With the coronavirus, as well as tornado season upon us, I thought it would be nice to explore some recipes and ideas that may be helpful to a person when dealing with an emergency. The first part of the diary will deal with food preparation during a natural disaster. At the end of the diary, I included what I hope will be some useful help tips that will help people during the coronavirus outbreak.
First of all, it is always useful to have a good supply of various non-perishable foods on hand. I have never been a fan, however, of having a bunker full of freeze dried "emergency" food—instead, keep a good supply of canned or dry items in your pantry that you will actually eat and use on a regular basis. It is a waste to buy foods you never expect to eat except after a disaster--chances are good your emergency stash will go bad before you have a chance to use it. If you make a point of mainly staying stocked up on items you use on a regular basis, you will be naturally rotating your supplies, making it less likely you will have to throw a lot of stuff away because it spoiled before you could use it. Note that many foods are still perfectly edible for a period of time after the "use by" date on the label--here is a website that gives detailed information of the actual shelf life of a wide variety of foods.
If the power goes out during a storm, the food in your freezer will likely last at least a few days before it thaws out and goes bad. The stuff in your fridge, however, will probably go bad within about 24 hours or so, or after the inside of the fridge stays at a temperature above 41 degrees for more than a few hours. You might extend the life of your fridge stuff a little longer--perhaps as much as a day--by putting a block of ice in the fridge in order to help it stay cold. If you know ahead of time that the power may be going out, you can freeze things such as milk and other dairy products, meat, and leftovers. Check out the this article on the fda.gov website for more details.
You will want to use up the stuff in your fridge first—starting with the milk, meats, and other easily perishable items. Note that many fresh, uncut vegetables and fruits, however, will keep just fine at room temperature for at least a few days.
Next, after you have have used all you can from your fridge, it will be time to start using your freezer items. This can be heartbreaking if you have a lot of stuff in the freezer you know you won't be able to use before it goes bad. Now would be a good time to consider whether or not your neighbors are in need of food--better to give it away to a person who will use it than to let it sit in your freezer and spoil. I will never forget my parents once trying to pressure-can all the meat we had in our freezer over a wood stove one summer after a storm knocked the power out for about a week.
Another major problem you may have to deal with is figuring out a way to cook--if you don't have electricity or gas, you will have to figure out a way to cook over a wood fire. You can do this in a bbq grill, even if you don't have charcoal. If you don't have a charcoal grill, one way you can build a cooking fire is to take a wire rack of some sort, and lay it across two concrete blocks or even two stacks of rocks. Dig a slight pit under it and build a little cooking fire. There are tons of youtube videos that will show you how to build a fire out of wood outdoors--if you are unfamiliar with how to do this, it's a good idea to take some time to watch a few of these before disaster strikes.
If you live in an area where you may experience natural disasters that may result in losing access to clean water, you might want to think about ingredients you can incorporate into recipes that can be a substitute for using water--for example, you can use canned chicken broth or tomato juice as a substitute for water in many soups or stews. In other recipes,such as gravies or other recipes that call for milk, use canned evaporated milk. In instant mashed potatoes, evaporated milk can substitute for all of the water you would normally use in preparing these.
A little cooking oil, shortening, or in some cases, the fat rendered off a previously cooked piece of meat can be used in the place of butter or margarine in many recipes. Here is an extensive list of ingredient substitutes that are handy to have on hand. Print this information out and keep it in a place where you can access it in an emergency.
You can now buy precooked pasta or rice in little shelf stable packages for a very reasonable price—I have noticed the price of these items has come down in the last year or so, making them economical enough for regular, everyday use. These can be a great convenience during normal times when you are in a rush to get dinner on the table, and particularly useful if you lack access to clean water after a natural disaster. Just add a jar or can of the sauce of your choice and heat through.
It is a good idea to keep things like canned soups and stews on hand, along with various types of canned meats or meat containing dishes. Boxed potatoes, rice side dishes, pasta side dishes, gravy mixes, and stovetop stuffing are also handy and versatile items to keep stashed away in your pantry.
Here's a few quick, easily prepared recipes that use only shelf stable ingredients. Use these ideas to spark your imagination, and think of ways you can make dishes you and your family will like.
Campfire Spam "Jambalya"
Place all ingredients in a fire-safe large skillet or dutch oven and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened and heated through.
Corned Beef Chili
Just throw everything into a cooking pot and heat until onions are cooked.
Pantry Chicken and Dumpling Stew
Prepare the dumplings by combining the Bisquick with about 1/2 cup of chicken broth to form a dough. Roll into 1 inch balls and set aside. Into a medium saucepan, pour the remainder of the chicken broth, plus the liquid drained from the carrots and the chicken. Add seasonings if desired. Bring to a boil, then add the dumplings. Cook, frequently pressing the dumplings down into the liquid with the back of a spoon so they cook evenly. This should take 7 or 8 minutes. Gently stir in carrots and chicken, then heat through and serve.
The issues posed by the coronavirus are unlikely to result in a loss of power or clean water as one would expect during a natural disaster--instead, the main issue for many will be obtaining food without getting exposed to the virus, and being able to afford to eat if you end up losing income due to being unable to work.
The easiest way to avoid being exposed to the coronavirus at the grocery store is the just not go in the first place. Many grocery stores now offer the option of having groceries delivered--my local Kroger only charges $10 to deliver groceries, though they have a minimum order of $75. Some Walmarts also offer delivery services. Instacart--the delivery service used by many supermarkets—will even allow you to specify that the groceries simply be left on the porch so you don't have to interact with anyone at all.
If delivery services are not an option, you can also opt to order and pay for your groceries online, and then pick them up at the store. You don't even have to go inside--stores that offer this option usually have designated parking spots for grocery pick-up. When you arrive at the store, you just call the number posted by the parking area to let them know you are there. In a few minutes, an employee will bring out your order. This way, you only have to interact with one person, instead of exposing yourself to a whole store full of people.
If neither of these is an option in your community, then the best option is to try to shop at the times of day when there are fewest people--either early in the morning or late at night. If the store offers them, wipe down your cart with disinfecting wipes, or bring your own.
A bigger problem for many people is the financial hardship that having to be off work for weeks or even months can lead to— especially lower income workers, who are already struggling to get by. Expect the food banks to be stretched extremely thin should the coronavirus outbreak lead to widespread layoffs and job losses, especially if the amounts of food assistance and paid leave available to these workers are inadequate to meet their needs. I will be shocked if Trump and the Republican controlled Senate actually vote to approve anything that will actually help the struggling families in this country.
As I have learned during my own financial hardships over the past few months of being sick, affording to eat during a time like this often requires a person to buy a lot of cheap, processed food, especially if you are too ill to do a lot of cooking. Certain staple foods such as dry beans and rice are also useful.
Carefully shopping the sales at your local stores can also be helpful--if your store offers digital coupons, make use of them— and if you are having your groceries delivered or are picking them up, you can also use both digital and paper coupons. I also use a coupon clipping service--you can actually pick the coupons you want to use and have them delivered for a very small fee. I order them on the day the sale paper for our local Kroger is shown on the website, and they usually arrive within a few days. The paper coupons are often the same as the digital coupons offered by the supermarkets, making it possible to buy multiples of the same item for cheap if you use coupons on items that are on sale.
Also, now that it is spring, it will soon be time to start planting vegetable gardens. By the first of April, it will be possible to plant greens such as leaf lettuce, kale and spinach, as well as cabbage and radishes--many of these are early crops that grow very quickly and can be planted multiple times throughout the year. Most seeds can be purchased very inexpensively. Maybe I will do a future diary on ways to grow a small garden in either a small plot or containers.
So here area few of my ideas for making it through natural disasters and other crisis situations—so what tips and tricks do all of you have to share?
Also, three cheers for pixxer, who edited and critiqued parts of this diary for me--she was such an enormous help to me this week since the chemo induced headaches I have been having made it harder for me to stare at the computer screen for long periods of time.
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