When I wrote and filmed about cooking on a grill under emergency conditions yesterday, one of the commenters chided me that everyone might not be in a position to do this. The grill might not be available, under mounds of snow. The family might have been caught short in terms of fuel or groceries and might not be able to get to stores, as was the case in the Mid-Atlantic last week under two back-to-back snow storms, one with blizzard conditions.

OK – I admit that everyone does not think the way we do here at Chez Siberia. Part of what colors our environment is that I grew up in Upstate New York, with snow storms that dumped feet of snow at a time. My sister and I were also sent to walk to our little store through those conditions to try to get the standard ‘snow storm rations’ (milk, bread and eggs – why IS that?). It was only a three block walk, but my memory was that it was freezing cold and the wind was blowing and we could hardly see. So, at my house, always, there is a supply of stuff so that no matter what happens, we have food to eat and a way to keep warm. We tend to be very ‘belt and suspenders’ here and think about things pretty much all year round.

The major ingredient of what you might consider emergency rations would be canned goods, with the emphasis on protein. Even if you don’t have power at all, as long as you have canned goods and a hand-operated can opener, you can eat. As long as the cans are not rusty or bulging (or the jars don’t have bulging lids), this food has been thoroughly cooked and is safe and nutritious to eat.

Canned goods on this part of the list would be:
Beans: Any canned beans will work, though the liquid in kidneys, garbanzos, and black beans would probably need to be rinsed off or at least drained out.
Fish: Canned tuna, salmon, or sardines
Soup, Stew and Chili
I am not a big fan of canned meats such as Treat, Spam, or Hash, but those are edible as well.

Other items on the list would be dried milk (take it out of the box and store in sealed glass jars – this will keep it dry), instant coffee, and cocoa (again, take these out of any box they come in and put the packets or powder into sealed glass jars. You can seal such items as nuts and seeds into glass jars as well – but those will not keep. We keep ours in the freezer. If we had an emergency and lost the power, I’d take out the containers and keep them in a cool place; they would stay good to eat for a long time and are high in protein and fat. If you want to set this sort of thing aside in a special pantry or box, that is fine but most of these are on the shelf staples and you can keep an eye on them all year round.

One of the things that hit me in the coverage about the DC area was the Kidney Foundation sending up the red flag to find drivers with 4-wheel drive to take dialysis patients to their appointments. Medical emergencies and just day to day stuff should be part of your planning in terms of an ‘emergency box’. For example – what happened to people who needed medications during this period? No one and nothing was moving. It was not as if they could call up the local CVS and get deliveries. So, make sure that along with everything else you have in the house, that if the weather folks are warning about possible emergency weather conditions several days out, take a look at your meds. Also, look at basic first aid items such as disinfectants, antibiotic ointment, bandages, and adhesive tape. This is something you probably should be doing once or twice a year in any case, but when the weather folks predict emergency weather several days out, check on the rations box and the first aid kit and do refills.

If you want to make an emergency rations box, find a good strong cardboard or wood box and put the food in it in a dry place off the floor. And put a hand-operated can opener in there, too. No use having the food and then getting into a situation where you have to open cans with your rusty old screwdriver. Check this box once or twice a year. Anything that looks off or has a bulge in the can or lid should be thrown away and replaced.

If you are going to try to do the ‘cook on the grill’ emergency thing, make sure a) the grill is someplace where you can get to it and b) it is somewhat protected. If you keep yours on the deck with a cover, you will want to keep a path to it clean and keep the snow off it in the winter. If it’s gas, make sure of how much fuel you have. A full propane tank can cook many meals. If it’s charcoal, make sure that you have an extra bag or two in the garage in a dry place. Also, while you are at it, get a box of heavy duty aluminum foil; you can fashion all sorts of cooking pans out of that if you have to. You don’t want to use the fancy copper bottom pans for this.

A small summary about cooking on the grill: Anything you can cook on a stove or in an oven, you can cook on a grill, particularly if it is the sort with a lid. If you don’t want to cook, open up the cans and eat those. A can of beans will feed two. A can of tuna will feed two.

Light: another item for the emergency box would be candles, matches, something to put the candles IN (old glass tumblers, etc.) when they are lit, some sort of battery based or hand-cranked lanterns. A hand-crank radio. If you have a fireplace and intend to try to keep warm in that way, you will need to make sure you have dry fuel for it (don’t store this in the house – you don’t want to invite termites or carpenter ants – keep this outdoors, away from the house, under cover). You will also want to make sure once a year that the chimney is inspected and that the damper is operational (the last thing you want to find out when you start the fire is that the chimney has birds’ nests in it or that it’s full of creosote and that you start a chimney fire).

Another thing to think about, no matter where you live, is that all of our climate assumptions have been thrown into a cocked hat. Alabama has had snow several times this winter, for example. Crazy stuff. I’m not saying that everyone everywhere needs a snow blower, but having a couple of good shovels in the garage would not be amiss. Another thing is that the days of people in certain parts of the country being able to ignore temperature issues is over as well – the heating bills coming due in many areas of the South are mind-blowing. Residents in these areas count on being able to balance off their summer AC bills with low or no heating bills in the winter. No more. So, items such as insulation, caulk, and plain old ‘shrink plastic over the windows’ are vital for them too. I predict that there will be people in areas where home canning has not been done for 40 years are going to be heading out to the stores looking for Ball jars this summer to start putting food away.

Is Alabama going to be the next Watertown? Nope. But a bit of preparation will prevent a lot of discomfort and problems later on, the next time this happens. And oh, yeah..there’s more snow predicted tonight.

What’s on your shelves?