Floridians' Plans for Hurricane Food 2005

[Susan in FL]

Well, Floridians and visitors, we may be in for it again. It was four terrible hits last year, and they are predicting as bad a season if not worse for this year.

Are you serious about planning ahead, or trying to be in denial? We haven't bought any hurricane food or supplies yet. Some people still have blue tarp covering their damaged homes from the 2004 season, as they wait for their roofing orders to come in. My sister-in-law just got her new roof about a month ago. I still have mild PTSD from last season! I am not ready to go to the store and buy canned goods or extra water or candles or anything. I'll just wait until a more serious threat than Arlene.

Here are some links from last year:

a journal I wrote during Frances;

an account of a little bit of drinking during Jeanne;

a thread about cooking during hurricanes, including the all important making of coffee;

post-Ivan Florida panhandle restaurant information; and

one thread dedicated to Flora-Bama®.

So, if you have bought anything so far this year, what is it? If not, what and when do you think you will?

P.S. I apologize for all the missing photos in my Frances journal thread from last year. I stupidly lost a huge amount of eG photos when I deleted one of my albums from ImageGullet.

[Susan in FL]

Though not nearly as bad, it saddens me... Arlene is apparently hitting where Ivan did. My thoughts are with you, those in the area. I hope you are safe and find some comfort and pleasure in your food and drink.

[robyn]

Looks like the season isn't exactly getting off to a slow start <sigh>. I don't have to buy anything. I hate canned stuff - so I have everything I bought last year. And I always keep water - candles - propane tanks for BBQ - around. Most important thing I have around is bookmarks - for storm reports (this is a good one) - and hotel reservations if I have to evacuate. Robyn

[jBo]

The Orlando Culinary Academy is hosting a hurricane survival demo on Saturday, July, 16. Chef instructors are going to demo how to cook without power. I believe it starts at 11am? Maybe 10am?

I'm a student there, and I just know to be there at 8am to help out!

See you there!

[robyn]

The Orlando Culinary Academy is hosting a hurricane survival demo on Saturday, July, 16.  Chef instructors are going to demo how to cook without power.  I believe it starts at 11am?  Maybe 10am?

I'm a student there, and I just know to be there at 8am to help out!

See you there!

←

Don't forget to use ingredients that are considered "hurricane supplies" - like stuff in cans. And to do a bit of teaching about food safety (how long the stuff in your refrigerator/freezer will stay good - etc.). Or to respect the most important rule - when you're ordered to evacuate - get out. Robyn

Edited July 8, 2005 by robyn (log)

[Tonyy13]

The Orlando Culinary Academy is hosting a hurricane survival demo on Saturday, July, 16.  Chef instructors are going to demo how to cook without power.  I believe it starts at 11am?  Maybe 10am?

I'm a student there, and I just know to be there at 8am to help out!

See you there!

←

I actually got signed up to teach one of the demos tommorow, so I would love to see some fellow E'Gers there to see what we are up to. It should be fun, I will be teaching about how to cook creatively with shelf-stable foods. Breakfast lunch and dinner. Should be fun, hope to have some of you turn out!!

[suzilightning]

anyone who wants to visit nw nj is welcome here. not kidding. i grew up on eastern li and went through many, many hurricanes before i was 12 because of the storm tracks. i grew up feeding nimo, pse&g, mid-hudson, central hudson, con ed and jcp&l linemen couse our lilco guys went north for ice storms and south for other storms. it ws cool meeting all those guys.

hang in there and be safe

[highchef]

I've not gotton into storm mode yet, but am keeping an eye on Emily as it looks like it'll spare Florida this time, but I'm on the gulf VERY close to Texas and there's no telling where this one's going in. I'm supposed to be in Galvaston next weekend but that might not happen. I have everything ready, I don't like a lot of canned goods so I've bought foil packages of tuna and chicken and ham to cook with pasta and cheese. I overbought poptarts cause the kids will eat them storm or not. we have reusable water jugs that I'll fill before any iminent landfall near here as well as the tubs etc. Last time I over prepared and ended up giving a bunch of stuff to the food bank. This time I'm only buying what we will eat. Don't you just love hurricane season?? It's the only time of year that I still miss living in NO...there we'd just go to Pat O'Briens and drink the things!!

[joiei]

The Orlando Culinary Academy is hosting a hurricane survival demo on Saturday, July, 16.  Chef instructors are going to demo how to cook without power.  I believe it starts at 11am?  Maybe 10am?

I'm a student there, and I just know to be there at 8am to help out!

See you there!

←

I actually got signed up to teach one of the demos tommorow, so I would love to see some fellow E'Gers there to see what we are up to. It should be fun, I will be teaching about how to cook creatively with shelf-stable foods. Breakfast lunch and dinner. Should be fun, hope to have some of you turn out!!

←

Tonyy, will you be doing the demo on camp stoves and portable butane stoves and gas grills? From my experience, not everyone has gas stoves, especially condos and highrises, they go electric. Bottled water is the only water until utilities get back up and sometimes not for days. Refridgeration is a nonexistant commidity until the power gets back on and my brother outside of P'cola will not have power for another week and a half. After Ivan, they were out for a month. Just some of the realities of post hurricane food preparation and service. Have fun, I would come if I were in the neighborhood.

[robyn]

I've not gotton into storm mode yet, but am keeping an eye on Emily as it looks like it'll spare Florida this time, but I'm on the gulf VERY close to Texas and there's no telling where this one's going in. I'm supposed to be in Galvaston next weekend but that might not happen. I have everything ready,  I don't like a lot of canned goods so I've bought foil packages of tuna and chicken and ham to cook with pasta and cheese. I overbought poptarts cause the kids will eat them storm or not. we have reusable water jugs that I'll fill before any iminent landfall near here as well as the tubs etc. Last time I over prepared and ended up giving a bunch of stuff to the food bank. This time I'm only buying what we will eat. Don't you just love hurricane season?? It's the only time of year that I still miss living in NO...there we'd just go to Pat O'Briens and drink the things!!

←

Guess you really haven't lived through a real hurricane if you say you love hurricane season. We've been through a few. Especially Andrew in Miami. We were lucky compared to a lot of our friends. Lost power and water for about 6 weeks (stayed in a hotel in Palm Beach County until they went back on - living without power and water in a 20 story high rise in August isn't a lot of fun). Had about $5,000 in uninsured losses (insurance on our buildings paid millions). But a lot of our friends lost everything. After Andrew - it took about 2 years for everyone to get normal in terms of things like power - telephone - cable TV. Rebuilding took longer due to shortages (which is still the case today in Florida after last year - we have friends with "blue roofs" - flood damage - still trying to get repairs - there's an incredible shortage of workers and building supplies).

Even though our current county (St. Johns) was simply brushed by Frances and Jeanne - a lot of people here lost power for 2-3 weeks (we in the northern part of the county were luckier - only lost power for a day or two). We had a big mess to deal with in terms of trees and the like - but nothing like the property damage an hour to the south of us. In my opinion - the most important thing you do after being hit by a major hurricane is you move somewhere else. And the most important thing you do before is make sure your insurance covers temporary relocation costs - or you put a few bucks in the bank so you can relocate if necessary. I never could understand all the stuff about filling bathtubs with water. What the heck do you do with all that filthy water? We have friends who've gone the "whole house" generator route - but that is a mighty expensive way to deal with things (not to mention that you have to like the smell of diesel fuel).

On the other hand - if you're simply talking about playing around with things like drinking parties and grilling some hotdogs after 40 mph winds knock out your power for dinner - well that's another story. Robyn

[highchef]

I've not gotton into storm mode yet, but am keeping an eye on Emily as it looks like it'll spare Florida this time, but I'm on the gulf VERY close to Texas and there's no telling where this one's going in. I'm supposed to be in Galvaston next weekend but that might not happen. I have everything ready,  I don't like a lot of canned goods so I've bought foil packages of tuna and chicken and ham to cook with pasta and cheese. I overbought poptarts cause the kids will eat them storm or not. we have reusable water jugs that I'll fill before any iminent landfall near here as well as the tubs etc. Last time I over prepared and ended up giving a bunch of stuff to the food bank. This time I'm only buying what we will eat.

Don't you just love hurricane season??

It's the only time of year that I still miss living in NO...there we'd just go to Pat O'Briens and drink the things!!

←

Guess you really haven't lived through a real hurricane if you say you love hurricane season. We've been through a few. Especially Andrew in Miami. We were lucky compared to a lot of our friends. Lost power and water for about 6 weeks (stayed in a hotel in Palm Beach County until they went back on - living without power and water in a 20 story high rise in August isn't a lot of fun). Had about $5,000 in uninsured losses (insurance on our buildings paid millions). But a lot of our friends lost everything. After Andrew - it took about 2 years for everyone to get normal in terms of things like power - telephone - cable TV. Rebuilding took longer due to shortages (which is still the case today in Florida after last year - we have friends with "blue roofs" - flood damage - still trying to get repairs - there's an incredible shortage of workers and building supplies).

Even though our current county (St. Johns) was simply brushed by Frances and Jeanne - a lot of people here lost power for 2-3 weeks (we in the northern part of the county were luckier - only lost power for a day or two). We had a big mess to deal with in terms of trees and the like - but nothing like the property damage an hour to the south of us. In my opinion - the most important thing you do after being hit by a major hurricane is you move somewhere else. And the most important thing you do before is make sure your insurance covers temporary relocation costs - or you put a few bucks in the bank so you can relocate if necessary. I never could understand all the stuff about filling bathtubs with water. What the heck do you do with all that filthy water? We have friends who've gone the "whole house" generator route - but that is a mighty expensive way to deal with things (not to mention that you have to like the smell of diesel fuel).

On the other hand - if you're simply talking about playing around with things like drinking parties and grilling some hotdogs after 40 mph winds knock out your power for dinner - well that's another story. Robyn

←

I was being a smart-ass. I've lived in Louisiana just a few miles from the coast almost my entire life. I've lived and unfortunatly vacationed in quite a few hurricanes and take them very, very seriously. Sometimes I miss the 'I am invincible' attitude most of us took in college about it though, and since I was in school in New Orleans that meant heading for the French Quarter. My God Parents camp (misnomer, there but that's what they called it) is now gone after being wiped out 3 times in 15 years. Twice we had to leave only to come back and clean the mess up so they could build again. The third time, they left it (or what was left of it) for the demo crews to clean, there wasn't much to salvage.

btw....you've never said 'Don't you just love (fill in the blank)' when the people you're talking to are sitting in the same situation you are? I though it was a pretty universal satirical comment.

I think you assumed I was being flip, or stupid, or uncaring. believe me I don't take the storms lightly since a) becoming a property owner and b) becoming a parent and c) working for the red cross running shelters for all of you who need a place to stay for a while. I'm concerned because this time I might be the one who needs a shelter. That's all. I'm sure you can forgive my immature college devil may care attitude, after all, that was a while back.

edit: the water is useful for flusing toilets and watering pets. It's not dirty if you clean the tubs first and I think it has psycological virtues as well. My home is built up and hasn't flooded yet, hopefully never will, so unless water gets into it via a torn off roof the saved water can help with basic clean ups etc. when the ice storm hit a few years (or longer) ago we didn't have any water at all for a few days. It (the tub water)saved us from having to dig a latrine in the back yard!

Edited July 16, 2005 by highchef (log)

[Tonyy13]

Tonyy,  will you be doing the demo on camp stoves and portable butane stoves and gas grills?  From my experience, not everyone has gas stoves,  especially condos and highrises, they go electric.  Bottled water is the only water until utilities get back up and sometimes not for days.  Refridgeration is a nonexistant commidity until the power gets back on and my brother outside of P'cola will not have power for another week and a half.  After Ivan, they were out for a month.  Just some of the realities of post hurricane food preparation and service.  Have fun,  I would come if I were in the neighborhood.

I actually won't be demo-ing anythign at all really, more of a lecture on how to stock a perfect pantry with ingredients that are shelf stable, provide a variety, as well as being nutrititious for all three meal periods. I would love to see any and all EGers there, so swing in if you can....

[jBo]

Good lord, Chef, what are you still up for? Don't you have to get up early? So do I ... if you need help, I'll be there.

This demo at OCA will show how to build a pantry, let you know how long foods stay good, how to cook w/out power, etc. It should be fun and interesting!

[SuzySushi]

I've been following this with interest since I live in another high hurricane-risk zone, Hawaii. Got through Hurricane Iniki intact since I was on Oahu, but the storm pretty much demolished Kauai and some places still aren't rebuilt.

We ALWAYS have a stock of shelf-stable food (canned, dried, etc.), bottled water, emergency lamps, batteries, sterno, extra medicines, etc. and are prepared to get out if necessary.

Best wishes for a safe hurricane season, everyone! Ours runs through December.

[Susan in FL]

Highchef, I wanted to let you know I took your comment in the spirit in which it was intended. Thank you for posting, and thank you for your work for the Red Cross! I too remember back in the day when hearing about a hurricane on its way, my first thought was having a hurricane party. Sadly those days are gone, and it's a very sensitive subject for many in and around Florida.

I try to put positive reframes on everything. That's one of the reasons I did the blog-like thing during Frances last year. It is also of interest to me about how our food lives continue during disasters such as this, so I hope this topic survives however many hits and misses there are during hurricane season 2005.

Tony and all, good luck with today's hurricane survival instruction. I'm looking forward to hearing about it.

I never did get into the storm mode for Dennis, even when there was a chance it was coming here. I did have my mind on everybody affected, every moment it was going on though, especially the Pensacola area. I'm sure my denial mode won't work for me much longer. I think I'm ready to start buying a bit of food and water a little at a time, to put away. Thinking positively: Come November 30th and we didn't have a bad hit, we'll use our supplies for a Celebration of No Bad Hurricanes in 2005 party.

[joiei]

  Thinking positively:  Come November 30th and we didn't have a bad hit, we'll use our supplies for a Celebration of No Bad Hurricanes in 2005 party.

←

Now that would be the challenge, to use all those left over supplies to make a party. Lots more fun that just trying to get by day to day. How creative that would be!

[suzilightning]

thinking about all of you as the storm approaches - even if it isn't up to hurricane speed yet. oops... just turned cnn on at work and it was upgraded to a cat 1. take care and bring out those cans of beans and camp stoves.

Edited August 25, 2005 by suzilightning (log)

[dougery]

I second Suzi's thoughts. I can't imagine what it would be like to have my family go through a hurricane...

[suzilightning]

just noticed a new title published that might go on hurricane prone gulleters lists:

The Storm Gourmet: A Guide to Creating Extraordinary Meals Without Electricity by Daphne Nikolopoulos. seems she is the managing editor of Palm Beach Illustrated and during last years season noticed the lack of recipes for meals that could be prepared without cooking appliances.