Emergency Preparedness Cooking
Disaster preparedness planning recommends that every family have at least two-weeks of supplies set aside in case of emergency. Many people by bulk foods, such as bags of beans, bags of rice, along with various canned foods for their emergency food supply. This is reasonably inexpensive and provides bulk food that can be stored for a long time. But, what happens if you have to use your emergency food in the aftermath of a disaster? Can you prepare nutritious, tasty meals using your storage food?
You may read in some preparedness forums that "you'll eat anything if you're hungry enough". While this may or may not be true, we believe that it is bad planning to assume that your family will be best served by having to choke down some bad tasting gruel for breakfast, lunch, and dinner while attempting to recover from a disaster. Having a hot, nutritious, and good tasting meal can improve morale, reduce stress, and prevent illness.
We recommend learning to prepare meals from your bulk supplies, using very basic preparation facilities - cook using a BBQ grill, propane burner, or even over an open fire. There are several on-line web-sites that offer suggestions and recipes for cooking with emergency foods. Print out your favorite recipes as you may not have electric power or access to the Internet after a disaster.
The following are examples of 'cookbooks' that will guide you through cooking with your emergency food supplies.
Emergency Preparedness Cookbook - City of Houston
Emergency Preparedness - Storing and Preparing Food in an Emergency
Recipes for Disaster (An emergency preparedness cookbook)
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