Get Prepared with Me: Tropical Storm 2018

September and October are the peak of hurricane season for the Atlantic Ocean (Northern hemisphere). The last few years we have had a stormy General Conference weekend. That was on my mind last week when I bought a few extra containers of water at the store.

Apparently, it was just in time. 

By Monday, we were facing a 10% chance of hurricane force winds in our area by the end of the week. My husband helped me move the lawn furniture into the garage and ordered an adaptor for our camp stove.  On Tuesday I topped off the gas tank, withdrew cash from an ATM (the latter two in case of a prolonged power outage), and the adaptor for the camp stove was delivered. It will allow us to use the big propane tank to power our little two burner camp stove. I hadn't realized how much I was counting on it, but I didn't truly feel prepared until it came.

In this video I talk through some preparedness considerations and meals I can cook without power.

This stack of totes shows some of our layers of food preparation.

The first bin has granola bars, pretzels, crackers, and other snacks that need no preparation. This is our evacuation bin. If we chose to evacuate, I would want to put a couple hundred miles behind us before pulling over for anything.

The contents of this bin will be rotated within the next few weeks as we use some of the food for our next temple trip.

The next bin has some lunch or dinner foods that I can prepare quickly with boiled water:
Ramen
Angel Hair Pasta-roni
Stove Top Stuffing
Not in the bin, but also in the house is canned soup, as well as a lot of peanut butter.

 The last bin includes breakfast foods I can make on our camp stove. I love that you don't even need to dirty a pot to make instant oatmeal and hot chocolate. You just need to boil water.
We have a griddle that attaches to our camp stove. It doesn't do the best job at pancakes, but if a power outage lasted more than a couple of days, it would be nice to have something to eat besides oatmeal.

 Lastly, I have Dutch oven supplies (don't worry, I know to go outside and not use charcoal inside where it would use up the oxygen). The only Dutch oven dish our family has perfected and looks forward to is a dump cake of sorts. If the neighborhood gathered to clean out their freezers on the barbecue, I could contribute dessert.

Update: The storm moved to the south, so we have had a blessedly boring week. Most of these supplies are going to be saved in the cupboard for the next storm that threatens to blow through.

Blog Posts Coming Soon:

5 Things We Love about Elder Gong (video)

A Peek into Our Weekly Family Council

5 Things We Love about Elder Soares (video)