10 Things to Cook Before the Power Goes Out

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Cast iron skillet on a white surface.

Quick, quick, what to make that will:

a) Use up what you have

b) Provide sustenance in the coming day(s) with no power

c) Be nice to eat at room temperature, if necessary, and hardy enough to withstand some storage time at room temperature or a fridge that is loosing its chill.

Try these items:

1) Baked potatoes

2) Hard boiled eggs

3) Vegetable and bean soups

4) Pot of black beans, seasoned with chili powder, garlic, onions….

5) Penne or ziti (or any other pasta) with olive oil, garlic, grated Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes

6) Hummus (drained and rinsed chick peas, tahini, cumin, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice)

7) Fritttas

8) Roasted vegetables (toss cubed zucchini, summer squash, peppers, eggplant, potatoes, sweet potatoee with olive oil and salt, roast in preheated 450°F oven for about 40 minutes).

9) Vegetable-fried rice (cold cooked rice can be stir-fried with some oil, minced garlic and ginger, chopped carrots, peppers, broccoli and a couple of beaten eggs).

10) If you have any raw meat in the fridge, and you really think you’re going to lose power, cook it now. It still won’t last for a long time once the power is off and the fridge starts to warm up, but it will last longer than it would if it were raw, not to mention the fact that with no power, you won’t be able to cook it anyway, right? If you are working with a tight time frame, just bake or saute the food simply – that way you can toss cubes of cooked chicken or poached shrimp onto a salad, add it to soup or some drained and rinsed beans, or mix with the the above mentioned pasta. And remember, OPEN YOUR REFRIGERATOR AS INFREQUENTLY AS POSSIBLE. Know exactly what you want to get before you open that door; every time you open the door, cold air escapes, and doesn’t get replenished.

Anything that is in your freezer, and is raw, leave there. In a perfect (sort of) world if you leave the freezer shut after power goes off, it will stay cold enough to safely defrost your shrimp and chicken and steak, and if they are still cold when the power gets back on, transfer them to the fridge and cook them as you would normally. If the freezer is not cold when the power foes off, then anything that is perishable needs to be tossed….things like bread or grits are fine.

About Katie Workman

Katie Workman is a cook, a writer, a mother of two, an activist in hunger issues, and an enthusiastic advocate for family meals, which is the inspiration behind her two beloved cookbooks, Dinner Solved! and The Mom 100 Cookbook.

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