto a baking sheet.
If you put plenty of space between them then they are less
likely to run together.Bake at 350 for approximately 15
minutes (but it may take more). The will be slightly browned,
but still soft when they are done. Let them cool for a few
minutes before removing them from the bakings sheet and they
will harden up a bit.
Hopefully we'll be back to a somewhat normal schedule next week. We are having a huge yard sale this weekend to sell all of the stuff that we won't be taking with us when we move. It's been amazing to see how much stuff we've put into the garage and haven't missed at all. However, due to the two days that were lost due to power outages, John and I have a ton of work to do tonight to get everything ready.
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