By Chef Judi Gallagher –
Coming from the North, when I first moved to Southwest Florida, I had New England Snow Storm preparedness on my mind. That means stocking up on at least 2 gallons of milk, lots of meats, chickens and baking products, so if you were snow bound for a few days, you cooked stews, bolognaise sauces and baked chocolate cakes and cookies and the family ate like royalty. Of course, if the power went out- we stuck everything in the snow pile just outside the back door. Well, welcome to hurricane season in Florida, where the first thing to go out is your cable TV, closely followed by all power. With temperatures that range in the 90’s in the summer with even higher heat indexes, Sun coast residents need to be prepared.
First- do not keep your freezer more than half full during hurricane season. Have a plan for what is in there incase of electricity outage for more than 24hours. Our plan is pretty simple- we stock easy to grill items such as chicken breasts, Italian sausage and roast beef (perfect for grilling with olive oil, rosemary and garlic salt.)
Once the power goes out, you must limit opening the refrigerator of freezer so- if a storm is predicted buy jumbo bags of ice and fill coolers.
Buy separate coolers for dairy which needs more ice, produce and prepared foods. Use zip lock bags and jumbo plastic air tight containers as ice melts pretty quickly and will water down the cooler contents. To hold ice longer- sprinkle salt onto ice to hold the cold temperature longer.
If you don’t have a side burner on your gas grill, (and of course have an extra tank filled as a back up) purchase a portable burner at a restaurant supply store with a large pack of propane cans
Arrange with neighbors and friends ahead of time about community meals, that way you will all use up your perishables and rotate who does the cooking so no one runs out of propane.
Don’t waste your propane by boiling water unless it is for washing dishes. Pasta can wait until the power is back on.
Potatoes sliced thin, seasoned and layered with sliced onions and oil wrapped in foil and cooked on a grill taste delicious and is filling. Best of all, they do not need refrigeration.
As for the ice cream bars in the freezer- eat them all the first night- even if the power comes back on within hours you can always the extra calories blame it on the storm.