There's a power outage...are you ready to cook?

Here in NJ we have been experiencing a terrible heat wave along with severe thunder/electrical storms. We have lost power 4 times in the last 3 days. The challenge is to make meals without opening the refridgerator or freezer. You can't run to the grocery store and your neighbors all have power outages as well. You can use anything that you have in your pantry or garden. What meals would you make?

Here's a few I have done:


Spaghetti with Tomato Basil sauce

I have a gas stove, so I just needed to light the pilot. Boil the pasta in salted water. In a fry pan I added olive oil. I cut some cherry tomatoes I had on my counter and sauteed them in the oil. Chopped up some fresh basil from my herb garden, added to the sauce, along with garlic salt and red pepper flake. Cooked for about 3 min., added the pasta, and done.

Weed Salad with Apples and walnuts:

Foraged for some weeds...dandelion, knotweed, chickweed, lambs' quarter, and plantain. sliced up an apple I had on the counter, toasted some walnuts in the pantry, made a quick vinegarette with balsamic, olive oil, honey, dried mustard, salt and pepper.

Tuna and wild mustard greens

Gathered some wild mustard and dandelion greens in my back yard, boiled them in one change of water. Sauteed them in some olive oil and red pepper flake, added some butter (on my counter) and some garlic salt, and a can of drained tuna fish.

Three Bean Salad:

Can of Chick Peas, Can of Black Beans, Can of Lentils, drained rinsed, and tossed with some of the above vinegarette, Dried chives, Parsley, and dill.

S'mores
Toasted marshmallows over my grill, place them between dark chocolate and 2 pieces of graham crackers.

Coffee
Instant coffee, boiled water on my stovetop, added powdered non-dairy creamer, sugar, and cinnamon

So what would you cook? I am running out of ideas...LOL! What other pantry items should I have?

Maria, Coleman makes a dandy drip coffeemaker for use on a gas stove. The boys got one for Gail two Christmases ago, and we have used it on camping trips a few times. Slow, but brews good coffee, so no need for the instant caffeine plonk!

I didn't know anyone drank instant coffee anymore. What about plunger coffee?

The thread reminds of when I was young and we used to camp and there was no electricity. Mum would have a 'safe' in the tree in a position where it would be shaded all day.
The milk still turned, though.

Robert and Sue - The problem is I keep my coffee in the freezer...and I can't open the freezer...that's why I did the instant.

LOL Sue about the milk!

Actually it is a right royal pain where I live when the electricity goes off, as I am on tank water and the pump is operated by electricity. So no water through the plumbing (sink, basin, toilet, etc), which then adds another degree of difficulty. Although we can collect water in buckets from one of the tanks.

If the power went off right now, I think I would probably be eating fruit or snack bars. Love the sound of the weed salad, but not sure if I could identify good to eat weeds from bad ones.

What meals would you make?

Pizza. Of course.

LOL Cynthia...so you just happen to have cheese sitting out on your counter? I take it that canned pineapple and spam are out of the question on this pizza!

I can leave the fridge shut and only open it once to grab the cheese. Everything in the fridge does not spoil instantly. Especially cheese.

I don't get it. You live in New Mexico, so you're unlikely to have in-season tomatoes. Hence you'd use canned. But there's no power! How are you going to use your electric can opener?

What other pantry items should I have?

A generator?

Why, her vintage Army surplus P-38, of course!

We actually have a fully stocked camping bin, with propane stove, the aforementioned drip coffeemaker, etc. the usual times for our power to go out is during an ice or snow storm, with temps low enough to fill the ice chests with necessities from the fridge and set them out on the patio for the duration. Worked back in December!

I don't get it.

I bet there are many things you don't get, and the list is getting longer all the time.

Ohhh, that's cold... real cold!

What other pantry items should I have?

A generator?

Yeah, we're out in the boonies here in Yamhill County. Have a propane generator which kicks in very reliably.

We're thinking about solar panels for our roof. That would help with the frequent short outages we have, not too mention, the environment.

OK, Cynthia, the rules are no going in the Fridge!

The block 2 streets away lost power 2 months ago for 3 days...so I make it a rule not to open the fridge at all.

You could make a cheesless pizza...hmmm, or I wonder if there is any shelf stable cheese?

In the event of a power outage of any duration, I think I'd be less worried about cooking and more worried about getting through the emergency. So I'm thinking all normal dining rules would go out the window, and it would come down to grabbing things on the fly. I'm thinking peanut butter spread on bread (we don't keep our bread in the fridge so I'm within the rules) and fresh fruit. I could probably survive on that for a day or two. If it lasted longer than that, I'd have to get creative. There's always canned beans in the cupboard, and tuna fish. I could boil water on the gas grill and cook pasta and dress it with olive oil.
I guess I'd eat a lot of rice.
This might be a good way to clean out the cupboards!

John, our power goes out quite frequently here...even when there seems to be no reason...it usually last anywhere from 2-8 hrs.

My son is allergic to peanut butter...so we don't have that in our house, but I wonder about Almond or soy butter to keep in the cupboard. Most of our bread is kept in the fridge, but I do keep new packages of crackers in the cupboard. Thanks for the idea! I think I will add some soy butter to my cupboard.

John, our power goes out quite frequently here...even when there seems to be no reason...it usually last anywhere from 2-8 hrs.

Maria, I hope you and others who are prone to frequent power outages, have a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) for your computer. When we moved to our little 'country' block (hence the tank water) we went through a phase of power cuts, almost daily. There I was, in the middle of typing something, and poof, suddenly nothing and work lost.
The UPS (we are now on version 2) has been worth every cent because although the power cuts are now infrequent, they still happen. It keeps the computer going for 12 to 15 minutes and gives you plenty of time to save files and switch off.

As for the cheese, surely something like a hard cheese only needs a cool place, rather than a refrigerator. Those cheese rooms in cheeseries where you see cheese maturing, are not refrigerated, are they?
There is also the disgusting dried Parmesan in shaker things that you keep in the cupboard rather than the fridge. That would do for pizza if all else fails.

Cheers,
Sue