INSTANT SURVIVAL TIP: Eat nutritiously even when the lights are out

image by Beth Rankin

While doing some research for a future blog post, I came across a document produced by the Ohio State University Extension office. An awful lot of people have been experiencing power outages due to storms and flooding, and suddenly find themselves wondering, “What are we going to eat now that the power is out?”

This pdf document, “Eating nutritiously when the lights are out“, provides three daily menus and a list of kitchen tools to have on hand. What I like best is that these same food ideas can be used to stock emergency kits, 72 Hour Bags, and the like. The work of figuring out interesting meals has already been done for you. The menu pages are definitely worth printing out and filing away in your Survival Mom binder. Bon appetit!

(15) Readers Comments

guest
July 26, 2010 at 6:40 pm

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/114/714/Utah_news_…

who here still thinks they can out-prep the government making new laws against your independent survival?

these are all ways to control and literally enslave the citizens into dependency on the government.

it will be difficult to escape this no matter how much preparation… i am always wondering what will be the tipping point for american citizens to finally push back against the constant loss of our freedoms…

we can only store so much in preparation – what else are we to do?

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- TheSurvivalMom
  July 27, 2010 at 5:14 am
  
  It does seem like our own government is conspiring against us, doesn't it? There's an Ayn Rand quote, and I can't find it right now, in which she says that the only way to make an honest man dishonest is to pass so many laws that sooner or later, he will break one. This sounds like one of those laws.
  
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FernWise
July 26, 2010 at 7:06 pm

We lost power here yesterday, along with 430,000 of our friends and neighbors. Pepco says some won't get power until Friday! We were only without for 8 hours. 8 hours – I didn't even fire up the generator!

Of course, it helps that we had already planned salad for dinner.

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- TheSurvivalMom
  July 27, 2010 at 5:09 am
  
  Fern, did all the produce in your salad come from your garden? If so, I am so jealous! Our garden ended in failure, all except our herbs. We now know what we did wrong with our first Square Foot Garden, and will make improvements next time around.
  
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  - LizLong
    July 27, 2010 at 7:41 am
    
    We started with berry bushes, added perennial herbs and some peppers, and are moving to more veggies next year. This way, I feel progress. One gardening book said that herbs have always grown in the wild, but veggies have been grown in kitchen gardens for centuries where they got scraps (compost, really), watering, and all kinds of love and attention to grow big and bountiful. Therefore, herbs are very hardy, veggies are much harder to grow. Made sense to me!
    
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  - FernWise
    July 29, 2010 at 1:15 pm
    
    No, not all of it was from the garden. Leafy greens bolted long ago here. But the salad was mostly cucumbers and tomatoes, which ARE from the garden.
    
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  - blazeandbelle
    August 6, 2010 at 2:24 pm
    
    I too tried my first Square Foot Garden this year with mixed results. What improvements will you make next year?
    
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    - TheSurvivalMom
      August 6, 2010 at 3:21 pm
      
      We're going to make the boxes deeper. A lot of our seedlings never matured because their root balls were slightly exposed. We used the official Square Foot Garden soil mixture and found that it was too light. Just a splash of some water from a cup would wash it away. I'm not sure what we're going to mix in with it, but something to give it more heft, for lack of a better word. I have friends who mixed some sand in with their SFG mixture. I like the concept, I like the organized appearance, but we just need to tweak it a bit. We've grown a number of different fruits and veggies over the years, just not at this house, and that was another issue. Did we place the boxes where they're getting too much sun? too much heat?
      
      Main lesson learned: There's such a huge learning curve when it comes to growing your own food that it's a must to start learning NOW!
      
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      - blazeandbelle
        August 6, 2010 at 4:40 pm
        
        I agree with you about the soil depth and lightweight mixture! We have not had much rain this summer, and with the lightweight soil I have had to water twice a day! The most important lesson learned this summer is that it takes ALOT of planted food to feed a family. Next year we plan to add a much larger garden. It is a good thing we did not have to depend on our little garden this year!
      - TheSurvivalMom
        August 7, 2010 at 4:40 pm
        
        We haven't given up on this style of gardening, either. My husband wants to add an automatic watering system, because let's face it. When it's 110 degrees outside, NO ONE is going to get out there and water a bunch of plants, one cupful of water at a time (as recommended by the SFG guy).
Melinda
July 26, 2010 at 9:50 pm

Thanks this is a great resource!

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- TheSurvivalMom
  July 27, 2010 at 5:05 am
  
  I thought so, too! I'm always looking for ideas for our 72 Hour Kits and get home bags.
  
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  - generator gus
    July 27, 2010 at 5:58 am
    
    The power went out here in South Texas a few months ago. I was able to heat hot water for coffee by running a generator. Its was great!
    There are lots of generators down here in Hurricane country. Make sure you got lots of coffee and gasoline in your 72 hour kit.
    
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elt2jv
July 27, 2010 at 4:00 am

One of the rare, "print this out right now" things I've seen lately. Thanks.

Just printed out the "Grandpappy's Recipes for Hard Times" via Drum-Runners.com. Haven't read every page yet, but looks to be worth having.

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apartmentprepper
July 28, 2010 at 12:24 am

Thanks for this valuable link. I am adding V-8 juice to the pantry.

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