.gif)
By patsi @ A Working Pantry
Wagon clipart link … https://clipart-library.com/clipart/713877.htm
Hello everyone, just popping in with a check-in and a reminder for our Circling the Wagons class scenario …
(For those just popping in, this is an imaginary scenario that's part of a class we are doing and not real life.)
You are now 48 hours without power … how are you doing? How’s the water holding up? How are you feeding your family? What’s your biggest concern at this point?
She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27
You might be interested in my other blogs ...
Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine
You can view my privacy policy HERE.
Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps keep in sewing supplies.
Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.
By now we have started one of the 2 generators to keep the fridge and freezer running We will alternate between the 2 and also charge cell phones and any flashlights that need charging . The solar charger is out to charge the battery so we can use the inverter for low voltage devices. The camp stove and grill will be used for cooking. We will use up the fresh food first in case this goes on for awhile. Calls have been made to family and friends to see if everyone is in the same predicament. Drinking water will hold out for a week. After that we will need to use the hiking water filters. It’s turning cooler warmer clothes will be worn along with more blankets. If need be the down sleeping bags. We have some wood for the fireplace but will conserve for now. Baby wipes will be reserved for cleaning up. That’s probably what bugs me the most not being able to shower after a few days. I will try the baby powder like others mentioned. Sue in MN
ReplyDeleteSue, you got a good plan for where we're at in the scenario! Sounds like you're thinking smart!
DeleteCaretaker of my parents, mid nineties, three houses away. Mom can stand and sit with her electrical recliner (without power>problem), they will have no warm water (electrical boiler), cannot heat their food (microwave) but are still warm cause they have a natural gas heater in the living room. Must bring our spare bed over there so dad can also sleep in the living room. Someone will have to go and be there overnight. When I cook on my natural gas stove food, tea and coffee must be brought over there. Light will also be problems because even though I have oil lamps and some solare lamps my parents don't. (Note for now: must get more of those and a solar recharger for mobiles etc).
ReplyDeleteAfter 48 hours of no power and no info we will presume there has been a hack and we will have no idea how long restoring will take cause in our country nothing like this has ever happend before. The Netherlands is not that big, so we will know if it is just the region or further, but will it be the rest of Europe as well? Plus side is that we are a bike country and small so transport is not yet a problem :-) Have a good stocked pantry but still will go (when no chaos and with the emergency cash) to the shops to see if I can get some more water, batteries, food, toiletpaper etc. (Note for now: totally unprepared concerning paper plates).
After 48 hours i must fear for the freezers: cook the meat and waterbath it (no pressure cookers in NL). I have the WECK book physically so can look that up and jars to use for that (Note for now> practice waterbathing meat) I now start to worry if water and natural gas will still be provided cause the utility companies will need power to get it to the homes one way or the other? (Note for now> get that camping gas cooker).
Maybe organize a family gathering (two brothers live very close by) and share ideas and needs. Maybe even the entire street. We all know each other. Brothers have company generators used in their business, others will as well. Are they ready to use for house electricity. Connectors??? We live on walking distance from the dunes where they purify water using the sand of the dunes. Maybe we have a source for water there?
I fear the sewer system also will stop working without power. We can use buckets lined with garbage bags but what to do with it? What about the meds for my parents? Without natural gas I will not be able to cook anymore, we (and my parents) will be in the cold. Have no woodstove. What about that laundry pile. Is it summer or winter? Hmm I think if the power outage would last more than 48 hours we see big problems coming in the Netherlands.
Wendy, I like the way you have addressed each issue then added what you needed to do to make it better.
DeleteWendy, please look for other ways to preserve meats, it is not safe to water bath meats. Meats have bacteria that can cause food poisoning and have to be processed at 240 degrees F or higher for 90 minutes under pressure to kill the bacteria.
I don't know anything about the WECK book, so I can't speak for it, just please do your research before water bath canning meats. During a crisis situation we sure don't want to get sick.
Great comment!
Ok, so no water bathing (exists since 1749, technic was invented in France and great help to feed their army (also meat). Pressure canning is rare in Europe and not affordable to import canner, jars and lids. So, after 48 hours we will just eat very protein rich for a few days ;-)
DeleteI think we would have quite quickly contacted neighbours after the power/water going off to find out if they were in same position and if they knew what was going on. We have a battery-powered radio and also a wind-up radio, so we could turn them on from time to time to see if any info was given out.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have any vulnerable family living separately, but keeping our young adult son (who has severe learning difficulties and autism) calm would be our biggest challenge. Our water was off twice for an hour or so recently and he was in a panic for days afterwards following these unplanned events :(
Our bottled water wouldn't have lasted long. We would probably attempted to buy more bottled water firstly from our village shop and secondly from the supermarkets in our local town. If that was unsuccessful we may have taken water from the cold water tank in our attic, or even the hot water tank within the house itself. If it looked if we had rain due I would be placing lots of containers outside to catch as much rainwater as possible. I do have disinfectant tablets in store which would purify it for drinking.
Our freezer may have started to defrost after 48 hours or so, so we would be attempting to use up the food stored in there. We could even start to chip off the ice and store it in containers to use as drinking water.
I would be cooking on my small camping stove, but we only have one canister of gas, so I would be trying to use it as sparingly as possible. We have a wood-burner in the living room, so apart from keeping us warm, the top of it could be used to heat food. If this event happened during warm weather I could rig up a make-shift barbecue/ fire pit for cooking with a metal bowl, oven rack and wood.
We have two rainwater barrels outside. We would be using water from them to flush the toilet and, even then, rather sparingly.
I have a store of candles, a couple of wind-up torches and a headtorch for light. All could be used with mirrors to reflect the light.
Since your last post I have remembered a tip about refreshing hair when no water is available which I read years ago in one of those old time home-making books. It advised ladies to part their hair at intervals of about 1 inch and wipe along the partings with eau-de-cologne, rosewater or lavender water. I guess you could also use surgical spirits (rubbing alcohol) too, although in a situation you describe it might be a good idea to hold onto that for medical purposes.
Tracy, that's a good tip for refreshing hair, I'm going to add it to my notebook.
DeleteThat's also a good tip for using mirrors to help reflect the light.
By 48 hours after Helene we had settled onto a routine. We knew when we wanted to run the generator and had asked a neighbor if we could get water from their hose since they are on city water. We were keeping in contact with friends and neighbors by text. Within our neighborhood people were sharing and helping each other. We are blessed to know our neighbors. It was not fun but manageable.
ReplyDeleteI know many of you are not on social media but in a disaster it was our best source of information. Maybe consider setting up an account and following your state, county and city pages. This was where we knew about things like how the recovery effort was coming along and how to apply for assistance. Also this is where free meals for pickup were posted. Nextdoor is local and it was a great source of information and we could ask questions. It is a lot of drama but it was very helpful.
I’m so sorry you had to live through such a disaster, but I’m grateful for all you’ve learned. I’m taking notes.
DeleteThanks
DeleteLana, I'm taking lots of notes from your comments too! Experience is a powerful teacher!
DeleteCommunity and good neighbors are invaluable in situations like this, aren't they?
I have camping supplies and stored food so that wouldn’t be a problem yet. We have a really old generator that runs. We have a way to plug it into the house, but I haven’t tried pulling water out of the well with it. I think water is my main concern. We have enough for drinking still, but washing is an issue. Someone mentioned a camping shower. If you don’t have that, do you think you put put some water in a black trash bag, close it well and set it in the sun? I know my mind is reaching here. I thought maybe I could put it in my watering can and douse my husband with it in the shower! Mel in Co.
ReplyDeleteHaha! We did the watering can of cold water. The thing is that it is really heavy and hard to really pour well. Big sloshes was more what we had. I have a camp shower on the way from Amazon. Don't want to be caught without again.
DeleteGood to know. I can get by, the the hubster really prefers a shower. Mel on Co.
DeleteOur longest power outage in my area has been 4 1/2 hours, so by late afternoon, I would have hiked to 7-11 for ice. Knowing the store, I know they'd be open for business, power or not. They have 4 freezers of ice inside and 3 coolers outside, so I know they'd have ice. This store is primarily utilized by lottery players, Village workers, landscapers on break, and tailgaters, so most in my area don't even know this place exists. I'd purchase 2 large bags and pull them home in the wagon, and fill the coolers and move perishables out of the refrigerator. The freezer would stay for now, if not opened. The goal will be to use the perishables first (eggs, breakfast meats, leftovers) and then work with what's in the freezer. I'll have alerted my close friends, mom (assisted living out of state) and daughter (an hour away) of the situation and let them know that I'm OK. Spending my time walking the dog and meeting neighbors who I may have never met (somewhat "closed" community who stay to themselves, for the most part .. we pull in our garage, close the door and go inside, so not much interaction, except for the dog walkers and parents of school-age kids who walk them to the bus-stop), and we discuss the situation, who is hearing what, etc. [I base this on how things were during Covid.] I'll use my cell phone to stream the local news radio station, and then use the solar charger to re-charge the phone. I've got plenty of books to ready and my overflowing crochet bag, so I have lots to keep me busy. The guy across the street is handy, and I asked him to help me get the garage door open, so my car is now parked outside, should I need to travel anywhere. Things are still going OK.
ReplyDeleteLori, you have a well-thought-out plan. This is the kind of looking ahead and planning that will serve you well in a situation like this.
DeleteI would have talked to my daughter in Maryland to see if they have power. We gave them a generator so they would still have some power for their chest freezer and fridge. I would talk to my parents and siblings in other states to check on them. Only 1 sister doesn't have a generator but she lives 10 minutes from my parents who do. If everyone has no power, we are all thinking long term.
ReplyDeleteWe would have filled up everything we could in the house with water; water bobs, pots, waterbottles, while the water stations still have chemicals. Most have a 2 week supply on hand. I would tell my family and friends to do the same. We would start sprouting seeds for fresh greens. They take about a week. I would get my mini green house set up and start easy seeds like lettuce. They take about6-8 weeks. We would be eating out of the upstairs fridge and freezer first. Then start working on the chest freezer. Most cooking would be on the charcoal grill at this point since it is still nice enough to do outside. We would cook food for several neighbors too. We would rotate who cooks each night to save resources. I would keep the propane tanks for later in case we need it for our Mr Heater buddy for when it gets cold.
We are fine and water and food. We would still have power some times but would be rationing the gas. If the weather is nice we have solar on our shed . Hubby could move to to the house if we need it. We have solar lights that we would bring in at night and put out every moring. We also have hurricane lamps if we need them. But with no word on what has happened I would be rationing that too.
-Marybeth from NY
Marybeth, you've mentioned several things I haven't heard mentioned yet, great comment, I'm taking notes!
DeleteQuestion -- Several have mentioned being on "city water". If the water facility loses power, would you still have access? So often, we hear about places that lose pressure issuing boil water orders. If household water was compromised, not sure I would want to use it as a potable source for drinking and cooking. Anyone know?
ReplyDeleteI have looked into this for my area. Our town keeps 10-14 days ahead of deliveries of chemicals so they can go a week with no issues because of weather or shortages. Mine has a natural gas generator to run as backup so no power isn't a problem. Earthquakes could be a problem. After 2 weeks the water wouldn't be treated anymore. Most people don't know this.
DeletePost 9-11 most water utilities are cautiously unwilling to share what they have on hand or where the resources are located. In my area there are generators but not at all well sites, (they are working on this) and they will not release info on how long supplies would last. They do, of course, recommend storing two weeks of water for daily needs.
DeleteI'm checking on my son & grandson as well as my son's ex-wife & her family. They all live 5 miles away from us. But in December my son will be moving in next door to us so we'll be working together more.
ReplyDeleteNot knowing what caused the outage or how long it will be out causes apprehension. I have enough water for a week at least, a few weeks if I drain our hot water heater for drinking/cooking only. And we do have a well at our old house but it needs electricity to run. Adding a generator hook up to that well is on our to-do list so that won't help me in this scenario.
Several people mentioned checking in with family members who are not local. To that end, I am creating an Emergency Family Contact spreadsheet that will be sent to each member of our extended family, with the suggestion on printing it out and a copy put into each of their go-bags in addition to one for the house. On this list I have households listed with full names, birthdates, address, phone #s. Also employer’s name, address & phone number. I also listed family pets. It’s been a well received idea when I have been asking everyone to give me their info. ~Lace Faerie aka Karen in WA state
ReplyDelete