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 A
year ago I moved to Richmond, Virginia with my family. My
husband received a job offer cross country and we decided
to embark on an adventure and see what life had in store for
us. Well, as I said it has been a year now. So far my experience
with the East coast has been less than boring! The first 2
months we were here we lived under imminent threat of snipers.
The next few months brought one of the worst winters Richmond
has seen in many years followed by one of the wettest spring
and summers in recent Virginia history. Recently we just lived
through our first hurricane…Hurricane Isabel. All I can
say is….Wow! What an amazing show nature displayed for
us. Luckily we escaped with very little damage and only had
to live without power, water and so forth for about 24 hours
(unlike many other people in our area). The point to this
story is not to make you feel sorry for us but I thought that
Isabel brought with it an interesting challenge for those
with Celiac disease or gluten intolerance. What to do for
food in a natural disaster??? If you are without a generator
you are faced with the challenge of how to prepare gluten-free
food without the convenience of electricity. In our case,
 we
were fortunate enough to have meteorologists giving us up
to date tracking information — so by time the storm hit
we were prepared (somewhat) for the possibility of being without
power and water for a short period of time. Upon learning
the approximate time the storm was expected to hit, I got
to work and prepared a big pot of homemade chili (see Hurricane
Chili). I also prepared my favorite cornbread muffins
(Perfect
Cornbread). When the storm hit, my chili was near done
but the beans were still too firm. Luckily I had a single
gas burner (which I would advise anyone living in an area
prone to hurricanes or tornadoes to invest in one — about
$40). I transferred the chili from my electric stove top to
the gas burner and let it continue to cook until it was done.
At dinner time we had a delicious candle lit dinner of wholesome
homemade chili and cornbread. Refrigeration held for the period
we were without power so lunch and the following night’s
dinner also consisted of chili. If we would have been without
power for longer than 24 hours we were going to get some dry
ice to cool our refrigerator (and more dry ice blocks to keep
our freezer at the appropriate temperature). That’s my
story and how we survived. It did get me thinking of some
other great meals that are healthy, filling and can be made
ahead of time and in large batches.
Here are some other great recipe tips
for those situations completely out of our control:
Country
Stew
Beef Roast
with Glazed Onions
Grill Roasted
Turkey
Italian Pot
Roast
Louisiana
Meatloaf
Caribbean
Chicken Soup
Chicken Noodle
Soup
Potato &
Leek Soup
Other things to have on had during a
natural disaster:
- Water — bottled water (and if you
know in advance that the water will be shut off, fill your
bathtubs with water for flushing toilets, bathing and so
forth)
- Ice
- Gluten-free crackers
- Gluten-free tortilla chips
- Canned fruit
- Canned vegetables
- Fresh fruit
- Gluten-free cereal
- Milk — if you can keep it cold
- Can opener
- Batteries
- Flash lights
- Candles
- Coolers
I hope that those of you who lived through
Isabel made it through safe and with minimal damage.
- Jessica Hale, Co-Editor — Glutenfreeda.com,
Inc.
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