Look what I found in my drafts, it's been there since Nov. 29, Not so Clever Me, forgot all about it.
Clever Tip 1: instant coffee I can drink. I bought this for hurricane season two years ago and we never used it. Power or no power We Gotta Have Coffee. This coffee was really good made with cold water and sugar for bob and saccharin for me. I give it a 10, with cold water, but have no idea how it taste hot. We used all the little pouches in 7 days.
Clever Tip 2: for 7 days of power outage we used two bags of ice per day, 1/2 bag in small cooler for easy access for Bob's Must have ice water. 1 and 1/2 bags in the large cooler.
I placed a small trash can that allows the ice chest lid to close, and put it under the tiny lid on top, allows for reaching in and getting what you want, and food in baggies stays dry.
I kept bottled condiments in the ice, a few cans of soda and bottled water and 2 bags worked for 24 hours.
Clever Tip 3:See the blue bowl? white tray? we knew Milton was coming. for 3 days before due date, I filled bowl and containers, and dumped ice trays all day each day and filled the freezer full of ice
Day of the storm our freezer was jammed with homemade ice cubes and 2 burgers, loaves of bread and 2 baggies of left over spaghetti.
We woke up to the first day and no power in the entire county. Could not buy ice. The stored cubes kept the things until 2n day when we could buy ice for ice chests.
Clever tip 4: They day before the storm was expected, I put all our RX bottles of meds in the small blue chest, my name, address and phones on the outside, taped shut and they were ready to grab/and or float if we were flooded and hope to find them after the storm if we had no roof or house
In the large ice chest, I placed all important papers and anything I wanted to save, taped it shut and put our info on it in hopes it to would be found floating, or in the closet undamaged after the storm
Clever Tip 4: Clever me ordered these backpack pots/pans to sit on the grill to boil water and heat canned things.
the next morning, we fired up the grill, grilled the sausage and burger, and placed in the ice chest in the handy dandy small trash can and ate them cold on the by now thawed bread. clever me, signing off now...
PS. the pots worked well but would be better on a small propane burner. They have handles but they are only 5 inches, and I burned myself twice trying to stir. They get hotter with lid on, but you can't see the water to see if it is boiling, and if i had it to do again, i would just forget them. I AM NOT THE CAMPER TYPE ... If we survive until next hurricane season, I will purchase a small propane burner.
PSS.. I know you are sick of hurricanes by now but I may need to refresh my memory next year.
PSSS: this could work for ice storms too
21 comments:
Hari OM
Being prepared is a major part of getting through any 'battle' - and my word, you prepare! YAM xx
No, I'm not tired of hearing about the hurricane at all, and you are smart to be reviewing what worked and what didn't. Good for you!
You are a total expert on the art of survival! This is the good thing that comes from us thinking ahead and worrying.
thanksd for this good ideas!!! the mama is a prepper (she thinks) and she has a gazillion of big water bottles and a ton of ton food in her sos cabinet...
Hurricane or no hurricane its all useful ideas to people who live without electricity.
It is a good idea to post all this information, just in case of another emergency or power loss. We do have a small camping stove and our huge wood burner that we have used to boil water during power outages. Take care, have a great day!
I am throughly impressed with your preparations and good planning is never amiss. I realize that we live in totally different climates, but I chuckle at the fixation on ice. As best I can recall, I have never bought ice in my life. And in July and August it can get pretty hot here. Stay well, Sandra.
You did well at preparing for any and all situations. I've bought those coffee packets except mine were Folgers brand and I always drank them hot. They aren't bad when you need a cup of coffee.
Great tips, all. I love that you think of -- and prepare for -- any possible catastrophe. I think my favorite is the important papers and Rx. Did you see the one (on FB?) where they used their washing machine as an ice chest. While we don't get hurricanes (maybe?), the threat of tornadoes is always in the back of my mind. I'll never forget the co-worker who, driving home from Vegas and sleep-deprived, ate instant coffee crystals right out of the jar. Eeeew!
Excellent tips. You're a born survivor!
Great photos and stories and tips on survival! You did great! Yes, I made a lot of baggies of extra ice and also put bottles of water in the freezer to fill up extra space and they froze so that they could also be extra ice to help keep things cold if the power went out. We did purchase a Coleman camp propane stove a few years ago after we had a bad hurricane that knocked out power out for a while. The camp stove is easier to cook on than the grill for sure. I also have a little camp percolator coffee pot that works on the stove top if needed. Hubby loves the percolated coffee better than the Mr. Coffee kind of pot. I may go back to a percolator someday, if I could find one with a timer so it could come on automatically in the morning before we wake up! LOL. I don't drink the stuff anyway, but I try to make sure hubby has what he needs/wants! LOl. Thanks for sharing the pictures and ideas. You are one smart cookie!!
Thanks for the great ideas I hope I NEVER have to use. Man, I did not think about all that and what you have to plan for. That is incredible - I think I will save this information. Thanks.
That is excellent information you shared. You were definitely prepared. Praying it never happens again.
I hope never to find use for your tips, but you were being very creative! I recently saw one tip on FB that might be useful: Light four tealights in a muffin pan (on top of your stove), and put an oven grid on top, and you can cook water or heat food in a saucepan over the candles.
Being prepared is always a good thing. I like your ideas. I'm glad we kept a propane burner large enough for two pots and a propane light from our camping days. I also try to keep extra med's, dog food, etc. on hand in case we must go days without being able to get out or things are not available. When I used to work at a mortgage company that had a vault I carried a small .22 derringer, a flash light and a good, sturdy knife. My co-workers would (good naturedly) giggle about my preparedness and call me The Girl Scout. The lights went out one day when we were deep in the vault working and guess who they turned to to get lead them out of the building ... 😉 Yep. Me and my flash light. 😃
I'm so impressed! You really thought of it all and did lots of preparation. Yes, we could use some of those tips here, an ice storm is predicted for us this week...
I too have instant coffee. I but Folgers. I can drink cold coffee not sure Bryan would like it. I've been searching for a battery powered small coffee pot or even a pot to heat water in case of power outage anytime. So far nothing like that is available.
We have to have our morning coffee
Hugs cecilia
What great ideas! We had a transformer explode and leave our village powerless for a week during a heatwave last summer (temperature was around 100). I was out of town and my son was worried about our standup freezer - I told him to wrap the spare duvets around it and they kept EVERYTHING frozen solid for the week! This prompted my son to get an electronic battery generator. This thing is about the size of a medium cooler and it can be recharged with a solar panel! Keep being awesome! Barb
These are great ideas and it is good that you shared them. You never can be too prepared for such disasters. In our area, we don't have to worry about hurricanes, but we do have many tornados. I always have a container ready full of lanterns, medical supplies, water and such.
What great ideas, S....It sounds like you did a wonderful job preparing!
I love good tips! We lost our fridge during winter one year, thankfully during winter. Snow-packed kept what we needed good and safe.
Post a Comment