The Hurricane Irene Shopping Spree
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With Hurricane Irene a’stormin up the east coast, I joined the thousands flocking to the stores this morning to stock up on food.
Actually, I must admit the embarrassing truth: my panic-buying began last night. What set me off was the scary idea of no phone for multiple days (we have cable-phone so if we lose power, we have no landline). So I went battery crazy. The first thing I nabbed was a set of 3 iPhone battery chargers. I had planned to buy one months ago but never got around to it. Of course now instead of just one, I bought 3 so we can charge for days. And paid a small fortune for 1-day delivery.
Then I really lost it, and placed a 2nd Amazon order for a LOT of batteries and 2 lanterns (the thought of WalMart today was overwhelming). I am usually a value shopper so the 1 day shipping fees just slayed me, but I pushed the amazon button anyway.
Go ahead and laugh at me – I realize I’m ridiculous.
Though I’ll have lanterns and flashlights galore. And a working iPhone. So there.
Gloating over, let’s get back to how to cook Lo-Co meals sans electricity.
To create a plan, the first step was to consider the heat source. I am fortunate as we have both an outdoor gas grill and a gas-fueled cooktop. Though if the forecasted 100 mile per hour winds whisk away our grill (my husband’s plan is to bungee it to the deck…we’ll see how that goes), then I’ll just have the gas cooktop.
I fear I’ll be right, but planned a menu assuming my husband’s bungee plan will work. With that in mind, here’s my Hurricane Irene / No Electricity Lo Co menu plan.
- Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin served with No-Sugar-Added-Applesauce, leftover quinoa and broccoli/string beans (steamed on the cooktop rather than microwaved). The beauty part of pork tenderloin is it can either be cooked in the oven if we have power OR on the grill. I’ve not included a recipe as I just follow the prepared pork tenderloin cooking instructions on the wrapper.
- Hot & Sour Chinese Eggplant – cooked stovetop on a wok, served over rice. This recipe is easy and flexible – you can add/remove spice. (Though you have to soak the eggplant for 1/2 hour which I forgot the first time I made it.) View it online at allrecipes.com or for my suggestions along with useful reviews / idea from others, download: Hot and Sour Chinese Eggplant With Reviews.
- Several boxes of pasta and jars of sauce – both traditional and pesto.
- If we are power-less for more than 3-4 days, I am assuming we can drive somewhere for take-out so I have just these dinners planned!
- For lunch, I bought soups, black beans (to put on tortillas) and bunches of fruit that can ripen on the counter.
- Breakfast is either eggs or cereal (milk kept in an ice cooler). Hmm…need ice.
As I stuffed 5 bags worth of groceries into my pantry/the fridge, I stared at the Silk soy coffee creamer I’d auto-tossed into my cart. Creamer in hand, I wigged at the realization that my Keurig coffee machine doesn’t have a battery.
With no electricity, how will I get my daily coffee fix?
Panic sent my imagination went into overdrive. My solution? I plan to tote my Keurig into the garage and plug it into my car.
As soon as I find that DC car charger.
I’m signing off now to go look for it while we still have lights.
