My mom kept a pantry. She also grew her own veggies and herbs. Not because she feared the apocalypse, but because she was frugal. That’s a nice word for cheap.
This is not a bad thing. Why spend more than you need to?
I never bothered to keep a pantry, myself, until I moved to Colorado with its blizzards. While the snow typically melts within a few days, I figured it would be wise to keep a few supplies on hand, just in case.
This proved a wise decision when we were snowed in without power.
Candles, flashlights, trail mix, wine, and a fire made the difference between coziness and misery. When the deep freeze hit us in Texas last year, I was fine thanks to my pantry along with a few non-edible supplies.
So what should you keep in your pantry in case you’re snowed in?
Pantry staples
There are all sorts of “emergency” kits out there. You don’t need them unless you can’t boil water or use a can opener. There are cheaper, healthier options:
- Have items that don’t need to be heated, like trail mix, jerky, granola, crackers, and dry cereal. If vacuum packed, hard cheeses like cheddar will last up to 6 months and cooked sausages for a couple of weeks.
- Stick to things you actually want to eat. Why add to the misery of a power outage by forcing yourself to eat stuff you can’t stand?
- Buy dried goods like rice, lentils, and pasta in bulk. I also keep my pantry stocked with canned beans, tomatoes, and olives. If you drink milk, there are canned and powdered varieties.
- Stock up on your favorite canned soup, pasta sauce, etc. when they’re on sale. Or make your own and can them.
- Keep a FIFO queue — use up old stuff while adding new. Don’t keep things past the expiration date. This is another reason to only store what you like and will consume regardless — so you don’t end up throwing it out!
- A camp stove, propane grill, or sterno and a fondue pot let you cook when the power’s out. The fondue pot works great for popcorn.
- Keep onions and garlic in your pantry, along with dried herbs, dehydrated veggies, and packaged stock or bouillon cubes. These can be used to make soup. Mom used to dehydrate veggies. I buy mine in bulk.
- If you eat meat, you can add jerky to a pot of soup. Or canned meat or fish to cooked noodles.
- Apples and citrus fruits have a decent shelf life if you store in a cool, dry place. So do unwashed eggs, if you can get them.
- So do liquor, chocolate, chips, and candy. Since these are not high in nutrients, use sparingly as treats to keep your spirits up.
- Seasonings like tobasco, worcesteshire sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, and vinegar have a decent shelf life.
- Make sure you have enough water. The CDC recommends at least 3 days worth, with a gallon per person per day. You can sterilize containers and fill from your tap, or buy bottled water. La Croix or Topo Chico are fine if that’s what you love. But make sure you have plain water for making soup, brushing teeth, and so on.
Recipes for Pantry Soup
Here’s an easy vegan recipe for soup with stuff from your pantry. You can add jerky or freeze-dried meat if you’re not a vegetarian.
Heat up 2 cups of stock. Add a can of tomatoes, 1/2 cup of dried pasta, and 2 tablespoons each of dried onions, spinach, zucchini, carrots— or whatever veggies you like. Add seasonings to taste. I like a teaspoon each of herbes de provence, dried garlic, and salt, but you can use Italian herbs or tabasco if you like. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add a can of beans and more water if needed, then cook for another 3–5 minutes until done.
If you’re craving Chinese flavors and you’ve got dried shitake mushrooms in your pantry, soak 1 1/2 ounces for 20–30 minutes, then throw into a pot with a tablespoon of dehydrated leeks or onions, a teaspoon each of dried garlic, and ginger powder, 1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil, and 2 cups of stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Season to taste with soy sauce, freshly ground black pepper and rice or white vinegar.
Your refrigerator and freezer
With the power out, stuff in your refrigerator and freezer will go bad — within 4 hours for the fridge and 48 hours for your freezer if you keep the door closed. If it’s vacuum packed, it might last 2–4 times longer.
However, you can take advantage of the freezing temperatures to create thermal mass. Fill freezer bags with water and put outside to freeze, then use these to turn your fridge into an old-fashioned icebox. Or fill coolers with plenty of ice and snow to pack perishables. Measure the temperature and refresh the ice as needed. As long as it’s less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit, your food should be OK.
You can buy two refrigerator thermometers for less than $6.
Some people store a few gallon bags of water in their freezer, which serves two purposes — it keeps food cold during a power outage and provides another source of drinkable water.
MREs
If you have the money and don’t want to cook, MREs are an option. Some people also like to keep a few on hand because they allow you to make a hot meal without an external fuel source.
They come with a water-activated Flameless Ration Heater (FRH), which is patented and environmentally friendly. It is designed to heat a single-serving of a soldier’s meal. It’s compact, easy to store, non-toxic, and has a 5 year shelf-life.
To use, you cut the top off the FRH sleeve, add the packaged MRE entree portion next to the heater, pour in some water, and fold the open end. Wait about 12 minutes — and you’ve got a hot meal.
If you have friends in the military, they can source MREs for you; otherwise, you can find civilian grade options from Amazon, Army/Navy surplus stores, etc. Canadian versions are often a better value.
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This post was previously published on Shefali O’Hara’s blog.
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