I'm giving in to my paranoia and starting to plan for what looks like Hurricane Sandy (the s'nor'eastercane / Frankenstorm of the century) gearing up to hit the mid-Atlantic region in a few days, and I'm trying to start thinking about food options if we lose power for several days.

Anyone care to help me brainstorm *healthy* pantry options? I typically eat pretty paleo/primal - fresh produce and protein-heavy - so I'm having a hard time. I'm stymied, aside from the following:

cans of tuna and sardines
nut butters
crackers :/
plans for veggies in coolers and a few other limited goods in cooler (cottage cheese, etc)

Besides jerky, I'm having a hard time thinking up other ideas.... help?

Do you eat beans? Canned chick peas/black beans/butter beans make a nice salad with vinaigrette.

Another suggestion although not food. Freeze plastic bottles of water now as they can keep things cold in your cooler during a power outage.

Thanks ladies! I don't know why I didn't make the connection earlier, but I can still use my gas stove if the power goes out (i'll just have to light it manually). That will make everything so much easier if/when the power goes! But Ruth, that is a great tip - thank you!!

The water bottles are a good idea...and it is a good idea to leave some in the freezer. That way, the food will keep longer if there is a prolonged outage. In that event, try not to open up your fridge/freezer so that the coolness stays inside.

I have another tip regarding your freezer (especially if you ever have to evacuate). Take a cup or bottle of water and freeze it, then when it is frozen, put a penny on top of the ice and leave it in the freezer. Then, in the case of a power outage, this will let you know if your freezer became totally or partially defrosted during the outage. (If the penny is at the bottom of the cup or bottle, then you know it totally defrosted). Many times when people evacuate, they may be unaware how long the power was off. If you lose your power for an a few hours, the food in your freezer will probably be fine. But you might have a situation where the power was off for many more hours, but then went back on. In that case, the defrosted food will become re-frozen. This would leave you in doubt of whether the food spoiled while the power was off. The penny trick helps to take the guesswork out of it.

By the way, I live in S. Florida. We were supposed to have heavy downpours and 60 mpg wind gusts. It barely drizzled all day and we had a light breeze.

Have you thought about canned chicken? I always have some on hand for quick dinners and it is pretty good.

I don't have a gas stove, but the gas grill is all ready to go if I need it.

Nice tip on the freezer, joefla!

Thank you, Joe! That is a great tip. Grabbing some pennies now...

I'm keeping an eye on this thread while I still have power. I bought some pistachios and pumpkin seeds (and I have a packet of almonds too) so that I'd have some healthy snacks that were real food. We have some fruit, but I'd prefer to stay away from it if I can.

I find that if the fridge and freezer are kept closed as much as possible that everything can be fine for a few days without power (I was without power for 3 days with Irene—no food spoiled).

We too have a gas stove and we've dug out the teapot so we can make tea and other hot drinks if we need to.

I never really thought what I would eat in a power outage! In the past, my main staples were Spaghetti-O's and Chef Boy-r-Dee raviolis!

GoGo Squeez applesauce
mixed nuts
foil packets of tuna or salmon
precooked brown rice bowls
Smucker's All Fruit spread
apples or other fruit that will keep well unrefrigerated
Costco freeze dried fruit packets

sontaikle -- my biggest peace of mind came from pulling the eggs out from the fridge to fry up over the coming days. (They don't really need to be refrigerated.) My biggest concern has been coming up with a plan that keeps refined carbs down and protein up (but doesn't require just living on cans of tuna to do so!)

That's a comfort! I'd eat eggs for every meal if I could. We've got a lot so should the power go out a while it's good to know I won't have to throw my precious eggs away

I'm trying to do the same thing, come up with a way to keep the protein up and not having to subsist on crap. I have protein bars, but I save those for days when I'm lifting heavy as I try not to rely on them as a food item (these are, of course, unusual circumstances so I would rather eat a Quest bar than have to rely on something else).

Right now though we're making what we have in the freezer. We pulled out the salmon that we had planned to eat for tonight's dinner anyway. I think the Tilapia will be eaten tomorrow night, LOL. Dont' want that stuff going to waste