Power outage Menues

[Weighless]

"Digital, dial, or instant-read food thermometers and appliance thermometers will help you know if the food is at safe temperatures. Keep appliance thermometers in the refrigerator and freezer at all times. When the power is out, an appliance thermometer will always indicate the temperature in the refrigerator and freezer no matter how long the power has been out. The refrigerator temperature should be 40 ºF or below; the freezer, 0 ºF or lower. If you’re not sure a particular food is cold enough, take its temperature with a food thermometer."


Taken from here: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets...ency/index.asp

This has an excellant listing at the bottom of the page to help with decisions what to keep or discard after an outage.

[Barbde]

Originally Posted by MotherOfGizmo

Yep, we were just discussing our "hurricane prepardeness kit!" Getting things in order just in case.

Me too Mog. Sigh.
Well, we have a generator so we are able to keep the frig running. Got lots of stuff for the grill. And made sure I got veggies. Last time it was FOREVER before the stores got restocked with fresh foods.

[not2late]

Oh yeah, be sure to have manual gadgets like can openers around...electric can openers won't work if you have no electricity!

And medications: if you are evacuated, be sure to bring your medications with you! I read somewhere that the some of the Katrina evacuees did not bring their medications and it made their medical treatment 100 times harder because the emergency centers weren't stocked with them.

[MotherOfGizmo]

Good luck Barb! We don't have a generator, but I have a freezer full off frozen meats, I'm going to put some gallon jugs of water in there tonite so I'll be able to keep things frozen for a few days if need be. It looks like we'll probably just end up with a lot of rain is all. I hope it misses you guys!

[Barbde]

Thanks Mog. You stay safe too. It looks like it may strenghten after it leaves the State of Florida!
Another thing that I do to prepare for this is COOK up a lot of my stuff ahead of time. Like today, roasting a chicken, cooked up some pasta (for the boys) with sauce, etc. That way it's already prepared and can be eaten cold. We have a stockpile of coolers also, with ice. So food can be kept in them as well. Really, you just have to plan for "camping out".
ATM machines generally go down in these things. Make sure you have some cash on hand for after the storm passes!

[Atkid]

Mogs and Barb, are you two in the direct hit of things? Hope everything goes okay for you. Hopefully, it won't be any higher than a Cat. 1.

[Barbde]

We should be OK Atkid. Strong tropical storm is the last prediction. We have shutters, we have the generator. We have a new roof and garage door thanks to Frances and Jeanne. The biggest upset is probably going to be rain. And we need it bad. And then, of course, the power outage. The aftermath of the storms are the worst.

Hey Mog. I started filling freezer bags with water and laying them flat in the freezer to freeze them. You can get a lot more in there that way and they are more easily "molded" around food and stuff too!