Preparing Food During a Power Failure
During a power failure, cooking and eating habits must change
to fit the situation. You may have no heat, no refigeration,
and limited water. In addition, health from contaminated or
spoiled food may increase. When preparing food during a
power outage:
Conserve Fuel
- Consider the amount of cooking time needed for particular
foods. If you have limited heat for cooking, choose
foods which cook quickly. Prepare casseroles and
one-dish meals, or serve no-cook foods.
- Alternative cooking methods include:
- Fireplace: Many foods can be
skewered, grilled, or wrapped in foil and cooked in the
fireplace.
- Electric utensils:
If gas is cut off, but you still have electricity, use
electric skillets, hot plates, or coffee makers to heat
food.
- Candle warmers: Devices using
candle warmers such as fondue pots may be used if no
other heat sources are available.
- Camp
stoves and charcoal heaters: These may be used
outside your home. Never use fuel-burning camp stoves
or charcoal burners inside your home, even in a
fireplace. Fumes from these stoves can be deadly.
- Do not cook frozen foods unless you have ample heat for
cooking. Some frozen foods require considerably more
cooking time and heat than canned goods. Also, if power
is off, it is best to leave the freezer door closed to keep
food from thawing.
- Commercial canned foods can be eaten straight from the
can. Do not use home canned vegetables unless you
have the means to boil them for ten minutes before eating.
Conserve Water
- Save liquids from canned vegetables. Substitute these
for water in cooked dishes.
- Drain and save juices from canned fruits. Substitute
these for water in salads and beverages.
Observe Health Precautions
- Boil all water used in food preparation for at least 10
minutes.
- If you are without refrigeration, open only enough food
containers for one meal. Some foods can be kept a short
time without refrigeration. Well-done vegetables and
meat can be kept unrefrigerated from noon until the evening
meal if covered. Do not keep these dishes overnight
without refrigeration. If available, packaged survival
or camping foods are safe. Do not serve foods that spoil
easily, such as ground meats, creamed foods, hash, custards,
and meat pies. These are potential sources of food
poisoning.
- If necessary, substitute canned and powdered milk for fresh
milk. Canned milk will keep safely for many hours after
you open the can. If you are using canned milk to feed a
baby, however, open a fresh can for each bottle. Use
only boiled or disinfected water to mix powdered milk.
Use reconstituted milk immediately after it is mixed if you
have no refrigeration. If safe water or water
disinfectants are not available, use canned or bottled fruit
juices instead of water.
- Prepare and eat foods in their original containers, if
possible. This will help if dishwashing facilities are
limited.
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