Power outage meal ideas?

[Jen12573]

In advance of Irene, we are anticipating 2-3 days without power. What ideas can you suggest, on a budget, for meals? DH won't eat tuna, we have bread, PB&J, I'll make some pasta salad that can be kept on ice or eaten at room temp made with oil & vinegar. I just can't think of other non-perishables. Any suggestions?

Thanks!
Signed, in the path of Irene in a power outage prone area ;-)

 

[si-am]

Do you have a gas stove? That opens up a lot of other options. If not... maybe chips and salsa? Or crackers with summer sausage and cheese that doesn't require refrigeration (think Hickory Farms type stuff).

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We usually have already cooked bacon in the house which can be used to make BLT's in a pinch.

Do you like cold fried chicken or cold grilled chicken? You could cook that up in advance and eat those first. Or make some chicken salad that you could keep cold in an ice chest with ice.

Do you have a camping stove and some propane? You could do alot with something like that.

I'm guessing you don't have an outside gas grill. I know when we lost power for 2 days due to an ice storm, we cooked on that outside.

 

[Madison'smommy]

I would have a few things in the freezer, and use the grill outside, to cook them.

Good luck! Stay safe!

 

[Jen12573]

No gas stove (wow I miss our old apartment)

Bacon is a great idea, thanks! We'll grill on the charcoal grill once the rain stops, I'm thinking mostly about while it rains on Saturday and Sunday.

Thanks! Terrific ideas! I love fried chicken, cold. Ooh and I'll also make my black bean, rice and corn salad tomorrow.

 

[kerplop]

Last year we went and stocked up on everything in a can. DP ate pork n beans and vienna sausages. We had beef jerky, canned fruit, canned veggies, Spam (ewwww) sandwiches, pb&j, applesauce from cups, crackers and cheese with smoked sausage. If there's time you might even see about scoring some MREs from an Army surplus store, though they're expensive.

Edit: Oh and I feel like I should add we had no power for 7 days, so it kept us pretty well fed for two grownups. Make sure you have enough water though, that's the most important part especially in summer!

 

[Jen12573]

Last year we went and stocked up on everything in a can. DP ate pork n beans and vienna sausages. We had beef jerky, canned fruit, canned veggies, Spam (ewwww) sandwiches, pb&j, applesauce from cups, crackers and cheese with smoked sausage. If there's time you might even see about scoring some MREs from an Army surplus store, though they're expensive.

Edit: Oh and I feel like I should add we had no power for 7 days, so it kept us pretty well fed for two grownups. Make sure you have enough water though, that's the most important part especially in summer!

It's funny you mention MREs, I work and live at a military school and we've reserved those for the cadets just in case. LOL.

I just filled 8 32oz bottles with water from our Brita, we should be ok for a bit. I'll fill more tomorrow too. Freezer is stocked with ice too. I can't wait for an excuse to nap and do nothing with DH!

BE SAFE EVERYONE!

 

[pesto78749]

We grilled on the propane grill. BBQ chicken, hot dogs, burgers, anything that needs to be used in the freezer so it doesn,t go bad! I even did pizza on the grill and a Sara lee coffee cake! Also, you can have lunch meat sandwiches or pb and j. We lived thru a hurricane in Houston with no power for a week!,

 

[brettgirl]

I made muffins for breakfasts. I also froze the juice boxes I had (will keep freezer cold and be cold).

Make coffee/tea before the power goes out-you can drink it cold, but get the morning "jolt" you need.

I am filling a cooler with ice for the refrigerator "musts" so we do have to keep opening it. Also froze two gallon jugs to be placed in refrige to keep it cold.

good luck, hope ours is not out too long either-we can't even flush or use the water with no power.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

How about using canned Sterno to heat things up? You could stock up on shelf-stable meals - either canned or packaged - and heat them up over Sterno. You could even eat them cold since they're already cooked. I'm thinking of things like beef stew, canned spaghetti, soup, etc. If you can heat up water, you can get those individual cups of soup, mac and cheese and noodles. Growing up, I remember that our family had a "stinger." It was a curly metal thing that you would put into a cup of water to heat it up. It plugged into the lighter in the car. If you had one of those, you could sit in the car and make coffee, tea and soup!

I really feel for everyone who lives in hurricane country. Good luck and stay safe!

 

[Gigi22]

Do you have a fondue pot and fuel? You can cook meat and veg. in consommé or bouillon.

 

[kiddisney]

hi - we're expecting power to go out also - so we're looking at muffins - cereal (the kids love cereal at dinner) - cold sliced chicken & turkey - shrimp pasta salad (already made the pasta) - this is during the rain - and then bbq when it stops - good luck

 

[A Mickeyfan]

after 3 weeks of no electric when Charley hit.. I ended up having to resort to eating cold spaghettio's and ravioli's out of the can (don't forget a manual can opener!). We ate what we had in the fridge, we could only eat so much PB&J. We had no way to cook anything, we had no water (we had well water and without electric, you have no water).. it was horrible! I don't wish that on anyone.. There were no meal plannings.. it was eat what we could..

 

[prncess674]

Go for easy and things you wouldn't always allow. Eat what is going to spoil first!

 

[herdtoDisney]

In advance of Irene, we are anticipating 2-3 days without power. What ideas can you suggest, on a budget, for meals? DH won't eat tuna, we have bread, PB&J, I'll make some pasta salad that can be kept on ice or eaten at room temp made with oil & vinegar. I just can't think of other non-perishables. Any suggestions?

Thanks!
Signed, in the path of Irene in a power outage prone area ;-)

I got some canned pasta meals. You can get chicken in a can, since he won't eat the tuna. Cereal for breakfast with shelf stable milk-I got it at Dollar Tree-hey, cereal for dinner if you want I think your pasta salad idea is a great one, in fact I might do that

 

[Jen12573]

Thanks so much everyone, all terrific ideas. I'm hitting the Farmer's Market tomorrow before the storm to get some veggies and fruit. Since Ranch dressing is stable in the cabinet until opened, we have dip, then I'll stick it in ice.

Great idea about the cooler for 'things you frequently go in the fridge for'. I picked up a cooler on sale yesterday, we have one but it's small. I love this idea.

Good luck everyone. Thanks again. And who knows, we may have beer, pretzels and Cheetos for dinner, muffins for breakfast and melting ice cream for lunch!

 

[M5ward]

This is depressing.. We will probably lose our power too. I am emptying the ice maker as it fills and putting the ice cubes in plastic bags to help keep things cold as long as possible. Freezing the juice boxes is a geat suggestion. My daughter-in-law is freezing milk in anticipation of not having power for a few days (I hope that's not the case because I will melt with no AC.). She has a lot of frozen breast milk and is hoping that a friend with a generator will have room to store it if necessary. I guess we'll survive on PB&J, raisin bread, deli turkey sandwiches, and salad for as long as I can keep stuff cold.

 

[riley2008]

Aahhh...the memories! (Claudette 2003, pregnant with my boys)

I was lucky when our last hurricane hit....6 houses in our neighborhood got power after 8 hours as we were connected to the main thoroughfare!

My mother, who lives next to the local university was out 7 days. (My house was packed with people and my freezers full too! and extension cords to two neighbors.)

That said, neighbors were GREAT during that time. Everyone was eating outside grilling, boiling, etc; sharing with the neighbors and all taking turns cooking whatever was about to thaw too much. Lots of meat cooked during that time.

It was the hottest, most miserable, but best part of the hurricane. We all got to know our neighbors VERY well and remained great friends ...frequently continuing to sit outside in the driveways, but sharing frozen drinks rather than thawing meats.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

Lots of canned beans are good at room temperature. You can make a salad with canned corn, canned black beans, canned roasted peppers and any veggies you have around (peppers, onions, etc.). Chickpeas are not bad right out of the can, rinsed, and maybe seasoned with some salad dressing or a barbecue sauce. Canned baked beans are good too of course. Beans are good because they'll give you protein and fibre.

Teresa

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Cheese and crackers and pepperoni.
Bananna and peanut butter
If you have a grill you could take cheese, pizza sauce and pepperoni and put it between two slices of bread and grill it.
Use the grill to make toast for breakfast.
Our grill has a side burner that I could boil water on and make pasta.
If you have a cooler boil eggs and keep them on ice.