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In a true emergency maybe. But not for the challenge. I don't have room to store one here either.
Those Honda 2200 gas generators that people use for camping or tailgating are small and lightweight. For a condo I would use a propane one so you don't have to store the gasoline. There are also "solar generators" which are really portable batteries with an inverter. I got one for my CPAP machine and a fold-able solar panel to recharge it during the day.
 
Seriously though, if you're legit going for simulating power outages, you can't just take running water for granted.
I suppose it depends on the severity of the disaster. Most of Salem was without power for at least a few days, and several thousand households were still without power this morning, nearly 2 weeks post storm. But the water always ran. So the OP's scenario is not totally unrealistic.
Can you run a generator on the patio or balcony?
Generators are at best a short term solution. What do you do when you run out of gas? Most of the gas stations in Salem were closed for a few days (no power), and the open ones had very long lines for both gas and propane. In a more severe disaster, fuel for the generator could be hard to come by.
 
I suppose it depends on the severity of the disaster. Most of Salem was without power for at least a few days, and several thousand households were still without power this morning, nearly 2 weeks post storm. But the water always ran. So the OP's scenario is not totally unrealistic.

Generators are at best a short term solution. What do you do when you run out of gas? Most of the gas stations in Salem were closed for a few days (no power), and the open ones had very long lines for both gas and propane. In a more severe disaster, fuel for the generator could be hard to come by.

I agree with you on fuel situation. Also in a true disaster situation much of my time would be consumed by taking care of water supply. Last thing I would want to have to do is add a search for fuel to my chore list. Folks were able to drive to towns with power during the storm aftermath. In the aftermath of a big earthquake that might not be so easy to do. Generators would be great for short term loss of power but it would require a lot of fuel to run them for weeks.
 
If you were one of the unlucky ones who was without power how did you prepare food at home without any electricity? What type of foods did you eat?


We have some property with two wells. One is run electric and the other has a simple pump hand pump. So when we lost power we were able to pump water for drinking, flushing, washing, etc. Our house is heated with wood stove (the superior heating). We cooked noodles and stuff on the wood stove. Made sandwiches. And one night I got really fancy and cooked shrimp on a cookie sheet in butter and lemon pepper on the wood stove. They were perfect. We ran a 3,500w generator just to keep the fridge and freezers going so food didn't spoil and to charge phones and what not. The people who lost power and didn't have wood heat I truly felt sorry for. While our 4 day shortage wasn't fun we definitely didn't feel like our lives were disrupted too much. I will be running a generator plug to the outside of the house into our breaker panel (the to code way) so we can run the house and main well. So that's one thing I want to do. Oh! One thing that worked amazingly well is that as a finish carpenter i run all cordless dewalt 20v tools and I have the tripod light, globe light, and two hand held hanging lights. With my four port rapid charger I was easily able to keep batteries charged whenever I turned on the generator. One thing I just ordered is a single burner propane burner. Other than that I would like to get into the habit of having about 6mo to a year of non perishable foods on hand. Sorry for the long reply, but this thread is timely as I've been really thinking about how to be better prepared. And I think prepped has a negative connotation like it means you're a dooms dayer or something. But to me it means just that, you're prepping for worst case scenario.
 
I like to stock up on canned goods at Winco. When the canned green beans and corn hits $0.50 a can, it's time to stock up.
Spam, corned beef, corn beef hash, Vienna sausages, chili, mac and cheese, oat meal, spaghetti noodles, ramen, various soups, tuna and canned spaghetti sauce are also staples at my house.

MREs are also good to have.

Rice and dried beans are also good to have on hand.
BUT.......without an elec. rice cooker.......well, I'm not so sure. But then....making rice soup is easy enough. LOL.

Aloha, Mark

PS....don't forget the various broths and drinks (not really speaking of drinking alcohol types). And standards: cooking oil, salt, sugar, etc....


Those are perfect ideas. Another thing I was thinking about the other day is bulk multivitamins. Just to keep the micros up
 
Just did this for a week (not by choice). Cooked on propane camp stove.

Breakfast - dry cereal, fruit.
Lunch - PB&J and tuna sandwiches, or pork and beans, canned soup.
Dinner - Canned soups or spaghetti/ravioli, canned fruit cocktail for desert.

Real world experience: Since we did not have a generator, the biggest challenge in meal preparation was not finding things to eat, it was trying to prepare and consume refrigerated or frozen food before it spoiled. Admittedly a short term scenario consideration, but something to think about for such events in the future.

Lesson learned: My trusty Coleman propane lanterns consume way too much propane for long term use in a power-down situation. Go with LED lanterns running on AA or AAA batteries. They provide lots of light with little power requirement. Ditch those D-cell powered flashlights for compact LED flashlights with AA or AAA power for the same reason. Standardization of all battery powered appliances (radio, lights, other devices) to use the same class of batteries (I prefer AA) simplifies logistics.

Was jelly/jam safe to store without refrigeration, what brand did you use?
 
Woodstoves are awesome. I also use my cordless tool batteries for lighting down at my cabin.

Seriously the advancement of tool line batteries over the last ten years is incredible. I run a compressor, 12" sliding chop saw, and table saw all on batteries. The only thing I plug in at my job sites is my charger. Very convenient
 
We have some property with two wells. One is run electric and the other has a simple pump hand pump. So when we lost power we were able to pump water for drinking, flushing, washing, etc. Our house is heated with wood stove (the superior heating). We cooked noodles and stuff on the wood stove. Made sandwiches. And one night I got really fancy and cooked shrimp on a cookie sheet in butter and lemon pepper on the wood stove. They were perfect. We ran a 3,500w generator just to keep the fridge and freezers going so food didn't spoil and to charge phones and what not. The people who lost power and didn't have wood heat I truly felt sorry for. While our 4 day shortage wasn't fun we definitely didn't feel like our lives were disrupted too much. I will be running a generator plug to the outside of the house into our breaker panel (the to code way) so we can run the house and main well. So that's one thing I want to do. Oh! One thing that worked amazingly well is that as a finish carpenter i run all cordless dewalt 20v tools and I have the tripod light, globe light, and two hand held hanging lights. With my four port rapid charger I was easily able to keep batteries charged whenever I turned on the generator. One thing I just ordered is a single burner propane burner. Other than that I would like to get into the habit of having about 6mo to a year of non perishable foods on hand. Sorry for the long reply, but this thread is timely as I've been really thinking about how to be better prepared. And I think prepped has a negative connotation like it means you're a dooms dayer or something. But to me it means just that, you're prepping for worst case scenario.

Some 20 volt drill batteries can have a usb adapter. That would run a phone for a long time even if you didn't have electricity running.
 
pressure canner all the way for long term food storage. i hear you can buy meals in a box and they are good, i don't know. do those boxes have home made strawberry jam?
canners do require jars, lids rings, and a pretty constant heat source.
if shtf tonight would a canner be a good choice, probably not.
if shtf is going to be in a few months, got some good chow.
 
We cooked noodles and stuff on the wood stove.
Forgot to mention that we also did some cooking/food warming on the fireplace insert, since it projects out about 6 inches, so there was some heating surface available. Saved propane that way. We even baked a few things in foil atop the insert.
Was jelly/jam safe to store without refrigeration, what brand did you use?
Stuff that was in the fridge went outdoors in a cooler. Since is was just as cold outside as in the fridge it worked well for the short term. In a warmer season, well...
 
Some 20 volt drill batteries can have a usb adapter. That would run a phone for a long time even if you didn't have electricity running.
Our TV and internet cable as well as land line were taken out when a neighbor's tree fell on our house. Was able to charge our cell phones in the car using a cigarette lighter to USB adapter. Not very economical but it worked. Also learned from my son-in-law how to set up my cell phone as a WiFi hot spot, so I could access the internet on my laptop thru the phone's data link. Probably burned half a tank of gas that way while the power was out.
 
Our TV and internet cable as well as land line were taken out when a neighbor's tree fell on our house. Was able to charge our cell phones in the car using a cigarette lighter to USB adapter. Not very economical but it worked. Also learned from my son-in-law how to set up my cell phone as a WiFi hot spot, so I could access the internet on my laptop thru the phone's data link. Probably burned half a tank of gas that way while the power was out.

Yep, but what I am saying, is that there are cordless drill batteries, that offer an adapter for a USB. Milwaukee does, not sure about others. Basically - that would keep your phone charged for a long time. I have several external battery banks I keep charged. They are just extra battery if I moving throughout the day on don't want to be slowed down by having to charge my phone if I am using it a lot. Those can charge the phone about 4-8 times depending on the size.
 
Some 20 volt drill batteries can have a usb adapter. That would run a phone for a long time even if you didn't have electricity running.
One of my Ryobi 18volt lanterns has a USB port, not sure what type of usb port it is but it does the job in a pinch. I have 8 ryobi 18vo 4ah lithium batteries that I use in that lantern.

Those Honda 2200 gas generators that people use for camping or tailgating are small and lightweight. For a condo I would use a propane one so you don't have to store the gasoline. There are also "solar generators" which are really portable batteries with an inverter. I got one for my CPAP machine and a fold-able solar panel to recharge it during the day.
We have a RockSolar RS650 that works great for my wifes cpap.

 
Any cooks out there have a simple recipe for making a single serving size of spaghetti or marinara sauce with shelf stable ingredients? I can buy the small cans of tomato sauce or paste to use as the base. I have always used store bought spaghetti sauce which doesn't seem to come in small sizes.

Edit: I think I will just buy the canned or jarred sauce and put half in food thermos and eat the other half. It should stay warm enough for next meal time.
 
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Tea pot is easy on fuel for anything you just need hot water for... tea, instant coffee, hot cereal, cup of soup, ect,
A jar of spaghetti sauce might be able to be resealed. By heating jar and contents, remove from heat put on lid and let cool.
We have canned apple juice this way with iced coffee jars.
Sounds like you will have a great time.
 

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