Well, its power outage season again. Power outages can be so inconvenient, can't they? They never strike when you are prepared. They either come when you haven't started dinner yet, you're halfway through making dinner, or you're in the shower. I can't do much about the latter but maybe I can help you prepare for the other two scenarios.
First things first, power outage planning starts long before a power outage. Last week, my family and I experienced the first outage of the season. It struck at about 1:30 in the afternoon so everyone had had lunch but what were we going to do about dinner? The week before, Mum and I had cooked up two meat loaves; we ate one and froze the other. At the time, we hadn't planned on it being for a power outage but it was an easy meal that we could defrost and warm on our woodstove. I'll tell you how we did it. We used a metal cake pan, a wire rack, tin foil, and a brick. Wire rack in the cake pan, meatloaf on the rack, tinfoil over the top, and the whole thing placed on a brick on top of the woodstove. The brick heats up but doesn't have the same kind of intense heat as there would be if we had placed the cake pan directly on top of the woodstove. The tinfoil traps the heat in the pan. This contraption worked well, but next time I think using a small chicken roaster would do a good job and it would have a real lid instead of the tinfoil.
We also tried an experiment of baking potatoes on the wood stove top. We pricked them and wrapped them in tinfoil as you would for cooking them in a fire pit. We let them sit directly on the stove top and turned them with tongs every once in a while. In all it took about 3 hours to cook, so not terribly time efficient but what else do you have to do in a power outage? And they were awfully good!
Since then, we have been trying to freeze the makings of quick meals in case of more power outages. If you have extra pasta sauce, freeze it for a power outage. Remember sauces can make a filling meal when poured over a baked potato.
If you have been following our Instagram for a while, you have probably seen me talk about the "TV dinners" Mum and I make and freeze. Keep dollar store tinfoil pans and freeze your leftovers in these. It makes for a quick meal in a pinch. Make and freeze mashed potatoes in these pans. I tell you, I have frozen mashed potatoes in a number of different containers and bags and nothing makes them come out tasting good except when you freeze them in the tinfoil pans. They taste as if they were just made and have no strange texture.
If you have access to water during a power outage, you can make soups or boil noodles/potatoes/rice on your woodstove. Keep in mind that if you have a propane stove you can cook on that in a pinch too. We have a woodstove for heat which we are able to cook on, as well as a propane canning stove we use outside. Safety first.
In my house, we are on a well so in a power outage water is limited. I suggest keeping a flat of water bottles on hand at all times. At the very least you will have drinking water. When it gets windy or stormy, fill up your kettles and a pot or two of water, this way you'll be prepared in case the power goes out. For future reference to the coffee lovers who don't know this trick, coffee can be made in a regular pot or bowl if you simply pour boiling water over it. It may be a little grainy unless you can strain it but, in the end, coffee is coffee even if it is a little grainy.
And don't forget to take care to plan ahead for the lighting situation. Candles, batteries, and a couple of flashlights are good to stock up on. If you already have these, check them over to make sure they're all in working order. If not, add them to your shopping list. My family uses battery operated candles in the bathrooms. Its enough light to see where you're going without being a fire hazard. Its more like a battery operated toilet beacon.
If you can prepare ahead of time it takes the stress out of a power outage. And remember, Ladies, you're the homemaker and you set the tone. Power outages can be great fun and a memory making time so long as you set you mind to it. Play board games, read/tell stories, joke and talk with your families. My Mum would always read to us in a power outage and growing up I looked forward to them.
Every situation is what you make it.
How do you get through power outages? How do you cook your meals? What do you do to make it a pleasant experience for your family? I want to hear all about it so leave a comment down below!
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