Plan Ahead for When the Worst Happens

With hurricane season upon us, there are things you can do to prepare. Perhaps most important, reach out. Get in contact with your neighbors and create a community pantry – share information about your collective resources and make emergency plans.

If you don’t have a hurricane barreling towards you at the moment, plan ahead by stocking up your food supplies. If you have a gas stove, you might even be able to continue cooking when your power is out (just be careful that none of your gas lines are compromised from storm damage, otherwise you might need to turn your gas off. Keep a carbon monoxide detector with batteries handy).

If you are in the possible path of Hurricane Florence this week, prepare as best you can by creating a food menu of at least three different meals (at least breakfast, lunch and dinner), and three snacks. This might end up being a time of natural caloric restriction, so you want to be prepared with balanced meals combining multiple different food groups. Each of your planned meals should combine at least three different food groups, and snacks should combine two. For example, a lunch could combine rice, legumes and canned green beans. A breakfast could combine oatmeal, unsalted almonds and raisins. A snack could combine bread or wheat crackers, carrots and homemade hummus – chickpeas, onions, olive oil, garlic whipped or mashed together if you don’t have electricity.

“Stock up and cook only what you are going to eat so that your leftovers don’t go bad,” Aida said. Your meal leftovers should be thrown out after four hours on the countertop if you don’t have power.

Here are some items that should be on your grocery list heading into a hurricane or other natural disaster:

Water. You’ll need a gallon of clean water per day per person in your home. Bottled water is best. If you are having trouble finding bottled water at the store ahead of a storm, you might even try your local boating supply store for a large drinking container than you can fill up at your house with clean water ahead of time. You can even fill your bathtubs before a storm so that you can still flush your toilets and don’t expend drinking water.

Starches and Whole Grains. Focus on whole grains that keep on the shelf. You can stock up on dry pasta, starchy vegetables such as potatoes, high fiber dry cereal (at least 3 grams per serving), high fiber and low sodium crackers and oats. Do look at the amount of sugar in the grains and cereals that you purchase – try to keep the sugar content below 10 grams of sugar in a serving.

“You are looking for foods that will provide high levels of satiety without lots of sugar and salt,” Aida said.

Plant-based Protein. Focus on beans, pulses (peas, chickpeas, lentils) and legumes, which have high levels of plant-based protein as well as fiber and vitamins. If you are going for canned legumes or animal proteins like tuna, look for items canned in water instead of oil, ideally in low-sodium water. Unsalted nuts and nut butters (try almonds) are also great disaster supply foods that aren’t inflammatory and contain protein, fat, fiber and other important nutrients.

Vegetables and Fruits. Yes, you can eat vegetables in the wake of natural disasters! They might be canned, but you should have supplies to be able to eat 1-2 cups of vegetables every day. You can stock up on unsalted canned vegetables. Corn, carrots, cabbage and celery are also vegetables you can purchase ahead of a storm that will do well in the absence of power for refrigeration.

For fruits, stock up on things like peaches, pineapple, pears, etc. canned in their own juice (no added sugars), and single serving boxes of 100% fruit juice. It’s also important to think ahead in terms of food preparation and storage – if you don’t have power, large containers of canned fruit, meats, etc. will likely spoil before you can finish them. Go for single serving fruit cups and other smaller cans of food if possible. You can also stock up on dried fruit like raisins, apricots, etc., but avoid sugary and salty trail mixes.

You should have enough fruits and vegetable supplies to be able to eat a half cup of vegetables and a half cup of fruit per meal. A serving of fruit can look like a half cup of canned fruit, a 4oz individual fruit cup, or 2 tablespoons of dried fruit.

If you aren’t able to eat the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables during a time of natural disaster, you might consider at least taking a multivitamin during this time.

Dry Herbs and Spices. Oregano, pepper, Italian herbs, garlic – dry herbs and spices are a great purchase because they can help you flavor your food without adding salt at a time when you might be on clean water rations following major flooding from a hurricane, for example.

Powdered Milk. You can still have dairy for your cereals and cooking during and after the storm – just purchase powdered milk that you can mix with water, individual serving unrefrigerated cartons of milk, or soy or cashew milk with no added sugar.

Leave the highly processed and junk food and chips at the grocery store. Especially if you suffer from a chronic disease such as diabetes, these foods aren’t going to help you, and will likely lead you to overeat. A natural disaster is already stressful enough – try to avoid stressing your body with inflammatory, high sugar and high fat junk foods.

“You aren’t going to eat just one potato chip,” Aida said.

Medications. Try to stock up on your medications before a storm or natural disaster if at all possible and if you have enough warning. Always carry your medications on you in the wake of a natural disaster, especially things like an EpiPen if you have food allergies.

“As most adults are on one or more prescription meds, it’s particularly important to establish a reserve of medications and to consider all meds and supplements when planning, including possible emergency substitutions, how that might affect dietary choices, and vice versa,” says Jeff Rubin, Emergency Manager at Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue. “This is easily one of the most important individual preparedness steps – having even basic healthcare access disrupted, whether outpatient procedures like dialysis, or loss of meds, is a huge factor in post-disaster death and injury.”

Jeff also suggests alternatives to MREs. “My Own Meals offers meal pouches similar in use to MRE entrees (heat and eat, or eat cold), but with various combinations of vegetarian, gluten-, soy-, dairy-, egg-, and peanut-free options and a caloric load similar to a healthy frozen entrée (200-350 kcal).” Contact Jeff for questions about disaster preparedness.

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