Emergency Food Supply

With hurricane season starting its peak period, I have been displaying, for our church group, different segments of Hurricane preparedness. Last Sunday I displayed what you can eat when the power is out. You have items right in your pantry that will work just fine to eat in an emergency. I put copies of this flyer on the display table and people were taking them right and left. My idea is to have a box or container that you can put these items in. Have it in a place that you can take with you if you evacuate, or know where it is if the power is out while sheltering in place.

EMERGENCY FOOD SUPPLY
There are many kinds of disasters that would make going to the store for groceries difficult or impossible – hurricanes, flooding, ice, snow, riots, etc. Having at least a 2-week supply of non-perishables per person is wise preparation. This food should fall into at least 1 of 3 categories – easy to cook, heat only, and no-cook. The following are suggested options:

MILK - Nonfat dry milk, shelf stable boxes of liquid milk, canned milk

BREADS - Crackers, biscuit mix, corn-muffin mix, complete pancake mix

CEREALS AND GRAINS - Instant, quick-cooking and/or ready-to-eat; bulgur

JUICES - Canned or bottled fruit and vegetable juices or enriched fruit-flavored mix

SOUPS - Canned ready-to-serve, condensed or instant

MEATS - Canned ham, corned beef, luncheon meat, Vienna sausage, hash, meat with gravy, stew, poultry, meat sauces, dried beef, summer sausage, salami, meat spread

FISH AND SEAFOOD - Canned tuna, salmon, sardines, oysters, shrimp, clams

BEANS - Canned cooked chickpeas, black-eye peas, kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans; pork and beans; baked beans; chili; three bean salad

VEGETABLES - Canned favorites, including tomatoes, corn and potatoes, pickled beets, mixed vegetables; instant mashed potatoes

FRUITS - Canned and/or dried favorites

CHEESE - Shelf-stable grated cheese and process cheese spread

PASTA AND RICE - Canned or mix combinations, quick-cooking rice, pasta, noodles

STAPLES AND CONDIMENTS - Instant cocoa, instant breakfast drinks, salad dressing, shortening, oil, pickles, olives, mustard, catsup, wine vinegar, syrup, lemon juice, instant or ready-to-eat puddings, herbs and spices, sugar, salt, pepper, peanut butter, jam, jelly, honey

SNACKS AND TREATS - Nuts, cookies, candies, beverages
Based on minimum nutritional guidelines a 2-week supply of food for 1 person could be: 37 ounces (2-1/3 lbs.) powdered milk, 25 (15 ounce) cans fruit and vegetables, 11 ounces (3.5 cups) quick oats, 3 jiffy muffin mixes, 1 loaf bread, 2 lbs. rice, 18 ounce jar peanut butter, 3 cans (6 ounce) tuna, 3 cans (5 ounce) chicken, 1 can (15 ounce) kidney beans.

FEMA and the American Red Cross also offer the publication "Food and Water in an Emergency."
Materials from: http://www.simplyprepared.com/emergency_food_supply

The idea of the display was to get people to think about what they already have and supplement it with other listed items. Those of you who have small children, will need to have baby food on hand. This might include, powdered formula, jars of baby food, boxed infant cereal and etc. Don’t forget paper plates, utensils and plastic cups. You will also need to store bottle water to use to cook some of these items. Purchase a single burner butane stove to use for cooking and get a few canisters of butane to cook with. Cooking with butane is safer than cooking with propane. Always open a window and vent the fumes. Never use charcoal inside the house, it is very dangerous. I found the odd items like oysters and clams at the 99 cent store. It is amazing what you will find if you only look.

Note from Lucy: It's been really busy around here lately. Bonnie is off at space camp and enjoying every minute of it. TF is back to work full time now and tomorrow he has his last procedure done. The doctors will take the stent out of his bile duct. Supposedly this will be the last we see of the doctors. Saturday TF is going to fly to Florida to visit his mom and dad. I was able to find some cheap, last minute air fare that made it all worth while. I hope that his procedure on Friday doesn't set him back any or he will be wasting that non refundable air fare. The doctors assured him that he will be fine. We'll see! My grandson started school last Wednesday and his 2 year old sister is missing him terriably. Jennifer says that she cries and calls out his name. I knew it would be a problem because those two are like peas in a pod. I hope it works itself out soon. Bonnie will get home from space camp on Friday night and will start back to school on Monday, taking 17 hours.... Jennifer will also be taking a class at the community college at night. Busy, busy, busy......

Have a great weekend everyone...............