Foods for Storms and Hurricane Must Haves

Here is an updated version.  We are now facing Hurricane Irma that is the biggest Cat 5 storm with 180 mile an hour winds in 2017. Today is 9/5/2017 no one knows where the eye will hit yet we are all preparing here in Florida. 

Today is 9/12/2017.  Irma pounded us for more than 15 hours. We experienced 20 tornado activity in Brevard county. Lots of floods, mobile homes ripped to sheds. Fish thrown from the rivers and alligators walking across the street in downtown Melbourne. We just got our power back on and very grateful with minimal damages. God Bless Florida and pray for all with the devastation throughout the entire state. We are grateful in Melbourne Florida. This time we had lots more of frozen plastic water bottles and containers replacing the food in our freezer to keep coldcuts, cheeses safe during the outage.  I also had bread dough made ahead of time to use out side on the grill to make pizza in cast iron skillet, fried dough and the old fashioned coffee pot didn't fail me. Perfect must haves with no power. This was the first time we had plenty of days to prepare using the tips below. 

Last Year: Today we are waiting in 2016 for Matthew to hit on October 6th and 7th. Preparing the doors, getting everything necessary to stay inside for a few days is a bit stressful to say the least.  To all my family and friends in it's path I pray for everyone's safety. This Post was originally wrote on the last Hurricane we went through. We again will sit and wait for this and pray for this pass us and some of things below were what we did to prepare. Good luck to all. 

Well here we are, some of us Floridians are sitting here in the dark ( over 2000 out of power in the neighborhood), lucky for us we have a generator. I am a pro at these storms. Going through Jean, Charles, Ivan and Frances back in 2004, we had to learn how to live a different way in Florida and always prepared for the worse.
We actually have a kayak to get out of our development when the water rises too high for the cars to get out. Oh yes, we have had to use it. Hoping this time the rain will subside.

I have a storm box all ready in the garage at all times. In it you will find and old fashioned coffee pot, sterno, batteries, flashlights, a land line phone and cast iron pots and pans.  You don't need much, zip lock bags, toilet paper, weather radio and more listed at the end of this post for reminders and tips. Cell phone portable chargers. Remember you won't have any clean water. Paper plates, cups and disposable plastic wear will come in handy!

This morning I went outside, perked fresh coffee on the gas grill... and made breakfast on our grill. Bacon and eggs, potatoes.  I grilled the toast! You just have to get creative. It's like camping out, we are so spoiled, but roughing it once in awhile isn't so bad! Still it's scary but you have to make the best of it. 

I really do miss the luxuries in life when this happens but also appreciate them more every time.

I will be happy when the family all gets here later so we then will be boiling water outside on the burners for our pasta and making sauce outside on the side burner, frying meatballs. My kids love to come over when the power is out, I end up having to cook everything in the freezer plus I usually have made cookies, cakes that thaw quickly, so food is in abundance.

Click here for Fried Meatballs

Then one other thing we love to cook outside is fried dough for dessert!

Click here for the recipe for homemade Fried dough! Pizza Fritte!

There are many other tips I can give you, don't be without gallons of water, canned foods and beverages, stock up on tuna, peanut butter, jelly, potato bread keeps fresh longer. We try not to buy junk food which I consider packaged cookies and snacks, but then what the heck, splurge a little with healthier style cookies and cakes, baked chips and dried fruits at least they last longer and no refrigeration is needed. Remember not to buy cans unless the lids come off easy usually you will have no power and if you forget a can opener you will be sorry.

Make the best out of a bad situation, that's what mom always told us, so the power may be out, but we have each other to get through this today and hopefully this will pass quickly, if not tonight will be candle light dinner and some good old fashioned family conversation and board games!

To think this was just two days ago!

Some other useful tips during a hurricane, or any power outage storm can be found below:

Here's my go to list!  :

Charge mobile phone and buy car charger for phone in case the power is down.
Check tire pressure, fill gas tank and top off all liquids.
Back-up computer files and keep external hard-drive and/or flash-drive in a Ziploc bag. Unplug everything except tv and refrigerator you need to keep it cold as long as possible.
Freeze bottles of water and keep them in the freezer it will keep the food frozen longer then you still have drinking water later.
Bring electronics with you if you can. If outside water gets in still backs up through the pipes and will damage expensive electronics.  
Photograph or video all personal property that's expensive like jewelry if you can't take it with you. video every room, closet, use a tablet or your cell phone. Video even the food in your freezer for proof insurance will need; download to a thumb drive. Keep one copy and send another to a lawyer or family member for safe keeping. 
Create a master list of accounts, contact names and numbers for all credit/debit cards, bank and mortgage accounts and insurance policies; also include contact information for lawyer, accountant, financial adviser, friends and family. Download a copy to CD or flash drive to wear around your neck.
Keep identification on you at all times, including a small, wallet-sized card listing emergency contact numbers and insurance information and social security.
Secure animals in a crate with their favorite toys and a long-lasting rawhide bone before, during and after the hurricane and always keep them on a leash. Pets should wear collars with current identification and also be micro-chipped.
Store a week’s supply of pet food, flea and tick and heart worm medicine, as well as some prescription pills to relax your pets during the storm, in an air-tight container.
Keep prescription medicines, spare eyeglasses, wallet, credit/debit and ATM cards, checkbooks, passport, and copies of all insurance papers (homeowners, auto and medical), as well as current HUD statements, car titles, medical records, pet licenses/vaccinations and any other valuable papers, stored in a Ziploc bag. Scan copies of the above items to a thumb drive.
Fill all bathtubs with water to use when flushing toilets. 

Note: You can use tap water until the storm hits.Bottled water is best for drinking,  if you run out of clean fresh water, be sure to purify with eight drops of bleach or water purification tablets.

Again you will not remember everything you own
VIDEO TAPE YOUR HOUSE whole house for insurance. I will keep reminding you. Insurance companies are not your friend!


Must-haves:

A gas grill with two or more extra tanks of fuel.
Have plenty of cash on hand;$1's, $5s, $10s and $20s are best.
In lieu of matches, purchase multi-purpose lighters.
Stock up on canned foods,  peanut butter, dried fruit and granola bars.  Canned Oranges, raisins, snack bars, crackers and apples dried or fresh. Hand canopener.
A large cooler and plenty of freezer packs. Disposable, rinse-free toothbrushes, liquid hand sanitizer and baby wipes are also good to have on hand.
A watertight storage container with a snap-on lid, plenty of Ziploc bags and disposable disinfecting, surface wipes.
Freezers should be jam packed with container of frozen water with lids. To keep it cold if power goes out and you can drink it later.
Tubs full of water to flush toilets.
Ply wood or storm shutters up on all windows.
Ziplock bags with all important papers, insurance, birth certificates,  anything important so they don't get wet.
Old fashioned coffee pot to use on a grill to make coffee.

Get ready ahead of time and plan leave if it's mandatory take no chances.
Take all valuable jewelry there will be looters.
Fill empty jugs with water to drink most places are out save milk, soda and 2 liter bottles with it. Freeze it until ready to leave or place the refrigerator frozen to thaw and keep cold in an outage.
Propane tanks filled,
Extra Gas cans filled extra you will get stuck in traffic sometimes for hours when trying to evacuate.
Generator: if you can get one make sure it works in May not when a hurricane strikes in the season!
Every food you can eat that is ready made such as peanut butter, jam, breads, snacks, soda, tuna, dried meats etc.
Bleach you will need this to disinfect if any sewer water gets into the home
Batteries for everything flashlights, electronic candles
candles, matches
Pack a suitcase with lots of clothes you wont know how long you may be gone or what you come back too
Pills do not forget medications
Pet carriers and don't forget them!
Full tank of GAS days before they run out with gas cans full

If you leave:

Unplug everything, TV, shut off hot water tank ( we made the mistake of leaving it on and it got hit by lightening, flooded the whole house, because it's inside the wash room)
Bring extra phone chargers for the car. Get extended battery packs for your phones.
Finally to all good luck and god bless, leave a message if you have any tips for us..

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