And the Lights Went Out...

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:23 am

I was trying without much success to go to sleep last night. I don't know what the problem was. I sleep with a CPAP machine and suddenly I couldn't breathe. I opened my eyes in surprise and discovered that the electricity had gone off. This is extremely unusual as our electric lines are buried. Only about six houses were affected, as we could see lights down the street on both sides of us. We called the electric company, and a man came and banged around on the street-level box and left again. This worried me because the last time the electricity went off it took close to 18 hours for it to come back on as they had to dig under the street-level box to fix whatever was wrong. They were even talking about rigging up temporary electric lines because it was such a tough problem to figure out.

Anyway, we were only without electricity for about two hours. But it left me with a question. I had cooked some chicken at suppertime so I would have had leftover chicken to eat if the electricity had stayed off. But what if I hadn't? All my other protein sources require cooking except for tuna. Fortunately, I have a manual can opener, but if not, even that would have been denied me. What do you have available for protein in emergencies?

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:40 am

Nuts or nut butter. (That's what I always have available). I think it's Dr. Fine's main source of protein.

I can understand your concern.. I always wonder what will happen to me in the nursing home if no one can let them know about my food sensitivities. Will I end up with constant D? Horrors.

Hugs,

Polly

Post by **tex** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:45 am

They may be sort of primitive, but outdoor grills will still work during any power failure, and you can cook just about anything on them, (maybe not as easily), but it can be done, and since cooking meat is their forte, just keeping a few bags of charcoal briquettes on hand should get you through most power failures.

Solar ovens work, also, but they may not be a great choice in the PNW.

Tex

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:16 am

That's no fun when the electrons stop flowing...I'm with Tex, a small grill that uses eithier propane or charcoal is the way to go. If space is an issue Webber makes an outdoor tabletop grill that uses a small bottle of propane. I do most of my cooking on the weekends to get all of my meals done for the week and in the nicer weather I try to cook on the grill as foods just taste great.

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:32 am

Marliss,

We had this a few weeks ago, before I started the MRT diet. I was eating salmon at the time, and ate it canned that day. Salmon has been nixed now, and right now I would have nothing.
It is scary.

I need to invest in an outdoor grill and make space on my balcony.

desertrat · Post by **desertrat** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 4:26 pm

Outdoor grills are great IF it is not rainy, or snowing, or whatever the weather condition is that caused the electricity to go out. Invest in a four dollar can of Heat Cell http://www.heatcell.com/ (like sterno, but environmentally safe, can be used indoors and heats much faster and hotter than sterno). By the little foldable stove top that fits over it and you will have a nice cooked meal within minutes! As for a solar oven, they are great, but expensive and it takes time to cook your food --like all day.

Mandy

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:12 pm

Where you posted you need to order a whole case. Where do you buy a few?

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:32 pm

Polly wrote:I can understand your concern.. I always wonder what will happen to me in the nursing home if no one can let them know about my food sensitivities. Will I end up with constant D? Horrors.

I have the same concerns. My mother lived in a nursing home for 18 years, so it's on my mind. I think they would put a diaper on us and change it once a day. I dread the day and hope it never happens. But will my DDs know how to prepare meals for me? Any way you slice it, we'll be at the mercy of others.

Marliss wrote:What do you have available for protein in emergencies?

I have been buying cans of turkey at Sam's Club. I've also been canning a few jars every time I make turkey broth. We have an outdoor grill, and a propane stove. I would probably heat the turkey and broth on the propane stove. We have some cans of Sterno, too.

DH wants to get a generator hooked up to the gas line so we have power during long outages. Some homes in my neighborhood had no electricity for a week last summer. We were lucky that we were out just a couple of days.

Gloria

desertrat · Post by **desertrat** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:54 pm

Lesley,

You can purchase them (Heat Cell) online at Ebay, or even find them at camping stores like REI or survival sites like Emergencies Essentials. http://beprepared.com/search.asp?t=ss&s ... image1.y=3

Mandy

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:30 am

Excellent Ideas, everybody. Thank you! we have a Coleman stove, and a can of Coleman fuel. I thought about the Coleman lantern, but didn't think about the stove. My husband would be thrilled if we got a grill. If he would clean it, I would consider it, lol. i like the heat cell idea.

When I was a teen, we were without electricity for three days because of an ice storm. We kept warm by the fire and heated soup in a fondue pot. That was a miserable time. I don't know the reason the electricity went out here. Since the lines are buried, we don't have weather- or animal-caused outages. I guess something just burned out. There wasn't a massive need for electricity at 12:49am that would have flipped a breaker, or whatever is in that mysterious box out there at the curb.

Wow, nursing home... I just hope I end up living with one of my four kids. My M-I-L is in a nursing home, but she has severe loss of short-term memory from strokes. She needs the routine and familiarity she has there that she would not have if she lived with a relative.

I figured out the reason i was still awake is Daylight Savings Time. My circadian rhythm goes from 11pm to 6:30am, so now it's midnight to 7:30am. Last night I lay awake until after midnight again. I suspect I am starting to got through "the change" as well. Grr... Since i have to be awake by 6:30am, I am not a happy camper.

Thanks again, all! I feel better about having something to eat in an emergency now.

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:52 pm

I am getting a grill, and some of those heat cans. I will be very happy if I finally figure out a diet on which I can live with no problems.

I also feel better about it.

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:56 pm

Lesley here are a couple of good models for a small outdoor tabletop grill that would work well on a balcony

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Weber-Gas-Go- ... u=10756110

Or a little more robust model (I use this one for camping)

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Weber-Q-200-G ... l/10756097

Post by **tex** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:02 am

Here's my 2 cents worth on grills:

IMO, gas grills are OK for cooking lean meats and other foods, as long as you learn how to properly regulate it, and you watch it carefully, but I've never had much luck with them, because I almost always cook meats with a high fat content, and and on a gas grill, the drippings are constantly catching fire, because of the open flame. That gets on my nerves, bigtime, (and it doesn't help the quality of the food, nor the esthetics of the entire experience, either.

A gas grill does, however, offer convenience, because you don't have to remove the ashes, every time you want to use it, and it's a piece of cake to set the temp wherever you want it. It's about as close to cooking on a conventional stove/range as you can get, with a grill. So if you want to replace a conventional stove, (in an emergency), it could be used basically the same way as a regular kitchen stove/range. Of course, if a grill is to be used in a "camping out" situation, then "similar to cooking on a range" is usually not desirable, since it detracts from the outdoor experience. But that's just my opinion, and has to do with the primal smell of wood smoke, etc.

It's sooooo much easier to do a good job of cooking meats, especially, on a charcoal briquette-fired grill, (IMO), because it won't catch on fire, (unless you try to cook at a temp that's waaaaaaaaay too high), and the meat ends up with much better flavor, (without having to add artificial smoke flavor, or other chemicals). The disadvantages, of course, are that it takes more time, you have to dispose of the ashes, and you have to learn how to get the briquettes started burning, (evenly), which adds 30 or 40 minutes usually, to the prep time. Getting all those briquettes burning, uniformly, (and learning the hot spots and "cool" spots on your grill, and how to rotate the meat over those locations), can make the difference between turning out food that is delicious, (but common), and creating food that is truly gourmet quality.

Yep, I'm a charcoal grill fan.

Tex

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:18 am

Hi tex ...most certainly agree on temperature and flavor overall. I've gone one step further and have switched over to cooking with hardwoods including hickory, mesquite, oak, cherry, maple etc.. I usually will pair the wood or woods for the type of meat being cooked. As you mentioned for an emergency cook setup gas is quick and easy, but does have to be watched. I ended up choosing the webber Q grill for a camping gas grill, as it does allow good heat control and does a better job of isolating the drippings from the flame.

Here is an example of some good slow cooked GF SF DF ribs with homemade sauce, slow cooked for 6 hours over a cherry wood fire, finished for about a half hour with mesquite.

(I'm far more at home on the grill than the kitchen)

Post by **tex** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:51 am

Now that's more like it.

Man, those are good lookin' ribs.

I hear you. I'd like to use wood, too, but unfortunately, the only wood that's suitable, that grows around here, in any significant quantity, is mesquite, and as you know, that stuff burns mighty hot. You have to watch it like a hawk.

Thanks for the photos. Now I'm hungry, and it's too early to be thinking about eating again.

Tex