Coolers<\/h3>\n
Make sure to have plenty of them around the house in case the power outage is prolonged. Even the inexpensive Styrofoam ones will do the trick!<\/p>\n
![\"storing](\"http:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2014\/12\/iStock_000001832808_Small-150x150.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Non-Perishable Food Items<\/h3>\n
I\u2019m sure you want to still be able to eat during a power outage, right? Keep canned foods on stock so you can have those. These can even be consumed cold or heated on the grill. Want homemade canned goods or don\u2019t have the time or \u201cknow how\u201d to prepare them on your own? Try a Winter\u2019s Farmer\u2019s Market<\/a> to support local growers and farms even in the winter.\u00a0 Usually they have a delicious selection of fresh, homemade canned items.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Of course, with coolers you\u2019ll want ice to put in them to keep the perishable food cold.<\/p>\n When worst comes to worst and you find that the power will not be coming back any time, use your resources! Grab a snow bank and drop your frozen food and refrigerator food in that for a while. It will be kept cold (or frozen, depending on temperatures and how you place it) and you can get outside to enjoy the fresh air!<\/p>\n Keep refrigerator and freezer closed, especially if it\u2019s only half full. Food in the fridge can stay good at a temperature of 40 degrees of below, so the less we open it the longer food will stay cool. Freezer items can also stay frozen for a day or two, depending on how full it is and how frequently it\u2019s opened.<\/p>\n If the outage lasts a while and you don\u2019t feel like storing food elsewhere (ahem, outside), those bags of ice will come in handy. Place ice around the food so it stays colder longer.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re using a cooler with ice to keep food fresh and you live in New England, just stick the whole thing outside! Temperatures in the Northeast are usually below 40 degrees in the winter when most power outages occur.<\/p>\n Build a snow cooler! Dig out a slot in the snow bank for food so it stays cold. Be careful, though\u2026if temps drop considerably during the night, refrigerator food could freeze!<\/p>\n When power finally returns<\/strong>, be sure to check refrigerator for any spoiled foods and dispose of them as soon as possible. Finally, when the storm is over and you\u2019re ready to go outside again, go to the store and buy more fresh food so you don\u2019t have to live off of canned goods anymore! For more helpful tips, check out this video from the FDA<\/a>. As they say… “when in doubt, throw it out!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When it comes to storing food, we\u2019re all pretty good at it. We know the basics. When something starts to smell, throw it away. It\u2019s common sense, right? But what about when there is a power outage for extensive periods of time\u2026what do we do then?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[160,141,161],"class_list":["post-559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy-savings","tag-food-storage","tag-power-outage","tag-storm"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2014\/12\/iStock_000026823617_Small.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7rbwO-91","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"iStock_000018900837_Small\"](\"http:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2014\/12\/iStock_000018900837_Small1-150x150.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBags of Ice<\/h3>\n
![\"Isolated](\"http:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2014\/12\/iStock_000020234262_Small-150x150.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSnow<\/h3>\n
![\"iStock_000000207479_Small\"](\"http:\/\/providerpower.com\/power-to-help\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2014\/12\/iStock_000000207479_Small-150x150.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhat Should You Do?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Refrigerator\/Freezer<\/h3>\n
Put Ice around items in fridge if outage is prolonged<\/h3>\n
Store the cooler and other foods outside<\/h3>\n
When In Doubt and Faced with Little Resources\u2026.<\/strong><\/h2>\n