Recipes After Disaster: Eating without Electricity (Day 3)

This is the third in a series of blogs on recipes that you can easily prepare in a disaster or emergency without power.
After 2 days, we probably can’t count on our perishable foods being any good. PB&J and cheese sandwiches will be fine until the bread is gone or goes moldy, so using those up would be my first choice. But then we can start playing with our canned foods, herbs, spices, oils, and vinegars to create some tasty salads and soups.

READ MORE

Corn Salad - Adapted from FoodHero.org and Recipes For Disaster, from EVCNB.org

Ingredients:

1. 15 oz canned corn (or “frozen”, if it’s stayed under 40 degrees)
   
2. 14.5 oz can of tomatoes with chilis, drained
   
3. 15 oz can of black beans, drained
   
4. 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
   
5. 2 Tbsp olive oil
   
6. ½ tsp dried basil (or 1 tsp fresh)
   
7. Salt & pepper to taste (depends on whether your canned goods have salt included)

​

Directions:

1. Mix corn, tomatoes, and beans
2. Mix vinegar, oil, and basil, salt & pepper (?) for the dressing. You can mix these separately (perhaps in a little jar you can shake to mix); or you can add mix them into the step 1 mixture. The latter takes a little more mixing, but it saves washing another dish.
3. [combine step 1 mixture and dressing]
4. Eat with chips

Optional - chop and add other fresh greens that you might have. Chives, french sorrel & lovage are perennial greens that are easy to grow outside. If you use these when clean water is limited, it’s best to harvest from the top half of the plant, as these will likely need little to no washing.

Blog Series Links

Check out all of the blogs in the Recipes after a Disaster series: 

• Day 1 - Menu strategy: Eat Fresh Foods First
• Day 2 - Food Use & Storage Strategies
• Day 3 - Meals from Canned Foods
• Day 4 - Foraging Basics
• Day 5 - Pantry Soup Warmed by Tea Candles

Author

Lincoln Thomas, Newsletter Editor, Neighbors Ready!