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Chef Foster: When the snow storm hits, it’s always good to have a well-stocked emergency pantry


If you believe The Farmer’s Almanac, we are in for ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire.” As February looms dark and stormy we all scramble to prepare for snow days, ice storms and endless supermarket lines.

Going to the store yesterday with flakes falling intermittingly, I was astounded by the lines of people stocking up on all manner of “snow food” the term I use for the milk and bread that is stereotypical of the winter time consumer. First let’s consider the milk and bread concept, because under the surface those choices just don’t scan.

When my power goes out in an ice storm I have my stove and my running water not my fridge. True Mother Nature provides an icebox of her own but my focus is on hot food that sticks to the ribs; beans, potatoes, rice. Soups that can be made from basic ingredients that are dual purpose. Avoid the long cook times and instead help yourself with a well-stocked pantry and items that can processed quickly on a stove top.

Of course those with all electric will be hard pressed to cook at all, I’m not above a little Coleman stove action, or for the hardier lot a fired-up grill (outside of course).

You should all have an emergency box, filled with a flashlight, batteries, and a radio and so on. Why not have an emergency pantry, built on the template of your day to day eating?

While I of course wish no ill will towards anyone during the winter months (having been without power at least three times in the last ten years), I do wonder at just how people cope when the lights go out. Having spoken with farmer friends over the years the immediate solution is a solid back-up generator.

For most it’s a matter of self-preservation both in business and in personal life. When a freezer full of organically raised chickens goes down there is a moment of apprehension before the generator kicks on and the temperature stays where it should. It’s no less a personal moment as there is the immediate concern as to how we personally weather the storm. For farmers it is a practiced reflex to be prepared, stocked up as it were.

Cured hams, ground cornmeal, stored root vegetables, frozen ground beef, lamb and pork. How many of these items do you have in your freezer?

Of course eating is probably third or fourth on the list, security and warmth being first. If you’re forced out of the cold house then your food choices are made for you. But consider what might be in your emergency box that could be dinner in the midst of a disaster.

Some of my most memorable meals have come in the middle of a flood or ice storm. Pineapple upside down cake made in the fireplace during the Agnes flood of 1972. A steaming bowl of “ice storm” oatmeal, whipped up in a 40 degree home kitchen, ramen noodles to huddle around before the power came back on.

There were peanut butter sandwiches with the last of the milk, before it went bad, and in several cases we fled to our own restaurant and made dinner for the family and assorted outcasts, a beacon of warmth and light in a neighborhood sea of darkness.

You should all have an emergency box, filled with a flashlight, batteries, and a radio and so on. Why not have an emergency pantry, built on the template of your day to day eating?

Disaster relief experts continually focus on a return to normality and comfort as the first big step back to recovery. A warm blanket, a comforting meal and familiar surroundings all serve to alleviate some of the short or long term suffering of a displaced and harried population. It’s no surprise that one of the first things to open back up in lower Manhattan after 911 was a soup kitchen for first responders and simple family style restaurants to feed the neighborhood that remained in place.

The Red Cross hands out blankets, water and, emergency shelters often come with camp stoves or in better situations take full use of the facilities that a local school would have including a kitchen. I’ve said many times that a gathering with just people is a crowd, one with a warm bowl of soup is an (extended) family dinner.

So with February’s storms a dark cloud on the horizon, take a look at your pantry. Could you cook for a few days using only your stove top? Are there meals that could stretch to feed others that may be displaced as well? Are you stocked up for even a short term situation that will leave you in the dark and cold?

I’m not talking about granola bars and bottled water, just a hot meal simply prepared that will chase away the ice for a while, fill your belly, and propel you back onto the road to recovery.

Pantry Supplies

Canned tomatoes, sundried tomatoes
Canned beans
Dry pasta
Rice
Peanut butter
Jams and jellies
Chocolate bars
Whole grain crackers (bread is nice but it stales quickly if not processed)

If available home canned vegetables from the summer months, always a welcome relief from the mid-winter doldrums.

Avoid the processed stuff. If you tire of home cooked meals it’s better to get out and sit in your favorite restaurant (if it’s open), enjoy the light, the warmth and the company!

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John Foster is an executive chef who heads the culinary program at Sullivan University’s Lexington campus. A New York native, Foster has been active in the Lexington culinary scene and a promoter of local and seasonal foods for more than 20 years. The French Culinary Institute-trained chef has been the executive chef of his former restaurant, Harvest, and now his Chevy Chase eatery, The Sage Rabbit, in Lexington.


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