Every time there’s a spate of earthquakes it sends me scrambling to our emergency stash to see how everything is holding up and what might need replacing or adding to; to take note of where the tent, sleeping bags and trunk of camping supplies have gotten up to; and to take stock of what we’d be eating for several days should the ground beneath our feet and under our house start to rock ‘n roll.
It’s good to periodically return to the stash and look at everything with fresh eyes so that I can note the glaring omissions and do something about them. For instance, as many years as we’ve kept a supply of non-perishable foods on hand for emergencies, I only recently noticed that there was no can opener in the kit. There is now!
Another thing I hadn’t considered until this week: We may have a Coleman stove, but who knows if we’d be able to use it after an earthquake? If the gas lines are broken, the last thing we should do is start a fire. So to the stash of assorted canned meats, beans, vegetables and fruits, quick-cook rice, instant oatmeal packets, dried fruit, nuts, instant coffee, powdered milk and Tang, I’ve added a bottle of Tabasco sauce and several types of seasoned salts. Just because we might have to eat our food cold during an emergency doesn’t mean it has to be bland.
Here are some combos I came up with during today’s inventory. None are what I’d call haute emergency grub (or apocalypse gourmet, as Himself called it), but they’re not half bad for cold meals you might be consuming from an upturned frisbee as you sit on the curb with your neighbors:
If you like Hawaiian skewers of spam and pineapple chunks, then this pairing is good served cold with a sprinkling of hickory-smoked bacon salt to sub for some of the flavor you’d get from grilling.
Pour black beans and sweet corn (both drained as best you can) into a bowl, stir and top with a sprinkling of chile-lime salt. Sure, it’s lightyears away from Mexican or even Tex-Mex fare, but it ain’t bad at all.
How about a Greek(ish) salad of sliced new potatoes, green beans and a dash of Greek seasoned salt?
Laugh if you will, but in this trio of meals we’ve just treated ourselves to three different cuisines comprising three protein sources, two vegetables, a starch and a fruit, all without relying on gas or electricity, and all ready to consume within minutes.
Food science writer Harold McGee similarly sorted through his earthquake supplies and made an amazing and wonderful discovery: Some food aged in the can—even when exposed to extreme temperature swings between summer and winter and back again—tastes really good and is safe to eat, as long as the can is intact, of course. His enlightening article on the gustatory delights of can-aged food gives me hope that we’ll be able to ride out the aftereffects of The Big One with some tastier-than-expected morsels from our stockpiled cans as we huddle in the backyard awaiting some semblance of normalcy to return.
Lest you think this is helpful only for those living on the West Coast, I grew up in West Tennessee, where we faced tornadoes, flooding and the occasional earthquake, so I can say that preparation for at least a few emergency scenarios is pretty much the same, as far as food is concerned anyway.
After the Fukushima quake in 2011, I read an earthquake preparedness piece online, written by a colleague of mine who lives in Japan, including a list more detailed than I ever could have imagined of the things it is wise to have on hand in the event of an earthquake or other natural disaster. Her list was fairly exhaustive and included things like hazmat suits and pickaxes. In fact, it was such a daunting list that I momentarily lost sight of two facts that are good to keep in mind:
1. It is impossible to be completely prepared for a natural disaster.
2. You just have to do the best you can and try not to be overwhelmed by what you can’t.
P.S. Don’t forget the can opener!
