How to get the power company to turn your juice back on
September 19th, 2008 by Syd
Hurricane Ike kicked our butts, and I’m in Louisville, Kentucky. The ornery old bastard swung up to our country after it finished with Texas and Louisiana. On Sunday we were suddenly hit with 80 MPH+ winds, and our huge maples and tulip poplars came tumbling down on the power lines. Don’t think I’m making any comparisons with Galveston because I’m not, but we were without power for six days. I have never been without electricity that long in my whole life. It was a revelation. I can’t imagine what the folks in south Texas and Louisiana are going through. If our misery was only a minute fraction of theirs, my prayers are with them tonight.
But, I’ll tell you what: this storm has opened my eyes. It puts a whole new spin on those interesting speculations that we do about survival and “WTSHTF” scenarios. I’ll be doing some more on this in the days to come. I spent a lot of time doing audio recordings, verbal journals of what was happening. I’ll post some of those as I’m able to process through them.
Oh yeah, how do you get the power company to turn your power back on? Get really desperate, go to Home Depot and lay down $800 for a 5000 watt generator, and when you get home, your lights will be on.
Syd
I was honestly wondering if you were OK, that long and NO Syd post?? Man, concern was really kicked in…
Glad to hear you are ok. I’ve had a generator for a while and so far have been lucky enough not to need it except for a few hours. I keep it fueled and exercised.
Again, good to hear you are safe.
Good to see you back.
Growing up in northwest Kansas it was common for us to be out of electricity for four to five days after a good blizzard. The worst though was a few years ago in south central Kansas after an ice storm. 8 days without power in the winter time. Without a generator.Thank goodness for a good kerosene heater. We ensured that this would not happen again by buying a generator.
Look for a post on Xavier’s blog called, “Listening to Katrina”. It has some excellent advice related to SHTF preparation.
I was 4 days w/o power. At least I had water, unlike the folks in Texas.
whw
Listening to Katrina
Not mine, but an excellent resource.
Glad you’re back online Syd!
Consider a propane-powered refrigerator. They are expensive. They run on a small amount of propane - do you have propane for a grill? These can be of just about any size. Friends I know who have them, have smaller/secondary fridges in the garages. (We don’t have basements in Florida.)
Usually they run either on AC or propane. They use about a pilot-light’s worth of fuel when the power is out. There are also propane cooled “ice chests.” Much smaller than a regular fridge, but enough to keep some of the steaks from the freezer good for a few days.
I have been trying to get my Dad to install the whole-house, natural-gas fired self-starting generator. There are a whole lot of them out there. Natural gas usually isn’t interrupted by a disaster - unless you are in earthquake country.
Portable generators: Get the inverter kind - since the larger/older models have a tendency to fry electronics.
How to survive without refrigeration…
Americans don’t believe this possible, but I have done it for months at a time.
1. Buy decent quality canned meat. You can’t find this at the local stores. Do a web-search on “Canned meat” and look for the Amish companies. The Amish can’t use refrigeration, but they do can things. The portions are usually large. I use Werling and Sons - not Amish, but portions are more useful to me.
These don’t have much salt, and virtually no preservatives. But the big thing is they don’t have gravy.
If you cook something at noon - you can eat it for dinner as long as you kept it in a covered pan with a GOOD-fitting lid, and you covered it while it was HOT - not warm. You might end up eating the same thing twice a day, but you will be healthy.
2. Rice, beans, pasta are your friends. Anything that is dried. Find a type of pasta-sauce-in-a-jar you really like.
3. Check the salt content of anything canned. Even some of the veggies have a lot of salt. You can find the low-salt brands. Canning doesn’t require salt for preservation, so I don’t know why they go overboard. If you have to rely on canned goods you can impact your blood-pressure just through the salt in the cans.
4. Buy stuff that doesn’t need refrigeration. Newman’s Own has some salad dressing - vinaigrette - that doesn’t need refrigeration. A lot of stuff will last. Anything with vinegar in it will last a while without. (A1 and some ketchup will last a few days - buy small sizes.) Some stuff will be a problem - mayo will be dangerous. Substitute extra virgin olive oil in its place.
5. If you are using a grill to cook, buy a camper’s oven. Goes on top of the grill, and will let you bake/roast things a little easier. (They are cheap) Or consider a solar oven. Do a web search - you can make these pretty cheaply.
6. Bread. Not exactly a refrigeration problem, but.. This can be a problem, unless you are going to bake your own. Tortillas in a package can last a while. Crackers work. You can also find canned bread. (In my part of Florida, it is near the baked beans.) It is dark brown, has raisins and it’s dry, but it is bread. Not great for sandwiches. Baking bread takes time. Consider a soda bread recipe, and don’t wait for the emergency to try and learn how.
7. Milk. I don’t use much - just for cooking - so I buy milk in small aseptic packages. I find this is better than canned or powdered for my purposes.
8. Butter. You can buy canned butter, but you have to import it. The dairy industry in the US doesn’t like canned butter. (Or it didn’t the last time I looked.) I just use EVOO for most things. Apple butter, peanut butter, fruit preserves, and the like work as good substitutes in a lot of places.
9. eggs are a problem. Eggs don’t need to be refrigerated if they have NEVER been refrigerated. Once you refrigerate them, you must keep them cold. This means finding a farmer where you can get them without refrigeration. You won’t buy them at the stores. If you do find a farmer, you will need to turn the eggs regularly. They won’t last forever. Some people coat the eggs, but I just buy enough for a few days….
Water isn’t an issue of refrigeration…but here you go…. If it is raining, use a CLEAN plastic tarp and jerrycans to capture rain water. Water purification is a good idea, and inexpensive at most camping stores.
You should also consider what you are going to do if you have to bug-out. How much of this stuff can you carry on your back? MREs are good - if expensive. I keep a few on hand. Sometimes you can buy just the entrees, since the other stuff isn’t worth the price.. (I don’t need a small bottle of hot-sauce, I have large bottles of hot sauce, power bars, ditto, ) Spring for the heaters.