Prepping Your Pantry For Hurricane Season
MIAMI (CBS4) -- Hurricane season has arrived but are you ready? In addition to preparing your home with shutters and plywood, you also have to stock your pantry with the right items that won't spoil in a long-term power outage.
Produce can spoil easily so stick with fruit that has a long shelf life.
"You can get apples, those kinds of things that don't need to be stored in a refrigerator," said consumer agent Jacquelyn Gibson. In addition to apples, hearty produce items include carrots and broccoli.
If you want to make sure you're eating fruit, buy dried fruits and fruit bars.
Stay away from fresh meat.
"Fresh meat should not be part of your hurricane plan unless you have access to refrigeration maybe with a generator," according to Gibson.
Instead of meat, head to the canned food aisle. Your protein should be canned or in vacuum packed envelopes like tuna, salmon, Vienna sausages, chili and beans. There's also soup, jerky, peanut butter, nuts, and jarred or canned pasta sauces.
Dairy requirements can be met with powdered nonfat milk, canned milk, milk in aseptic boxes and pasteurized processed cheese spreads that don't need refrigeration until they're opened.
Juice-packed fruits and no-salt-added veggies come in jars and cans.
Your starch quotient can come from canned potato salad, canned corn, rice cakes, taco shells, vanilla wafers, graham crackers, pasta, pretzels as well as wraps, bread and other fresh items you can purchase just before the storm hits.
The quicker the meal the better during natural disasters so buy food that's fast to make like boil-in-a bag rice.
Don't waste your water on cleaning dishes; buy disposable utensils, plates and cups.
Make sure you stock seven days worth of food and water for your family. A gallon of potable water per person per day is required for drinking and cooking. You can use tap water unless local health officials say it's unsafe.
If you don't have the money to pay for everything now, buy a few items every time you go to the store until you have everything on your hurricane list. Then there are those "other" things you'll need. These include soda, juice boxes, nutritional shakes such as Ensure, sports drinks, instant coffee, tea bags and condiments (mustard, ketchup and mayo) in single-serve packages. And if you have children, add formulas and baby food to your list.
To cook you will need a camp stove/gas burner, a fondue pot, Sterno and/or a charcoal or gas grill. Be sure to have plenty of bottled propane gas or charcoal and a means of lighting your grill.
Damp wipes will also come in handy and although most cans now have pop tops, don't forget the can opener.
