ELEVEN
EAT WELL: FOOD AND FOOD PREPARATION
Even though buying food is most people’s first instinct when it comes to survival, most healthy adults can live up to three weeks with barely any food. Earlier generations survived frequent famines, and while times of extreme hunger were hated and feared, the result is that our bodies are exquisitely adapted to surviving with little or no food.
But hunger robs people of energy, the ability to think clearly, and any sense of well-being. It makes joints ache and muscles cramp. The determination to stockpile food at the first sign of trouble seems to reflect an awareness that hunger carries a high cost in suffering. Still, the most important thing you can do for your post-earthquake health isn’t about how much food you store; it’s about how you prepare it: with washed and sanitized hands and surfaces.
HOW MUCH FOOD TO STORE
For each person, the ideal for two-weeks-ready is forty-two meals—three meals per day for two weeks—and a few snacks. Aim for 2,500 to 3,500 calories per day per adult, less for children, plus two weeks’ worth of food for each pet or livestock. Generally, store nonperishable foods that meet as many of these guidelines as possible:
High-calorie, nutritious foods that require little or no preparation
Foods you use regularly, to ensure successful food rotation
Foods that have a shelf life of five to twenty-five years, if you do not plan to rotate foods
Foods with low or no sodium because of post-earthquake water scarcity
Foods that do not require excess water to prepare: pasta is a poor post-earthquake choice; rice, oatmeal, or other grains that cook quickly and absorb cooking water are better
Foods for babies and those on restricted diets may be a challenge. Take these special needs into account as you buy supplies. Weigh the trade-offs between the food restrictions and foods suited to short- or long-term storage.
If your household includes anyone who is more vulnerable to the impacts of hunger—children, pregnant and nursing women, those with medical issues, older people—you’ll need to focus carefully on having a good food plan. Households including healthy adults with no special needs will weather food shortages more easily, but those who do more physical labor than others after the earthquake will need more calories.
SHORT-TERM VS. LONG-TERM FOOD STORAGE
Short-term food storage consists of food you use regularly in your everyday life. Even without planning to, most people end up with extra cans and packages of food in their cupboards. With purposeful short-term food storage, you simply buy enough nonperishable extra food to get you through a week, several weeks, or up to three months of meals. This requires that you rotate the food effectively, using food that is the oldest first and the newest last.
Food packaged to be stored for many years constitutes your long-term food storage. This food may be incorporated into regular meals or stored as a “prep and forget” option. Generally, staples like rice, beans, oatmeal, sugar, and flour as well as freeze-dried foods constitute the items people store for the long term.
If you are skilled at food rotation, you may want to emphasize short-term food storage. If you want to prep and forget, freeze-dried foods and large cans or buckets of staples may be right for you. See the sections later in this chapter for details on both short- and long-term food storage.
WHAT FOODS TO STORE
As you stock up on food, keep in mind that meals that are easy to prepare when the power is on get complicated when you’ll be cooking over a fire or on a barbecue, a small camp stove, or a hibachi grill. You’ll want to look at simple options that require little more than boiling water.
FOOD IDEAS
Breakfast: Oatmeal with nuts, raisins, and honey; freeze-dried eggs or ham-and-potatoes entrée; granola bars and canned fruit
Lunch: Sandwiches made with bread or freeze-dried pilot crackers with nut butters or canned tuna, chicken, or meat fillings; low-sodium soups with added beans, rice, or meat; freeze-dried entrée; hearty bean dishes from canned beans
Dinner: Freeze-dried entrée; rice or canned potatoes with gravy and/or meat sauce and canned vegetables; hearty bean dishes from canned beans; packaged rice mixes with added canned meats and/or vegetables
Snacks: Granola bars, chocolate, dried fruit
Disregard the food in your refrigerator and freezer in planning your food storage. Ideally, you can use the perishable food in your refrigerator and freezer in the first day or two (see later in this chapter for food safety information), but if you aren’t home when the earthquake occurs, the food could be unsafe to eat by the time you retrieve it.
Also, don’t double-count the food that you have in the go-bags in your vehicle(s), at home, or at work. Having food packed in the go-bags means you’ll be ready to evacuate quickly if fire or another post-earthquake hazard makes it necessary for you to resettle. If you end up using the go-bag food for the intended purpose of getting home, restock your go-bags so you’ll be ready if you need to evacuate.
STORABLE MEAL IDEAS
Note: Clear containers on this page represent heavy plastic. Please avoid glass containers in favor of cans, plastic, and boxes, which are safer to store.
WHERE TO STORE FOOD
Choosing a location for storing food for your two-weeks-ready plan requires taking into consideration several key factors.
STABLE TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY
Temperature extremes will lessen the shelf life and quality of stored food. The best storage space is cool and dry, with nearly constant temperatures. Basements are better than garages, living spaces better than outdoor sheds. Within the options you have, look for the places where temperatures are coolest and fluctuate the least and the humidity is as low as possible. Food stored above 75 degrees F loses quality much faster than food stored at cooler temperatures.
EASY ACCESS
Food stored in garages or outdoor sheds will deteriorate more quickly but be easier to get to after a mega-earthquake. Access to basements could be blocked by the earthquake, especially if the only windows into the space are too small for an adult to fit through. You’ll have to make your best guesses as to what space will be accessible after the earthquake. The more access points (doors and windows) into a space, the more likely you’ll be able to get in.
Distributing your supplies in several locations is one way to guard against access issues but will complicate tracking of supplies and rotation requirements. There isn’t an ideal solution, so do the best you can.
LIMITED SPACE
If you live in a small house, apartment, or condo, concentrate on storing high-calorie, nutritious foods such as the bars favored by hikers. If you have a friend or relative who lives close to you and has more storage space, ask if they might store some food for you. If so, the best choices are freeze-dried or other food packed for long-term storage. Choose someone who lives within walking distance, with no obvious barriers (such as bridges) for you to reach their house after the earthquake.
FOOD SAFETY
The most important thing you can do to avoid food-borne illness entirely is to be scrupulous about how you handle and prepare food after the earthquake. Hand washing is key. Sanitizing food preparation surfaces is critical. Shielding food from flies is also important.
Most of the invisible food safety risks—when it looks, smells, and tastes perfectly fine and still causes serious illness—come when contamination from bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella is introduced in processing or preparing the food or the meal. Plan to purchase high-quality commercially prepared foods from reputable brands for your emergency food storage to minimize the risk of predelivery contamination, and don’t forgo washing and sanitizing for efficiency’s sake.
FOOD SAFETY
We have a serious problem with food safety in the United States. It isn’t that our food is dangerous; most often it’s fine. The problem is consumers think the dates on food packages and cans mean the contents are unsafe once the date has passed. Nearly all the dates are provided by the manufacturer and reflect how long the food maintains peak quality; they have nothing to do with safety. The federally mandated safe-by dates on infant formula and baby foods are the only exception; state mandates vary widely.
Most of us have heard the wise guideline “when in doubt, throw it out.” That’s excellent advice if you don’t make your decision based on the manufacturer’s quality pull date. Do be safe; food-borne illness can be especially dangerous after a natural disaster.
In developing your plans for short- and long-term food storage, it’s important to understand the difference between food quality and food safety. Commercially canned foods, for example, are safe to eat long after the pull date on the can, even if the quality may be reduced.
High-acid foods, like canned tomatoes, will begin to deteriorate more quickly than low-acid canned meats and vegetables. Even so, the head of the Canned Food Alliance notes that canned food kept at temperatures below 75 degrees F may last indefinitely.
Here’s when to discard food:
The can has deep dents or rust that can’t be brushed away with your finger.
The can is bulging or makes an explosive hissing noise or spurts contents when opened.
The package is infested with insects or there is evidence of rodents (droppings) near open packages.
The contents of the can have milky streaks when the liquid should be clear.
The contents of the can or package look, taste, or smell “off.” Following the advice of “when in doubt, throw it out” is especially important when your senses tell you there could be something wrong with the food.
The contents have mold, slime, or other growth on the food—except with hard cheeses: cutting off a 1-inch-deep area around any mold leaves the cheese safe to eat.
REFRIGERATED FOOD
Overall USDA Food Safety and Inspection Services guidelines state that food in the refrigerator with the door shut and power off will stay safe for about four hours. Discard the following if your refrigerator has been without power for more than four hours:
Raw, cooked, or leftover meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and egg substitutes
Luncheon meat and hot dogs
Casseroles, soups, stews, and pizza
Mixed salads—containing chicken, tuna, macaroni, and/or potatoes
Gravy and stuffing
Milk, cream, yogurt, sour cream, soft cheeses, and cheese pies
Cut fresh fruits and vegetables
Cooked vegetables
Opened containers of fruit and vegetable juices
Dairy-based salad dressings
Batters and doughs—pancake batter, cookie dough
Custards, puddings, chiffon pies, and cream-filled pastries
Garlic stored in oil
Other guidelines regarding refrigerated food include these: Discard opened mayonnaise, tartar sauce, and horseradish if they were held above 50 degrees F for more than eight hours. Discard any foods that may have become contaminated by juices dripping from raw meat, poultry, or fish. In general, if any food has an unusual odor, color, or texture, throw it out.
REFRIGERATED FOODS THAT ARE SAFE TO EAT
High-acid foods: mustard, ketchup, relishes, pickles, noncreamy salad dressings, jams, jellies
Whole fresh fruits and vegetables
Unopened containers of fruit and vegetable juices
Dried fruits and coconut
Baked goods—fruit pies, bread, rolls, muffins, cakes—except those with cream cheese frosting or cream fillings
Hard and processed cheeses
Butter and margarine
Foods that don’t actually require refrigeration unless they turn moldy or have an unusual odor
Fresh herbs and spices
Flour
Nuts
FROZEN FOOD
Overall USDA Food Safety and Inspection Services guidelines state that food in the freezer with the door shut and power off will stay safe for about twenty-four hours if the freezer is half-full, forty-eight hours if full.
FROZEN FOODS THAT ARE SAFE TO EAT
Frozen foods that have thawed but still contain ice crystals
Foods that have remained at refrigerator temperatures—40 degrees F or below
Foods that don’t actually need to be frozen may be used unless they turn moldy or have an unusual odor:
Dried fruits and coconut
Baked goods—fruit pies, bread, rolls, muffins, cakes—except for those with cream cheese frosting or cream fillings
Hard and processed cheeses
Butter and margarine
Fruit juices
Nuts
FOOD ROTATION FOR SHORT-TERM STORAGE
Traditional food rotation systems recommend having short-term food storage items—generally up to three months’ worth of food—rotating on a regular basis. This involves ensuring that the cans or packages in the front of your cupboards are those purchased first, making them the oldest on hand. The cans or packages in the back of the cupboard are the items bought most recently. This allows you to use the oldest food first and the newest food last.
This type of food rotation system works best when all the stored items are used on a regular basis, so nothing sits for long periods. It also requires that you stock your pantry or cupboards in the way that grocery stores do: new items in back, older items pushed to the front.
Check your short-term food storage locations at least twice a year to ensure you find and use foods that might have been misplaced, be older, and/or be declining in quality.
SIMPLIFIED FOOD ROTATION SYSTEM FOR SHORT-TERM STORAGE
The seemingly simple guidelines described above, as provided in most preparedness books, aren’t that easy to manage in day-to-day life. The alternative short-term food rotation system described in this section requires far less work.
Earthquake preparations are a form of insurance, buying peace of mind, so I don’t feel I’ve lost money with my short-term food rotation system even if I don’t use all the food I buy—much as I don’t feel I’ve wasted money paying my car insurance even if I don’t have a serious accident that entails “using” the insurance.
It’s important to me that the food I buy isn’t wasted, not that I consume it all. It means I transfer some of the benefit of my short-term food storage from my own family to other families each year; not everyone can afford to do that. For those who can, my simplified food rotation system might be a good option.
Here’s my simplified system: I store my short-term foods in a linen closet and replenish needed items in my kitchen cupboards from this stockpile as needed.
Use 1-inch-diameter circular adhesive labels in assorted colors to indicate the expiration date of the food. Note with a (1) if the food expires in the first half of the year or a (2) if it expires in the second half. Before the (1) or (2), write the year the food expires. For example, 21-iindicates food that expires in the first half of 2021. Place labels on the front of the can or package, using a different-colored label for each year so you can see at a glance the current year’s food.
Twice a year, pull the cans of food that are about six months from expiration and take them to your nearest food bank. They will serve their intended purpose: keeping someone from going hungry in an emergency—the emergency just won’t be an earthquake. This is also a quick way to assess which foods you don’t use as much of as you thought you would.
I sometimes fail to follow even my simplified system and end up with cans of food that are close to expiration or shortly past the pull date—which many food banks will not accept. I give these cans of high-quality, easy-to-prepare foods to people asking for food in parking lots or on street corners.
FOOD FOR LONG-TERM STORAGE
Long-term food storage allows you to provide for many of your post-earthquake food needs. It minimizes the need to frequently rotate the cans and packages of food you buy for your regular diet. Some options include freeze-dried foods and “meals ready to eat” (MREs) developed for military use, which companies are now able to sell to the public.
PACKAGING MATTERS
You need to store food for the long term in airtight containers to avoid contamination by insects and rodents. Also, foods in bags or sacks can mold or spoil. Large bags or sacks of rice, beans, or other staples are not right for long-term storage.
Dry foods packaged with oxygen absorbers in no. 10 cans will last much longer than “wet” prepared foods in no. 10 cans. So buying a no. 10 can of pork and beans might seem like a good idea, but you’ll have to pay more attention to the “best by” date on the can and take a guess at how many years past that date the food might still be palatable and nutritious. Foods packaged for long-term storage—dry food like rice, beans, and pasta that are known to keep well—are meant to be palatable and nutritious when prepared even decades after purchase (see chart on this page).
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), often referred to as the Mormon Church, asks members to prepare for emergencies by storing up to a year’s worth of meals. In support of this, the church runs home storage centers open to the public that sell staple foods for long-term storage, most of which come in large (no. 10) cans. Check before you go—policies may change due to COVID-19 pandemic impacts or supply chain problems.
Online emergency-supply retailers, Costco, and restaurant wholesale houses are also useful sources for food packaged in no. 10 cans. Items from these sources may be more expensive, but buying the supplies from them is easier. However, many products bought in no. 10 cans from these mainstream retailers won’t be intended for long-term storage.
Vacuum-sealed 4- to 6-gallon heavy plastic buckets are another option for storing emergency foods for the long term; these are also available from retailers.
EXTRAS
For my family, coffee, tea, and instant hot chocolate will maintain our normal caffeine levels. I also have some whiskey stored to use as an antiseptic or, combined with honey, to soothe coughs or sore throats. It may also soothe our nerves. (Note: alcohol is dehydrating and should be used with caution, given limited water supplies and the need for clear thinking after a mega-earthquake.)
FOOD PREPARATION
Storing foods that don’t require heating is important, since getting set up to cook could take time. But having hot food will be comforting and is worth working toward. Being able to prepare hot food will require a cooking method such as barbecue or stove, fuel, and a cooking pot or pan.
Carefully consider the safest place you can cook food, away from anything that could easily catch fire—open flames or hot coals may be scattered in aftershocks. Try to secure whatever you are cooking on, so the heat source and hot food stay put. Keep a fire extinguisher close by.
Then think about how many people you’ll be cooking for, where you plan to be, what foods and supplies you’ve stored, your cooking skills, and available storage space and budget restrictions to figure out how you should plan to cook.
OPTIONS FOR STORING FOOD LONG-TERM
HOW TO MAKE A ROCKET STOVE
Gather four 8-inch-by-16-inch concrete blocks. Three standard blocks and one H block:
Assemble the stove on a cleared flat surface away from anything that can catch fire. Assemble the blocks in the following order:
Place a grill or an old burner on top of the rocket stove to use as a stable cooking surface.
Insert a small amount of paper and kindling as far back as possible inside the top of the block added in step C. Ignite the fuel with a lighter or match, and gradually add sticks until the fire is burning well. Add more wood to build a larger fire.
The open-ended H block added during step B creates an L-shaped tunnel of channeled heat up to the burner.
COOKING METHODS AND FUELS
The type of cooking method you choose, and the fuel it requires, involves lots of trade-offs and choices (see chart on following pages). Many households already have some kind of barbecue or hibachi grill they regularly use outdoors. Some families have camp stoves and/or small backpacker stoves on hand, but the fuels for these are difficult to store safely. Easiest to improvise are campfires and homemade “rocket” stoves that simply burn wood.
The more flammable a cooking fuel is, the more dangerous it could be during an earthquake. Storing large quantities of fuel in preparation for an earthquake is a safety hazard.
However, the safest type of fuel to store—charcoal briquets—can be deadly if briquets are used in an enclosed or partially enclosed area. People die every year from using charcoal grills where carbon monoxide—an invisible, deadly gas—can build up and suffocate them.
Still, briquets are shelf-stable and work with a variety of barbecues, hibachi grills, and even some emergency stoves. Many retail outlets discount leftover briquets at the end of the summer by 50 percent or more. Kept dry, they will last indefinitely. The briquets do not burn as cleanly as other fuels but, given post-earthquake fire risks, they are the safest cooking fuel for most people to store.
Wood is also an option for a safe fuel to store. Storage requires space and rotation of wood supplies to prevent termite or carpenter ant infestation.
However, if you regularly use small propane canisters, white gas, or fuel tablets and have a place to store fuel away from your house, it may be a reasonable option in your situation. For example, people who camp and regularly rotate propane canisters may find their standard camp stove is a good option. Because spillage is possible during the earthquake, and fire is a distinct danger after the earthquake, I don’t recommend storing these highly flammable types of fuel.
COMPARISON OF COOKING METHODS AND FUEL
SOLAR OVENS
An excellent choice for cooking in areas where skies are generally clear is a solar oven. Such a device probably won’t be of much use most of the year in the Pacific Northwest—it’s a better choice for residents of sunnier locations.
COOKING SUPPLIES
Aside from pots and the other gear needed for cooking hot food, you’ll need something to put your food on to eat it, eating utensils and cooking utensils, and a can opener. Remember that water will be in short supply, and you’ll want to minimize washing dishes or utensils. I recommend paper plates or bowls and disposable wooden eating utensils, like those small wooden ice-cream “spoons.” These can be carefully burned in cooking coals after meals, eliminating garbage that could attract pests.
Cooking Pots
Cast-iron pans and Dutch ovens hold up well to campfire cooking and rough use. Regular pots and pans can be used, as can lightweight cookware designed for hikers. Consider what kind of food and fuel you’ve stored and what kind of cooking method you plan on using to help you choose the best cooking pot to use.
Storing a large roll of heavy-duty aluminum foil will mean you can improvise a cooking container if you need to evacuate or don’t have space to store cooking pots.
Freeze-Dried Food Cooking Containers
Large 24- to 50-ounce wide-mouthed, double-walled thermos containers are handy for reconstituting freeze-dried food and keeping it warm. To use, you’ll measure out the proper amount of freeze-dried food so that, combined with the recommended amount of boiling water, it fills the container to about 1½ inches from the top. Loosely cap the container until the food is reconstituted, per directions on the package.
FOOD AND FOOD PREPARATION CHECKLIST
NECESSARY
□ At least one full meal per person/per day to avoid consequences of extreme hunger
□ Camp stove or other cooking method
□ Matches in waterproof container, waterproof matches, or lighter to ignite fuel
□ Cooking fuel
□ Pot or pan to cook in
□ Something to put food on to eat: plates, cups, bowls (metal, ceramic, plastic)
□ Cooking and eating utensils
□ Concentrated dish soap
□ Heavy-duty potholders
□ Fireplace poker, shovel, and log holder, if appropriate for your cooking method
□ Fire extinguisher
NICE TO HAVE
□ Instant coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or other beverages important to your household
□ 42 meals per person
□ 1 to 2 snacks per person per day
□ Disposable paper plates, cups, bowls for meals
□ Disposable wooden eating utensils
□ Heavy-duty foil for cooking over campfire coals
□ Camp kitchen: food preparation and washup surface
□ Thermos containers to reconstitute freeze-dried food
□ Insulated containers for hot beverages
□ Stainless or unbreakable plastic French press for noninstant coffee
□ Salt, pepper, spices