Actually, in my opinion, that is where the need for potted meat, tuna, etc.. comes in..........to hold you over with something to eat until you can cook again whether it be indoors on your stove or outdoors.

For a person who has never been in a Hurricane I would say yes it is a bit too much. After Frances I would agree with you Abear 100%. Back home we do not call it Hurricane we call it Typhoon. We are so used to about having a black out all year round that we do not even worry about it. Here when electric shuts off it feels like everything also stop.

Stay dry and keep us updated.

Yes, I have some can foods. My stomach does not like the taste or smell of the food from the can. I prefer to warm the food first. Perishable food is not really a good. Even grocery store freezers are totally empty.

Actually, a propane stove can be used indoors **IF** there is sufficient ventilation **AND** if it is used briefly. Same thing goes for a Coleman Stove.

So, if the weather isn't too bad, open a window. If it is too bad to open the window all the way, open several windows an inch or so to encourage a drift of air flow across the room / home.

Canned foods *do* need to be heated - especially if they are dented. Bring them to a boil and keep them at a boil for 15 minutes to kill any bacteria and destroy their toxins. This would have saved the lives of many people who have died from botulism, E. coli, Salmonella and Staph food poisonings.

There are home emergency kit recommendations available through

FEMA's Preparation and Prevention page
You will need to scroll down toward the bottom to the "Planning and Preparing" section.

Cheerio!
Elizabeth

lrivetz

My thoughts are still with you and all our other Florida brothers and sisters... may god continue to watch over all of you and may you weather this storm and gain strength from it. I'm sorry I'm so late getting back on, I've been so swamped at work and home, I've had very limited time to get on FC but all of you are never far from my thoughts.

Anna

God willing, we have seen the last tropical storm / hurricane ripping through the SE. There was a guy on Foxnews this AM who is going back to his beachfront home in FL after being away for a month. He said something very simple and very profound: "You control what you can, and accept the consequences of what you can't control." He went on to say that he knows living in FL means he runs much increased risk of disaster from Hurricanes. He has the insurance, has "shored up" his house as best he can, and follows through with obeying the recommendations about evacuations. He has controlled what he can control, and accepts the consequences of what he cannot control.

I guess that's what this thread has really been about - what can you control and how can you control it. But when things go beyond what you can control, accepting and getting on with life is what we need to do.

May God bless all of y'all out there as you repair and make "right" the things that have broken and gone wrong!

Cheerio!
Elizabeth