The prepping challenge for June is this:
How would you cook meals with no power?
Of course, I don’t truly expect you to turn off your stove and “rough it” for a week but my hope is we will all think about how we cook our meals, what we cook and what we would do to put hot meals on the table if we faced an extended period without power.
Let’s assume that this is an unforeseen and extended event. You didn’t know it was coming (as opposed to a hurricane where you had warning). You just woke up one morning and the power was out. While I know that some of you rely on gasoline/diesel or natural gas powered generators, for the purpose of this challenge, let’s assume that you have expended your supply of all the typical fuels and now we’re having to come up with alternate methods for cooking.
What I would like for you to do each day, is prepare your meal as planned, using your stove and your power as you normally would, but think about and write about what you would have done differently with that meal if you were faced with a no power situation.
What I will do is each day is write about some of the alternative cooking methods available to us.
This begins tomorrow, Monday, and will go through Saturday.
These links will be active once the posts go live.
Barbara says
This is my biggest challenge.
I’m all electric because of chemical sensitivities..
For short outages I rely on a generator because I can use it to run my electric stove or an electric hotplate.
No gas for the generator leaves me scratching my head.
I need to find something I can use to cook with outdoors on the screened porch because I can’t have chemicals in the house.
It has to be something that can be used when it is freezing outside or storming (wind/rain) or during a burn ban.
Vickie in nh says
ah the week of no power – been there, done that- many times in fact 😉 we have a propane stove in the kitchen and can light the burners so cooking happens there 😉 One year on thanksgiving day we lost power – yup, turkey was in the oven – started up the BBQ grill and moved it out there. Our biggest challenge w/o power was always the water – we are on a well, so no power, no water. The past few years we’ve added a few things to make our life easier when this happens – a generator – runs the water pump so we can flush the toilets, fill containers for daily drinking water and finally to run the furnace for a few hrs to warm up the house in the morning – we are in the northeast so heat is very vital. The other thing we added was a woodstove – this provides us our heat during the day.
and on that note, I wish all of you good luck w/the prepping challenge this week!
Debbie says
Is that you, Vickie? just checking!!!! Debbie
Vickie in nh says
it is 😉 See you Tuesday!
Freda Henderson says
We have a propane stove so we cook without power, we do light the burner with a lighter. We would cook on a campfire if the need be, do it every year hunting even though we have a propane stove in the cabin. We have several gallons of bottled waster on hand and if that fails we are very close to a river you can actually drink water from. As they say” a country girl can survive. “
Theresa says
We’ve got a propane grill and we usually have 1.5 to 2 tanks around. We also have a cord and a half of hardwood and pine, so we could always build a fire.
The part I worry about (since my HOA isn’t keen on solar panels) is how fast the meat in the freezer will spoil. When a hurricane hit Houston a couple of years ago and the power went out, my brother-in-law fired up the grill and invited all of the neighbors over for a free meal. I suspect that’s what might happen as soon as the zip-lock bags full of ice in the freezer (that we keep in case of power loss) started to melt in earnest.
Michelle says
What really throws me off when I’m cooking without power is the lack of light. I can brown ground beef on the gas stove, but by flashlight or oil lamp it’s hard to tell how done it is.
Vickie in nh says
Michelle – the lack of light is a huge issue here too – a few years ago I picked up the Energizer Weather Ready Folding Area Lantern which gives off much better light then my oil lamps or flash lights did 😉 I found that when it was time for the evening meal it was very difficult to cook when it got dark by 4pm. Somedays I moved our ‘main’ meal to noon, when there was light to cook by, and then just had soup and sandwiches for a lighter supper.
Norece says
I was wondering what June’s challenge would be – cooking with no electricity,no propane, no generators. I am looking forward to reading about new cooking methods that others willing be pretending to use.
Thanks Judy,for helping us expand our knowledge on alternative cooking.
Tina in NJ says
When Sandy knocked out power for a week,we did just fine, although we did have grocery stores and town water pressure. My neighbors hadn’t realized they could cook on their natural gas stovetop until I mentioned it. I’m married to an Eagle Scout, so we’ve got all sorts of camping equipment.
Margaret R says
I will be camping this week so all my meals will be cooked over a fire outside. I have a camper with a microwave, stove top and oven but I have never used them in the ten years we have had this camper. I love cooking outdoors. I am learning Dutch oven cooking this summer. So I accept your challenge.
Cookie E. says
Our whole house is on propane so we’re able to light the stove with a lighter or match. We also keep about two tanks of propane for the gas grill handy. While we do have a gas generator the thought occurred to us that what if the gas runs out and since there’s no power we aren’t able to get gas at the gas station.
We found a solar generator at Hammacher Schlemmer that is charged using the solar panels that comes with it or it can also be charged by plugging it in to an electric outlet. Best of all it can be used inside the house. We always keep it charged up for emergencies with power.
One of the other things I’ve learned along the way is that the stove doesn’t have to stay on for full cooking times. Just bringing the pot or pan up to temp (several minutes) covering the pot and turning the heat off will cook the meal. This can be done in increments, thus saving on gas, as well. The meal will be done and usually still very warm
liz says
When I started “prepping” a few years ago, I thought about the cooking aspect. I decided not to buy the extra freezer, though I still might get a small one to take advantage of good sales. I opted for going to freeze-dried foods. The brand I opted for was Thrive/Shelf Reliance since they sold the basics and not just the prepped meals. My pantry includes canned tuna and other items that I like to eat. I do use the Thrive food on a daily basis to get familiar with cooking with it. And, since I live alone, it’s a lot easier to use a small amount of the freeze-dried veggies and other things than to open a larger can or even using fresh stuff. I also like soups, so I can make a wide variety of soups with the ingredients that I have.
So, for cooking, all I need is really a way to heat water to start the rehydration process. Then later, I mix and cook the meal. For cooking without my standard equipment, I started with a camp stove that uses the small propane bottles. I also have a Bio-lite camp stove that uses twigs and wood pellets for fuel. They are coming out with a larger base-camp stove which I’ll get. Since my backyard has plenty of oak trees, I always have small twigs to pick up and use.. And, I’ll keep getting the wood pellets as the backup fuel.
I’ am still looking for a solar oven since we have plenty of sun and I have a great spot in the back yard area to be cooking with it.
Since I am a coffee drinker, I am trying out cold-brewed coffee. I make it in smaller quantities than the Pioneer Woman, but she does have a good recipe for it. If I want hot coffee, I just put it in the microwave, but with the hot weather, the iced coffee tastes much better!
It’s fun to try to figure out how to cook things I like with these challenges. Practicing now is better than panicking later!
Lisa Townsend says
I’m lucky as I am a Girl Scout and can use campfire, box oven or Dutch oven to cook! Always tastes better too! Thanks for the blog.