~patches~ wrote:
> We live in an area where the power goes out quite often during storms.
> Yesterday a storm blew up and I knew it was going to be a dilly. I
> was planning a pot of chili for dinner Before I had a chance to
> get the ground beef browning the power was out except I didn't
> realize it because I started the ground beef and headed to the garage
> for the campstove. The garage door opener didn't work which was my
> first clue and the side door to the garage was blocked preventing
> entry.

I don't know how big your campstove is, but you couldn't have carried it
through the house? Must be a big stove!

So I fired up the gas grill and browned the gr beef on the
> side burner then proceeded to make chili. It was only 3:30 pm so I
> assured myself the power would be back on but took the precaution of
> covering my yogurt maker with a thick towel. By 6 pm the aroma of
> chili filled the air outside and the power was still off. A couple
> of neighbours were in a teather because they couldn't cook and had
> nothing to eat, something I've never understood. One was quite funny
> because his wife is away and she does all the cooking. I invited him
> for dinner but he doesn't like chili.

His tough luck, then. He couldn't have been *that* hungry if he turned down
a free meal.

Everyone here knows the power
> goes out quite often some refuse to prepare for it. It's similar in
> the snowstorms we have - a couple of feet of snow dumped and at least
> one of the neighbours all of a sudden remembers they're out of milk
> which ultimately means all the other neighbours has to help get this
> one guy's car unstuck. Meanwhile the mom & pop is closed anyway. I
> baked biscuits on the grill to go with the chili so we had a nice
> meal in the glow of oil lamps and candles. Then we played cribbage
> for awhile while listening to a few neighbours loudly complaining
> about the power outage. We lent one of them a flashlight because he
> couldn't find his. The power finally came on just before 10 pm.
>
It's odd since you live in an area where there are frequent outages the
neighbors should be so outraged by the loss of power. I don't have that
problem unless it's a doozy of a storm, but I'm prepared for whatever
contingency.

> This recent outage had me looking around at all the gadgets/appliance
> I use that run on electricity. I was glad the breadmaker wasn't on
> and I hadn't been in the middle of canning something!

I'm sure you were! I don't have many electric gadgets, although my stove is
electric (that's what came with the apartment). I won't do electric
can-openers and stuff like that.

I am more
> determined than ever to convert to a gas range. Cooking outdoors
> during a power outage in the winter is the pits!

I wish I could have a gas range but the apartment complex isn't set up for
it. I keep a load of lump charcoal for my grill. I've turned out some
darned good meals on the trusty Weber kettle in times of emergencies. I was
without power for a week once and managed to eat well. Having cast iron
cookware sure does help. I don't understand people who won't prepare for
emergencies, particularly if they know they crop up frequently. We don't
get snow down here but sometimes get ice-storms which are much worse. Even
then I don't tend to lose power for more than a couple of hours. And I have
a fireplace. I can cook in that if I need to.

What's worse, to me, is when it's 90+F degrees and the only method of
cooking is outdoors over a hot fire and trying to keep ice in the ice chest
and freezer so all the food doesn't thaw out.

Jill