Hurricanes like to Vacation in the Caribbean … BUT When you Live there, they are an Unwelcome Guest

…as a matter of fact they are a Disaster

In 2017 I survived Hurricane Maria, & if she  never comes to visit again, that will be soon enough for me.

I’ve lived in Puerto Rico, where even a puff of wind can cause a power outage that lasts for days. When  hurricane season comes around, we have a billion things to worry about: Will the windows break? Is our roof sealed? Will our house flood? Have we done all we could to protect our  TVs and computers? Are our phones fully charged? And most critical: Do we have enough food and water stored? And, is it stored safely?

With all this to worry about, why add food safety to the list of emergency concerns? In addition to the obvious, that germs grow quickly in  unrefrigerated foods, think about it: Food poisoning is the last thing you need to be dealing with during the aftermath of a storm. Medical personnel have much higher priorities caring for those who were injured. If you need care because you develop all the miserable gastrointestinal symptoms of a foodborne illness, and the dehydration that goes along with it, chances are you won’t be able to get it. And since your whole family is eating from a limited food supply, you could all come down with one.

I’m Amanda Escalera-Torres, future dietitian and guest blogger for KeepSafe Food. Mary Angela Miller, the Food Safety Dietitian, asked me to share my real life hurricane survival tips.

Here’s how my family Prepares for & Survives

(from a Food & Food Safety Perspective)

The top 10 Essentials Foods that we ALWAYs have on stock:

1. Water: A gallon/person/day is a standard recommendation but we stash as much as we can store. Easier said than done.

2. Shelf Stable Milk: This liquid (not dry) milk is a must! It’s also known as ultra-pasteurized or aseptic milk. This milk stays safe for up to 6 months or until the cartons are opened. We use it for drinking and cooking.

3. Grains: Oatmeal & Cereal & Rice

4. Seasonings: a few essentials like adobo and sofrito go a long way

5. Bread: It’s versatile but it molds pretty quickly, so we often eat this over the first few days.

6. Soda Crackers:  Think Saltines. Get the box with the individually sealed packets inside. Open these once you’ve exhausted your bread supply.

7. Canned Peas and Carrots: Or whatever your favorite vegetables are. These are our 2 “go tos.”

8. Eggs: Why eggs? Because they can be prepared quickly and simply,  served many ways and are not too messy. The trick is to protect them from cracking. Good luck with that.

9. Canned Chicken, Tuna, Ham and Sausage: More proteins. All precooked.  The sausages are especially filling because they have some fat. Remember in a disaster situation you often NEED MORE calories. Your body may be stressed out, you may be doing some heavy lifting, your food supply may be limited and you may be sharing what you have with others,

10. Beans: Our Puerto Rican cupboard would be bare without them.

What to do when the Sirens Sound

Here’s a quick play by play of what happened after the Hurricane Maria warning sirens sounded:

• Check to be sure the gel packs are frozen so foods will stay cold in case of power outage.

• Move all perishables from the refrigerator to freezer: We had ham, cheese, fresh meat and a few other leftovers. We do this immediately, before the power gets turned off and before an electrical accident could occur.

Then, you wait. Then it hits.

The scariest thing was not the rain. As a matter of fact, we didn’t get much rain with Maria. It was the wind! And the  sound that your house makes from that force. And the sounds of things breaking all around you.  But not knowing what was breaking.

First, Family & Friends … then Food

The first thing we do afterwards has nothing to do with food. We reach out to family. And to reach them literally, as there was no cell service.  My grandparents live about 10 minutes away but it took us about 3 times that long to get there. To find them we had to guess where the road was, all we could see was a  field of debris. Once we were reassured everyone was OK, we prepared out 1st meal together before returning home later that evening.

One lifesaving investment we made was to buy a gas grill. It was the appliance we used everyday until a minimal degree of functionality was restored. That took about 1 month. We batch cooked and prepared meals with other families to reduce fuel and take advantage of different foods and ingredients  each had on hand. For example, there was a “Green Zone” at Grandmas. At least that’s what I called it because she always has some fresh foods to add to our stores and a safe place to rest our weariness.

Our 1st Meals & our “Return to Normal Meal”

Here’s a simple menu of our first few meals:

• Eggs & Bread

• Rice & Canned Sausages

• Rice, Beans and Grilled Meat of whatever type that was unspoiled

When we Puerto Ricans  talk about comfort foods, we mean rice and beans. When we were able to prepare them according to our traditional family recipe using adobo seasoning and ham cubes it was the first time I felt the stress ease a little, that it felt like a degree of normalcy would be possible. Here’s my grandmother’s recipe. I love it because it leaves lots of room for improvisation and that’s certainly something we must do in the aftermath. Mary Angela asked me if “culantro” was a misspelling of cilantro…it’s not. They are 2 different herbs and we use them both.

Food Safety Resources

As afterthought, or should I say an aftershock, I was in Miami when the 6.4 magnitude earthquake shook Puerto Rico in January 2020. It was emotionally exhausting. I’m not sure what’s more stressful: experiencing a disaster or, worrying from afar, when no one is answering phone? But the same sort of preparation applies. Fortunately once again, my family survived intact.

The USDA Guide will help determine if your food is safe to eat after a power outage. My recommendation: Read it NOW, While you have power and your computer is charged and functioning.

About Our Guest Expert: Amanda Escalera-Torres was raised in Puerto Rico and studied to be a dietitian in Miami. She plans a career in Global Nutrition, with an emphasis on alleviating food insecurity in underdeveloped communities. We need professionals with Amanda’s passion to change the world!