We have lost electricity 6 days (Monday 11 am on August 6, 2020 till Saturday 6 pm on August 16, 2020).
The temperature in the house around that time frame was around 86 degrees F during the day.
We have gas and have used hot water.
We have a household of 7 people including 2 grandparents, my husband and I, and our 3 kids between 4 and 9.
How to Prepare for Long-Term Power Outage
Fire
I made fire in a clay stove outside using charcoal the first day and dry woods from our trees thereafter. The fire took me less than 15 minutes to light and ready to put a pan on it. To light the fire, I used our bank statements I collected for barbecues added a little fat or oil on some papers and topped with dry twigs. I lit with few matches and added 2-3 big woods (1-inch diameter) on top without putting weight on the paper. Within few minutes, the wood had flame and I was ready to cook. I cooked with wood flame.
Pans
I used Lodge cast iron pans to cook and they heated up very quickly making my cooking time very short. I cooked our dinners within 2 hours or less from scratch. The smoke dirtied stainless-steel pans but was easy to clean off with cold ash from the fire. However, a stainless-steel pan took longer to cook each time my parents tried to use it to cook. Cast iron pans have color that made the smoke blend in and it was easy to wash it off after cooking. Food didn’t burn in them much either.
Dinner Meals
Early July, we stocked up on hundred pounds of rice and many pounds of spaghetti. We also stocked up on cans of tomato puree. These are the 3 ingredients in my cooking during that week. I made popcorn on the fire as well on Friday and did miss our family popcorn night routine.
Meat
I decided not to open the freezers. I have canned meat in 2017 and still have a little over one dozen of quart jars of ground beef. That was the meat I used.
Vegetables
I have a vegetable garden and I went in the garden to harvest few greens of sorrel (Rumex acetosa) and added to my sauce.
Breakfast and Lunches
I served dry cereals, popcorn, animal crackers, and roasted peanut. Later when we were able to shop, we purchased grape and bananas on sale and they were served as lunch and breakfast. We stocked up on cereals in July when they were on sale for $0.99 for 12-16oz and purchased 40 boxes. I just used some and peanut as trail mix for the kids’ breakfast.
Light
We used flashlight. Few days later we purchased batteries for flash-light, and battery powered night light for the kids.
What should I have in case of a Power Outage? Power Outrage Tips and Tricks
Build your food supply on budget
We stocked up on food in July for winter and have many months’ worth of shelves staples and freezer staples.
Our shelves staples were very useful to make dinners, and to serve breakfast, and lunches to the kids. They even have snacks between when they felt like it. They were not too hungry. They played more.
Snacks
It is important to have some snacks on hand. We have many pounds of popcorn kernels and could have popcorn if we need it. But we didn’t have many of ready to eat snacks on hand, but we did have enough that week. Snacks I value and should have more of:
Unsalted roasted peanut
Animal cracker
Sweet pretzels
Homemade canning
I canned meat in 2017 and didn’t feel like I want to canne them again as I like them frozen. Now with this incident, I would say it was worth canning some jars of meat to have on hand.
Batteries
Have extra on hand for flashlight, and smoke detector and anything that requires battery to operate in your house.
Battery power night light
They can be used as flashlight as well and can be plugged in outlet when there is electricity. They are worth having few on hand.
Clay Stove
It is a good one to have if you want to cook from scratch as even though mine was meant for charcoal, I was able to just harvest woods on my property and make fire. I have that stove for over 4 years without ever used it until the storm. I purchased it in an Asian store for the purpose of using it outside in summer or during a power loss.
Shopping
Walmart lost power and even with cash my husband could not shop for days. We wanted to purchase more charcoal, LED lamps, batteries, and snacks.
Research proved that Americans have in average 3 days of food supply at home. Thinking the store is there to store food for you to go shopping anytime is a little risky. Without electricity, many stores register draws will not open and the stores would remain close to shoppers.
Freezers
I have 3 chest freezers.
I lost the content of 2 chest freezers including mostly vegetables, ice creams and some freezer staples purchased on sale.
Meat from my third freezer held very well. I put very few meats in the trash. 99% of my meat were still frozen on Sunday morning without plugging the freezer. I cooked some thawed meat that still have ice around them.
Nothing went bad in my 3 chest freezers. I thrash the content of 2 freezers because they were thawed, or half thawed and could cook them all in one day. The vegetables and fruit went to garden to mulch the plants. My freezers were in the basement and I put blankets and bed sheet on them when we lost power.
Anything in my fridge and my fridge freezer went bad and very smelly.
I cleaned the fridge and the freezers and the floor under them.
Some in a city in our state stayed 3 weeks without power. Hopefully they would get their power back soon.
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