 August 29th, 2011
02:15 PM ET
Millions of East Coasters are without power today due to the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. While the storm may be over, there may be another threat brewing behind closed doors – of your refrigerator. When the power goes out, your food safety awareness should remain on - just like your flashlights. Knowing how to properly store food and water before, during and after natural disasters like Irene can significantly reduce your chances of foodborne illnesses. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) offered the following recommendations to determine if your food is safe and how to keep it as such:
And without stating the obvious, the FSIS says "when in doubt, throw it out." A taste-test is counterintuitive. If you're one of the lucky ones who escaped Irene's path of destruction but may have hoarded 10 loaves of bread, 20 cans of Vienna sausages and 50 water bottles preparing for the worst, the American Red Cross and several other organizations, including Feeding America's network of food banks, are organizing relief efforts. To find your local food bank for goods donations, visit the Feeding America Web site - or for how to donate relief funds, contact your local Red Cross or visit the American Red Cross Web site. Related - How to help victims of Irene |
  Recent Posts
@FoodAllergyBuzz You have such a fantastic resource! So pleased to have come across it. 4:14 am UTC, February 23 2012
Nope, you're not nuts. More MLB ballparks are adding special accommodations for allergic patrons: http://t.co/PFgXOfgX 7:16 pm UTC, February 22 2012
National Margarita Day! National Margarita Day! National Margarita Day! http://t.co/QtlHoqMe 2:10 pm UTC, February 22 2012
Are you being served? Meet Tokyo's cosplay cafe butlers: http://t.co/DTlPmP1R 1:14 pm UTC, February 22 2012
Beans, Baby Jesus & the sweet flavors of King Cake: http://t.co/L1GMRSvX 10:41 pm UTC, February 21 2012
 |
 |
|
© 2010 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertise with us | About us | Contact us | Help | Advertising Practices
i've had the fourtune of never having gone longer than a day without power. { very lucky actually, since i live in tornado alley! } but i try to stay prapared. 2 battery back ups...enough to run phones and radio for days and the fridge for hours. lots of non-perishables....but it seems excessive to keep so much water around... 50 gals? wherever would i put it?
Throw food away after 4 hours? We lost power for 6 hours before the hurricane and ALL of the food was still cold in the fridge. We ate the meat, the eggs, and drank the milk during the week after and we were fine. We could have endured several more hours of power outage before having to throw away food.
Unless you have a generator, assume you're going to lose the food in the fridge after a hurricane or other disaster. Have enough dry and canned goods on hand to counter that. Also; everyone remembers the batteries and water, but forgets about the toilet paper, aspirin, and COFFEE! Plan ahead. Think about your day, and what you use as you go through it. Put together enough stuff to get you through at least a few thrifty days unsupported. BTW: If you DO have a generator and use it after a disaster or outage, lock it to something big and heavy with a GOOD lock and chain when it's outside running! Those things take on the value of GOLD when the power goes out! Semper Paratus!
Smart idea.... your forget the coffee and i might as well have been swept away!
I never took power outages very seriously...oh gee so your lights have gone out. That was until I had a merely two hour power outage in my neighborhood a ways back. It was quite humbling. It's amazing what you take for granted until you don't have it anymore. Man I couldn't do anything without electricity accept sit around and twiddle my thumbs for two hours. It was like being transported back 150 years. Hard to imaging being without for multiple days.
Much easier just to keep a 3 way generator as a power reserve, it runs on natural gas, propane and gasoline, keep it connected to natural gas, if power goes out, run on natural gas, if natural gas goes out, run on propane tank, when empty, switch to gasoline siphoned from your car. You should be good for a couple of weeks. Power just ref. and freezer plus essential lights and small TV or radio for news. You should have at least 50 gallons of water on hand, these basic precautions cost a total of $500.
50-gallons?!
I was with you right up until then...there is a difference between being prepared and crazy.
TK – You're right, "K" – Yes, 50 gallons, is sane when you hear a hurricane is coming. You have no idea how much clean water you use until you need to buy it. A family of 4 easily drinks a gallon per day, washes hands with a half-gallon per day, and each bathing requires at least a gallon – yes, people may need to wash every other day, especially if you have kids. That's 6.5 gallons per day, or 45.5 gallons per week. I'm told I won't have water and power back until day 8 after Irene in my NJ town. And that presumes you have other (non-potable) water to flush toilets at a minimum of 2gpf. If you don't, then one flush per persopn per day, puts you to 10.5 gallons per day.
Tell me; what's so crazy about having 50 gallons of water on hand? You'd be surprised at how much water you use per day; as suprised as you are when the power goes out and you find out how much you rely on electricity! "Crazy" is expecting "The Government" to take care of what you should do yourself! Semper Paratus!
ummm you can read this text by recharging your cell phone in your car if you dont have a generator.
WHEN THE GRID GOES DOWN THEN WE,LL SEE HOW SMART YOU CLOWNS ARE THAT WASTE CIVILIZED TEXT SPACE ON THIS SITE, Y DONT YOU JOIN A CIRCUS YOU ARE TRYING TO BE FUNNY THERES YOUR CHANCE
1) hit that key right next to your "A" key. Thaaaat's a good girl (or whatever)
2) humor is what makes the world go 'round (2nd only to love)
3) here's an stfu sandwich with a side of humor; swallow them both whole. Bon appetit!
4) speaking of joining the circus, do that and become the UberSeriousFreakThatNobodyGaveASh!tAbout
5) have a nice day
Better to throw it up than throw it out.
Internet out? Here's what to do...
Too bad everyone who needs this info can't read it, since they have no power.
It's not like they didn't see this storm coming! The idea is; plan for the next disaster BEFORE the next disaster!
In the freezer I always have four gallon jugs filled with frozen water and four jugs in the fridge portion thawing out. These get cycled back and forth between the freezer and fridge portions. If you loose power do not open the unit's doors. I also have sheets of 1 inch insulating foam. That I tape around the unit.
During the great power outage of 2003, I was without power for four days and lost nothing
But, what good is it if you can't access the food/fridge to get to any of it? Just preserving it for when power comes back? Just curious what you ate/drank during those 4 days without cracking the fridge/freezer?
imagine if glenn beck wrote this.
Well its too late now, but for the future:
If you freeze two liter water bottles and leave 1+ in the frig and 1+ in the freezer, they'll remain frozen for about 48 hours in the frig and longer in the freezer, keeping food safe. If you need more than 2 days, use more water bottles. Also great because you can freeze clean pottable water and have access to ice cold, clean drinking water when you might not otherwise have access to a cold drink.
When you freeze the water bottles, just dent them a little bit before you put on the cap – make sure the outside feels loose, not pressurized. This will prevent the expansion of the freezing water from breaking the bottle top. If you do this, you can re-freeze the bottles any number of times just fine.
I kept my food safe in my belly. I had a pound of bacon and six eggs for breakfast on Saturday morning. I didn't feel very good for the rest of the day :(
I bet you didn't! The extra weight probably anchored you to the ground pretty well though!
A pound of bacon? dude... thats crazy. I love meat candy but geez!