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Author of Be Ready for Anything and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course
I hope you’re enjoying the daily challenges! If you missed the previous challenges, you can catch up here:
Onward to today’s challenge!
Today, pretend that the power has suddenly gone out right before dinner. Cook a meal entirely outside or eat something that doesn’t require any cooking at all if you can’t cook outside.
This will help you see how ready you are for an unexpected power outage. If you have neither a meal that you can throw together without cooking nor a way to cook outside, you will want to make some adjustments.
Here are some tips on cooking outside.
Here are some no-cook meals.
Let us know what you’re having for dinner in the comments!
PS: If you want to qualify for the free ebook, be sure to pop over to the forum to post your answers. ????
I would most likely, finish my meal in our rv, on propane stove. Or possibly on the grill. We keep it simple: chicken breast, veg/fruit. Keep it easy and keep the cold food concealed. Run generator to protect from spoilage.
I cook with propain so no need for me to cook outside but if I needed to I have my grill and fire pit.
I use the “KISS” method – “Keep It Simple,Stupid”. Dryer lint in a prescription bottle, flint and steel (scrape off the waxy glunk on the flint BEFORE you need it) and you have the start of a fire. Now SLOWLY cook your meal “flames for boiling, coals for broiling” Boy Scout adage comes to mind. Dutch ovens in the coals are great. I’ve done beaver tails in foil in the coals (Canadian ancestors used clay mud to bake them). Yummy, my kids (10 and 7) loved it too,
Hobo Burgers on the grill. Although, both boy-grandsons would be happy with PB&J!
Since we may yet lose power due to Dorian, we have planned hot dogs or brats for dinner tonight. Veggies on the grill with the meat and some chips on the side. We’re hoping for the best but prepared for the hurricane to side swipe us.
We have a full bbq setup here with both an open fire pit and a closed in fire with chimney as backup and butane stoves to Back that up we’re set long term
Ever since you mentioned the book “The Storm Gourmet” by Daphne Nikolopoulos, we got the cookbook, shopped for her two week menu, and have tried multiple dishes. Everything is tasty and comes from a can with no cooking.
What’s for dinner? What’s going to spoil first? Tonight’s dinner was Pollock, (cod, not Jackson!), Broccoli and leftover rice from yesterday. That’s what we most likely would have had if the power went out, too, but we would have had bacon cheeseburgers for dessert! (JK -LOL)
LOL at the Pollock joke, Miss Kitty…Makes me wonder how many others ‘got it’…
We are 100% electric and no solar, so I always have a backup plan. I keep charcoal on hand to grill or Dutch oven, we have a fire pit out back, I have a camping stove and a wood stove in the house. And if it’s just something simple, like soup, I have a fondue set with Sterno fuel. I love using it!
We have a gas stove in the garage used for canning, a gas grill with propane bottles, a grill, a camp stove, etc. We could cook whatever we want but we also could have simple foods the kids love, Vienna
Sausage with crackers and fruit, Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches with fruit, Tuna salad with apples and pecans with crackers. We would be fine for the short term.
I could do ‘breakfast for dinner’ over the fire or on the grill or camp stove, with canned corned beef hash, dehyradted hash browns, and eggs. Plenty of soups on hand, the ‘chunky’ type soups over rice or noodles make a filling meal. For a total non cook meal, of course there is PBJ always! We also have a variety of canned goods that could be eaten ‘cold’, if we didn’t want to raise suspicion by cooking them. And I am checking into that book Piano Janie mentioned….
I have a 4 burner camp catering cooktop with foldable legs for portability and a homemade Split barrel BBQ in a metal stand with expanded metal sides, and my husband Santa Maria Style BBQ with adjustable rack…
Dinner is a pair of lovely scrubbed russet potatoes set by while the wood fire gets going. Top bloc steaks for two are sprinkled with mashed fresh garlic, finely chopped flat leaf Italian parsley and a couple of twist of fresh ground black pepper.
Rubbed the potatoes with bacon grease
Add some good sized pieces of wood to the fire and let it burn down to hot coals.
Split two white peaches. Set aside seed for planting later. Crumble two short bread cookies and mix crumbs with1 tablespoon of dark brown sugar.
Fire down to nice coals but add a handful of charcoal to keep coals going for a while.
Wrap potatoes in foil and tuck into the edge of the coals. Lay meat on the rack. Let it sear quick then adjust so the meat cooks slowly. Turn the potatoes a few times. Slice the medium rare meat on the grain. Put unwrapped potatoes on the plates and split, pinch sides to open up and quickly add real butter. Sprinkle with a twist of ground sea salt and generously butter. Then a quick twist of grated black pepper. Enjoy.
When about finished with meat and potatoes lay peaches cutside down on the grill long enough to warm through and make grill marks. Turn cutside up on desert plates. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream as desired.
We cookout a lot both summer and winter. We haven’t had electricity for around a year so if it’s out I wouldn’t notice.
For my taste a quart of fresh amaranth greens washed and still dripping added to a hot cast iron frying pan with 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings with little crumbles still in the pan. Cover and steam 3 minutes then turn greens and top with a couple of twists of grated sea salt and 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Cover and steam three more minutes. Uncover, cut with two knives crossing blade to blade. Leave uncovered and reduce any liquid till greens are just wet but no puddle of liquid in the bottom. Add a pat of butter on top and serve. Greens would have been my choice but this was hubby choice of dinner.
Wow! I’ll be right over!
Today I’ll be cooking baked teriyaki salmon filets and scalloped potatoes in my All American Sun Oven. Come dinner time I’ll cook some green beans over the open fire in my fire pit. I’ll start the scalloped potatoes this morning and adjust the oven to face the sun every hour. Around 3pm I’ll add the salmon filets. Easy peasy.
We have a propane grill and a charcoal briquette grill. In actuality, power going off would have no bearing on us as we have a gas stove. So, when we lost power for 10 days several years ago, cooking was no issue.
Then, in really desperate emergencies, there are MRE’s which come with a heater.
I would est a salad opening the frig only once to get ingredients and once to return them . The DH would drag the camp stove out to cook mac and cheese or a packaged noodle dinner, like we usually do.
I have several ways to cook if power went out . If has is still working I world use my stove and hand light burner. If not I have a camp stove can cooker , wonder oven for longer cooking meals solar oven if sunny , fire pit and charcoal grill , plus a rocket stove.
I have tried all of these and should be able to manage with anyone of them.
Have MREs on hand. I also have 2 Coleman stoves, a wood burning cook stove and 2 rocket stoves with plenty of biomass. Cast iron pots and regular camp cookware. I can cook same as being inside. Minimum 6 months food besides pantry. If power is still off next day I also have 2 solar ovens. Food I can cook, food I can eat cold and food I can add boing water to.
using some items routine now, need to add a few things to have a full spectrum of abilities.
Probably just clear out the cupboards of tinned food eaten raw/cold.
Do this all the time. Fire pit with racks and tripod. Propane grill. Charcoal grill. Camp stove with 3 types of fuel. Solor oven. Rocket stove. Chaffing fuel for warming slowly. Candles. MRE heaters. Hot hands will warm canned foods. Wonderbag. Lump coal is better btw. Pleanty of firewood. Got this…
I have a gas stove, so I use a match to light itinstead of the electric starter..problem solved!
I think we are OK with this one. Tinned food meal with granola bar and custard (box).
I have a bunch of canned food I could eat out a can. Pbj’s. Tuna packets, put it in a bowl with random seasoning and condiments, eat it. Crackers, chips, cookies, I don’t have the best diet sometime by choice I eat like this, when other things are available. I have a ton of shelf safe milk, so cereal is a thing…
Today I practiced heating precooked brats in a thermos full of hot water. I ate them for dinner. Small step but at least I know now it does work.